People sometimes find it shocking that I’m not personally passionate about design, seeing that the primary source of my income is web design.
In fact, if I had to make a guess, design is the area in which I’m the least skilled when it comes to my business, which is why I hire designers in my company to do that part of the work.
Many web companies treat design as the end product. And sure, sometimes it is, for a very select kind of client. But we don’t usually work for that kind of client.
Every client expects a good design—maybe even a great design—and we give that to them. I’m proud of our work! But there are better companies to choose if what you want is to pay 40k to a world class designer.
Most of the time, we’re doing design work for someone who either (1) needs to sell something or (2) needs people to use the website easily.
In either case, the design is not about knocking the end user’s socks off, it’s about removing obstacles and decreasing friction.
The design should not get in the way of the purchasing experience. It should support it or enhance it. Frankly, it should make it as easy as possible for the user to take action.
For more complex “user” sites like LMS systems or membership sites, it should be obvious and easy to use. You should be able to get where you need to go. The buttons should be called what you’d expect, they should be located where you’d expect, and they should be dynamic (for example, “log in” should turn into “log out”).
Design is in service of your goals. If you can find a design team who understands that, your project will be a success. If you’re a fellow agency owner and looking to hire a designer, ask them how they see design working in the process. That will tell you a lot.
Share this post with them and ask if they agree or disagree, and why.
