Posts Tagged ‘designer’

O mercado de trabalho do profissional de Web Designer. Pode ser feito o curso pelo Senac.

It takes immense talent and skills to design a web page which is creatively designed, neatly coded, easily downloadable, displays properly on different browsers and above all, can be indexed easily by search engines as well. This is why it becomes more important to choose a company which has a team of talented web and graphic designers, equipped to give you a high quality web solution.

Here are some useful tips to help you choose an efficient web designer.

Check out the previous works

Ask the company to show you the portfolio of their web designs. Most good web and graphic design companies will have a neatly done portfolio in their website itself.

The prior works of the designers highlight not only their talent but also what you can expect from them. Analyze whether all the pages are easy to navigate, whether the designs are impressive and professional, is the layout effective etc. Only after you are satisfied with the previous works, you should move further.

Give importance to HTML knowledge

Make sure that the web designer uses HTML to build a site along with cascading style sheets i.e. CSS. The knowledge of CSS is important for a designer as CSS allows the designer to easily and quickly make system-wide changes to the site.

This helps in saving time and energy and of course, cost. A good designer must be in the know of these things. If your designer is not familiar with CSS, then you’d better leave the task for some other designer.

Know about the features

Enquire what kind of features your web designer can provide you in your website. There are plenty of features available in web solutions today but you must know what exactly you would need. Your web designer must be able to suggest you the features that would make your site attractive and user-friendly.

For example, if you are building a product-selling site, you can have some flash components to enhance the appeal of your home page, a good admin panel to manage visitors and sales, security features to ensure secure payment gateways and so on.

Updating criteria

It is essential to know beforehand, how the web and graphic designer plan to have the site updated. It is better to have the ability to update the website on your own with the help of Content Management System (CMS), or user-friendly admin panel type interface which allow one to make changes to static content. Paying the designer every time you need to update your site is an expensive proposition and quite unnecessary in today’s hi-tech web world.

Performance of your website

To make sure your website performs well, ask your designer beforehand about the time required for loading a page and search engine indexing. If your site takes more time to load than the average website does, take it as a warning signal. It might be due to bad HTML coding. A good web designer will code the page in a way in which it loads within seconds and is easily indexed by search engines.

Get in touch with previous clients

Apart from just going through the testimonials online, it is worthwhile to get in touch with the previous clients and ask them about their experience with the web design company and the web designers. You can contact them either through phone or e-mail them seeking their opinion whether they were happy and satisfied with the kind of quality and service they have got.

These are just few guidelines that can be taken into consideration while looking for a good professional web designer. These are by no means the only criteria but it will surely help to find the good ones who can be trusted with your dream project.

Ok, so you’ve decided to hire a professional web designer to build your website. You spent some time looking for the right person. Eventually you found the right web designer that you believe will design the most “attractive”, “extraordinary” website for the internet community. So now what? Explaining to the web designer the layout design you have in your mind can be a very frustrating process. You will find that putting the “picture” in your mind into words can be a difficult task. Actually in most cases this is the biggest hurdle between you and the final outcome. No matter how talented the web designer is, if you can not communicate with him properly, in his own professional language, he will not be able to use his talent to yield results as per your expectations. There are two possible situations you may face:

You know what content you want on the website but have no clue how to present it to the user.
You know what content you want on the website, and you have the layout in your mind, but you don’t know how to implement it.

In both cases you will need to explain your thoughts to the web designer. Although most people who read those lines are probably thinking that being in the second situation is better then being in the first situation. However, real life experience shows the opposite to be true. Giving a web designer the complete freedom of action regarding the web design based solely on the website content is usually a smart thing to do. You will find that explaining to the web designer what the nature of your website is, whether it’s a product that you want to sell or a hobby item, is much easier then trying to explain to him the temperate of the color scheme or an undefined shape that you would like to have in the website header.

Actually for both of the situations, it is advisable that you use the same approach, but with a minor modification to each situation. If you know of a website that has all the features you want or need and/or a site that looks the way you want your site to look, be sure to give the site’s URL to the web designer. Doing so will give him some idea of want you want. You will both be looking at the same thing but will actually look at it from a different angle. Therefore, it may be better to give him more than one website as an example. The more websites you find that can express your feelings and/or needs, the easier it will be for web designers to understand your intention without you having to use a single “technical” term. Chances are that you won’t find a single website that has the entire feature you want. After all, if such a website already exists there would be no place for your new web site to be born. Use several websites to express the different features you want. Spend as much time as necessary until you find just the right websites to provide examples of your needs. Doing research at this stage will definitely save you a lot of time later trying to point the web designer in the right direction.

