How To Choose The Right Designer

No matter what type of business you run, choosing the right design company for your projects can become a full-time project of itself, with hundreds, if not thousands of designers to choose from, what factors should you take in to consideration to determine which designer (or design company) is the best for you and your business?

The main considerations you need to look at when looking for a new designer are:

* Cost
* Service
* Credibility
* Experience
* services Offered
* Completion Time

Lets take a little look in more detail at each of this to explain why they are all important factors when choosing a web designer below.

Cost.

As with many things, the deciding factor on whether we want to hire a specific web designer can come down to probably the most important of these factors, price. The cost of your sites development will depend on several factors, the site features, amount of content being used and any service options you choose with your chosen design package (updates etc).

Because pricing varies so much when it comes to web design, depending on the skills any given designer has, when asking for a design quote you should always ask the following of the designer or web design company you are considering:

* Is the quote all inclusive?
* Will there be any additional fees for revisions?
* Is the design going to be exclusive or, will it be made from a template?
* Is there an additional fee for copywriting or content editing?
* Will you be given several samples prior to working on the final product?

As with any service you may choose, it is always important to shop around and get at least 3 comparison quotes, just because one firm says they are the cheapest, that may not always be the case if you only have a certain amount of revisions to do before the web design company decides you have to take what you are given.

Service.

We have all had it happen, we start working with a company or an individual on something then, no sooner have we started the project, they become as elusive as a fart in a collander. Being able to contact your chosen designer or web design company is as important as the design being worked on. You need to be able to tell them of any changes to your plans the second you make them, likewise, throughout the design process you want to be able to give them content to use, text, contact information and color changes prior to them finishing the design job. Try to get a couple of different methods to contact the designer working on yoru project directly, ICQ, email, phone, the more options you have to contact the person doing your design work the better.

Credibility.

Identifying just how credible (and trustworthy) your chosen designer is, is probably the most important aspect of picking someone to develop your website. But how do you know if a designer is as good as their portfolio says they are? The simple way is to ask on the boards, make a thread saying you are considering using a certain designer and does anybody have any feedback, you will either get a lot of positive feedback, or you wont.

If posting on the boards isnt an option for you, there are several other things you can look at in order to gauge how credible a designer or web design firm is these include:

* Do they have a phone contact?
* When are they available to contact by email, icq, phone?
* Do they have any professional affiliations?
* How long have they been around?
* Did they provide you with a hard copy contract or quote?

Of course this list isnt infallible but, when choosing a professional web design firm, all of the above will put you in a much better standing should the worst happen.

Experience.

Another major consideration when looking for a graphics designer is do they have any experience in working on projects similar to yours? If you are looking for someone to create 100 FHGs, does the designer have any existing FHGs in their portfolio? The company or individual you choose to complete your design project should have a strong working knowledge of what it is you are looking for design wise.

A few good questions to ask about any designers experience include:

* What other work samples do they have available?
* What type of research will they do before starting the design work?
* What features will the design highlight in terms of your product or service?
* Does the designer have a time line laid out so you know what will be ready and when?

Of course, a designers portfolio isnt the only way to check on what type of sites they have worked on previously, or the quality of their work. If you have a specific look and feel in mind for your site, ask the designer to create a mock up or ask if they feel they are proficient enough to create a site that matches your vision. The ultimate goal here is to get a benefit from your site through effective design, by choosing a competant designer.

Services Offered.

These days designers and web design companies are starting to offer much more than just graphics, many also offer copywriting, translation services and some even offer domain registration and web hosting services. Ask the designer you are talking to how these additional services can be of benefit to you and your business and whether they offer these additional services as part and parcel of a package, to save you having to come back at a later date and pay extra for them. Your goal in getting a professional web design is to grow your business, as your business grows, you need to ensure your site can grow with it.

Additional Services.

Many web design firms offer design, but do not provide other required services such as hosting and domain name registration. Ideally, your web design company should be a full-service firm, offering at least basic hosting, domain registration and search engine optimization services tailored to your needs. Research each firm to determine other key lines of business, so that any future expansion of your site will be seamless as your business grows.

Completion Time.

A competant designer knows that a new design, from scratch, should take no longer than 30 days to be completed. Turnaround times on a web design should include:

* Several working previews of your site design.
* Several revisions (if needed) of your site design.
* HTML delivery of your website.
* PSD delivery of your website.

Hiring the cheapest, fastest, or even the fanciest designer does not always equat to hiring the right designer or design company. A limited amount of research before you start talking to designers can not only save you a lot of time, but also a lot of money. Of course, if you do this research and actually choose the right designer, it can also generate a lot of additional revenue from your website. Take an hour or so before your next design project to do some research, ask on the boards about certain designers, look at their portfolio, see if the designer you are choosing is right for you.

Article written by Lee.

http://www.adultdesigncompanies.com