Avoid these common website design issues so you end up with a wonderful website—and still like your web designer when you are done.
Have you ever struggled with working with a website designer? The design wasn’t what you asked for, the content wasn’t accurate, updates or editing took ages to fix? This article isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a list of reasons that could explain the problems you may have experienced with a website designer. These are, of course, from a website designer’s point of view. I have dealt with clients that have had mixed relationships with other designers or even myself. So, what can cause trouble between a web designer and a client?
Designing a New Website is All About Strategy
Designing a new website, or even updating one, is a commitment. The process is truly a work of art. Design itself is not easy and not everyone can do it well. To be a good website designer you have to work within a world that is ever-changing. Even so, your work still has to feel permanent. Here are a few things to consider when looking for a website designer to initiate the process of building or redesigning your website.
1. Three main consideration before starting web design and development
In the fluctuating world of the Internet, you need three things to make your website whole and functional: Domain, Hosting, and Google My Business. These pieces are vital to the health, security, and functionality of your site (to learn more about how each of these work or need to be set up, click on the links and read the supporting short blog posts.)
2. The title “Web Designer” does not necessarily mean “Web Developer”
This is more than just a matter of semantics. The responsibilities of a web designer vs. a web developer are fundamentally different, even though the lines do cross paths to a degree. So what is the difference between a website designer and web developer?
- A web designer’s job is to make a site look pleasing to the eye. They will also ensure that the structure makes sense to your audience.
- A web developer’s job is to make sure that the site functions as intended from a coding, server management, and security standpoint.
3. Is the designer you’ve chosen qualified? Do they have a quality staff to help support them?
Basically, what you should be looking for in a designer or company is that they can do good web design work. As mentioned before, web design is a matter of skill and being able to move a static design into a flexible one. Just because a designer has the ability to create amazing logos, t-shirts, posters, etc. does not mean they can build websites. Designing for a static medium like paper is fundamentally different from designing for a website. The web designer will know how to make websites look good on both your phone and a 30” monitor. They will understand how different browsers display web pages differently. They will also know how to deal with accessibility issues. Some designers are simply unable to switch or move away from static design to flexible and end up designing websites that are only functional on one or two device sizes. This causes issues for your users. Even worse, your placement on Google searches will suffer if your site is not optimized for flexible design.
4. Does the web designer have time to devote to your project?
You are probably busy running your own business and don’t have time to learn and start designing a website on your own. The same goes for a web designer. Just because it’s a web designer’s job to build websites does not mean that they have endless hours to work on a single project. Typically, a designer will be designing at least 2-4 websites all at the same time. Some designers will take everything on themselves, from content writing all the way through to design. Others will only take what you have already created to present it in a website format. Either way, these processes require incremental meetings, design time, asset collection time, and more—just to start!
5. Are you a good fit for each other?
This is probably one of the most important elements when considering who you should hire to help you design a website. The person you pick must design in a way that matches your brand. If you choose someone that doesn’t understand your brand, then there’s really no way that they can develop a site to match. There’s also the matter of matching personality types. Chemistry is not only crucial for romantic relationships. You’ll need to find someone whose character meshes well with yours. Your designer will become a member of your team for the duration of your web design project–and maybe even after the project is finished. If your personalities clash, then you’ll most likely end up with a bad taste in your mouth, assuming you manage to stick it out. If you liked this article, please feel free to share it around and help some of your friends or family that may want a website in the future. Also, if you are in the market for a new website, InSync Media can help you from start to finish. Click here to learn more about InSync Media’s web design services!
