How To Get Your Web Design Accepted

Web design, like any other design related work, is very subjective. You can easily find many articles on how to create a compelling design for your website and the latest design trends. So, in this article, we will like to just focus on the process itself and not the design.

The process requires much more work than creative ideas and technical skills. It requires us to be a psychologist, salesperson, showman and project manager at the same time. As crazy as it sounds, it is also exciting and challenging for us.

Design Workflow Process

When the client engage you as their web designer, they are also hiring your workflow as well. A web design company with a good workflow process will create trust and credibility to your clients as well. You need to show them visually, how your process flow is like and why it is so important to stick to it. Set the number of web design options and the number of revisions clearly at the start.

A good client will respect your process as long as you keep it transparent.

Provide Your Client With A Project Brief

What we usually do is to ask the client lots of questions. Some of our questions may seem to have nothing to do with the web design project or not necessary for the designer to know. However, these information are very important as it helps to know the client’s thought process and why he or she came out with the requirements. Some of the questions we usually asked:

• What is your company’s brand message?
• What sets your company apart from others?
• Can you rank your targeted audience by importance?
• What are some other sites on the Web that you like and why?
• What specific functionalities would you like to be included on your site?
• Who is going to be in charge of the website’s content?

The client may not be able to answer all of these questions immediately. In such case, ask your client to send you the answers when they are ready and their responses are part of the project brief as well. This is crucial as it can be brought out later during the approval process.

Work Closely With Your Clients

Dealing with the client is the tricky part. But if you are able to manage this well, there will be little resistance from the client when you deliver the mockup.

The problem is how to handle situations when clients think they are the designers and suggest lots of ideas when coming out with the project brief? This usually makes a lot of designers roll their eyes, including us.

You need to first respect your client’s ideas as these ideas show that the client really care about this web design project. However, you do not need to follow every idea your client brings out. If you disagree, ask them why they think it is a good idea and does it improve the KPI. You can also try explaining to them why you won’t take their ideas further: “I really like your idea, but this will incur more cost and time on your end and it won’t benefit your business. Here’s why…”.

By working closely with the clients, you can tackle rejections early in the design stage and make necessary changes before the final deliverables.

However, there’s a special case when clients come to you with a detailed mockup of their own. They might have an internal designer in their company or have previously engaged a designer for this project. Be clear of your role here. Are they engaging you to code out the design or require you to redesign.

If they only want you to code out the design in HTML, then it is a pretty straightforward project and you should have no issue with the client accepting your deliverables. However, if they want you to redesign based on that detailed mockup, you need to check with them why that mockup is still not good enough. If you think the detailed mockup is already looking good and the client still thinks “something” is lacking but could not explain further. This is an important sign that this client is a problematic one. The mockup is most probably done by a web designer who gave up on this project because the client kept rejecting his or her design.

Backup With Research

Research is the essential and first part of any design process.

To do that, you need to do your own research that goes beyond what your client provides. List out all the design approaches that were done well in the competitors’ sites. Then on the first presentation, include this market research into your slides to give the client a brief overview of the existing competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

These research can be used as case studies whenever your clients propose any bad UX design.

Guided Tour

During the presentation of your design mockups, do not just flash your mockups without explanation. Be sure to go through the reasons for each design approach you take so that the clients know the rationale behind your designs.

Conclusion

Design is a job, we make money by helping others achieve their business goals through our design work. We have to tailor our designs to the project goals and not based on our own narrow view. Remember that your design process is a reflection of your professionalism. It is a part of your reputation as a designer.