Although you are the one who needs to express your self to the web designer, you must learn to listen to him as well. When he uses technical terms, ask for their meaning. Do not finish any part of the conversation unless you are absolutely sure that both sides are on the same page. Remember, you hired a professional web designer because you want a professional looking website and you couldn’t do it yourself. So, trust the web designer’s judgment when they tell you something you want won’t work or isn’t the best way to accomplish your goals. After all, you are paying them for their expertise. Don’t try to tell them how to do their job.
Cost:
It is OK to require that a web designer gets your approval each step of the way so you can tell them if one of your goals isn’t being met. You have agreed on what needs to be done and the web designer has given you a price quote. Simple modifications and bug fixes are usually included in the price. However, other major changes or outright revisions may or may not be included. Make sure the agreement states what is included, what constitutes a revision rather than a fix, and how many changes you can make after delivery without incurring additional costs.

Most people begin their website project with a search for a professional web designer or web developer and don’t even realize that there is a difference between the two. However, they are very different types of people and they both come to your project with their own points of view. Deciding what type of site you need will be the first step in determining what type of person you need for the project.

The Type of Website You Need: Static or Dynamic

The first place to begin when choosing who to build your site, is to decide whether you are going to need a static or a dynamic website. A static website is sometimes called a “brochure website”. On a static site, once all the information has been uploaded to the server, it stays the same. It only changes when a webmaster goes out to the site and makes updates. Therefore, all users see the same thing. It’s much like handing out a traditional business brochure. All of your customers see the same thing until you have your brochure redone.

With a dynamic website, what the user sees will change, based on their input and thus is a more complicated and costly type of website. A dynamic website requires advanced programming to operate correctly. The programs must execute different results, based on what the user requests. A “search” feature is one dynamic element contained on most websites. Any ecommerce site is an example of a dynamic website.

Form – The Web Designer

The web designer’s job is to focus on the layout and look of a website. They choose the color scheme and make decisions on how the text and graphics are displayed. They are concerned with the impression the site gives the visitor and how the visitor will navigate around the site. They are usually skilled in Photoshop and other graphic software. Many web designers begin their careers as graphic artists and are skilled at getting the site to have the “look and feel” that you want. They create your image on the Internet. Web designers usually have the skills needed to create static websites on their own.

Function – The Web Developer

Web developers, on the other hand are programmers. They usually handle more complicated sites and know various scripting languages. Their focus is on the interactive features of a site such as the shopping cart for an ecommerce site or a survey form or an order form. You will need the services of a web developer for a dynamic website.

Which to Choose

Knowing what kind of site you need in the beginning is important because if you hire a web designer to build your website and you did not factor into the requirements that you were going to need, for example, an advanced multiage form, you will end up with a very nice looking website that does nothing for you. If you go the other way and have a web developer build your site, you could wind up with a very functional site that looks terrible. Design is always going to be secondary to a developer.

If you need a dynamic website and the person you’re considering is more of a designer, the project can still be successful. Just be sure to have them show you some websites with some dynamic functionality that they have built to make sure that can handle your job.

If the person you are considering is more of a developer, check their portfolio and make sure that they have the resources to partner with designers to produce a high quality website.

If you’re still not sure which way to go, web designer or web developer, you would be better off leaning towards the web designer because the designer deals with that all-important first impression. Most Internet users decide within the first 3 seconds, whether or not they are going to stay on a site. Your project will be successful with a web designer as long as they have good web development resources as their disposal.

Usability – Where Form and Function Meet

Usability refers to how quickly and easily users can accomplish what they want to do, on your site. If your site is difficult or frustrating, they will quickly leave.

You need your website to achieve your business objectives and if it’s not, then it is not a design problem, it is not a development problem, it is a usability problem. Usability is the common thread that binds form and function together.

When considering who to hire to build your website, a web designer or a web developer, be aware that they both have their strengths and limitations. A web designer will give you the right colors and the right look for your site and they understand what people respond to. The developer will give you the interactive elements for your site such as a shopping cart, a sign-up form or other dynamic functionality. However, design and development must work together to get your customer to buy your product or to contact you about your services.

A good web designer has the ability to create visually pleasing web designs and has basic coding skills in HTML , XML , CSS , PHP to implement the design using the web tools available.

If you have to build a brick and mortar store and you have to hire a contractor to do the job from the ground up, you will obviously ask for references from your colleagues or people you know. No one will trust a construction contractor they had not checked out. So its vital you do the same with the agency or web designer who will design your web site. Know about the quality of the design works, check out his portfolio, how well the designer maintained schedules and how easy he was to work with.

