Award Winning Web Designer Shannon Shares Her Best Design Tips

When it comes to design our Lead Designer, Shannon Wright, knows her stuff. Between leading our team of exceptional designers and winning awards she’s built a reputation for creating visually stunning, highly functional websites that deliver results. 

Ahead of her ExtraByte session on June 17th, Shannon sat down with us to share her best web design tips, favourite tools and what excites her about the future of design.

Getting started with a Web Design Project

Surprisingly, for Shannon, web design projects don’t begin with creative flair.

 “To be fair, there’s not a lot of creativity at the start of my process. It begins with research,  asking questions, looking into the brand and getting a really good feel for who we’re working with.”

And it’s with this thoughtful, research-first approach that lays the foundation for a strategic approach to web design.

Finding Inspiration for Web Design Success          

So how does Shannon stay inspired and ahead of the curve?

“Listening and watching. Listening to a lot of podcasts, signing up to a lot of email marketing, being involved in discussions, conferences and workshops.” Staying on top of industry trends is a priority for Shannon and the team. They recently attended the Figma Config 2025 and Adobe MAX 2025, two major events that showcase the latest updates, tools and design innovations,  helping them stay ahead of the curve and on top of their game.

Shannon goes on to say ‘I like to be quite active with networking’. It’s clear that inspiration isn’t just about what you see. It’s about staying involved, asking questions and connecting with the wider creative community.

Creativity vs. Brand Guidelines             

Are brand guidelines a designer’s best friend, or biggest creative hurdle? While guidelines offer useful direction in terms of colour palettes, fonts and consistent styling they can be restrictive and limit the creative freedom of the design process. Admittedly Shannon says balancing both “can be quite tricky”, but she doesn’t see them as a barrier.

“If your guidelines are too rigid, you’re limiting your brand’s growth. Look at brands like Nike or Adidas – their logos are consistent, but their campaigns are flexible. If you stay true to your core brand message, the rest can flex around it.”

Take note: creativity and consistency can co-exist.

Vital Web Design Tools

With so many design tools out there, it can be tough to know what’s best. But for Shannon, there’s one clear winner. “Number one is Figma. We use it daily here at Extramile and I love tinkering with it.”

She is also a big fan of the endless plugins that you can use with Figma. Her favourites are Coolors, a colour palette generator, and Rename It, which helps to keep your Figma files organised.

Avoiding Common Web Design Mistakes

When asked about common website design mistakes businesses often make Shannon didn’t hesitate: “When businesses don’t prioritise accessibility in the design process they are making a huge mistake.”

The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 2.2 billion people globally have a near or distant vision impairment. As Shannon puts it “If you aren’t factoring this into your process and aren’t catering to those users that’s a chunk of your audience you could lose to avoid simple accessibility changes.”

Designing for everyone isn’t just inclusive. It’s essential.

Read how to make a website neurodivergent friendly.

Web Design with Security in Mind

At Extramile, our websites are built with security from the ground up. That includes the government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme. This is a set of technical controls proven to reduce risk from common cyber threats. Businesses with Cyber Essentials controls in place see 92% fewer insurance claims, and demonstrate a serious commitment to digital safety to their customers.

While our developers lead the way here, Shannon and her team still have an important role to play. They factor in things like “making sure that there is a place for cookie policies on the website, making sure all forms and designs follow GDPR compliance and working daily with developers just to ensure security measures are in place once the website is built.”

A Website to Remember

After a decade of designing standout websites at Extramile, Shannon has plenty of favourites, but one project stands out above the rest. Her work with NCH Europe was particularly memorable. 

Why?

“The amount of customer groups and business divisions we had to consider. And the scale of the brand as it is across the globe with multiple different languages and lots of different variables we had to bring in across the process. Working with the NCH team we did a really good job and I am really proud of the website.”

Her hard work certainly didn’t go unnoticed. The site earned a Special Design Kudos award from CSS Design Awards.

Take a look at the full case study.

Looking Ahead. Future Trends in Web Design

So, what’s next in the world of design? Shannon’s got her sights set firmly on the future and it’s looking bright.

“Loads. Coming off the back of the Figma Config 2025 that me and the design team watched virtually, I am really excited about the products that are going to launch – Figma Make, Figma Draw and Figma Sites. I am so excited to test those out.”

With new tools on the horizon and design innovation at every turn, Shannon’s enthusiasm is certainly contagious. The future of web design is in very capable hands.

Want To Hear More?

Don’t miss Shannon’s ExtraByte session, ‘How Design Can Empower Marketing Success’, on June 17th at 10am. Sign up now to save your spot! Plus, if you attend this event and don’t already have a digital marketing retainer with Extramile, you’ll be eligible for a free design collateral audit after attending.

Let’s Get Creative

Whether you’re looking to refresh your website, build something brand new or explore creative ways to elevate your brand, our expert design team is here to help. Get in touch to find out more about our web design and creative services.