Your New Website: What to Expect from Your Web Design Experience

By Black Bear Design on 12/15/2015

Nearly Anything is Possible with Enough Money and Enough Time

Like building anything else, it’s almost certainly going to take more time and money than you expect to build a brand new website. There will be many unforeseeable challenges, and hurdles as you wait for content and final approval. During testing, there may be red flags that pop-up, too!

At the beginning of the project, designers will set a schedule and timeline for your project, and those deadlines are essential to help hold everyone accountable. Setting expectations early in the process is a key factor in making sure a site doesn’t go beyond the scope.

If you have an idea for a site that sounds exciting, but are worried that it might be too complicated to achieve, don’t be afraid to run it past your designer. Chances are, it’s definitely possible to do the design and build the functionality. But as always, there are two caveats: time and money.

Web Design is Not Instantaneous

A good web designer will work with you to meet your timelines, but a good rule of thumb is to assume that every minor change you request will require at least 2 business days to complete. Medium size requests will take at least a week, while larger requests will take even longer. These time estimates will not take into account any of the other jobs that your designer is working on for your site. The job may appear “easy” or a “fast fix”, but allow your designer to do what is necessary in the appropriate time to make it the best. Good Rome wasn’t built in a day; good design takes time.

Web Design is Not Print Design

Many Web designers have clients bring them an image that they want to replicate on or as the website. But the first thing you should know when working with a web designer is that web design is not the same as print design. There are similar rules and design practices, but they are not the same. A web page cannot look exactly like a print-out in every web browser because:

• Web browsers render pages differently. Internet Explorer is different from Firefox is different from Chrome or Safari.
• Web customers have the same control over things that print customers do – like how some fonts, colors, and screen sizes will be affected across different computers.

Colors Can Be Challenging

When working with a web designer, expect the colors you choose to be used, but don’t expect to hold up a printed color swatch to your monitor and have it exactly match your web page colors. Every monitor may be calibrated slightly differently. Every person viewing a web page has a different monitor, operating system, web browser, color scheme, and ambient light, and all of these things can affect how the colors look.

Ecommerce Sites Take a Lot of Time and Effort

When you come to a web designer and say “I want to build a storefront or shopping website” they are usually more than happy to help you. The problem with creating a custom ecommerce site is that it can take a lot of time and programming skills. There is a lot more to it than just learning HTML and CSS and putting a page on a server. Be aware of the time factor, and be aware that it’s much more complicated than a general informational site.

Remember, You’re Hiring a Web Designer for a Reason

If you have decided to hire a web designer it’s because you need a professional to help you get your website up and running. Web designers are the professionals, so it helps to be receptive to their comments and suggestions. Trust them as they help guide you through the process. It will an amazing experience! You will see that the site delivered to you is beautiful, functional, and built to last.