When designing a new website, or redesigning an older website, there is a delicate balance between the creative-the appearance and feel of the website and that the technical-which is what produces the site work.
Over-emphasis of one, or another, will cause a web site that looks excellent, but does not work that well, or will create a website that works great but does not look good at all.
Many web site designers are either very technical or very imaginative. Seldom can you find a website designer who’s great at both handling the technical issues of building a site and who’s also a fantastic graphic designer?
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
Ideally, you might want to obtain an individual or company which could provide you a high degree of expertise in the look and texture of the website, and supply outstanding technical solutions. While graphic designers can normally create amazing website designs, their own ability to create complex technical solutions may be very limited.
And conversely, a developer or web developer who’s very technically savvy may not be able to give your site design that extra sparkle it needs to truly shine.
Web Designers Aren’t Programmers
Developers create applications or software and typically have no training or expertise in how a website should look or operate.
Most developers, while technically competent, know computer languages inside and out and can code your site, but programmers typically have no graphic design instruction. Most programmers come from a university’s computer science curriculum, and few, if any, will have a graphic design class as an optional. As you want your designer to be able to solve technical problems or at least oversee them, website visitors are interacting with your website, so the appearance and feel of your website, navigation, and organization of information are all very important.
Fantastic Website Designers See the Big Picture
Really fantastic website designers will be able to look past the challenge of producing your site, and will also want to know where your site fits into your overall marketing plan, and what the principal goals are for the web site. Too many websites are made without paying close attention to exactly what the website will actually achieve.
Establishing secondary and primary aims for a site is very important. However, building the greatest website that misses the mark or fails to attain fundamental website goals is merely a waste of everyone’s time and money. You can usually tell if your website design resource is looking beyond the immediate project by the queries they ask-or don’t ask.
Speak English, Not Techno-Babble
A fantastic website designer will be knowledgeable, but won’t resort to using excess techno-babble to confuse or overly impress a customer. Great web designers know what they’re talking about, but should not speak down to you, the client.
Educated clients are the best clients. You do not have to understand everything your programmer understands, but you need to understand they are truly capable, and they can communicate effectively with you. Think of your website designer as being a type of partner in your company’s marketing efforts; a part of your total team.
Only Get it Done Already!
Great website designers are coordinated and will manage their time effectively. Often, technology projects take much longer than they need to as too little attention is being paid to project progress and resolving issues that are stalling a project.
Your web developer should be a self-starter, and ought not to count on you reminding them that the project is behind schedule. If you are using a company to make your website, make certain that there is a project supervisor involved, that will provide weekly status meetings and who is pro-active in resolving issues that will influence the timeline of this project and the website launch date.
Professionalism
When many individuals and businesses provide website design solutions with a high degree of experience, the number of professionalism changes from individual to individual and company to company.
When first calling a potential website designer, start looking for signals of the professionalism-or absence of professionalism. If you phone them, do you receive a call back promptly? Does the programmer or business keep regular office hours? When you send an email, is it answered promptly, and therefore are the answers professional?
It’s almost always best to try and prevent working with a less than professional company, but assessing someone before you’ve got an opportunity to start working with them can be difficult. From the first contact, you make along with your vendor, be on the lookout for signs that somebody may be less than a specialist.
Working with an individual or a business that is not professional will only result in frustration on your part because the project moves together or grinds to a stop. But working with somebody who knows the business world and worth your time, returns your calls and emails promptly and professionally, will make the project experience much more pleasant. For more details, read Cornerstone Digital.
Five Strategies for Finding a Wonderful Web Designer
1) Obtain referrals.
If you have business associates or if you understand business owners who have good websites, inquire who supplied their website expertise and if they would recommend a developer or business to you.
2) Review portfolios or illustration websites.
Have potential designers you’re considering to show you their work and to help you through a couple of website jobs, explaining their development process in detail.
3) Ask questions.
Interview your prospective site designer, just as you want when interviewing someone to work for you. When it might be a short-term mission, it’s nevertheless a significant project and both the time and money are at stake.
4) Obtain a comprehensive proposal.
Before starting your job, be certain that you find a detailed written proposal by your source. A written proposal will detail the technical approach to be used, all work to be provided from the website vendor, all project expenses, and assumptions.
Make sure the proposal details all the job needs and spells out how extra labor will be defined and approved. Make sure that the proposal clearly details the responsibilities of both parties therefore there is no finger-pointing if there are job delays.
5) Check seller references.
Before signing a suggestion or giving anyone a go-ahead in your job, make sure you have references for both people or the business you’re thinking about using for your project.