Need a talented web designer for your new website, but are afraid that the wrong designer will ruin the project altogether? If you pick a web designer ill-suited to your needs, sure, failure is possible, but luckily it is also just as possible to hire the right freelance designer for your business to take off and reach new levels of success.
The difference between hiring the right freelance web designer and the wrong one is just a matter of preparation.
While this article can’t give you all the preparation you need, it can give you some tips on areas of research and ways you should be preparing as you begin your search for a freelance web designer.
Understand Your Project
In many ways, the first step is the most important. Before you even begin the search for a web designer, you should know what kind of website you need. This means having a concept of its aesthetic design, its usability, its targeted demographic, and the technology used to build it.
If you go into the search and interview process without a clear idea of the website you need, you’re wasting time and resources by attempting to hire a designer for a project you don’t fully understand.
At this early stage, knowing your technical requirements is most important, so let’s talk languages. Web design is done with several different programming languages, the most popular of which are HTML5, CSS, and Javascript. Your web designer should have a working knowledge HTML/CSS/JavaScript and extensive experience with at least one of them.
Designers are human too, and they aren’t capable of everything
Many projects also require additional knowledge in specific areas, such as Flash, Silverlight, or WordPress. If your design project will require any of those, be sure that you are looking for that in your search and asking about it in interviews.
Designers are human too, and they aren’t capable of everything. Knowing the technological requirements of your project will make sure that your interview process is screening applicants for the skills you do need, not for things you might.
Just as important as knowing what skills and technical knowledge you need is having a clear idea of the size of your budget and the timeline you are working with. These two elements will determine who you can afford, and a talented designer will want answers to both of these questions before signing a contract.
Not only will unclear budgets and timelines make talented designers wary of signing your contract, if you end up hiring a web designer and then have to change your budget or timeline, you could end up spending far more money than you’re able to or releasing an imperfect product.
Hire for Fit, Not Skill
This sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out. Yes, your web designer needs a certain amount of talent for a successful website, but there comes a point where more talent isn’t necessary or even beneficial to your project.
For one thing, more talent usually comes with a larger paycheck. If your project doesn’t require the skills of a master web designer, don’t hire one. Hire a good web designer instead, and save money in the process.
Secondly, more skill doesn’t equal greater success. Maybe a web designer has a great track record with past clients, but maybe your envisioned web site is different from what he is good at. Many web designers specialize in targeting certain demographics or building a certain kind of website, and those specialties may not align with what you are trying to accomplish.
If possible, give designers a test project during the hiring process to see how they work on the fly and can adapt to new problems
The best way to find out if a web designer is a good fit to build your website is through his or her work. When looking for web designers, it’s important to see their portfolios in order to get a feel for their design. When interviewing designers, ask if they have a website or portfolio of their work they can show you. If they have their own website or personal projects, it’s a good sign because it reveals a passion for design outside of their paycheck.
If a designer isn’t sending you a portfolio directly, the best place to find portfolios are online. Good places to look are portfolio websites like Dribbble or Behance. These sites allow you to view a designer’s work, and you can see if their designs are in line with your own vision.
If possible, give designers a test project during the hiring process to see how they work on the fly and can adapt to new problems. A test project is also a good indicator of how a designer handles stress, an important trait for any designer.
When hiring a web designer, be sure to think about not just how talented they are, but how that talent fits into the rest of your business, and whether that specific designer is the right match for your team.
Don’t Forget About Communication
One of the most important roles of a web designer is that of communicator. A web designer takes a business idea and translates it into a form that users can understand. As such, communication is a talent your web designer needs to be successful.
During the interview, be sure to not only consult web design hiring guides for interview question ideas to test their knowledge, but also pay attention to their communication skills as well. Do they have a sense of humor? Are they easy to get along with? Do they express themselves well?
These are important questions for a designer because they need to be able to communicate with the business, with users, and with the developers also working on the site. But these are also important questions for a freelancer.
As someone who is working with your team as an outsider, and possibly remotely, they need to be able to communicate, be responsive, and have the ability to integrate into your team with ease. The best freelancers are the ones who have been freelancing for years and made it a career. Being a team player is as much a learned skill as design is.
If you are finding a freelancer online, it can be tough to verify their experience and ability to communicate without a personal reference. However, there are ways around that. Services like Toptal Designers screen their web designers for technical and communication skills before matching them with clients, ensuring that businesses get the talent they need.
To make sure your project is successful, your web designer needs to be a communicator, a team player, and an experienced freelancer.
Other less known platforms who also claim to offer hand-picked web designers to complete your project are Folyo – a private community of hand-picked designers. Post your project, and you’ll receive a shortlist of the best designers for the job as well as hand picked freelance web designers and developers by Crew
It’s important to look outside of design itself when hiring a web designer. To make sure your project is successful, your web designer needs to be a communicator, a team player, and an experienced freelancer.
Conclusion
There are many ways hiring a freelance web designer can go wrong. Miscommunication, misaligned objects, and a bad product are all possible outcomes, but these are all avoidable if the hiring process is handled carefully and given its due time.
Hiring new employees shouldn’t be rushed, and hiring freelance talent is no different. Preparation and understanding what your project needs are the key elements to successfully hiring a freelance web designer. So sit down, plan out your project forwards and backwards, and then begin the hiring process and search until you find the designer with the technical and team-oriented skills to complement your team.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1ZNcsiE via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1PgkYVK
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