Learn From Each Other by Communicating

The job of a web designer is to solve business problems for their clients. The only truly effective way to solve problems is for the parties on both sides of the issue to understand each other. Rather than talking past each other, you and your web design shop can do small things to gain a great deal of common understanding and trust.

Help Them Understand
Web designers are experts in what they do: applications, data implementation and user interface. You are the expert in your field, whatever that may be. A designer shouldn’t assume you know anything about the web, and you shouldn’t assume your designer knows anything about your field.

You should provide specific details about your company, your products, and what problems you are trying to solve. Instead of speaking in abstracts like “Make it pop” or “It should feel warm,” you can help your designer by laying out concrete details.

Both Sides Should Win
A web designer’s priority is to satisfy the client, as their future business depends on their portfolio. Your priority is to get your website built and go on about the business of running your company.

The surest route to a mutual win is to be prepared to negotiate. You may be dead set on certain ideas about how you want your website to look and operate. Trust your designer when they push back with alternative recommendations to certain requests, as they usually have good, solid reasons for doing so–often with data to back it up.

When both you and your designer are flexible and rational, both sides win.

Learn From Your Designer
You are emotionally tied to your business, and for good reason: it’s yours! Sometimes we make decisions or establish preference based on emotional reasons rather than pragmatic, rational ones.

Take the opportunity that comes with working with a professional designer to learn from them about their trade. This will help you gain a key understanding of what is involved in the web design process, and help guide your future decisions and requests.