If you have to build an ecommerce site, you need to research shopping carts. An ecommerce shopping cart is the heart of an online retail business and it is the CMS, order processing, reporting tool that you will have after the web developer has completed the project. Compare shopping carts based on their feature. Once you have made some good selections, look for web designers that specialise in the specific shopping cart you want. Generally avoid any website designer or web developer that tells you they can have your store up and running in an hour. That may cost you a lot in the long run.

The website designer or developer should be an expert that can translate your goals into a feature-rich, customer pleasing online shopping experience. If a web designer has nothing to add or does not ask for questions about your business and future goals, may be he is not really interested in the work. A good website designer or developer should add value to what you tell him to do. Hire someone that can do transform your business objectives into a successful web design, not someone that simply does what you say.

Before the contract is signed with the web designer, get a statement of work with him. A statement of work normally details the designer’s understanding of your web project, lists the exact services he will be providing, list the estimated time table and provide a specific price. If a web designer or developer cannot describe the project in a statement of work, it’s better you don’t hire him.

Select a web designer with lots of experience rather than someone without experience. While a designer with a master’s degree in art knows his stuff, don’t ignore the self taught professional in web design. Don’t only judge a designer by his academic credentials else you will be missing out a great web designer.

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A great web designer is the one who can easily create great website designs after the latest trends have already passed. When starting a web design job, always consider the basics that have been learnt from books and internet. Below are the 10 useful steps to be followed to become a better web designer.

1. Trends
New web technologies are appearing these days. So it’s important to be up to date with the latest trends in the web design field. However trends do not mean copy and paste someone else work. Consider others work to get inspiration for your web design works.

2. Learning and developing is an ongoing task
Great website designers are always on the move to know about the latest styles out on the web. Learn, learn, learn… There are lots of website regarding interface designs. So consider them frequently for new design ideas. Patterntap.com is a great place for interface collection for design inspiration.

3. Sketching is crucial
If you are still in the beginning stage of a wireframe or simple web design ideas, sketching should be done. Get away from your computer and do something on paper before starting the design on the computer. Try to write down whatever comes into your mind. From whatever on paper, then it will be easier to translate the work on the computer. Don’t ever be so excited and just start everything on the PC.

4. White space
Keep designs simple. Readability in a web page is key to its success. For some great design works, please check out minimalsites.com.

5. Technology / Software
Keep up to date on the latest software coming out in the web design field. If you want some online training, you can consider lynda.com.

6. Read magazines
There are various good magazines recommended to be read. Computer arts magazine, Smashing magazine are among those.

7. Know who you are targeting
Try to figure out the market your client wants to target. Gather information like the age group, demographics and other related info before starting the web design. If you are designing something you like, that does not mean the client will like it.

8. Get other’s opinions
When designing, try to get opinions from colleagues and other people. You can also post your work on some websites and lets others comment on your work. In this way, you will get various opinions, good and bad. So comments should be welcomed and don’t ignore any one’s comments if its negative.

9. Organise your tools and assets
Old works done, codes and other design tools should be well classified in your hard disk. Create different folders, example, CSS, Flash, Forms etc. While working on a web design project, that will help you a lot to find something. This will save you enormous time.

10. Competition
Always, take a look at what other web designers are doing. To be aware of what is happening in the web design field is a must. There are lots of websites on these. So please check from frequently.

Your web presence is extremely important to your company, and when it comes time to hire a web design company you want to be certain that you are getting the best company available to help you create your internet identity. In the world of web design, it is not always the companies that have been around the longest that offer the best opportunity for you and your company. There are a few factors that you need to consider prior to hiring a web design company.

You are busy running your company, and you do not have time to create a website or you do not possess the knowledge necessary to create the website that you want. When you are in the process of overseeing the building of your website, you will have questions and you will need quick and accurate answers to those questions. That is why the web designer you go with should display a very high level of helpful and competent customer service. This is mentioned first because, when your website is up and going and you need changes made to adjust with your business needs, you need to be certain that your web designer will be available to you and able to answer your questions and take care of your internet needs. Many companies over look the customer service aspect of a web design company when they are considering hiring one, and those are usually the companies that wind up looking for a new web designer after only a few months.

Any company, or individual, that goes into the business of creating websites needs to have samples of their work available. In many cases, this will be their own company website and you should not discount a web designer because their main work sample is their own website. Website design is the same whether they are working on your site or their site. If you see many things about their website that you like then you can ask for similar features to be added to your site as well. You can get a very good feel for the kind of work a web designer will offer based on their work samples, so insist on seeing samples before you make any decisions.

