If your website hasn’t changed its look in a few years, it’s time for a makeover. However, finding a skilled web designer isn’t easy. To make it a bit easier, we’ve listed some skills you should be looking for.
Design Skills
Design Principles
Remember all those awful cluttered websites from the ’90s? Unless you’re trying to replicate the atrocious Space Jam Website, make sure your web designer understands the rules for creating visually-appealing graphics and compositions. A firm grasp on the fundamentals of web design makes a good designer into a great one. To learn more about the principles of design, check out this Interaction Design Foundation page. They constantly update their definitions and provide valuable external resources.
Typography
A typeface is perhaps one of the most important but most overlooked features of any website. The best fonts will fit seamlessly into the rest of the design, often going unnoticed. However, a bad font will pop out and scare away visitors. Always look for the type of designer (pun intended) that puts fonts first.
Composition
Make sure your web designer can arrange images, text, buttons, and other elements in a visually-appealing format with pleasing colors and plenty of room to breathe. A poorly-composed website will always scare away even your users, no matter how resolute they may be.
Design Software
A skilled craftsman is a master of their tools, so a skilled web designer must be a master of relevant software. The programs available to designers are countless, but some of the most powerful and popular include Photoshop, Gimp, Illustrator, Sketch, Motion, and After Effects. A skilled designer will know how to use these tools to add photographs, vector graphics, and animations to your website.
UX/UI Design
Let’s face the facts: UX design can make or break a website. As a result, your web designer must be a master of intuitive user interface and personal user experience. At Fyresite, we use inVision and UXpin to create engaging user-focused interfaces that move with your users instead of against them, but some designers may prefer other software.
Technical Skills
HTML and CSS
While some web designers may be able to avoid coding altogether, a skilled web designer will understand how a web page is structured and stylized. The required scope of this knowledge is heavily dependant on the project and the composition of your team, but a web designer proficient in HTML and CSS should not be overlooked.
Content Management System (CMS)
A thriving website is always active and frequently updated. As a result, web designers should know how to use a CMS to share updates, blogs, and other regularly-posted content. WordPress is a popular and powerful choice. Learn more about how WordPress can improve your website by checking out our web development page.
Soft Skills
Time Management
Always look for web designers that respect deadlines and use their time constructively. Remember that a designer who is honest about their speed and limitations will always deliver a better final product.
SEO
A pretty website doesn’t matter if no one gets to see it. Make sure that your web designer understands how to tailor content for search engines and has the skills to weave keywords seamlessly into a website’s copy.
Creativity
One of the most important skills to look for in a web designer is creativity in both design and problem solving. A skilled web designer shouldn’t need constant direction. Instead, they should proactively contribute creative ideas that align with the project’s purpose and mission.
Communication
Creativity is critical, but making sure that the designer’s creative vision aligns with yours is just as important. As a result, you need to find a designer who actively engages in an ongoing conversation about your brand and communicate that vision to the team. Design is as much about discussion as it is about visuals.
Next Steps
Fyresite takes the time to build and remodel websites the right way and incorporate stunning visual and interaction design that curates a memorable and personal user experience. To find out how we can make your website pop, please drop us a line through our contact form or call us at 888.221.6509.