Your relationship with professional website designers

I was in a private little conference with a group of friends, mostly professional website designers, a couple of weeks ago and the topic came up about client problems, problem clients and why some clients are more difficult than others to work with.

In out little get together, I came to two conclusions. One is that most clients that are difficult to work with will often find the website designer hard to work with as well. And the next conclusion is that not all difficult clients are difficult for all web designers to work with.

Well, there is actually a third conclusion, which is that some clients are difficult to work with no matter what but that digging on this will be futile at best so for now we stick to the two.

What is the root cause of bad client-web designer relationship?

Sure, there are times that a particular web designer becomes lazy or is inexperienced enough to deliver what was promised and there are times a client asks for everything unreasonable one can think of midway the project but the truth is, even the most professional of web designers often have trouble with the most reasonable clients. In situations like these, the main reason for the strife is apparently is incompatibility. Incompatibility between client and designer is often the root cause of all evil, as far as working with a design project goes.

Clients and website designers should view a project as a marriage of some sorts, A marriage where the goal of both parties is to make it as short as possible and as productive as possible. With this in mind, clients should choose their website designers not only on the merits of their works, not only on their wonderful website portfolios or their accolades, but just as importantly, on how you get along with each other. It is best to keep in mind the following guidelines to help you determine if a particular website designer is right for you.

Are you on the same page with your web designer?

The most important thing in client to web designer relationship is determining if you agree with what needs to be done. There are many times that a client feels certain he has expressed himself clearly and there are many times a designer is sure of what needs to be done only to find out down the road that they are not on the same page. Also make sure that technical terms do not get confused. A client may say he wants a dynamic website created, implying something like php when he in fact means a site made in flash. In this regard many less technical clients paired with designers used to a text-book environment often results in failed pairings.

If you are a client, it is good to remember that technical terms should not be a problem as long as you can clearly express what they are and what they do. The bottom line is to pick a designer that understands what you want and that can talk to you in words you understand.

Motivate your deigners!

Professional website designers are motivated to design for only two things - enjoyment and money. A website designer motivated mainly by enjoyment often are designers that produce the best results - they are praised for the good work they have done and they feel good about the work created. However a designer who feels is underpaid or taken advantage of will not feel appreciated and will naturally produce bad results. Always compensate fairly and never put them down.

If you are able to successfully motivate your web designer, as long as you respect their work and never make them feel taken advantage of, you will get the best out of their talents. It is not uncommon that they will go out of there way to provide extra service on their own without charging you extra.

Make sure you have similar tastes

The greatest and most professional website designers will always find critics. And no matter how great your website designers are at designing, no matter how many awards they wins, how dazzling their work will always be subjective. Treat designers for who they are - artists. Not everyone will like a Picasso, and in this regard so you have to choose your artists well. Make sure to look at their recent portfolios, make them pick out their favorites. And if you like similar style, then go with that designer. And if you have an ideal concept of your own regarding the design, then compare them to the designer's.?

Do you get along with your website designer?

When it comes to egos, both clients and designers can have them. If you and your designer gets along and can handle each others ego, then project will go much smoother.