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When a designer crafts a website for a client, he or she incorporates the initial information the client gave about their criteria. For instance, the client may want a “flashy” website, or one that is more formal and subdued. No matter the appearance, the designer must construct an eye-appealing package that also achieves the client’s goals.

If I could spend just half an hour with web design clients before starting to plan their website, it would be all about the most basic tenets of web design, tenets that apply whether a website rents cars or publishes haiku. That way, when I go back to my studio and labor over bit, bytes, and color palettes, I know that the client and I are on the same page and working toward a common goal.

The client/designer relationship could be incredibly more productive if clients get an opportunity for “Design 101,” including elements like:

• White Space (many clients have so much to say that they sacrifice appearance and effectiveness by crowding too much text onto their site)

• Navigation (clients need to put themselves at their customers’ cursor and understand exactly where that customer will want to go)

• Words That Work (since customers only scan websites, word choice is critical in getting the message across)

Website designers spend countless hours educating themselves through informal channels such as web design tutorial blogs, poring over hundreds of design articles contrasting good design with poor design, and, in some cases matriculating into college programs. Clients don’t have the time, resources, or desire to dig this deeply. That’s why they hire designers! However, a little bit of consumer education can go a long way toward a mutually satisfactory web design outcome.

Knowing nothing about the graphic and web design industry, I was intimidated, thinking I was going to be taken advantage of.

Michael Porcaro, General Manager Father and Son Moving and Storage

Like Porcaro, general consumers need education about not only the process of design but some ideas behind what makes a design effective. Since website design is so subjective, a client and designer who share an understanding of the basic principles of effective design can make the best use of their valuable time together. A website designer brings many different experiences to the design process, and the client is understandably focused on one business (theirs), one in which the client is usually highly emotionally invested. The client brings something the designer does not have the time to develop – a detailed understanding of his or her product. Understanding the basics of web design will continue to help the client as the website design evolves along with the business.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 10:50 am and is filed under In The News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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