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I have had several clients tell me of bad experiences with designers in the past who were difficult to work with and they didn’t feel they had gotten a good value for their money. In the end, they regretted having hired them. When you are looking to launch a new site and have chosen to invest in a professional design, how do you go about choosing a good designer? How do you tell a good one from a not-so-good one?
What is “good”?
“Good” is a rather subjective term isn’t it? There are designers who do great work, but who are not necessarily great to work with and vice-versa. I won’t get into what good design is here, because others more expert than I am have written on the subject quite well. In the end, you will want to find someone whose work you admire who creates visually appealing, easy to use sites who is also helpful, responsive, flexible, and sticks to established timelines.
Start with their portfolio
A good designer will have examples of their work available- not only graphic examples, but live sites as well. Does the majority of their work appeal to you? Are they easy to navigate and use, or merely pretty to look at?
Get some references
If you’re not referred to the designer by someone you know who has already worked with them, it is a very good idea to get some references, just has you would if you were going to hire an employee. I recently had a call with a potential client who said he had contacted a former client of mine to ask about their experience working with me. That was the first time to my knowledge someone had done that. Why? If you’re going to pay for a professional service, and in many cases give them a deposit up front, don’t go into it blindly, hoping it will turn out okay. There is no way to know what someone will be like to work with unless you ask someone who has “been there, done that.” Any decent designer would be glad to give you some references to contact.
Good designers are in demand
Unless they are just starting out and looking for new clients, a good designer will be in high demand and will be booking work out weeks and months in advance. This might be frustrating if you’re in a hurry to get a site up, but you may need to be willing to wait for the person you want.
Good designers are not cheap
As it is with most things- you get what you pay for. That is not to say that you won’t run across someone who is undervaluing their work and end up with a great deal. But for the most part if you want a good designer, you need to know that their time is valuable and that ultimately the money you spend is an investment in your own success.
Good designers ask a lot of questions
Good designers want to know what appeals to you, what your goals are for your site, what your target “customer” is like, and what is going to make your site unique. They are going to have to ask plenty of questions to get a good sense of what is going to make your site successful and make you happy.
Making clients happy is the goal of any smart designer, because we know that the best way to get good clients is for them to be referred by other happy, satisfied clients.
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Please use your name when you comment- I would appreciate it. Using just keywords makes your comment seem spammy, and it's liable to get deleted. See my comment policy for more detail. Thanks!
August 25, 2008 5:37 pm
I really like you pointed out that good design is not cheap. I really hate when companies and websites try to get quality work for hardly anything. Design is very important, so people should be willing to pay for it.
August 26, 2008 3:17 am
I’m totally in agreement with Justin. We should be getting paid a footballers wage! Why should we be struggling to make ends meet?
August 26, 2008 10:17 am
Good post. i think that realy good desingers are not cheap at all, if you need it try to search it on elance.
August 26, 2008 10:24 am
all very valid points. I’d add that a good designer is not afraid of contradicting to the client’s design ideas, and is able to offer better suggestions, solutions and guide in a right direction.
In most cases you could actually sense if the designer you talk to is the right one for you and your project. It’s when you get a feeling that the designer knows what you have in mind before you’re able to express it in words.
August 26, 2008 11:43 am
The best point for me is ‘Good designers are in demand’. I’ve had a handful of issues because clients want designs yesterday. There ares ways around this if you are lucky enough to have existing clients that are understanding and flexible. If so, you can charge an expediting fee and pushing schedules around. Oh yeah, and you’ll probably have to work nights too…
August 26, 2008 2:55 pm
I wish I’d read this before I underwent design for my site. I got lucky and the designer I hired followed direction very well, and had lots of ideas (not to mention cost a pretty penny), but occasionally requests I’d made again and again would be ignored.
Next time I will be much more inquisitive about my designer’s history and style.
August 26, 2008 3:17 pm
Great tips, both the client and designer would benefit from reading this. Good work!
August 26, 2008 4:28 pm
thanks thats very useful and all customer must be read, i want to share my blog this post but Turkish version.
August 27, 2008 1:57 am
Good points. I am a photographer and many of these can be translated to my main business.
August 27, 2008 5:08 am
Very nicely written. I agree with you that good designers are not cheap. You cannot get a good design without spending a decent money on it.
