Eight harsh truths for clients about web design
Written February 8, 2010. 18 comments.
Every now and then we all have to deal with a client who has ‘interesting’ ideas for their web site. You know the type – the guy who wants a multi coloured animated background, or the girl who insists on having all the text coloured light grey on a white background at 10 pixels.
When it comes to web design, I’m a firm believer in the philosophy that the client is rarely if ever right. I justify this seemingly obtuse position like this: Would you tell a pilot how to fly an aeroplane? Or tell a mechanic how to fix your car? Of course you wouldn’t, because they are carefully learned disciplines just like web design – so why would you tell a designer how to design?
One thing I have learned in abundance is many clients think they are designers, or think they have some sort of creative knowledge that justifies them putting forward some ridiculous design ideas. Many clients seem to think that design is about making things look pretty, but good designers are typically trained in many disciplines for making a web site work, such as typography, usability and accessibility to name a few. Aesthetics are only a small part of the overall picture.
Maybe I’m getting a little crabby as I approach 40, but whatever the reason I make it my sworn duty to tell the client if the idea they just suggested isn’t any good – as diplomatically as possible and while citing real world reasons of course. Sometimes I’ll twist that idea into something workable to give the illusion it was theirs.
With this in mind, here are some of the more common truths that clients don’t like to hear, but they will at the very least respect you for telling the truth.
Your personal tastes have nothing to do with how your website should look
This one can be hard to swallow, but we all know it’s a fact unless by some miraculous coincidence the clients taste happens to be an exact match for the design intention.
I once had a client who said he wanted very small text to be predominant throughout the design, and when I queried why he said it was just a personal preference. I had to remind him of the importance text legibility, and that making the text too small for no reason is just going to make the site harder to use. As designers, our job is to satisfy the needs of the target audience (because that’s who we are really designing for), not to just satisfy the personal tastes of the client.
Your web site will not be ready this or next week
Web sites can take weeks and in some cases months to build, but I’ll excuse most clients on this one. The seminars they attended where Microsoft said their news tools will shave significant time off web site development – that was mostly propaganda. Adobe can be blamed for this as well. There’s no denying those tools make our job much easier, but easier doesn’t always mean faster.
Designers will not concede to every little request, no matter how insignificant it may seem
There’s a reason you hired a web design agency in the first place – it’s because you and nobody else in your organisation understands the complexity (or has the skill set) to build a successful web site.
One of our golden rules is that just because a certain feature can be added, that doesn’t mean it should be added. Everything on your web site needs to serve a purpose, be relevant to your audience, and benefit the user experience. Otherwise it starts to become an unfocused exercise in non-necessity. Anyone who simply implements every little feature the client requests regardless of reason isn’t really a web designer – they are a ‘yes’ designer. A ‘yes’ designer will not deliver the best product possible. Knowing when to stop is important.
White space is a good thing
How many times have you heard the words “can we fill that white space with something?”. If you’re like me, too many. A web site design making good use of white space can increase the comprehension and focus of the product or service you’re pimping. We’ve all seen sites that are too busy, and in some case so cluttered that they border on inducing nausea. Remember – simplicity beats complexity any day.
Nobody cares about the people in your company
I only make this little fact known when the client wants to prominently feature biographies of the directors and other key personnel. The truth is that it’s the least important part of any web site, and in many cases having photos of fat cats in suits is a good way to lose touch with your audience.
Your customers interests come first, yours come last
This is a no-brainer, but I’m still surprised to encounter the occasional client who thinks the opposite. What some clients fail to realise is that it’s a privilege to have customers browsing their web site, not the other way around. There are many other sites out there pining for their attention and at the end of the day they are going to stick with the one that is clearly designed to make things easier and with them in mind.
You are not our only client
It seems obvious, doesn’t it? The thing is, we have a development schedule and other things to do that came long before your request. This means we can’t drop everything to implement that feature-creep you introduced on a whim – even if we really want to (and yes that sometimes happens to be the case). Our other clients are expecting their web sites to be completed on schedule as well.
We will not be including animated gifs or clipart on your new web site
To the client it might not seem like a big deal to have an animated envelope next to the contact form. Web design has actually evolved beyond geocities of the 1990’s, and web designers do some really credible work these days where animated gifs and clip art play absolutely no part. In short – clip art and animated gifs = low credibility.
Start of pageWho is That Web Guy?
Michael is a veteran web designer / developer / usability evangelist, practitioner of W3C guidelines, and currently head of the web dev unit at Stormbox, a branding and creative communications agency located in Perth, Western Australia.
I suspect it just needs time – and lots of it. Surely any young industry has faced similar trials, but creative industries even more so because everyone thinks they’re creative.
In the meantime it’s our job to educate our clients, and send them on their way if they can’t recognize the value of letting a good web designer just do their job. Anything less than that is a disservice to the client, and a complete nightmare for us.
Harmony
Senior web designer – http://www.harmonysteel.com
Great read on these cold mornings.
A great read all the same. Thanks.
Every single thing you said is 100% right.
Nothing here is really controversial, this is just how it is. If you guys (designers) aren’t comfortable with some of these things I feel sorry for you as this is what it takes to be a professional web designer and build professional websites that will Help not impede the client’s online success.
Just remember…you are the professional (hopefully) and the client hired YOU due to your specific skill set and knowledge. If the client doesn’t see it that way…it’s OK to fire the client as this most of the time will lead to many more problems down the line with that client.
If you’re in a position where you can, best to part ways before it gets ugly and you end up getting involved with something that can hurt your reputation.
If we could just get more designers to realize that we don’t all have to be “Yes” designers then we might start to sway the rest of the population.
I love the reference: “You wouldn’t tell a pilot how to fly.” So true!
It’s good to be reminded of these things, some times I let the client make too many of the designing decisions. You need to put your foot down and don’t budge on these core issuse’s