Finding a good web designer is not an easy task. It is a very competitive field where it can be difficult to disentangle the true professionals from the many others who enter this complex profession without mastering it. Beware of offers that seem too good to be true, because they often are. The creation of a successful Web presence requires a serious analysis of your needs, very good project planning and creative and technical execution at the height of ever-increasing standards.
Beyond the technical expertise or creative talent that the professional must have, there are some very telling signs of behavior or attitude that you should pay attention to when contacting a firm or a web designer. The first 3 basic criteria listed below are of this order. The other two are more technical. They will give you good clues as to how your project might turn out if you choose to work with a given professional. Some criteria may seem self-evident, but you would be surprised how many “professionals” in service companies do not possess these essential qualities…
The qualities to look for
1- listening
Beyond the expertise related to his field, listening is in my opinion the most important quality that you should look for in a web professional. It is by asking the right questions and above all by listening to your answers that he will be able to understand your particular situation and define the objectives of your project. If the professional tries to “sell” you ready-made solutions without trying to determine your real needs (which can sometimes be more modest than you imagine), look elsewhere. Ready-made solutions may cost less in the short term, but rarely meet your specific needs.
2- communication
Another very important criterion in my eyes is the quality and speed of communication. If you are contacting a Web professional for the first time by e-mail or another form of indirect communication . and not by telephone, they should be able to answer you quickly and clearly indicate how he will proceed for the rest of the things. You must be perfectly clear on your side about what you expect from him in this initial communication.
On the other hand, if you are making a formal quote request, the professional should at least ask to speak to you on the phone to ask questions and clarify the scope and objectives of the project. Better yet, he should ask to meet with you to discuss the details of your project in person if possible. Nothing beats a face-to-face discussion to get an idea of the person you are dealing with and especially to sort out the real requirements of a project.
The preparation of a realistic quote depends on the quality of the information obtained by the professional. It does not take a few minutes to prepare and you should leave it a few days to do a preliminary analysis of your project and then assess its scope and costs realistically. He can then prepare a detailed quote for you (see item 5 below for more information on this subject).
In any case, the professional should clearly communicate the next steps to you. For example, how he will proceed on his side and if he expects something from you in order to move forward. If the professional’s communications are cloudy or slow at this point, imagine what it might be like during the project. So be careful!
3- transparency
This criterion is obviously more difficult to judge if you do not personally know the professional with whom you are communicating. When I talk about transparency here, I mean honesty and openness of course, but also the ability to tell it like it is. The professional is there to put his experience to work for you… even if he has to tell you things you would rather not hear. He has an overall vision of the project and is not emotionally invested. A website is above all a tool that will serve your business and your own clientele or target audience. Business objectives and end-user needs should always take precedence over personal tastes. Graphic design is not art,
When I talk about honesty, I also mean honesty about the professional’s expertise and his ability to deliver the goods on time. In my opinion, it is better for a professional to refuse a project and refer the client to another professional who can better meet his needs than to deliver an incomplete or late project.
On the other hand, you also need to realistically assess your timelines, requirements, and true needs to see if they are reasonable. Could the project be delivered in smaller phases and only include the truly priority features at launch, with the rest pushed to later phase(s)? If so, there is no need to put undue pressure on the professional to deliver a complete but substandard product too quickly.
4- the way to evaluate the costs of the project
As I said above, every project is different. You should therefore avoid working with web professionals who estimate the cost of projects per page or who have fixed price grids per page on their site. Unless your site contains hundreds of pages where content will have to be inserted, the number of pages is not a really significant criterion for evaluating the cost of a project. The bulk of the work takes place at the planning level, the analysis of your needs and then the graphic design and layout of the site according to the goals and objectives derived from this analysis. Then comes the coding of the first HTML and CSS template from which the other pages can be quickly adapted. The programming of particular functionalities, the design of a database,