Golden Rules of Collaboration between the Customer and the Designer
// November 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Graphical Design
While working in Graphical Web Design (abb. GWD) area I experienced different situations, certain is that besides the immediate development, collaboaration – is learning and understanding, and of course, it would be more easier and efficient if all parties involved would know, understand and follow some exact and / or general: knowlegde, rules, ideas, notions. So, before you, being a Customer or a Designer, intend, plan or speak about a collaboration for a web site development and / or design, read the below reflections which I called – rules.
“Golden rules” beacause of their high importance and their feature of elementary or just a “must know”!
If I skipped something as significant, please add, write your comments.
1) GWD development means designing web page layouts for a future web site.
Usually, a graphic designer makes several such pages: Main Page layout and one Internal Page layout, but more complex projects, speaking in general, require: Splash Page layout, Main Page layout, several Internal Page layouts such as: News Page, Product Page, Gallery Page etc. All pages are worked out ready for nesting. So, graphic designer supplies only graphical output of a future web site, it’s page layouts in special files, plus sometimes nesting files. All future web development activities like: Internet installation and final testing, programming, compiling and SEO for this future web site are all tasks of other web development specialists, with whom certainly, the Designer communicates or is related to certain extent.
2) GWD development, being integral part of a web site – is a purposeful marketing activity,
supported by real and planned: budget, terms, and active-productive cooperation and assistance between the Customer and Designer.
3) Page layout – isn’t just a set or composition of nice images, text, buttons etc. – it is what your client communicates with and how the visitor / user understands You / Your Company in the Internet.
Therefore, a competently developed GWD must be implemented in harmony / accordance with the Company house style, a qualitative design encloses certain marketing objectives and destination, certain usability, appearance, status and Company reputation. And all these key elements are taken into consideration by Designer when working on GWD and are enclosed in Requirements Specification (abb. RS) which define future result and collaboration!
4) Let’s start partnership between us: the Customer and the Designer, with the correctly and detailed drawn up of RS!
Development of GWD without such an RS, speaking figuratively, is just like preparing an unknown and strange course without observing the recipe, where the Client-User, can simply poison himself. I.e., as You see, in this case the Client may have a negative experience towards Your web site, and this can not be allowed. That’s why seriousness and full attention must be devoted. Since Your web site – is how you’re positioning Your Company on the internet market, how You distinguish Yourself and what You are remarkable for, this is Your individuality, Your goals, and therefore – Your Success!
5) A smart design is – a continuously working and improving design.
Your web site is an interactive communication instrument with your target group and site reach. And in the natural course of internet market evolution, your site must evolve as well. Here an important role plays especially visitors’ / clients’ opinion, during the execution of various tasks and operations within Your web site, and their opinion will indicate real shortcomings / inconveniences in graphic design and in web site as a whole. In this sense, it is useful to curry out tests of Your site usability for and by site visitors. But – vitally that Web Designer and Web Developer make their own tests for it and analyze users answers as well, and later propose solutions and recommendations. Exactly in this way Your site working should be maintained and supported, new ideas and suggestions may occur both from Your side and from the clientele side.
6) Design – isn’t just an image that must please solely Yourself, own leadership / directors, since often they are not the target group.
And the Designer – isn’t a magician and mind reader to guess Customer’s thoughts and obey absolutely to all his demands, ideas and wishes. You as Customer – a professional of Your business apply to Developer, who is a professional of his own job area as well, and here the Customer informs the Designer about his needs and tasks, and the Designer proposes solutions and gives advises, within the bounds of his profession.
7) There must be only friendly, frankly and trustworthy relations between the Parties – the Customer and the Designer. And more or less business ethics, according to situation, is never superfluous.
My advantages as Designer are – responsibility and terms observance, interest in qualitative completion of each project, since it is my reputation and success, and therefore Client’s success. The Customer must understand that on his assistance, as well, depends how correctly the Designer will understand the problems set and how successfully he will accomplish the project.
Life is full of personages around us but some of them manage to catch our attention for being interesting and original – for having character inside, for the idea behind the image.