Like in any field, more often that not, web designers are presented with questions that shouldn’t be asked. Granted, it’s human nature to ask these questions when someone is not familiar with the industry or perhaps not tech savvy. It’s ok, we forgive you. Below are 10 of these questions that shouldn’t be expressed to your web designer.
1. Can you make my logo bigger?
While an important piece of a company, when it comes to websites, a logo does not have to be prominent on the site. Something to keep in mind with sites is the fact that it is essentially a content management tool, if your logo stands out too much, visitors will be distracted by the logo. Size does not play an important role for logos on sites either due to them being in a lot of pages already. For example, your logo can be a favicon or used as a link to the home page. In terms of design, large icons are very rarely a solution.
2. Can you make up content?
To make a website there are a lot of components that are needed, however, the most important is a collaborative effort between client and designer. As the “artist”, we are not as familiar with the purpose of your site as you are. A designer making up content for a site would be like a construction worker telling a doctor what they need in their office. As a client, it’s vital for you to either have content ready or be able to provide it with reasonable timing.
3. Can you make the site without any content?
Without any content, a site is really hard to make. Think of the site like a sandwich, what can you do with just a couple of buns? Granted, it is possible and templates exist where you can simply plug in information, however, to build a great site that has the look and feel of the content it’s displaying, the designer needs content right off the bat. When there’s content, there’s momentum; this leads to a quick and efficient process towards building your site and ensures an excellent outcome! Content is also particularly important because more often than not there are revisions that are required after inputting content and if content comes in sooner, those revisions can be made quickly.
4. Can you get me a higher rank on Google Search?
Although great web design leads to high ratings in user experience, web design is no guarantee to make you #1 on Google. At Logical Media Group, we specialize in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay per Click) which are two ways to help you get there. However, as a web designer, our skills are honed in on exactly that, web design; hence, why you should not ask a web designer, instead, inquire an SEO professional. Recently, Google updated their algorithm for how search results work and our SEO and PPC teams at LMG are very much knowledgeable on the topic.
5. Can you make these small changes for free?
Like other businesses, you get what you pay for. Suppose you’ve been charged for a certain amount of hours on a site, once surpassed, it’s all extra work. Every designer is different and some have different opinions, however, any change small or big requires work and should be treated as labor on a project; therefore paid for.
6. Can I pay you after you’ve finished the site?
The answer to this question will almost always be a “no”. Some clients will hire designers and disappear/abandon/give up in the middle of the project. This leaves the designer with half of a site built and a lot of hours that have gone unpaid. More often than not it’s best to pay half of a job up front and that way if a project gets thrown away the work does not go unpaid and there is no problem. Even under big projects with brand names, websites are often discontinued or left up in the air due to lack of content. This is why it’s important to ensure that the financial aspect of the project is settled before diving into production. Granted, the disappearing action goes both ways and a designer could do the same to a client; however, any professional designer will not do this.
7. Can I edit the code?
More often than not, clients are not HTML or CSS savvy. Asking to edit the code could potentially ruin a site and a lot of the work put into it, in turn this could turn into twice the amount of time to fix the site if in case it is not edited correctly. This would be like someone with braces asking a dentist if they can modify the process of how the braces work; the dentist is specialized in one thing and the client in another. Most times designers will give tips and instruct clients how to make simple modifications after the site is finished.
8. Can I get back to you in a few months?
As previously stated, a web project is a collaborative effort, if you take a couple of days, weeks, months, so will we. Confirming content, revising pages, and making edits requires both parties which requires time from the two entities. A lot of times a project loses momentum because of clients not having content or taking a lot of time to get back to the designer. This further elongates the process of getting a site launched and able to be seen.
9. Can you make my website exactly like website.com?
Truth be told, yes, as web designers we can make your site look exactly like madeulook.com, however, this is not a good approach for a client to chase. As with a lot of other design aspects, web design is no different; copying another site is copying another person’s work an ideas which speaks a lot about not just the designer but the client that chose to copy the site. It is good to take elements and ideas that are successful from sites and use them to your advantage; however, exact imitations are never a good idea.
10. Can you do the impossible?
As savvy as a web designer can be with HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, there are certain things that are simply impossible. Many times clients who are less cognizant as to what the current trends and patterns are in web design, request designers to construct things that are not possible to make. Although there have been many advancements in the field, we are still limited in terms of functions.