Your website is important to your company, but you do not have time to have to deal with web design issues constantly. Make sure the web design company you have chosen has efficient systems in place when it comes to customer communication, payment and other accounting processes, and customer service. If it is complicated to pay your web designer, then you will be wasting time you do not need to waste. If your web designer has efficient systems in place, then you and your business can run smoothly.

A web design company does not need to have years of experience to be able to create and maintain a professional website. If you do your research on the companies you are considering, and look at what they have to offer, you can make a decision based on the company’s merits as opposed to any previous experience. In the world of web design things change constantly, it sometimes helps to have a newer company on the forefront of new technology working on your company’s web presence.

So, you’re going to hire a designer or design company to build a website for you.

You’ve made the right choice (but since I’m a designer I would say that wouldn’t I) – however like most trades, there are a lot of so-called “professionals” out there who are far from it.

Some simply don’t have the technical knowledge to back up their design skills, most don’t have any type of marketing expertise – they’ll build you a website that looks fantastic, but won’t bring in a red cent because it takes 10 minutes to load that bandwidth-sucking Flash animation they did for you.

By that time your visitor (who’s on dialup) has decided they’re not going to wait and have left your site.

There are some “web designers” who’ll take your money and not complete the project because they don’t have the expertise or the time/inclination – or worse, just blatantly rip you off and not do the work at all, quickly changing their phone number so you can’t get in contact with them.

And worst of all … some designers work is just plain crap.

Sorry for being blunt … but it’s true!

So, how can you protect yourself when hiring a web designer or company?

When it comes to web design, qualifications aren’t worth diddly squat!

There are no recognized industry-standard qualifications in web design. If someone wanted to go into the computer support/networking field they know they need to aim for becoming a Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) or a Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA).

These are qualifications created by software and hardware companies to make sure people using their products know what they’re doing. And to make more money for the company, of course!

The problem is, there are no overriding organizations when it comes to web design. The nearest you could get would be qualifications from Microsoft on using FrontPage (their web design software) or Adobe on using Dreamweaver (their web design software) as these are two of the biggest “players” in the market.

However, having a qualification that says you know how to operate a piece of software doesn’t mean you can design a website. For instance, I’m a successful web designer and have been for 4 years, but I don’t have a single web design qualification.

Another thing to note is what does the designer’s website look like? Does it look like they’ve spent some time designing it or does it look like a standard template from their software?

Also does it look like they have the skills to create your website? Obviously, this may be difficult to determine if you have no technical background in HTML, etc. but what is your “gut reaction” about them?

Can they explain in simple language exactly what they will do for your project? If they start bamboozling you with techno-jargon and geek-speak and are unable to talk to you in a way that you can understand, walk away.

What is the standard of their work portfolio? Do you like any of the website designs listed there? If they don’t have a portfolio, are unable to show you any of their work for aren’t able to refer you to previous clients, walk away! Don’t risk your project on an unproven designer. Let someone else take that risk.

Are the websites they’ve built easy to use? There’s no point in building a website with a beautiful looking navigation system if it’s difficult to use – visitors will simply go somewhere else. Ask them questions like “Will my website be 100% compatible with all the major browsers?” (They should answer “Yes!”)

Setting Your Budget

Before you start looking for web designers, you need to know how much you’re going to budget for the project – and stick to it. By all means allow another 25% as a contingency against potential problems (but don’t tell the web designer you have this, or they may try to get you to spend it.)

Make sure you tell the web designers you’ve short listed; you want a quote for the job as a whole – not an hourly rate. Don’t ever take on a web designer (or programmer for that matter) for a major project and pay by the hour – you’ll end up broke.

Make sure you draft a “Work For Hire” agreement which details everything the web designer will do for you, any deadlines you’ve agreed upon and the price you’re going to pay.

If you don’t have a “Work For Hire” agreement on file you can use, contact your legal advisor or you could purchase a “legal letters” software package.

You’ll soon notice there are web designers charging ridiculously low figures and designers charging the equivalent of a small nation’s GDP. You could post a bid on a freelance site and get quotes for $100 from designers in India or Eastern Europe or contact a high-flying web design company in your own country and get quoted $50,000.

Personally, I’d avoid companies or designers at both ends of the spectrum – you’ll probably be fairly safe price-wise somewhere in-between. At the end of the day, (like most things) you pay for what you get. So if you want a professional, experienced web designer who also has marketing knowledge, you’ll have to pay – but you’ll soon find out, it will save you money in the long run.

