There are some website design and redesign horror stories out there.
Designers, business owners and project managers all share in the blame.
I guess I’ve been in the latter two categories myself and Sarah is obviously on the designer side of things. It just seems that website projects get behind schedule. Maybe they don’t turn into horror stories, but there can be hurt feelings if things don’t go as planned.
Thankfully, there are also a lot of great stories of design success.
But what makes for a great website design experience?
How to Set Proper Expectations
Expectations are always at play with everything we do in life.
I enjoy watching Feherty on The Golf Channel. On one of the episodes the host, David Feherty, interviewed basketball legend Bill Russell. They were discussing golf and Russell made a great comment about golf, but it also fits well in other areas of life.
He said, and I have to paraphrase, “When I became a 5 handicap I lost my love for golf. I’m happy not playing that well.”
Once Russell got better at golf his expectations changed. He was hitting enough good shots that he felt he could become a scratch player. He probably could have, but it would have been a lot of work. He preferred the time when his expectations were more reasonable. He enjoyed the game more when he wasn’t expecting to shoot even par every time.
I’m part of the group that needs great website designs. I’ve learned that setting expectations is a balancing act. You want to make sure the project gets done, but you don’t want to assume everything will go smoothly. It won’t. There are too many variables.
Ask your designer how their last few projects went regarding timeline. Let them know you just want to create reasonable expectations. Listening to the story will help you both frame things while making sure the project continues being pushed forward.
Content: You Have to Provide It
This will blow your mind. The content for your website should actually come before the design.
It’s actually one of those catch-22 situations. It really helps the designer if you have content ready, but they realize that seeing design can help you create content.
I’ve been asked to provide content for website projects. I think starting with the content is a great way to start a design project. It actually allows you to review your business and learn a few things about yourself, the industry and the customer.
Provide what you would consider a final draft of the content for the pages. Your designer will find it much easier to create design elements on each page. Once they complete the design you can go back and review how things read and how they look. Then it’s revision time, but you’re much further ahead than you would be if you worked on the design first.
Communication Is a Cliché…for a Reason
The cliché is that communication is the key to any good relationship.
Well, the reason it’s a cliché is because it’s true and it’s not just true for a marriage.
A good test for any business-to-business relationship is how quickly the other party responds. If they respond to email within 24 hours you’re in good shape. Give them a break on the weekends.
Remember, they’re doing the same thing for you because clients tend to get behind on communicating with the designer on projects. You can either be available for questions and feedback or you can give your designer freedom to make decisions.
If you don’t do either you’ll find your project falling behind.
Conclusion
If you want to be happy with your website design project there are some things you have to do to prepare. It’s a step most businesses skip. They start reaching out to designers and pretty soon they’re in the middle of the project and things are getting slowed up.
These are the main takeaways to get you on the fast track:
- Set reasonable expectations for timelines and designs.
- Prepare your content ahead of time.
- Give feedback. Designers thrive on feedback. Tell them what you don’t necessarily love, but also tell them what you do love. Be specific. It will improve the design.
- Be available for communication or give your designer more freedom. Anything less will put the braks on the project.
Do you still have questions about website design projects?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
