{Interactive Web Design Blog}

I wanted to take a minute to share a few tips with anyone that is interested in hiring a web designer in Vancouver (or wherever you may be). You might need a new Blog or a website just for yourself, or you may be looking for a redesign for your outdated business website – either way these tips will put you well on the road to building a healthy relationship with your web designer.

The more prepared you are before you start shopping around for someone to take on your contract, the better off your site will be. You will save money, time and headaches all around. You should also be able to avoid ending up as a post on the Client’s from Hell Blog

As web designers and web developers we are always pushing the envelope and trying our best to come up with innovative designs for you.

As students of the Interactive Design program we have learned to focus on usability, functionality and designing experiences that are engaging for your viewers.

One thing that we definitely have not learned though, is mind reading (too bad about that…). We are not magicians nor robots (although some may claim differently). To get your project off the ground we are going to need your help with a few things. Here’s a list to get you started!

#1) Brainstorm about the why, where, what, who’s, when and how’s…

Why: why do you need this website? What will happen if you don’t get a new website? What are your hopes for the website? Your motivations?
Where: where in the market do you sit? Who is your competition? Where is the niche that you fill?
What: what tasks need to be accomplished on your website? What do you not want on your website? What features and technology are you hoping to include and use? What information do you want to feature? And probably the most important detail of all, what is your budget?

Who: who are your clients? What are their motivations for visiting your site? Do you have a tag line that speaks to your customers? Who is your competition?
When: When do you want this new site to be live? What is your timeline?

How: Do you currently own the url that you want to use? Do you have your content ready (or at least an idea of the content that you want to feature? Do you have all of the photos (or videos) ready to go? Do you have a logo or do you need one designed?

#2) Research…

Do some research. Try to find at least 5 examples of websites that do something similar to what your website will do. Find sites that you love for different reasons (graphics, content, features, navigation, etc). If you stumble across a few that you don’t like, take note of those as well. This will help your web designer understand your tastes and get a feel for sites that you are comfortable with. It makes it much easier than saying “I want something with lots of white space and I love Facebook. So what can you make for me?”

#3) Communicate…

Be prepared to communicate with us! We are online most of the time – web designers love to send emails almost as much as they love to get them – they are better than a valentine’s card to us! We will have lots of questions, so the faster that you respond, the quicker that we can move forward with your project.

#4) Trust…

Believe in your web designer. You shopped around and then decided to hire us. Let us do our job and trust that we have your success in mind at all times. You wouldn’t go call a plumber and then question him every time he pulls out a tool. Trust that we know what we are doing (even if we dress funny).

#5) Take our advice…

We have lots of great advice. We usually know a little bit about a wide variety of things, from branding, to SEO, copy writing, video editing, and usability testing. We are up to speed on the latest design trends, so if we make a funny face when you ask for florescent lime green, shiny buttons to be on every page and an epic flash intro splash page don’t take offense. Rather, take a minute to check out some of the new, fresh examples and options that we will provide for you.

With that said:

The Interactive Design class of 2010 is just about to graduate! We are hoping to all launch into the market here in Vancouver and start our careers. Some of us have already started working with clients designing and developing some exciting new sites. Check out our program Interactive Design at Capilano University if you are interested to learn more about us, our work, or if you are looking for a web design school in Vancouver.

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