It is oh-so-tempting to choose a designer or agency for your project by asking a handful of them to produce sample or speculative designs for you to review. But doing so is not only harmful to the designer, robbing them of valuable income, but is harmful to you as the client.
In this article, we’ll explain speculative design, why it’s harmful to both client and designer, and show you the best alternative so you can hire the best designer for your project.
As a professional building web sites, it causes pain in my heart everytime a potential client says, “Well, my 14 year old nephew knows HTML so I’m going to have him build my web site.” Somehow an entire professional of dedicated and passionate professionals has given the public the impression that their jobs can be done by anyone who learns HTML.
In this article, I’ll give a brief overview of some of the disciplines and skills that go into building a truly professional and successful web site.
It’s too easy to consider a web site “finished” and walk away from it for months or years, only to return and find it an embarrassment of outdated design and out-of-date information. Instead of overreacting and getting sucked into the expensive and never-ending revolution model of web site management, explore instead the evolution model. By making small, consistent changes to your web site, you’ll keep the design fresh, the content relevant, and keep your customers coming back for more.
So often, business owners feel rushed when starting a new project. They want a logo, business cards, a brochure, a web site, and a post card within 3 weeks – but more often than not, clients who rushed their creative projects either feel unhappy with the result at the end, or find themselves stalled in deadlock before the project is completed.
It pays to allow plenty of time for good quality work to be done, for plenty of exploration of design direction, and for building and cementing relationships between client and designer. Time can make all the difference in the outcome of a creative project.
Teresina Goheen wanted a striking and dynamic look to capture her high-energy personality for her business cards and web site.
SCMS needed a simple site to showcase their extensive business experience. We used their signature color – USC Red – to create a simple and functional site.
The Shampoo Lounge is a hip and unique salon in Santa Monica, CA. They wanted to capture the personality of the business in a fun and dynamic web site.
Finding a design you like and a designer to make a copy of it or something very similar seems like a quick and easy way to save time and money and skirt around the sometimes sticky and subjective task of creating original design. But there are a lot of reasons why you should avoid this approach. Learn why you should avoid the legal issues of copyright infringement and focus on building strong and unique identity for your business.
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