Why “Artwork” Key Pages of Your Website Before Building
On certain websites artworking up key pages before building as web pages can be highly effective.
When you’re working with us on a new website, we sometimes suggest something called “artworking up key pages”. This allows us to dedicate more “high level design time” to your project by creating mockups of the design of 1 or more key pages and then agree with you before we build out as web pages.
This can be especially valuable if your business is working in a higher value market - or requires branding to be suitably integrated or developed. Sites requiring a more careful consideration of page structure and layout - or more bespoke / custom design may also benefit from several key pages being artworked up.
This as quoted extra to the build of your website.
What’s Included in the Artwork Process?
If you choose this option, here’s what you’ll get:
✅ An initial discussion call (if needed about structure, style and the main aims of the page)
✅ Preparation of your page artwork in Figma
✅ Brand integration - integrating your branding ( if you have ) including typography / highlight colours etc to set the site wide styles
✅ Presentation call - walking through and discussing the design with you on a screenshare call and taking on any initial feedback
✅ Revisions to sign off - making any required changes for your approval before building out the pages
Why Choose the Artwork Option?
This step is optional for most clients - but highly recommended if:
Your business has a strong brand or premium offering
You need a cohesive, stylish, impactful look
You’re visual and like to see how things will work before committing to a design
minimises and simplifies the build process and feedback
It lets us front-load the creative thinking and design decisions so the build stage becomes faster, clearer, and more cost-effective.
How It Improves the Whole Project
By working together on artwork upfront, we can:
Allocate more high-level design attention than our base packages allow
Create a more coherent and branded feel where that is a key requirement
Reduces back-and-forth design tweaks during the build
Save time / additional cost in later stages by avoiding big design changes mid-build
Which Pages Should Be Artworked?
We usually suggest choosing 1–3 of your most important pages, such as:
Your Homepage
A Services page
A key Sales page - like a case study or services sub page
These will set the tone and style that can then be applied site-wide.
FINAL THOUGHT FROM DAVID & GEORGE:
If you want your website to feel high-end, branded, and just right — artworking is like planting design seeds early so the whole project grows strong and clear.
It’s not for everyone, and it’s not required…
But for many of our clients, it’s been the step that made everything click.
So if you see this option in your proposal — know that it’s there to give you more visual control, more creative collaboration, and ultimately, more WOW.
Have you got a questions for us? Let’s chat!
DISCLAIMER
This article is an original article written by David @ David&George - one of the UK’s leading Squarespace website designers. All opinions are the writers own and no liability will be taken for any errors or omissions. As Squarespace designers we will perhaps be a bit biased towards all things Squarespace - but Squarespace is such a game changer that we are its biggest fans. As web professionals we have seen how our clients love the control they have & the designs that are possible at reasonable cost. We would not work on any other platform!!
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