working with designers - a tutorial
after talking to numerous board members and clients about working with designers, i decided to give some important tips. most of these are things that people have trouble with in the long run.
Deciding what you want:
before you talk to a designer, figure out what you need and want on your page or site. if you have no real knowledge of websites, make a list of some sites you like the style of including each url and specifically what you liked about it.
things to decide include whether you want a menu or just some buttons, whether the menu will go on the side or top, if you want boxes where you can put your own text, if you want a video player somewhere.
if you'll be working with multiple pages, make a flow chart showing basics on what will be found on each page and how they will lead to each other.
remember - you can't tell a designer what you want until you KNOW what you want.
Getting design Quotes:
decide if you need work including banners, gallery templates, etc, before you talk to the designer. if you are getting quotes from several designres, be sure and at least make a basic list that includes everything. for example:
1 warning page
3 tour pages, each with unique header
1 join page unique header
1 member template (using header from a tour page)
10 assorted animated banners
5 full page ads
a lot of webmasters make the mistake of thinking that the designers should somehow know how many pages you want and whether you will want a member template, but in reality every order is different and to get an accurate quote or quotes, you must give them accurate information. if you are getting a quote for a tour, be sure and let the designers know whether you want a standard, reality or long page tour.
Choosing your pics:
a lot of people i know let the designers choose the pics - and are then unsatisfied and redo them one at a time. they get frustrated and say things like "he's done tons of gay sites. why can't he choose good pics?"
there are tons of reasons why he may not choose the right pics for your work. he may not know the niche - he may have made tons of twink sites but have no experience in what constitutes a bear. he may feel that since he doesn't know your niche, he'll simply find a good variety of pics that are well lit and cut out well. your designer may choose great pics - but every one is one that you feel is overexposed.
keep in mind that a lot of designers aren't webmasters. they know design. they don't know which pics are overexposed - they just know what looks right to them. they may not know the niche but only the market. or they may be used to other clients only offering the best pics they have.
that's what i do. depending on the project, i spend anywhere from an hour to 2 days going through my pics again and again. ultimately i am looking for large high quality pics. they should be the best ones for the niche, the best lit ones that have no shadows on faces or bodies, the ones that show as much as i want to show. sometimes i'll take pics and crop off parts i don't like. also if you have pics you like that are not high quality, put them in a folder called "thumbs" and let the designer know that the pics in that folder should only be used for smaller design elements or as thumbs on the pages as they are not as high quality as the other pics.
Placing your order:
you got a quote you like, the designer tells you when he/she is ready to start. now it's time to tell that designer what you want and give him/her the tools to work with.
hopefully you've already figured out the basics so in notepad or wordpad make a list. if there is a color combination you want, list the colors and a small swatch of each. if there is particular text you want, include it. let the designer know if he is free to edit the text or if it must be exact. then go to the stuff you put together from the Deciding what you want section and make it into a coherent list. include the list of urls and what you liked about them but make clear that you don't want a copy of anyone's site.
Changes:
i prefer to get a rough draft of each page before anything is cut up. that way, my changes can be made quickly and easily. whenever possible, when i want a change i make a VERY rough draft in photoshop of the changes i want. that includes color changes, size changes - any changes, really.
while i generally won't work with designers who won't make reasonable changes, i also don't expect designers to make changes for free over and over unless it is because they ignored some of my earlier instructions. their time is worth money just like anyone else's, which is a good reason to be sure your initial directions cover anything you specifially want including types of fonts, colors, how big the text areas should be.
try and find a time when both you and your designer are on icq and that way you can see the changes in realtime and let him make those changes immediately. that way your site will be done faster.
Conclusion:
knowing what you want, supplying the designer with the right pics and text and clear communication and being comfortable asking for well-described reasonable changes will make everyone's job easier and will lead to you having the design you want!
if the designer you choose has good references, it is reasonable to expect to pay 50% in advance of starting the work.
remember to get ALL the psds (photoshop documents) as well as the final work so you or another designer can make changes if your designer retires, goes on vacation or disappears.
and one last thought. most people really REALLY want the best tour possible. but once your tour is live, you will probably see page flow or other issues. expect that after your newly designed work has seen some traffic you will need to do at least some minor tweaking. the tour isn't set in stone and nothing has to be permanent, so enjoy the process :)
