Website design in Dubai starts with decisions about the business, not just the visual style. Before approving a homepage, agree what customers should be able to find, understand and do. A clear brief helps the design team make choices that support those tasks.
Use these six checks before commissioning a new website or redesign. They cover the structure, mobile experience, content, contact journey, search foundations and handover. Each check produces something concrete you can review with your team.
1. Define the pages around customer questions
List your main services or product groups, then write the questions a potential customer asks about each one. This helps you decide which topics need their own page and which belong within another page.
For a service business, visitors may want to understand the scope, see relevant work and learn how to request a proposal. Organise the navigation around those needs. Avoid using internal department names that customers may not recognise.
What to approve: a simple page map with a purpose and primary action for every important page. Resolve overlap before the team starts designing multiple versions of the same information.
2. Review the mobile journey early
A desktop presentation cannot show whether the website will work comfortably on a phone. Ask to review the mobile layout while the design is still easy to change. Test menus, text size, image crops and buttons together.
Google’s mobile-first indexing guidance recommends keeping primary content equivalent across mobile and desktop. A shorter mobile layout should still provide the information customers need.
Use real tasks during review. Find a service, open a work example and complete an enquiry. This reveals more than scrolling through the homepage and deciding whether it looks attractive.
What to approve: a usable mobile version of the main customer journey, including the form and confirmation state. Our responsive website versus app guide can help if you are also considering an app.
3. Prepare useful content and accurate imagery
Decide who will supply the copy, photographs and product information. Placeholder text often hides a problem: the design may look complete while the business still has not explained its offer.
Give each page a clear heading and enough detail to answer the visitor’s main questions. Include approved examples of work where relevant. Check names, claims and contact details before they reach the final design.
If Arabic is part of the brief, plan the translation and right-to-left layout from the start. Review meaning and usability together. A translated heading alone does not create a complete Arabic experience.
What to approve: a content list showing the owner, required assets and review status for each page. The Media Lab’s website design service in Dubai brings content planning and visual design into the same process.
4. Make contact options useful and manageable
A contact form, phone link or WhatsApp option should match how the business handles enquiries. Adding every possible channel can create confusion if nobody owns the response.
Keep forms focused on what the team needs to respond. Explain required fields clearly and provide an understandable confirmation. Also test where submissions arrive. A successful-looking form is not enough if the enquiry never reaches the team.
For chat or messaging, agree response responsibilities and operating hours. If you use automated replies, make them accurate and helpful. Do not promise an immediate human response unless the business can provide it.
What to approve: tested contact routes, a named response owner and a clear confirmation message. Our WhatsApp Business guide explores how messaging can support customer communication.
5. Include search requirements in the website design brief
Search preparation should begin before launch. Record existing URLs if this is a redesign. Identify pages that will remain and any genuine replacements that need redirects. Changing an address simply to make it look newer can create avoidable work.
Check titles, descriptions, headings and relevant internal links. Ensure public pages are available for crawling and that staging restrictions are reviewed before launch. A sitemap supports discovery, but it is not a guarantee of indexing or rankings.
Google’s SEO Starter Guide explains that search improvements take time and that there is no automatic route to first place. Keep the brief focused on useful content and a sound technical foundation.
What to approve: a launch checklist covering URLs, redirects, metadata, indexing settings and measurement. The Media Lab’s SEO service can help align these requirements with the page plan.
6. Agree ownership and maintenance before launch
Confirm who controls the domain, hosting, website accounts and analytics. The business should know where its access details are stored and how to request support. Include backups and a recovery process in the handover discussion.
Also agree who will update content and check the site after changes. A new collection, an expired offer or a changed phone number can affect the customer experience long after the design has been approved.
What to approve: a handover record with account ownership, support scope and maintenance responsibilities. An ongoing website maintenance plan helps make those tasks explicit.
Turn the six checks into a clear brief
For each item, record the decision, owner and completion status. Share unresolved questions before requesting a final quotation. A clearer scope makes proposals easier to compare and reduces surprises during production.
Talk to The Media Lab about your website design in Dubai. We can help shape the page structure, content and customer journey around the work your website needs to do.
