Comments on: 5 things NOT to say to a web designer (part 1)

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:36:07 +0000

A pertinent (if rather expressive in it's language!) video. Another classic one which always makes me laugh is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

By: ben ferrier

ben ferrier — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:46:08 +0000

Hi J and friends.

You’ve probably seen this already but what the heck. It’s priceless and pertinent.

http://www.youtube.com/benferrier#p/f/10/VfprIxNfCjk

Ben

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:39:53 +0000

Hi Laura,
a key phrase I say to clients is that “your website is less about YOU and more about THEM” – them being their target audience or audiences. Clients need that frame of reference before they give an opinion – because, as you probably find, people find it very, very easy to give opinions on website designs (it’s a easy thing to do)- getting constructive feedback is the key though. I’m always pretty robust (but diplomatic!) with making the client accountable for their feedback. I really think you need to drill this in to clients from day 1 – if you get this bit wrong it’s like having a bicycle when you actually needed a people carrier – it’s not fit for purpose.

Your own site? – good point – in all truth when anyone ever says to me “our target market is everyone” this typically means they haven’t really thought about it hard enough. If you put aside some quality time to identify the attributes of your target audiences (perhaps using personas etc) then you would soon be able to arrive at a list of what is important to them and be able to hang your website design around that. That is exactly the process we are going through as our site is 18 months+ old and really does not represent us/our products & services well. What’s that saying about cobbler’s children?

Joel

By: Laura Thorne

Laura Thorne — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:30:10 +0000

Joel – I was thinking about your point that the design of site needs to be right for the target audience, and not for the client themselves, which I agree with wholeheartedly, although this can be a hard point to make with people when their board members “don’t like purple”.

However, what are your views on your OWN site? Or any agency’s site for that matter? Our target audience is huge, wide reaching and sometimes hard to define. It’s hard for us to cater for everyone, so instead we’ve tried to showcase our work and our personality as any agency. Is it right for us to produce something that pleases us? I think when a company is shopping around for an agency, they want to see creativity, something exciting, a bit different, dare I say it something “cool”. If we based our site on a B2B audience and their typical aesthetic, I feel it would be very different…..

Thoughts?

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:31:57 +0000

Hi Laura,
thanks for stopping by (lovely site by the way!). I find the builder/plumber analogy to be very handy – it works in most circumstances!

Firstly (and this took me a long time to get my head around) – not all clients are right for you. You don’t have to say yes to every client – it’s not just about whether they want to work with you – it’s the other way around as well.

The problem with a client who’s a bad fit for you is that they’ll always be a bad fit; they won’t get what you do and will always think you’re ripping them off because cousin Jimmy can do a WHOLE website for £150. They’re unlikely to be the type of client who will recommend you and be good advocates for your business – this is bad – as I don’t know about you but recommendation/word-of-mouth is a very good source for us.

You’ve got to get client buy in right at the start – they need to under stand the process and why it exists for their benefit as much as yours. I take great pains to explain our process and why it is the way it is. If they buy into that process then that already qualifies them in as the type of clients who are a good fit to work with us. If they don’t like it then that probably saves us a load of grief.

Hope that helps

Joel

By: Laura Thorne

Laura Thorne — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:38:39 +0000

That’s amazing! It wish it was possible to send this out to clients, or to use the builder analogy when you’re having a tough conversation about things being out of spec! Instead, we just huff and puff and squeeze more out of the budget…..

Great blog item, more please! IF you can share any tips about how you get clients to understand these items whilst maintaining a positive working relationship, that would go down well!

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:22:54 +0000

Thanks for you comments Oli, in my experience I’ve found that when companies offer multiple design options the following tends to happen: the design company only really likes one of the designs (and that is the route they want the client to go) and the other two are pretty much poor cousins – a bit of a waste of time. I’m sure that’s not the same with you – it’s just my experience.

Also by having multiple designs you open the door to the mix and match problem – this could be good but, more often, this is bad.

I think the key is geting constructive design comments for the client; whether they like the colour blue or not is irrelevant – how the design will appeal to their target audience(s) is the key. If you ask someone “what do you think of this design?” they’ll tell you – it’s just too wide a question without context.

Great comments here everyone – thanks

Joel

p.s. “fax over a Flash banner”…interesting….”sure, what version of the Flash player does your fax machine support?”. The mind boggles!

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:08:51 +0000

Glad you like it Dan! Experience has taught me that explaining pricing and issues in terms of what people are used to dealing with (i.e. builders, plumbers etc) helps reassure them that there are common sense reasons for things costing money.

Part 2 is more about hints and tips to make sure things “go right” from day 1 – if you have any pearls of wisdom to add that’ll be great!

Joel

By: Oli Christie

Oli Christie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:06:15 +0000

Interesting that you only offer your clients one design route. We’ve found that this can actually be counter productive as you change it and change it.

We normally go with three routes. Then the client can actually “buy” one route and it’s less likely to be tweaked to death.

It takes longer initially, but saves time in the long run. We’ve learnt from very painful experience!

PS A client once asked me to fax over a Flash banner…

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:04:03 +0000

quite Steve,
we’ve both been on the receiving end of some very strange client specs!

Part 2 will be more about how to avoid these pitfalls – any hints and tips you’ve picked up along the way will be gratefully received.

Joel