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!
I started out on the web like most front-end devs: fiddling around. The web is beautiful because the front-end is open source by default–take any web page, and with a browser and notepad, you can take it apart and rebuild it.
As a freelancer I’ve had to wear quite a few different hats: I’m a web designer to start with, I do a lot of Flash programming, I write content where required, I’ve had to learn basic HTML markup and server-side languages so I know what’s going on behind the scenes, I’m a client to my service providers, a service provider to my clients, a consultant to other studios and a team member to whoever I’m working with at the time.
I am at a computer most of my day; it’s been the norm for over a decade now. Three years ago, I bought a Mac and never looked back.