How to Work With a Web Design Team

Your company has decided it needs a new website. You’ve found a team you can trust and they have all the right qualifications. You’ve viewed examples of their work and maybe even talked to some of their clients. Now it’s time to get down to business. Building websites can sometimes be overwhelming, especially at the beginning when there seems to be so much to do. Here are a few simple things to consider that will help the project run more smoothly.

Know the process

Since building your company’s site is not something you do every day, you might not know where to begin. You are left in the trust of the web professionals you hired, because after all, this is what they do. Have they laid out the process for you? Do you understand it? Are there going to be site navigation mockups and wireframes? What format will the mockups be in? Understanding the overall process will not only help you know what you’re getting into, but should help ease some of the uncertainty you may be feeling.

Define the timeline and your role in it

You should work with your team to determine a feasible timeline and what your role as well as theirs is going to be in it. How involved should you be? How involved do you want to be? Can you get the content to them in time? Are you going to be holding up the process? It’s important for you and the team to stay as close to the timeline as possible. If you can’t get them the content or make decisions according to the timeline the project could lose momentum. Then it ends up costing you money for the time it takes the team to become familiar with the project again.

What are your likes and dislikes?

If you have specific ideas about the design features of your site - fonts, colors, images - let them know. If you’d rather they come up with all the ideas for the ‘look and feel’ of the site then let them, but discuss this before the mockups begin. Try surfing the web and find examples of sites you really like and explain to them why. Also, give examples of sites you really dislike so they can avoid repeating those same design styles. The more the team knows the better your site will be.

Keep an open mind

For the first round of mockups the team may come up with something totally surprising to you. Let them explain their concepts and let it sit with you for a while before you make a decision. Then come back to your team and discuss revisions and tailoring the look to what you would like. Open collaboration on both sides will make the final result so much better so be honest with your criticism, a good designer can handle it.

Understand and consider the technical issues

When designing your site try to determine who your audience is and what browsers they’re likely using. Will your site have fast downloads and will it be database driven? Are you are planning on maintaining the site yourself, if so do you want a content management system? Is your site being coded keeping search engine optimization in mind? If those last few sentences went right over your head that’s ok, your design team is there to help you understand them. Be sure to discuss these technical issues before the design process begins as it may impact the design.

It is important to have clear communication with your design team as great things can happen when you stay in sync.

Further reading: How To Hire A Web Developer