Web Designer

Is it better to build your website's core functionality, and THEN make it pretty, or to start with the design in mind from the get go?

Asked by ravensunite over 12 years ago

I would say start with the design. When creating the designs you should certainly have the core functionality in mind and mapped out - this will allow the designer to design all the elements you need. Handing complete designs to a developer will allow them to be more efficient in building functionality around the designs as the whole site will be clearer in their mind and overall it will shorten the length of the project.

On a free web site is it better to sell ad space or make an app and charge for the app?

Asked by Johnc over 12 years ago

Both could work. Ad space will only generate you money if you have a large amount of traffic visiting your site - no one will want to advertise on your site if there is only 3 people visiting each day and if its pay per click advertising from Google AdSense (for example) then you won't make money from 3 people clicking on the ads. Another thing I would say with ads is don't overdo it - especially if you're a new site. Only start to slowly implement ads once you have the users and don't do it in a way that is annoying or looks like you're spamming - you'll only start to lose your new users. An app could work, although obviously there has to be the demand for your site and people really want to view it, even on the go on their mobile device. If you're a 'free site', then charging for an app wouldn't be too sensible -- at that point you wouldn't really be a free site anymore. An app for a free site should be used to encourage users to visit your site from their phone - not as a source of revenue. Plus an app will cost you money to develop, whereas advertising on your site is completely free to setup. Both could work down the line - the ads would probably come first. But again, both rely on strong demand for your website.

If a client comes to you with a concept you think is stupid, will you tell him so, or try and work within the confines of his vision?

Asked by Barb over 12 years ago

In most circumstances its not my position to say anything - I'm paid by the hour or per project to carry out work as the client instructs. Whether or not the concept is successful down the line doesn't really have much to do with me, unless the client is offering a percentage share of future profits which has been offered to me a few times. On this occasion I would probably decline taking on the job if I didn't think the concept was strong. Its much easier to work as a designer and become excited by a project if its something you believe in. Of course with any project if there is anything obvious that I think can be easily changed to help improve the concept I will always give my advice. Ideally I want everything I work on to be successful, as it reflects well on myself and my work and it means I can display it proudly in my portfolio. There have been times where I've been approached to work on sites that I really don't think have been well thought through and I've kindly declined the offer to work on them - to give you a recent example the client provided a 1 page brief, their favourite font and told me they want a million users within 1 year! At that point I know it would be a difficult project and a difficult client! I've also been offered work on sites that I wouldn't necessarily want in my portfolio - adult websites, marijuana growing websites etc. If I'm going to spend my time working hard on a project, I really want it to be something I can display in my portfolio to help attract other work from reputable and professional clients.

What's the biggest mistake start-ups make when it comes to web design?

Asked by dan79 over 12 years ago

The two most common mistakes I see with startups are not valuing how important their web presence is and not looking out for the finer details in launching a website. I may be biased, but nowadays a website really is the first port of call for nearly every potential customer - even if you're primarily an offline business. Serious amounts of money should be budgeted for a website - it should be a priority and not just another item on the startup checklist. My second point of concentrating on the finer details of a website is similar - healthy amounts of time and energy should be spent getting a website just perfect! Don't cut corners and more importantly don't let designers/developers cut corners - make sure to question anyone who tells you something isn't possible! I'm probably an extreme case doing what I do, but small things like wrongly aligned text or too much margin around a photo really make a difference. Websites should be pixel perfect! If you're a startup seeking investment or trying to impress eagle eyed potential customers then a sloppy looking website that looks like its been rushed can do you more damage than you'll ever imagine!

What do you think about what we've done with Jobstr.com :) ?

Asked by Jobstr Dan over 12 years ago

Jobstr looks great! I signed up using the form and have an answered a few questions now - I can't see anything I would change. Its very easy to use and very easy to find what you are looking for, both of which are very important!

How do you make a profit off a website?

Asked by Johnc over 12 years ago

First you need users - regular users that you can get visiting on a regular basis. If you think of any big successful website, they wouldn't be worth anything without their users. Which leads to the next question - how do you get users? Well you need something appealing, something that users actually need or want - you have to offer them something to keep them coming back. Maybe a lively forum where they can discuss a topic and become part of a community, maybe a blog with regular interesting news. You have to have something interesting to offer them. Once you have these users you can look at beginning to make some money - selling advertising space, selling goods or downloads, selling subscriptions to the site, becoming an affiliate marketer and taking a cut from sales. There are various ways of making money but if you think about any of them, not one would work without regular traffic (and quite a lot of it!)

What's an example of a website with a terrible design, but which is crazy popular anyway.

Asked by Tr3 over 12 years ago

I don't think I know of any crazy popular site's whose design is 'crap', because I honestly think if a site is that badly designed it really can't be popular! There are definitely some big sites that could be better designed in order to improve the user experience - Facebook and eBay both come to mind. I can't help but feel that as they've been built more and more features have been added to them and more stuff squeezed onto the page - they feel top heavy and busy and it can take a while to find what you are looking for. Facebook in particular - they seem to focus all of their energy on the timeline and newsfeed - trying to change a privacy setting can take ages when it really shouldn't!

What websites these days do you think are setting the standard for design?

