How To Choose a Web Design

How To Choose a Web Design

Choosing a web design company can be a overwhelming task for many small business owners. I've seen many clients give up on the whole process after interviewing with several web design companies. Fortunately there are some easy tricks and tips that can help you easily make the right choice for you. Let's take a look at a few of the myths surrounding this topic that make this decision so difficult.

1. Myth #1: A potential web designer should show me a visual mock-up of the proposed site that they will design for me. This is one of the most frustrating myths that many web designers face. It is a partially self imposed frustration because many website design companies do offer visual mock-ups when pitching their services to potential client. In the end however, the client is the one who loses. If a web design firm shows you a proposed site design before you've hired them and you don't hire them in the end, their cost of sales has risen because they still have to offset the labor costs of designing a website that was never sold purchased.

As their cost of sales rises, so must their cost of services in order to maintain profitability. These increased costs are passed on to the clients that do hire them. So in the end, hiring one of these designers will leave you either overpaying for their services, or they'll just be selling you a pre-designed, non-custom website template that they've tried to sell to countless other people. INSTEAD: The best way to determine the quality of work that a potential web design company can offer you is to look at their portfolio of past projects. A design firm's resume is their portfolio and any potential web design company should proudly display their past projects to you. If they do not, or will not, then run away as fast as you can.

2. Myth #2: A web designer with previous design experience in your particular industry is better than one with no previous experience in your industry. This myth is near and dear to me since my design company has been burned by this one on several occasions. Why is this not important? A designer should approach every project with zero assumptions. This means they should never assume that one auto mechanic needs or even wants the same design solutions that another does. Industry experience is for one size fits all designers who specialize in offering the same thing to every client within a particular industry. We specialize in designing customized solutions to every business, with any budget, every time. When interviewing a potential design company, they should be asking you detailed questions about your business, your industry, and your goals for your website.

A website should be designed to solve problems, meet objectives, and encourage customer action. Industry experience doesn't tell a design firm what individual problems your business is facing. We've worked with two different photographers simultaneously. One was trying to expand, while the other was just getting started. While these two businesses shared an industry, they had completely different needs for their websites. INSTEAD: When it comes to web design, individual needs trump industry. It's important to look for a web design company that asks the questions that addresses those needs, not simply one who has designed several other websites for businesses in your industry. At the end of the day, the graphic design elements used in website design are basically the same and do not change based on the industry that we're designing for. So before you even interview with a designer, make a list of goals and objectives for your website. Give this list to your designer and ask them how they can help you meet these.

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

As a former graphic designer (working primarily in print media) I would say this is a rather cogent essay. I would add though, concerning Myth #1 -- As in all design, no mock-ups should be provided for an initial introduction pitch. That pitch is the job of the sales and promotion staff, not the design staff. Designers meet clients after the firm is hired. The promotion staff should be showing the firm's already paid, successful layouts to prospective clients. I found the same issues you mention here when the last magazine I worked for began branching out into web design. I really don't understand how this fundamental shift in service sales came about.

Frankly, it's all moot anyway. Most small businesses seem to think they can be their own designers because the software is so readily available and user friendly. They pack it full of all the bells and whistles the software has to offer and call it "professional" looking design. I've even seen folks who get hold of that software and with no understanding of the subtleties of design, art, or layout, set themselves up as web designers; granted, their efforts amount to little more than a side business usually. Everyone thinks they have the best design ideas "ever to come down the [preverbal] pike." I hope things will shift back to real designers some day; I think it's heading that way.