When designing a new website, or redesigning an elderly site, there is a delicate equilibrium between the creative-the appearance and feel of this website and that the technical-which is the thing that makes the website function.
Over-emphasis of one, or the other, will result in a web site that either looks excellent, but does not work that well, or will create a site that works great but does not look great in any way.
Many website designers are either very specialized or very creative. Seldom do you find a site designer who’s great at both dealing with the technical issues of building a website and who’s also a great graphic designer?
Finding the Best of Both Worlds
Ideally, you will want to obtain an individual or company which could provide you a high level of experience in the look and texture of the website, and provide outstanding technical solutions. While graphic designers can normally create beautiful website designs, their ability to create complex technical solutions might be rather limited.
And conversely, a developer or web developer who is very technically savvy may not be in a position to present your website design that extra sparkle it needs to really shine.
Web Designers Are Not Developers
Programmers create software or applications and typically don’t have any training or expertise in how a site should look or operate.
Most developers, while technically competent, understand computer languages out and can code your site, but developers typically have no graphic design training. Most developers come in a university’s computer science curriculum, and few, if any, will have a graphic design class as an optional. While you want your designer to be able to fix technical issues or at least oversee them, site visitors are visually interacting with your site, so the appearance and feel of your website, navigation, and organization of information are all extremely important.
Fantastic Website Designers View the Big Picture
Truly great site designers will have the ability to look beyond the challenge of creating your website, and will also need to know where your website fits into your overall marketing plan, and also what the principal goals are to the web site. Too many websites are made without paying careful attention to exactly what the site will really achieve.
Establishing primary and secondary goals for a site is extremely important. But, building the greatest site that misses the mark fails to attain fundamental website goals is just a waste of everybody’s time and money. You can usually tell if your website design resource is looking beyond the immediate project by the questions they ask-or do not ask.
Speak English, Not Techno-Babble
A great site designer will be knowledgeable, but will not resort to utilizing excess techno-babble to confuse or overly impress a customer. Fantastic web designers know what they are talking about, but if not talk down to you, the customer. Cornerstone Digital
Educated customers are the best clients. You do not have to understand everything your developer understands, but you need to understand that they are truly capable and they’re able to communicate efficiently with you. Think of your site designer as being a type of partner in your organization’s marketing efforts; a part of your overall team.
Only Get it Done Already!
Great website designers are organized and will manage their time effectively. Many times, technology projects take far longer than they need to as too little attention is being paid to job progress and resolving issues that are stalling a job.
Your web developer should be a self-starter, and ought not to rely on you reminding them that the project is behind schedule. If you are using a business to make your website, make sure there is a project supervisor involved, that can provide weekly status meetings and who is pro-active in resolving issues that will influence the deadline of the project and the website launch date.
Professionalism
While many individuals and companies offer website design solutions with a high level of expertise, the number of professionalism changes from individual to individual and company to company.
When first calling a potential site designer, look for signals of professionalism-or absence of professionalism. If you phone them, do you get a call back in a timely fashion? Does the developer or business keep regular office hours? When you send an email, is it replied promptly, and therefore are the answers professional?
It is always best to try and avoid working with a less than professional company, but assessing someone before you have a chance to start working together can be hard. In the first contact, you make along with your seller, be on the lookout for signs that someone may be less than professional. cornerstonedigital.ca/
Working with an individual or a company that is not professional will only lead to frustration on your part as the project moves along or grinds to a halt. But working with somebody who knows the business world and values your time, returns your calls and emails promptly and professionally, will make the job experience much more pleasant.
Five Tips for Locating a Wonderful Web Designer
1) Get referrals.
In case you have business associates or if you know business owners who have good sites, inquire who provided their site expertise and if they’d recommend a developer or company to you.
2) Review portfolios or example websites.
Have prospective designers you are considering to show you their work and to help you through a couple of site projects, explaining their development process in detail.
3) Ask questions.
Interview your prospective site designer, as you would when interviewing someone to work for you. While it may be a short-term assignment, it’s nevertheless an important project and both time and money are at stake.
4) Get a comprehensive proposal.
Before beginning your project, be certain to find a detailed written proposal by your resource. A clearly written proposal will detail the technical approach to be utilized, all work to be provided by the website vendor, all project costs, and assumptions.
Guarantee that the proposal details all of the job requirements and spells out the way additional work will be defined and approved. Guarantee the proposal clearly details the responsibilities of both parties therefore there’s absolutely no finger-pointing if there are job delays.
5) Check seller references.
Before signing a suggestion or giving anyone a go-ahead on your job, be sure to have references for both individuals or the company you are thinking about using for your job.
