Do you know how to work with a Web designer?
Saturday August 30, 2008
I had to laugh when I read this article from Intevix: Guide to Working with a Web Designer. Now, don't get me wrong, the article is very informative, and does discuss some very valid attributes of a Web designer:
"Web designers are a hybrid. Designers must first understand the nuances of “graphic design” such as layout, typeface/font, semiotics and colours. They must then integrate this knowledge and skill into the technical constraints of the Web. This is far from simple."It made me laugh because I've written articles similar to this one when I've gotten really frustrated with a client or the job, and I imagine that's where the inspiration comes from for this one as well. For me, the most important things I tell clients include:
- It's not instantaneous. Web design is not like email - I can build you a site in 30 minutes, but it won't be very fancy or have any of the features you want.
- Changes cause delays. Once we've agreed on a design, I'll start working on it. If you ask for changes after that, it will add more time to the job.
- You have a responsibility to the job. It's your site, I'm not going to build in a vacuum. I'll provide you with mockups and then test sites, but you have to check them and approve.
- Unless we've contracted for it, content is your responsibility. In other words, if you're paying me for the design, I won't be writing your site for you as well.
First of all, I ain’t no Designer –
I am a Web Developer
I make everything work, hook the front end UI to the back end (database, if necessary) and keep the user experience in mind, make sure the nav is sensible, and translate the client’s goals into code.
And you want me to make it pretty too?
Nope – I work with specialists for that – they are the Web (or Graphic) Designers – they come up with the layout, the PSD, samples from wysiwyg code like [ugh] Dreamweaver
The Designer will give me a few lines of copy and say, “Make it work like it works on Flickr” – and it’s my job to “Make it work like it works on Flickr”
I am the ghost in the machine…
And, I could not do it without the Designers!
I had to laugh when I read your post! I love it! “And you want me to make it pretty, too?” Some days that’s EXACTLY how I feel. Especially after I get a marketing person giving me a project specification that reads something like:
“I found a site the other day that had this cool widget in the corner that made the site do some really cool stuff, and I want our site to do that too. I can’t find the URL at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll be able to.”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Once, the requester sent me a screen shot of their browser history, so I would “know where to look to find the feature”.
I was impressed that he knew about the browser history, but wished he could have done the looking up himself…
I am web designer I am working on the html, css dhtml, joomla, wordpress, dupal, Photoshop, Dreamware, Flash, Frontpage, all this thing