A lot has been written about “asking your web designer the right questions” before you hire him / her. But flip that around for a bit – Is your web designer asking you questions?
Think about it, when you hire a web designer / developer, you will hopefully expect them to know more about the web than you do. You will expect them to be at the top of their game, an authority on what they are doing. So going to such a person and imposing your idea of a website may not be the best thing to do.
You want a web designer that thinks about your business, is as passionate about solving the problem you are trying to solve, and not just create a pretty looking website. After all, a website is the execution of an idea, the means to solve a problem and not the solution itself. And as brilliant as the idea is, how well it is executed, will depend on how much your web designer is invested in it.
So when you go about looking for your website to be designed, talk passionately about your business, let the conversation be about the idea or the solution, and let your web designer figure out your website for you!
This buzzword has been doing the rounds quite a lot recently: user-centred design. It’s seems like a term created solely to allow some quote-padding, because if you’re not building for your user, who are you building for at all?
The attributes of a product on which it is marketed, are often not the best, but the most tangible and easiest to put into words.
A couple of weeks back, Ashim and I chanced upon Take Charge, an initiative by HasGeek, as part of their Meta Refresh conference. And it was perfect, it was exactly what we were planning to do!