August 27, 2008 6:48 am
Great post, One thing I always do “Good designers ask a lot of questions” that doesn’t make me a great Designer but a very helpful one. With the Clients I have worked with the more information I have gained from them they have been very happy with the scamps and ideas and therefore get exactly what they require at the end of the project. Thanks for the Post Randa
August 27, 2008 9:16 am
Usually it’s easier to buy some template that is close to your tastes and then just hire designer to do some changes to it. This way you know that you will be not surprised in the bad way and even for designer it’s easier then. And of course - it’s way cheaper.
August 27, 2008 11:13 am
I find the biggest problem in being a designer is the delivery of content. Sometimes its a dream and everything is in place very quicky so you can just get on with the design. Other times you can wait months for a page of text. In one job I was doing I waited 1 year for four pages of A4 text and 6 staff photographs.
Swings and roundabouts!
August 27, 2008 3:59 pm
For me, I will first evaluate the designer, starting with their porfolio. This also means, for those designers that claimed how good there are, but doesn’t have any porfolio to support it, then I will probably just ignored them…
August 28, 2008 1:49 am
Nice advices, totally agree with them. I think the best way to find how good are the designers, is look in to their websites.
August 28, 2008 3:38 am
[...] How To Choose A Good Designer from Randa Clay [...]
August 28, 2008 9:25 am
Great Post!
It is intimidating to reach out and find a web designer. Everyone has heard horror stories about upfront payments and minimal work being completed.
Good work is not cheap. Which is tough as everyone is always looking for the best deal. Finding the line between cost effectiveness and great design is truly a fine line to navigate.
Great post and great info for people looking for a web designer.
August 28, 2008 9:12 pm
nice article … thank’s for your information
August 29, 2008 12:49 am
Great tips, both the client and designer would benefit from reading this. Good work!
August 29, 2008 5:51 am
I agree, good work is never cheap, but how much is too much. Some people charge outrageous prices in an already depressed economy. Prices should reflect the times.
August 29, 2008 6:51 am
Nice post!
A few weeks ago I was shopping around for a web designer and it was an awful process. It certainly is hard to evaluate a subjective quality such as “goodness”… especially when you try to imagine his current portfolio reenvisioned onto the project that you’re working on. I wish I had read these tips before hunting for a designer!
August 29, 2008 3:33 pm
Very nice and intressting article!
You are so right in everything you write.
If you want to get a good design you also have to pay for it, but in the end it will defently be worth it.
Very informative article, nice job
August 31, 2008 2:03 am
a great great article, one of my friend was looking for a designer and he ask me to choose whom to trust and the key points mentioned in this post are what i was looking for i might write about this in my blog
August 31, 2008 5:35 am
I wouldn’t agree that good design is something subjective, at least not when it comes to web sites. Almost every web site has a purpose, it might be to sell something or inform about something. A good design is a design that increases this. If you have a web shop and the the design increases sales, it is good.
I have just hired a designer for one of my clients and even though the site looks amazing I’m not impressed as the convertion rate hasn’t increased.
August 31, 2008 5:59 pm
Great article that holds true for any outsourcing that is required when developing a new site or online project. I think that the point of getting a designer that likes to ask questions is very important. Many clients are often vague about their requirements and a good designer/developer worth his salt will have to ask the right questions.
August 31, 2008 10:26 pm
You have some great tips in this article. Thank you!
I too think it is extremely important that designers are able to create sites that are easy to navigate as potential clients may not be as computer literate as we are. Practical sites will continue to attract customers so an experienced designer is a real asset.
September 1, 2008 2:31 pm
References are the most important imo.. I’ve worked with so many lazy and idiot “firms” in the past… It’s really hard to find a good expert nowadays, looks like nobody’s motivated. Unfortunately.
September 2, 2008 8:43 am
I agree. Good site design is always going cost a pretty penny especially when it includes all the SEO aspects of web design. A pretty layout will not always appease the Google spiders or give you decent results in the serps. Hopefully, “good” designers keep this in mind while creating their product.
September 4, 2008 6:47 pm
I can’t stress to clients enough the importance of speaking to past clients. I always encourage prospective clients to speak to former clients of mine, and they always have something nice to say. Since almost all of my business is in repeat customers or referrals, I must be doing something right
If a web designer can’t produce a phone number of a former client to speak with, don’t work with them.
September 7, 2008 11:22 am
Great article! One of my clients, Mike May, used an interesting approach when trying to decide between working with me and with a much cheaper designer. He called all our clients shown in our web portfolios to ask if their design projects had paid for themselves with increased leads and business. When all of the other designer’s clients said “no” and all of mine said “yes,” he decided that her cheaper fee wasn’t such a bargain after all.
