Collaborating on a Website Design for Your Business

Designing a website for your business is an important part of attracting new customers. Savvy business owners turn to website designers to help them bring their vision for their company in the digital space to life.

However, there is often a disconnect between website designers and their clients.

Here are some potential areas for a communication breakdown between website designer and client, and some ideas for easier collaboration with a web design company.

Website Design for Your Business is Just the First Step

After listening carefully to the needs and goals of the business owner, the designer creates a website design and then shares it with the client so it can be approved before it moves into development. However, sometimes the client does not fully understand the whole process and mistakenly sees the design as the completed work rather than one step in the process. When this happens, clients can end up frustrated.

For example, the client may not understand that buttons, sliders, and images in the website design they are seeing cannot be clicked on. They are used to viewing a live website and clicking on elements within the site so it may seem strange to them that they cannot click on the elements on the page. They may also see a static image when the live website will have moving elements when it is finished.

To avoid these situations, website designers should carefully explain the process to the client before starting work on a project. Similarly, business owners should clearly express their expectations for the project including what they expect to see before a website project moves from design to development.

Have an Animated Conversation About Website Design for Your Business

One way designers are using to get around the challenge of static images is by using animated GIFs. Sometimes it can be difficult to convey the full functionality of a site from a static image. The reality is that a JPEG image of what a website will look like does not demonstrate the functionality of a website and often leads to a disconnect between the designer and the client.

Animated GIFs are a great way to demonstrate the functionality of a future website. GIFs can be the full size of the website and show how buttons, sliders, and images will work on a website.

By using a GIF of the site, a designer can use an animation that displays the whole site and then shows one action at a time. Alternatively, if time permits, the designer can show all the elements on the site at one time.

Either way, it’s best for the client and the designer to sit down together and walk through the website design. This way, if you are the client, you can ask the designer any questions you may have.

Effectively communicating the design of a website is critical to both the business owner and the designer. Having a conversation aided by visuals that demonstrate the functionality of the site design is an important part of the process. Taking the time to ask and answer questions is the best way ensure a successful website design project.

For more information about website design services for your business, contact Blueprint today.