What to Look for in a Web Designer

You want your website to look professional, so you've decided to hire a web designer. Depending on the size and complexity of your site, you may need a web development team to handle all the backend aspects. Web content is another area. Your web hosting provider is yet another. But let's focus on website design.

A professional appearance is the starting point, but going only by appearance would be like choosing a car based on what it looked like without driving it. A website as well as a car must be able to perform various functions and to operate smoothly.

Beyond the ability to create a design that looks good, what do you need to look for in a web designer?

Web design skills

Just about anyone can put together a website using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) program such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage. But while WYSIWYG programs can help speed up the design process, they don't produce professional-quality sites. They tend to use extra and invalid code that needs to be cleaned up, or pages may load slowly or display improperly.

Whether web designers use WYSIWYG programs or they hand-code, they need to know HTML to create layouts or fix problems created by WYSIWYG programs. CSS knowledge is needed to customize the site appearance to your preferences. Designers need graphic design skills to create site graphics, and they need to know basic web design principles.

In addition, if you want specific technologies such as Flash used at your site, you need a designer who can work with that technology. Or you may find a web design team with at least one person who has each of the needed skills.

Basic knowledge about SEO and usability

Search engine optimization, or SEO, starts at design level. Web designers don't need to be SEO experts, but they ought to know SEO basics. For example, they should know to use keywords in title tags and, where suitable, in navigation and in alt tags for images. They should know not to use black hat techniques such as keyword stuffing in alt tags, using doorway pages, or using JavaScript for navigation or any other essential part of the site.

Usability includes clear and intuitive navigation, colors that aid in rather than hinder finding one's way around, and readable font sizes (preferably with the ability for users to resize them). With usability testing, specific problems can be found and corrected.

Artistic ability

Skills such as HTML and CSS coding can be taught. To an extent, so can artistic ability. People can learn how to make graphics, and they can learn web design principles.

Beyond skills and knowledge is artistic talent. Some people have it, and some don't. Others may have talent but haven't learned how to apply it to create professional-quality designs.

Personal taste is of course part of the equation. When you find web designers whose work you like, ask friends and colleagues what they think of the designs. Their reactions will help you know how the public will react to a design that the designer creates for you.

A portfolio you like

Experienced web designers have portfolios of their designs. Study those designs and click your way through the websites. Consider these factors:

• Do the designs (colors, layout, graphics, style, etc.) appeal to you?
• Do they suit the site content and target audience? Is each one distinct?
• Do the pages load fast?
• Do the pages display equally well in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and any other browsers you test them in?
• Do the pages work without a horizontal scrollbar in resolutions of 800X600 and up?
• Is the navigation easy to follow?

Services you want

While you're at the sites of web designers, look beyond the portfolios. Among their qualifications, they should list the services they offer. Do you need any programming done for your site? Do you want a professional web writer? Would you like a web design and web hosting package? Are you looking for a designer who will maintain your site for you?

Many web designers offer services beyond web design or work with people who have complementary skills. If a web designer doesn't list all the services you're looking for, ask. He or she may be able to accommodate your needs.

Good communication

Only personal contact with web designers you're considering will tell you if you can work comfortably with them. Contact them, ask them questions about your needs and their qualifications, and listen to their responses. Pay attention to questions that they ask you. They need to know a lot about your business and expectations if they're going to create a site tailored to your wants and needs.

If they can't do something that you want, or if they don't think that it can or should be done, how do they respond? Do you feel comfortable with the way they address your concerns and possibly disagree with what you think is best?

You'll be spending a lot of time communicating with your web designer, especially if you're hiring a designer to maintain your site for you after it's finished. Finding out beforehand how you interact is time well spent.

Good references

When you've narrowed your list to one or two web designers, contact some of their previous and current clients. Ask them how the projects went, how any difficulties were handled, and if they'd hire the same designer again. Also confirm that the web designs were created by the designers who included them in their portfolios.

Related articles

See also these blog articles for related information:

• When to Hire a Web Designer
• Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content From Design
• You Need Successful Website Architecture
• Test Your Website's Usability