Most people develop an interest in website design at an early age. However, they do not realize that there is much involved in designing a website than just freelancing. While it takes time to get it right, there is hope. These are some of the mistakes which web designers, both amateurs and seasoned ones, often make and how to avoid them.
1) Never Disregard Paperwork!
Human beings are creative and there is always the tendency to disregard paperwork and proceed with one’s creativity. It is not uncommon to find a designer forgetting to refer to their client’s contract, the proposals they make or briefs. Paperwork is always important as it gives you something to go back to when things fall apart. Drawing a proposal, for instance, gives you a framework to work with.
2) Keep the First Draft
One of the common mistakes which web designers do is discard their first drafts when they find them sloppy or not up to their standards. This is not advisable as it keeps one back especially since there are deadlines. However, instead of getting rid of the drafts, you could improve on them. Most of the time, a client would only want a few changes on the first draft.
3) Sketching does Help
Even for the most seasoned website designers, a simple sketch may come in handy. Most web designers think that just because they are used to designing they can do without sketches. Using sketches gives one room to make mistakes and correct them on paper before they get to the website itself. You can also erase the mistakes on paper and edit as you move forward.
4) Test the Design
A web designer’s worst part of the job is testing and most of them skip this phase completely. While the site may look really fabulous on your browser, that may not be the case on another browser. Testing the site on different browsers is the key to detecting any defects on the site and ascertaining that it works on all platforms.
5) Do not Learn and Design
Designing a website is always a learning process as one may find that they need to incorporate new ideas as they go along. However, the mistake that designers do is adopting ideas while they work so that the design they come up with is a copy-pasted version of another site’s design. This may mess up the existent and unfinished design. If it is necessary, get someone who is experienced in the area to help instead of working in a hurry and destroying the design.
6) Re-inventing the Wheel is not Necessary
Web designers like to solve problems and the first option they adopt would be converting a client’s site if they see any problem. Instead of being too quick to come up with new everything, looking for a way of working with the current design but changing a few things is the best option.
7) Clutter is Undesirable
Going overboard with a design can make the site look ridiculous. The idea behind good web designing is legibility and ease when it comes to navigating the site. Always design a site that is appealing to the eye.
Being smart and avoiding these common mistakes can help any reputed web design company come up with a great design for their client.