Asked by Michael N. over 12 years ago

That's a tricky one! Design is very much opinion based. My idea of good design clean, modern and fairly simple layouts that use great typography. Others might call this type of design 'sterile' and accuse it of lacking character. Each to their own! This is a site I came across recently that I thought was fantastic: https://www.simple.com/ The design is great, but the interaction when users hover over certain elements and scroll down the page is also really super. This site is similar to the above: https://squareup.com I also really like the site for our recent Olympic team here: http://www.teamgb.com/ It takes a refreshing step away from rounded corners, drop shadows and gradients (which in my opinion are all overused these days) - but it still looks and feels great. Another 'standard setting' type of design is 'responsive' web design - more of a technicality than a design thing, but impressive nonetheless. Responsive design refers to the website responding, resizing and reacting to the size of the viewport (large desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile phone etc). Our website actually uses it too: www.web93.co.uk - try clicking on the right hand edge of your browser window and making it narrower and narrower - it will respond to different sizes, changing its layout so its always viewable. A great site for a gallery of cutting edge responsive sites is: http://mediaqueri.es/ - you'll find many other great looking responsive sites in here. Here are a few other sites I use for inspiration and to view the latest and greatest in web design - they all include some really interesting sites and great designs: http://www.awwwards.com/ http://www.thebestdesigns.com http://cssremix.com/ Another great site for design (not necessarily web design) is www.dribbble.com - some really talented designers upload their work here.

What's the difference between a a designer and a developer?

Asked by morepieplz over 12 years ago

Good question! This is one I get asked a lot and there isn't really a full proof answer! The chances are if someone calls them self a web 'designer', they basically work on anything the user can see or interact with. This includes the actual design of the site (typography, colour scheme, layout etc) and then the coding of the design into HTML/CSS - this is the code that your web browser takes and displays to you as a website. If you can see it, then its been designed by a web designer. If someone refers to them self as a web 'developer' the chances are they aren't capable (or very good!) at design! Developers usually work with graphic designers (or web designers who don't write code) to take web designs (in their image format) and code them up into functioning websites so they can be viewed in the browser and interacted with. Some developers might only deal with how the website looks in the browser (usually referred to as 'front end developers') - they write HTML/CSS/jQuery - this makes things move, change colour on hover, slide from side to side and so on. Other developers only deal in the stuff that users can't see (usually referred to as 'back end developers') - this might include content management systems for website owners to manage their sites through an admin panel, connecting forms to payment gateways, storing data in databases, generating a password for your new account and so on - this is all the stuff that happens behind the scenes and really drives complex dynamic websites. The bottom line is designers care about how things look, whereas developers are more concerned with functionality whilst often not having a clue what good design looks like! Of course this varies massively and with many designers/developers the roles overlap hugely - some people do design and development, some call themselves designers but actually do development too, some developers also design - you get the picture, there isn't a concrete definition! Most commonly this is dependant on how they've learnt their trade - if they studied Computer Sciences at university and also happen to have a good eye for design, they may be capable of it all. If they're self taught (like myself) they may have a more limited skill set that only focuses on one area of design or development. Every designer/developer is different in the skills they possess! I hope that has explained something and not just added to the confusion of who does what!

What's a reasonable hourly rate for a quality designer? If my start-up is on a budget, do you think I can get decent design work done for under $2,000?

Asked by axel over 12 years ago

It really depends what kind of website you need and what you mean by 'design'. If by 'design' you mean the deliverable you are seeking is literally just a design (an image) then yes $2,000 should get you some quality branding and design - again it really depends how many page templates you require and so on. If by design you are also referring to the build of the website itself with all the functionality you need, then maybe $2,000 won't be enough - it really just depends what you are building. If its just a simple information site explaining what you do then your budget would be fine. If on the other hand you are trying to build the next Facebook then $2,000 will just about buy your development team their first round of coffees! In terms of hourly rates it varies a lot geographically - my rates working in London are greater than someone in a small countryside village. This doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of work, but also costs of living, operating costs etc. As a guide somewhere around the $40 USD per hour mark would be a good minimum estimate, although I would urge you to make a shortlist of designers with the quality of their portfolio as your number one factor. Only then go into rates and see who offers the most competitive or appropriate rate for what you require.

Well thanks for the kind words about Jobstr:) Alright, how about if I *make* you take a critical eye: what aspect of our design do you think needs the most work?

Asked by Jobstr Dan over 12 years ago

I've really tried hard to find some design flaws but I'm struggling! I see you've recently changed the buttons to go to the next/previous question, as this was something I spotted as displaying incorrectly in my browser so they're much better now! It might be nice to integrate a more complex text editor for responses - maybe what we refer to as a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get) - this allows simple formatting of text, insertion of links, maybe insertion of images - it would make typing responses nicer. At the moment the box I'm typing in is a fixed height of 5 rows tall - it would be good to be able to click the bottom right hand corner and drag to make this bigger, as for longer answers its hard to read back over what you are typing. Also making inserted links 'clickable' would be handy - in one of my earlier responses I posted a few links that users would have to copy and paste to view currently, as opposed to just clicking. I tried using tags to make them clickable but it didn't work either, it just printed the HTML. I hope that helps!

Do notice any significant differences between UK and US designers and how they approach web design projects? Is one flashier, more minimalist, etc?

Asked by 1 more coffeeeee.... over 12 years ago

Please detail an average day for one in your field and how to get there!

Asked by Björg almost 12 years ago