What if you don’t like your web designer’s concept of your website?
It happens to the best of us occasionally: we design a concept for a website and the client doesn’t like it. Unlike the technical specification of a website—which tends to be black and white in nature—web design is subjective and aesthetic so what one person deems to be a masterpiece could be an eyesore to someone else. If you don’t like your web designer’s concept of your website don’t panic. Here are some tips to help save the relationship of both the client and the web designer.
Be descriptive, constructive and helpful
Don’t just say, ‘I don’t like it!’ State your reasons and try and be as helpful as possible. Any criticism should be constructive and expressed in a way that doesn’t cause offense. Explain with as much description as possible what you do and do not like about the concept.
Try and use visual examples
The adage ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ applies to web design too. Designers are visual people; even if you’re not artistic sometimes it helps to convey your ideas with a simple sketch (e.g. when describing a layout)—which can be far more effective than words alone.
Find links in design galleries
Examples of sites you like are really useful to web designers. It’s not that they’re going to plagerise any links you send them but it gives them an excellent starting point when creating your concept.
Avoid time–wasting
Finally, avoid wasting time. Your web designer’s time is finite and he or she can’t keep creating concept after concept until they happen upon one you like. While thankfully I have never had to use it, as a protection to me I cap the amount of time spent on concepts and subsequent amends in my contract.
A web design concept you don’t like is not the end of the world; you just need to work together on it. Remember, any web designer who values their reputation doesn’t want to produce a poor web design any more than you want to pay for one.
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