“Great web design without functionality is like a sports car with no engine”

Paul Cookson. Every website element counts and delivers, and the sphere of education is no exception.

Introduction To Education Website Design

Do you know that the COVID pandemic caused the closing of several schools globally and affected 185 million students?

Despite the challenges, the education sector rose to the occasion by offering virtual and distance learning programs.

You and I are lucky enough to have education websites coupled with access to high-speed internet that made learning more breezier.

You can download chapters in PDF, record a live session and listen to them later, watch videos, read blogs, earn an online college degree, and much more. You name it and Tada! You got it at your fingertips.

These futuristic education websites are a boon to the current generation. The trend is here to stay.

So, how to create your website that helps reach more people around the globe. Without any further adieu, let us get started with our search by exploring:

  • The need for website design
  • Things to do before starting with the process
  • Elements that work best your site
  • Mistakes to avoid
  • Few web design inspirations for that extra push

Do You Need To Focus On Education Website Design?

Is a website dedicated to education essential? Yes. Why? Any education website has visits from tutors, students, parents, advertisers, job seekers with different objectives or needs.

Thus, it highlights the endeavor to design a website that attracts and delivers. The real challenge for the designer lies in creating designs for a non-defined target audience looking for information.

So, how to design a website that caters to the requirements of a diverse audience? Focus on the website quality and not the quantity, and the rest will fall in line.

How to get quality designs? Well, move through the next section.

3 Things To Decide That Make Your Design Successful Before Starting

Look before you leap and plan before you design. The following section tells you how:

Defining Your Objectives:

Think and jot down your goals, budget, and target audience before getting started. The only catch is that pinning down your audience is challenging in education websites.

Tip: You can classify your audience based on their age. Consequently, you can create a design outline and set up a budget.

Deciding On Hosting And Domain Name

Do you know that many underrate the significance of choosing a quality hosting part while designing a website? Both domain name and hosting act as two pillars of success for your digital asset. So choose wisely.

Tip: While choosing a domain name, make sure you pick .edu that has more relevance. Experts recommend Dedicated hosting among the four options that are the best but not cost-effective.

Look Of The Website

What element matters the most in a website? It is the appearance of the website that earns the first-best visitor impressions. For that, you need to focus on:

  • Colour selection: The typical colour palette for an education website is White, Green, Blue, and Brown. For further assistance, you can refer to the color wheel theory.
  • Choosing between less is more or more is less: When the site is for elementary level, then more is less, and for college site, less is more. Try to find your balance. (I am talking of minimalism)
  • Homepage: Do you know that people bounce off when your homepage is not well-structured? Getting it done is what attracts traffic. Make sure you include a CTA button on this crucial page.

Are these enough to get the best results? These practices count, and so do the rest of the elements undermentioned.

9 Web Design Elements That Delivers More Hits

There are a few typical elements that you should be aware of while designing like:

Dedicated Login Section

Do you offer the same information for the enrolled user and just a visitor?

To avoid this unprofessional approach, you can provide the registered users with course material access, exams and lecture schedules, and much more.

Besides, paying attention to the architecture the design elements is also significant for this section.

Chat Assistance (chatbot)

What should you do to enhance the user experience of your website? Do incorporate the live chat feature 24*7.

You cannot stay online with your visitors and answer their queries round the clock, but chat assistance can do them for you.

In simple terms, chatbots are your virtual assistant that works without any coffee breaks or vacations.

Engaging Virtual Tour

With the outburst of the pandemic, students prefer acquiring an online college or university degree. A recent survey points out that 73% of pupils fancy this form.

They expect your best education website designs to have a dedicated video section that provides a virtual tour/3D walk-throughs of the entire premises.

Informational Blogs

How can you show people that you are clever, updated, proactive, and professional? What can improve your rankings on SERP pages? Keep your blog sections up and running.

Do you take your blogs too lightly? It can be a reputation-affecting factor, so make sure you employ professionals to avoid it.

According to stats provided by Hubspot, websites with blogs have 55% more visitors and get indexed 434% more.

Honest Testimonials

Good things never go out of trend. So, do testimonials. They are genuine clauses from your satisfied students, professors, or former students. It is a visitor-persuasive factor that compels them to choose you over others.

Nowadays, people are smarter than you think. They check reviews from an authentic and reliable site. So, you cannot fool them with fake testimonies.

What will be your choice? An educational website with verified testimonies or the one without it.

Tip: You can try influencer marketing as many students look up to this type of content on social media platforms before making an enrollment with you.

Mobile-Supportive

With the rise of smartphone users, having its mobile variant for your site has undoubted significance.

Regardless of whether you run and maintain a site for school, college, or university, the presence of a mobile app is mandatory.

Do you have mobile-responsive sites? If not, it can impact your traffic.

About Us Section

This section has a higher weightage than other elements as it helps people understand:

  • Who you are
  • What is more significant for you
  • What you do
  • How you do

A template for this part is to list a hierarchy of the people in different departments with designation and contact info.

If it is not the case at your institution, then provide details of the people behind the website.

Tip: How to create an awesome About Us section for your website? It is simple. Make it engaging, informative, and that encompasses testimonials.

Online Learning Support (mobile-optimized)

What is the complex part of web design? To design up an online learning system from scratch and focus on acquiring web hosting.

These virtual classes represent the quality of site and education you offer your students. For this, you should have audio and video streaming to pre-record and ensure it is free of loading issues in real-time.

Another mandatory feature is the whiteboard with loads of options so that students perform several real-time activities.

Easy To Use Search Option

Do you know that everyone visiting your website does not have the same purpose? So, it is essential to include a user-friendly search bar option in your design.

Tip: You can use highlighted colours for your search option and place them at the top to increase visibility.

Do you have the habit of learning what not to do before starting? Then the next section will enlighten you with the same.

What Not To Do When You Create An Education Website?

Make sure to follow these guidelines. Also, we have jotted down a few must-avoid mistakes while designing your website:

Erroneous information: The visitors trust you and expect all the data on your official site is correct. So, offering them outdated or false information can hamper your reputation.

Monotonous content: Attract your young audience with short and engaging content and avoid anything boring.

Emphasize text alone: Get your balance of text, images, videos rather than focusing on written stuff alone to avoid that monotonous tone.

Are Websites ideas for students is what you are looking for? Scroll more to know more.

Inspirational Educational Website Designs To Look Out For Yours

We have profiled some of the best designed educational websites that help you to get started:

MIT – The landing page has all the information you expect from a university website.

The New Digital School – This website can inspire you to create solid designs with a hint of marketing tone.

Happy Kids – This type of school website design pushes you to go that extra mile.

CIS International School – You cannot expect more from these classy website designs.

Your scroll of the last section can help you find your next big design.

Top 10 College Websites And Their Stand-out Features

As additional inspiration, we have listed out a few websites along with their wow element:

Alverno College – Bold and colourful CTAs
Georgetown University – Provides valuable information to all
Rhode Island School of Design – Minimalistic design
VCU – Compelling image carousel
University of Notre Dame – Mobile-responsive design
University of Washington – Impressive donation page design
Wheaton College – Dedicated testimonial section
GW – Interactive map
Oberlin College – Colourful and attention capturing buttons
University of Chicago – Well-structured navigation

Conclusion

Educational web design is not a cakewalk. It needs patience, dedication to reach the top-notch. We hope this blog on the best website designs for education has provided you with insights into design elements and inspiration for your design goals. If you want added support feel free to contact us or ping us by mail.