As a business owner looking for a website designer, you have an enormous amount of choice for who to work with—particularly at the level for a smaller business. Almost everyone knows someone who ‘does websites’ and any advertising brochure will show you more…not to mention the horde of results from a quick Google search! So how do you find out if someone you picked from all these options is going to be the right designer (or design team) for you?
Let’s take a step back for a moment. Essentially, a website project is a series of decisions – starting with “Should I hire you?” You’re looking for the best design, a design that will help you meet your goals while working with a compatible team and staying within your budget. With so much choice, the key to making the right decision is communication. Remember designers are also asking “Should I work with you?”—looking for clients who are ready to accomplish something meaningful, with an appropriate budget, and who will be good partners during the project.
In effect, the process of choosing a designer is the first part of the project’s ‘Discovery phase’. It can take just a few days, or more than a year if you’re in the early stages of considering a project. (That’s fine—as a designer, it’s always best to speak to people as early in their planning as possible.)
I’ve found that while everyone has different needs for choosing a designer and planning a project, there are some approaches to your early discussions and communication with a designer that will make it easier to decide if you want to work together. They also make it easier to walk away on good terms if you and a designer aren’t going to be a good fit—and often, I find, give enough insight to recommend a design team who may be a better choice. Looking further forward, it better prepares both you and the designer for each other’s communication and decision-making styles—which helps the whole project go more smoothly.
These approaches may seem obvious, but as with many obvious things they’re often not so obvious in the ‘heat of the moment.’ So, when you’re talking with a potential design team, remember to:
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Be clear about all your needs, goals, concerns & priorities
When you work with a designer, you’re placing the future of your business, products and services in their hands. For the sake of your business, you need to be absolutely clear with them! It’s always a good idea to ask what the particular people you are talking to need to know to understand and scope the project. The answers are often revealing and may be surprising.
Putting it from the designer’s point of view, good design is user-centric: and when designing a project approach, you, the client, are the user. Your needs, goals, concerns and priorities are not just important, they’re the core essentials the project is designed around. The more you can share about your needs and context, the the better ‘fit’ the proposed project structure will be. It’s similar to the way that, in a focus group, responses uttered to impress participants can mislead a design team: not sharing project realities (and contexts) will make it hard to create the right proposal.
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Share all relevant constraints
These are things like money, time-scale, business context, and must-have ideas or tactics. You can probably think of others, specific to your business, as well.
Money is usually the thorniest constraint. It’s hard to say “This is my budget,” to someone you haven’t decided to trust or hire yet. But if you’re upfront about your budget as far as possible (some people honestly don’t have a number until they hear a ‘ballpark figure’ and that’s fine), the whole process is a lot more efficient. This saves time and money.
Design is about finding a new way to solve a problem within constraints. Constraints themselves are not a difficulty: they are essential. To your designer, constraints give structure to problems and solutions, spur creativity, and help judge the success of a solution. It helps if you can separate actual constraints from personal preferences and must-have ideas. But do mention those too.
Bottom line – even if you think some of your constraints may be deal-breakers, give your designer a chance. The results will be better for it (and your designer will be happier).
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Ask every single question you have. Think of some more. Ask those too.
Of all projects, the best start with people who ask a lot of questions! Good designers don’t mind being challenged on any aspect of their work. It’s something that should continue through the whole project. Go on, ask.
If you’re talking to me, ask how I work, why I’ve make certain choices, or how I’d respond in hypothetical situations. Ask why a proposal is structured that particular way. If anything is unclear, ask about that, too. Proposals, just like every other part of a project, are better with client feedback. Don’t hope someone will ‘get around’ to answering your question and don’t feel awkward about “not speaking design language.” Designers don’t expect you to know their business, but we do rely on you to know yours and to question everything we do from that basis!
When you’re in talks with a designer, you’re shopping for someone to solve problems for you. Asking lots of questions will help you evaluate what’s on offer, and get a sense for what people will be like to work with.
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Be open about your process
For you, as for me (and every other design team), the selection process is an overhead. It’s the work we have to do to get to the ‘real’ work.
Particularly at this stage, everyone wants to use their time efficiently. The more a prospective designer knows about your decision-making process, the better they’ll be equipped to give you what you need to reach a decision—even if that decision is that you won’t be a good fit.
If circumstances change—the project is off, you’ve selected someone else, or an internal team is taking on the work—just pick up the phone, or send a quick e-mail to anyone you’ve been talking to. Yes, it’s a little bit awkward, but it lets everyone feel good about the discussions we had and move on. Stuff happens. But please—if your non-disclosure rules allow!—include a one-sentence summary of what happened, as accurately as you can. No-one will have to wonder if they offended you (and they may be able to make things better for next time).
And remember, “No news” is also news—especially if the whole process is taking a while! A one-sentence update is both helpful and humane.
The selection process is often the worst part of a website project and an uncomfortable period for all concerned. Trite as it sounds, no two businesses are the same: your people, processes and goals are all individual. What you need from a designer is every bit as individual, so there are no real short-cuts. Follow these ideas, though, and you’ll have an efficient, open and productive exchange of ideas—and very often, end up with a much better idea of what you’re looking for than you had in the beginning. Once you know both the designer and the proposal inside out, it can be surprisingly easy to decide if they’re right for you.