September 10, 2008 9:51 am
I think it is easier to buy a template which is fit to your taste and then to hire a web designer to do some changes to it. In this way you won’t be surprised of the end product. I think this way is cheaper.
September 10, 2008 10:15 am
Hi..I’m the first time visiting this blog when seeking by SE for designer. And it’s seems exciting me.Full of information. By the way I agree with Justin & Gareth to choose the good designer.
September 11, 2008 6:29 pm
To find a really good designer, especially a web designer is really hard. There are so many bad ones that it is almost impossible. All the good ones are really busy and picky about their clients. Good web designer has to be really good with graphics, colors, balance and textures, also be aware of modern technologies on the web and on top of that has to be reliable. How many artistic people who know how to program and code that are reliable do you know?
To find a good designer you have to be good at design yourself. Otherwise you wouldn’t know what is good and what is not. It’s harder than finding a good mechanic. With good mechanic you at least can say that your car runs well. Can you be sure that your site runs well? If you like the design, it doesn’t mean it is good, is it?
I’d say regular people who are not related to web development have almost no chance of finding a great web designer.
September 13, 2008 11:20 am
I must say that it is a very interesting post because good designers are really very touch about client requirements and suggestions and they ask a lot of questions from the clients. Therefore, if you want a good designer, you have to be good in knowledge as well.
September 15, 2008 3:37 am
Yeah, I designed our company websites - for me the code part / SEO is fine, I’m not a graphic designer so found the design parts difficult, although over a period of a couple of years our sites now look better. Good designers are worth their weight in gold - it’s not easy to get the balance right between coder and graphic designer.
September 16, 2008 8:48 am
I could not agree more. Finding a good designer is essential to getting a good product with your graphics.
September 18, 2008 8:31 pm
this is so ture. I have my website built by a real good designer who fits all requiremnts. here is the site : http://www.chinainspection360.com
September 20, 2008 5:11 am
All really first class designers are both artists, engineers, and men of a powerful and intolerant temper, quick to resist the least modification of the plans, energetic in fighting the least infringement upon what they regard as their own sphere of action
September 26, 2008 5:52 am
For me a good designer is that one that on the top of making really good works, has the ability to understand the clients needs.
Now where i get shocked is when i see Designer “prostitution” like you can see on sites like 99designs dot com
September 26, 2008 10:14 pm
Thanks for the tips. I especially back the references tip.
The whole design process needs to be tied to key metrics you’re trying to move. They can be soft or hard metrics - but when checking up with references make sure to ask what their goals were with their whole design process. Try to find designers that were able to hit on the same key goals you are shooting for with the design.
September 27, 2008 9:55 pm
Well if you want a good designer, I’d just go with a freelancer with a good portfolio. Beats hiring a company any days due to the personalized service and usually cheaper price tag.
October 3, 2008 9:38 am
All of the above is very interesting, however, I would like to have an example of what “expensive” is for specific jobs. For instance, all of my websites were designed by me and I’m basically a dreamweaver jockey.
My experience at website design is good enough to make people who know nothing about web design think I’m a genius. On the other hand it’s bad enough to make professional web designer laugh.
Now I’m ready to move to the next level with my next vertical. This will involve shopping carts, probably a CMS and an original theme.
How much should I pay for theme design? How much should I pay for my shopping cart to be set up and designed, should I have the same person do both? Any Help?
October 8, 2008 6:43 am
I must say that it is a very interesting article cause good designers are really very touch about client requirements and suggestions and they ask a lot of questions from the clients.
Therefore, if you want a good designer, you have to be good in knowledge as well.And always, finding a good designer is essential to getting a good product with your graphics.
October 10, 2008 10:57 am
Uhh.. Choosing a good designer is tough! It’s been loads of “trial and error” on my part. Nice article. I especially liked the last paragraph: “Good designers ask a lot of questions”. I recently hired someone to do a designjob and wondered why he didn’t ask any questions - at all. Not a good sign!
October 13, 2008 4:22 am
There is a famous saying that you get what you pay for and that definitely rings true when choosing a designer. Dont hider your wallet when it comes to forking out the cash if you want quality.
October 13, 2008 9:25 pm
I buy and sell houses and occasionally use a designer. A good design when renovating a home can make all the difference.
October 13, 2008 11:53 pm
For my case, its always been budget constraints that affects my way of choosing my designer for my small start-up biz.Thanks for the tips!