Whether you are looking to work as a web designer for an agency, start your own web design company, or hire a web design firm to work on your website, it is helpful to know what makes a good web design agency. Here, we take a look at some of the qualities you should either seek out, or try and exhibit in your own web design enterprise:
Up To Date on the Latest Technology and Design Trends
Web design is a fast moving industry, and in order to offer clients the very best designs to suit their needs, a company should be very much in tune with what is going on in the world of web design and development. A web designer who rests on their laurels and still uses outmoded techniques or design ideas may be able to create something OK looking and usable, but that isn’t why people hire web designers – they hire them to make their sites as up to date and easy to use as possible.
Treats Each Project on its Own Merits
Some web design agencies effectively do the same thing for every client, regardless of their industry, customer base or objectives. If you look at the portfolio of a web designer and their clients’ sites all have a very similar look and feel, like a template that has just been tweaked a little each time, then unless your dream website looks exactly the same as those it is probably not wise to hire them. A good web developer or designer listens to their client’s ideas and needs and creates something unique that fits the bill every single time. Of course, some clients want to be more involved than others, and a good designer is happy for the client to decide how much or little input they will have.
Cares About Testing
One thing a professional web designer can do, with the tools at their disposal, is test a site very thoroughly for things like how well it works with different devices and browsers, or for different browser settings (such as with cookies disabled or JavaScript turned off). This is something most casual web designers, such as hobbyist bloggers, either don’t even think to do or if they do, don’t have the skills or tools to do properly. Testing is an underrated but very important advantage to using a web design company rather than making your own site with WordPress, and is one a good web design firm takes very seriously. This is particularly the case when dealing with responsive web design, as how can one know if a site is truly responsive without testing it on different devices?
Of course, there are other things that are important in finding a good web design firm, or becoming one, such as price, customer service and turnaround time, but these are important for any business. In web design, it is keeping up with changes and remaining innovative, truly understanding the design needs of each individual project, and paying attention to quality by testing that are really crucial.