Hi, creatives! Today in this article, I’m going to tell you all you need to know for smooth, successful, and profitable web design projects.
As a Selangor web designer, I love web design, but over the last eight years, I’ve made a bunch of mistakes, and I want to share them with you so you can avoid making the same ones.
I will be focusing on the design aspect, not development, but most of these tips will be quite useful even when you’re on to the development part. Following are five ways through which web design projects can go off the rails and the ways to avoid that:
Not Getting All Requirement On Time
First of all, not being able to get all that is required from your client on time.
With website design, content is always somewhat of a catch. You want the content well in advance so that you can design to accommodate it, but at the same time, your clients can’t always know what content to provide without seeing the design and structure of the site.
I always like to get everything up-front so the timeline isn’t drug out or gone back and forth with. In order for that to happen, you have to be very clear with your clients in the proposal stage.
They should know exactly what they need to provide and precisely when. Also, make it as easy as possible for your clients to send those files. Otherwise, you’d get some email attachments here, a bunch of expired sharing links there, and just general disorganization.
Just pick one that works for you and onboard your clients in using it correctly.
Lack of Communication In The Team
The second reason web design projects fail is because of a lack of communication between the web designer and the developer.
If you are handling both the roles, it might not be an issue, but when you’re designing and then on to passing the work to a developer, well, that’s just a different story.
Some features might be impractical or may require expensive plugins for the client, and these are things you need to discuss upfront. That is so disheartening, creating a beautiful design and then finding out it cannot be built how you wanted it.
Ask during the discovery phase if there is any particular platform: is it code from scratch, WordPress, Webflow, or a builder like Squarespace or Wix? Then you can consider the limitations.
I also like wireframing with the developer in enough time to get feedback before showing to the client, so you catch any potential issues early.
Bad Photography
Bad photography is another point that can derail a web design project.
You can design the most beautiful website, but low-quality or inconsistent images can really ruin the look.
And getting those photos from your client can be a challenge. If the images your client sends over are of low quality, he may take a few weeks to get new ones. This can delay the project.
Ways to overcome this are by requesting photos upfront so you can approve or get new ones if needed. You can offer stock photos as part of your service and use tricks like converting images to black and white and adjusting exposure to create consistency.
If there is a need for specific product or person images, consider mock-ups at an added cost.
Scope Creep
The second one is scope creep, probably the most common problem with web design projects.
Scope creep refers to instances whereby you find yourself undertaking more work than was initially agreed upon and never get paid for the additional work. This might be in the form of adding more pages, accumulation of small features, or excessive revisions.
To prevent this, at the very start of the project, define your project’s scope on your proposal; include the number of pages. Make sure your client signs off on this.
I also recommend having a clear design agreement that defines the number of revisions. Normally, I allow three rounds, and all requested changes should be submitted once to avoid constant iteration.
Handoff
The last, but often overlooked, piece of the design process that can go wrong is handoff. Whether it is handing off to a client or a developer, you want to make as easy as possible for them to implement the design as you would want.
This is especially true in things like micro-interactions, transitions, and animations. I like to create in Adobe XD an interactive version of the design and, after that, have a quick word with the developer so that all is clear. Also, ensure that all assets such as icons, images, and illustrations are marked to export.
For this, in Adobe XD, it’s easy-just mark up assets for export, and developers can download all they need in one go. Lastly, be available to review the design on staging before it goes live, so that you can make sure everything is implemented correctly.
You’ll want to show your client that you’re committed to delivering a flawless product. One other bonus tip: offer design stages-like wireframes or prototypes-across different interfaces, such as mobile and desktop.
That helps make the design experience across those devices cohesive and ensures that developers won’t need to adapt a design without due guidance.
I hope these few tips helped. For more on how you can build amazing client relationships and avoid scope creep, be sure to read my posts on presenting work to clients. Good luck with your projects, and I’ll catch you in the next one!
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