Website Design Review

An honest audit of the website you already have

A website design review is a structured audit of the site you already have. We work through it the way a first-time visitor does, then the way a search engine and a screen reader do, and write up what we find: what works, what quietly costs you enquiries, and what to fix first. You get a report you own, whether you redesign with us or not.

Most business websites are not bad. They are dated, inconsistent, or built around what the company wanted to say rather than what a visitor needs to do. The owner senses something is off (enquiries have flattened, the site feels slow, it looks wrong on a phone) but has no clear read on what to change or in what order. A review replaces that hunch with a prioritised list.


What the review covers

A design review looks past the surface. We assess the site across the areas that decide whether a visitor stays, understands, and acts. Each area gets a score and specific notes, not a vague grade.

First impressions and visual design

Whether the site looks current and credible in the first few seconds, and whether brand, typography, spacing, and imagery hold together across pages instead of drifting from one template to the next.

Navigation and structure

Whether people can find what they came for. We check the menu, the page hierarchy, and the labels against how visitors actually think, not how the business is organised internally. Our work on information architecture goes deeper on this.

Content and messaging

Whether it is clear what you do, who you do it for, and why someone should choose you. We flag jargon, missing proof, and the gap between what you say and what a visitor needs to read.

Conversion paths

Whether the next step is obvious on every page, and whether your calls to action and forms help or hinder. Small frictions here are where enquiries quietly leak away. See our approach to low-friction interfaces.

Performance and mobile

Real page speed, Core Web Vitals, and how the site behaves on actual phones rather than a shrunk-down desktop layout. A slow or awkward mobile experience costs you visitors before they read a word.

Accessibility and discoverability

WCAG 2.2 basics, technical SEO foundations, and how the site reads to search engines. An interface that fails for keyboard or screen-reader users is failing real people, and in the UK it is a compliance concern too.


What you get

The review produces one document you own outright. It is written to be acted on, not filed away, so the findings are ordered by impact rather than listed at random.

  • A score for each area See at a glance where the site is strong and where it is letting you down.
  • Prioritised findings Split into quick wins you can action this week and structural changes worth planning for.
  • Annotated screenshots Pointing at the specific problem rather than describing it in the abstract.
  • A recommended order of work So you know what to fix first and what can wait.

The report is plain enough for a non-technical owner to follow and specific enough to hand to whoever does the work.

The document is yours. Act on it in-house, give it to your current developer, or bring it to us. There is no lock-in and no obligation to redesign with us afterwards.


How the review runs

The review is light on your time. You point us at the site, we do the work, and you get a document and a conversation. Turnaround is usually one to two weeks.

1

You point us at the site

Share the URL, the one or two pages that matter most, and any analytics you already have. That context tells us where to look hardest and sharpens every finding that follows.

2

We audit it

Automated checks for speed, accessibility, and technical SEO, followed by a manual review of design, content, and conversion carried out by a person rather than a tool. The tools find the measurable faults; the human judgement finds the ones that actually lose you business.

3

We write it up

A prioritised report, scored by area, with annotated screenshots and a recommended order of work. Specific enough to quote against, clear enough to read over a coffee.

4

We walk you through it

An optional call to talk through the findings, answer questions, and agree what matters most. You leave knowing exactly what to do next and why.


Who a review is for

A review is the right step when you have something live and want a straight read on it.

Your site is not pulling its weight. It exists, it looks fine enough, but it is not bringing in the enquiries or sales you expect, and you want to know why.
You are about to invest in a redesign. Before you spend, you want an honest read on what to keep, what to change, and what is fine as it is.
Performance has flattened. Enquiries or sales through the site have stalled and the cause is not obvious from the inside.
You inherited the site. Nobody has properly looked at it in years, and you want a current, independent assessment.
You do not have a site yet. There is nothing to review. A website strategy workshop is the better starting point, because it decides what the site is for before anyone designs a page.

Where a review leads

A review is a low-commitment first step, not a sales funnel. Most of the time the findings stand on their own and your team acts on them. Sometimes they point to bigger work: a focused user experience design engagement, a full redesign, or a custom web application when the site has outgrown a brochure. Whatever comes next, you start from evidence rather than opinion.


Book a website design review

Tell us the address of your site and what you are worried about. The initial conversation is free, takes about thirty minutes, and comes with no obligation. Read more about what working with us looks like, or get in touch directly.

Book a call →
Graphic Swish