Web design from Hamburg.
A website that shows your company clearly.
We design websites that suit your company and make it easier for visitors to find their way around. Your services should become understandable, important content should be easy to find and getting in touch should remain simple. This applies to the compact company website just as much as to an extensive website.
For this, we combine structure, user guidance and design. Together we define what should be newly created and what can be developed further – from targeted modernisation to a complete relaunch.
When the website no longer fits the
organisation.
Organisations evolve: offerings change, new areas are added and the brand identity is revised. However, the website does not always reflect this development. While other media have already been modernised, the digital presence looks inconsistent or no longer up to date.
Over the years, different colours, layouts and variants of the same elements emerge. As a result, design decisions have to be made again and again for new pages. This takes time and makes it harder for the editorial team to maintain a consistent overall picture. The cause usually lies not in the content or the people involved, but in missing design rules and suitable building blocks.
Sometimes there is a concrete reason for the redesign: a new corporate design, a merger or an expanded offering that can no longer be sensibly represented with the previous structure.
Which change is required depends on the current system and your goals. Sometimes a targeted design modernisation is enough. In other cases, structure, user guidance and appearance have to be fundamentally redeveloped. Together we clarify which path suits your website.
As much design as necessary. As little complexity as possible.
A new appearance alone does not solve every problem of a website. If people cannot find important content or abandon an enquiry prematurely, we therefore also look at structure, user guidance and texts. This allows us to judge whether a targeted revision is enough or a comprehensive redesign makes sense.
From this we derive three principles:
- No rebuild without a clear reason: If structure and design concept still hold, we develop them further in a targeted way. Depending on the starting point, a design revision can be sufficient.
- A design system of the right scope: Every website needs clear design rules. How extensively these are documented and technically implemented depends on the number of page types, editorial teams and digital offerings. For a manageable website, a compact set of defined building blocks can be enough.
- Motion with a function: We use animations when they provide orientation, clarify relationships or make an interaction easier to understand. We leave out motion without a recognisable benefit.
Good design does not put itself in the foreground. It creates orientation, conveys the character of your organisation and helps people find relevant content and functions.
Design revision or relaunch?
For implementation, we distinguish between different paths and levels of effort. We are happy to discuss this in the first conversation directly using your website as an example.
| Feature | Design revision | Relaunch |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | Colour, typography, imagery, individual building blocks | Agreed goals, structure of the page types and design |
| What stays | Page structure and navigation at their core | Only what proves viable in the analysis |
| Fits if | The website looks dated but works in everyday use | Users cannot find their way around or the brand is new |
| Draft phase | Short, shown on existing pages | Separate round for agreed goals, wireframes and drafts |
| Effort for your organisation | Manageable, content remains largely untouched | Noticeable — content is reviewed and revised |
| Typical reason | New corporate design, fresher look | Merger, new offering, overgrown sprawl |
| Poorly suited if | The basic framework of the site no longer fits | Only the look is bothersome and everything else holds |
What we design.
How a design process runs with us.
From the first meeting to the handover, you have dedicated contacts who know your project. We explain our drafts and recommendations so that you can make well-informed decisions. We agree the results of each stage with you and record the approvals.
Understand
To start, we discuss goals, target groups and the existing website. For larger or still open questions, we arrange a workshop of suitable scope. On this basis, you decide with us on the goals and on whether a targeted modernisation is enough or a relaunch is due.
Sketch
Depending on the scope of the project, we clarify the structure using wireframes, a prototype or directly on the intended page types. We agree structure and user guidance with you before the design is worked out in detail.
Design
We agree drafts with you in bundled form instead of via various individual pieces of feedback, and approval takes place directly on screen.
Expand and hand over
The approved drafts result in a construction kit with clear rules: which properties can be maintained editorially and which remain fixed by design. We hand this over to development and remain available during implementation to check design details together.
Design that supports everyday work.
Your digital presence consistently conveys what your organisation stands for. A clear structure and user guidance help visitors find their way around and find relevant content more quickly.
For new pages, your editorial team uses defined building blocks and design rules. This keeps typography, colours and spacing consistent without new design decisions having to be made every time.
When offerings or requirements are added, the system can be extended in a targeted way with new building blocks and page types. On request, we also accompany the technical implementation and later further development.
What you have in hand at the end
Depending on the agreed project scope, this includes:
- wireframes for the most important page types
- a clickable prototype that allows user guidance to be assessed in advance
- responsive drafts for desktop, tablet and smartphone
- components with their states, such as focus, error and empty state
- a design system or a compact design kit, depending on the scope of your website
- the handover to development and editorial team, including the rules for new content
Where design strengthens the brand.
We show three examples in which an existing brand image was developed further digitally without changing its core.
The website of our children's home was created in an informative, appealing way and with good value for money. Maintenance and updates also work perfectly.
Frequently asked questions
What clients ask us before the first draft.
We clarify this in a joint analysis. If visitors cannot find content or the structure no longer follows today's tasks, a visual refresh achieves little. If, on the other hand, the structure still holds and only the look has aged, a design revision can be sufficient.
As a rule, we work out a draft for two to four pages, including the home page and selected subpages. If you fundamentally do not like the design direction, we create a second draft.
Once the direction is right, one to two rounds of corrections are usually included in the price. We agree the specific scope in the quote. Additional rounds of corrections are billed by effort after prior agreement.
You decide on the design. We explain our recommendations and check together with you how the drafts fit your brand, your target groups and the agreed goals. If several departments are involved, we define in advance who bundles feedback and gives approval. This allows us to discuss different assessments in an orderly way and build on agreed decisions.
Yes. We translate your brand into digital instead of changing it. If, for example, colours from a print manual do not meet the contrast requirements on screen, we find a solution that stays within the brand. We bundle such points and agree them with you or your creative agency.
A design system is an organised construction kit with fixed rules for font sizes, colour roles, spacing and elements such as tiles or forms. Whether you need one depends on the shape of your project. For a manageable website with one editorial team, a smaller set of building blocks is often enough, and we tell you openly which scope suits your case.
That is exactly what the building blocks are for. Your editorial team gets a clear selection of elements instead of an empty surface, and the elements are defined so that spacing, font sizes and colours cannot be freely changed. This includes training on your own website. We implement genuine special cases for you; your team handles everyday editorial work independently.
Yes. At HMH, design and technical implementation can be closely coordinated. This allows open questions to be clarified directly and design details to be reliably checked during development. How we develop websites in TYPO3 and what is created in the backend for editors is described on the page about TYPO3 and development. If an in-house IT department runs your TYPO3, we take on the design and hand it over so that your development team can continue working with it directly.
Concept and web design are part of our range of services – even if the technical implementation is not with us. We take on our own development and ongoing technical support on TYPO3.
Let us talk about your new website.
Whether a new website or a targeted revision: in the free initial consultation, we discuss your goals and the right scope. A short description is enough. You can send the link to an existing website and existing design guidelines straight away.