Package Offers

Lastly, under no circumstances buy a package deal with a web designer or company that contains the domain name, web hosting and other accounts. Should you fall out with them for any reason, they will have complete control over your website and can do anything with it.

Also since they’re doing everything as a package they’ll want to minimize their expenses and so will usually purchase the very basic, cheapest options to make sure they keep hold of the most money they can. And it will almost certainly come back to bite you on the … erm … hand.

Purchase your own domain names, web hosting, credit card processing and autoresponder accounts, so they’re all in your name. Once the project has been completed and the web designer isn’t on a monthly retainer, change all the passwords so they no longer have access.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll get your website, when you want it at the price you want to pay.

In the world of co-ed corporate softball leagues, you have three choices: hire only good softball players, find ringers outside the company, or lose. At 352 Media Group, an interactive design agency in Gainesville, FL, we chose option two, bringing in University of Florida senior and All American NCAA softball pitcher Stacey Nelson. Since our league is slow pitch (and so nobody gets killed), Stacey plays third base. However, it was inevitable that someone would challenge her skills. You see, watching her pitch on ESPN doesn’t do her justice. And besides, she’s a girl…surely she can’t strike out a big strong man. Right?

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I am a Web Designer from Sacramento, CA, but this guide is for anyone who lives anywhere inside the United States or out. The idea behind this article is to tell you why finding a local web designer rather than a web designer hundreds or even thousands of miles away is still a great choice. Hopefully, by the end of this article I will have convinced you that finding a web designer locally has many advantages over the alternatives.

In Sacramento, there are many web designers – both working in firms and freelancers. It is most likely the same in the area you live. Even still, with such a wide selection, many people still opt to find web designers overseas. The reason why is simple – cost! But these days, it doesn’t always have to be as expensive as you might imagine. When I first took the plunge as a freelance web designer, I set my prices remarkably low in order to get business rolling and put my name out there. My prices were a fraction of what most people were charging for comparable services. Even overseas web designers would have a tough time competing with my prices. To this day, I still feel like I have extremely competitive rates. What I am trying to illustrate here is that there certainly are deals to be found – you just have to look! Check the phonebook and call around. Check craigslist in the “services” section. Contact web designers and let them know what you want and what your budget looks like. Many of them would be more willing than you might think to work with you on the price. Try to mainly target freelancers. Freelance web designers are people who work for themselves rather than for a web design firm and, therefore, are usually capable of much lower prices due to the greatly reduced overhead that comes with running a traditional business with employees, an office, etc.

Even if you could save money by hiring a web designer overseas, you really have to ask yourself if it’s worth it. First of all, what about the communication barrier? Are you going to spend more time than you would like in order to insure that the web designer knows exactly what you are looking for? Are you willing to settle with something that maybe isn’t exactly what you want? Granted, this isn’t always an issue, but many people do run into this dilemma.

Being able to meet your web designer in person can make a huge difference. You can sit down with him/her and discuss face to face exactly what you are looking for. This can be the difference between getting exactly what you are looking for in a brief period of time, or getting something that you settled with after hours of back-and-forth dialog between you and an overseas web designer, frustrating email conversations, and unnecessary gray hairs.

In another article, I will go more in-depth in regards to what you need to know when finding a web designer – local or remote. For now, here is a brief overview:

- Negotiate prices. Regardless of what they advertise, most web designers (especially freelancers) are willing to negotiate to reasonable terms.

- Get quotes from multiple web designers. I recommend at least 3-5. However, you should also take into account the quality you would most likely receive from each one – which brings us to my next item…

- Check their references. Your prospective web designers should have a portfolio of work from previous clients. Use their past work to estimate the quality of the work you will receive while gaging the web designer’s skill level. Is their skill level as high as their prices in comparison to the other web designers you talked to? If not, maybe you should scratch that one from your list.

- Decide on a cost for the completed web design project, not an hourly rate. Having a set price for the completed project means you know exactly how much you will pay at the end and removes the risk of paying someone to slack off.

- Decide on a firm date in which your web designer should have your site completed. If you skip this step, you risk having your web designer put your project on low priority as newer and maybe more lucrative projects come his way.

- Ask about “Web Standards” and SEO (search engine optimization). In a nutshell, having a web site that follows Web Standards means you will have a web site that is efficient and highly accessible while performing SEO means people will be able to find your site through search engines (see my web site for more information on this important topic).

Now you’re reading to hire a web designer for your site. If you read everything up until this point, consider yourself educated and prepared. I wish you the best of luck in your web design adventure, and just remember to have fun with it!

- Tony Thiara

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