10 TIPS FOR WORKING WITH A WEB DESIGN EXPERT | DESIGNER OR AGENCY
In this article I am going to cover how to work with a web designer, since more people have horror stories because they just did not have the right expectations. They did not know the right questions to ask when hiring a potential web designer.
Oftentimes when you embark on hiring a web designer or company to work on your website, it’s usually something you have never had experience in doing. You probably never hired a web designer before or it’s your second time. Point is this is not your area of expertise and the process is pretty foreign to you.
For the record; these tips can apply to any creative field. Eg, Photographers, graphic designers, social media managers, copy writers, content creators, creative directors, cake artists, etc, Just think of any type of creative custom work.
So how to work with a graphic designer, brand designer, web designers, coaches even? Have you ever wondered what information a web designer needs?
Here are 10 tips on working with your web designer:
Get very clear on the process
Trust their process
Be realistic
Provide examples
Keep in mind the first draft is not final
Avoid vague feedback
Communicate effectively
Be co-operative
Don’t be controlling/ micro-manage
Know when the project is complete
1) Get very clear on the process
Find out from them what the process entails. Usually a very organized professional will already have that put together via a pdf, infographic, on their website, on the consult call or in the project management software. Make notes and be sure to refer to it when you feel lost or confused.
2) Trust the process
Trusting the process means to follow their process and pay attention to everything. Working with someone in the creative field requires your time and attention to the project. As a customer/ client you may not at first understand why a particular step in the process is there but it’s usually very crucial to getting what you want and having a successful project.
It’s important you trust yourself that you hired the right person for the job. They after all have been doing this for a while and they know best why they set up certain policies and procedures. Now I am not saying follow blindly, it’s okay to ask questions for understanding but don’t challenge the process.
3) Be Realistic
Be realistic both with time frames and value. What I mean by this, if you opt for a budget friendly package don’t expect the full bells and whistles. Budget friendly packages are designed to get you in the door and a place to start. Also be realistic with time frames and understand that if there is a delay in your communication there would be delays in you getting the finished product.
If you have gone non-responsive and this throws off the timeline of the project, refrain from being overly excited to know when you can get changes, revisions or the final product.
4) Provide Examples
Proving examples is also known as sharing inspiration images. This does not mean to create a design yourself or does it mean to take a finished design and expect it to be replicated. You came to a professional to provide a custom solution specifically for you. Provide the inspiration for them to get an idea of your aesthetic and allow them to solve the problem, meaning let them create and to design.
Working with any type of creative is a collaborative process, you need to understand your role in supporting the designer, however taking over their role is not supportive but demoralizing to the entire process and working relationship. Think of it like hiring a photographer and taking their camera during the shoot and positioning the frame and shot for them, then you running back in front of the camera and telling them go, click that shutter button now. It’s not going to go well.
5) Keep in mind the first draft is not final
The first draft is just that, the first draft design. In the creative process of design, you will get a web design from which you can refine and improve upon. So don’t shoot off the roof if it’s not quite what you were “expecting”. Your job at this stage is to give organized feedback in the form of bullet points as to what elements in the design are not sitting right with you.
Logo design et al all go through this same natural design process. Provide feedback in bullet points of what you like (what you would keep) and don’t like (what you don’t want to keep) and again allow the professional to go back to the creative drawing board with that feedback to refine the design. Do not suggest the solution. That’s the creative’s job. Let them do that. We will explore this point further in point number
6) Avoid Vague Feedback
Simply saying you “don’t like the design” is not very helpful to getting what you really want. Take some time to organize and reflect on what is not sitting right with you about the design, the layout, the colors, etc.
What I notice here in my 10+ years of designing is that clients who say this are providing lazy feedback and trying to rush past this part of the process. This will not help you get what you want.
It is much more productive to let the design sit with you and list the likes and dislikes specifically and even revisit your inspiration images to see how your inspiration could have brought about that result, see which elements you might have suggested but realize probably don’t work together as you had hoped.
7) Practice to communicate effectively
If you don’t understand something or something seemingly doesn’t make sense. Instead of challenging it off the bat, ask a question, voice concerns. Most times your question would be met with a reasonable logical answer.
Also, simply sitting there in horror staring at the design for a solid 3 minutes is very comfortable for your designer. This is also a result of not knowing how to communicate effectively and as such say something that would allow you time to break from the meeting to process the design in your own time. As previously mentioned, sit with the design and reflect. Effective communication is crucial to the success of any project. Web design and other creative projects are no different.
8) Be co-operative
Sometimes projects run smoothly and it’s a match made in heaven. Other times other projects require more work than others. It would require patience on both ends and a willingness to work on it until you arrive at a desired design.
The more cooperative and the more attention given from the onset the faster your designer can hit it out the park for you and you can avoid going over the amount of revisions that came with your package, and as such avoid racking up extra costs to your final bill or budget for this project.
9) Don’t be controlling/ micromanage the project
Allow the creative you hired space to do their job. What tends to happen when the first draft isn’t exactly what they hoped is that clients try to take control and this leads to micromanagement.
It may seem harmless at first because it’s just this little thing here you think you need to fix but what happens is that the designer begins to become excluded from the creative process and then they lose interest in having any input at all.
The best thing you can do is step back, get fresh air, and then have a conversation and start from the top with your inspiration images, get clarity on what you want and communicate that again to the designer.
10) Know when it’s complete
It will never be perfect. Ask any creative who continues to work on their own personal projects striving for perfection. Perfection just doesn’t exist, you will always see something that you have a new idea for and thus will leave your project unfinished and huge tall bill in the end because after all time is money.
Especially with a website it’s like a house, your house is never complete. There is always something more you want to add another home improvement project you want to embark on, it will never be complete. Websites simply launch. So use your time constructively and get to the best possible result so you can launch your amazing website.