You might have noticed that I’ve been pretty quiet lately, which is attributed to the fact that I’ve recently been commissioned to redesign an esteemed gentleman’s website. For those who have their ear to the ground know who I’m talking about, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about at right now, I’ll save that post for when the site goes live (sometime next week, I hope). No what I want to talk about is methodology in designing websites.

The Scenario The current client was effectively my dream client. After I sent in my personalised questionnaire which gives me a better idea of what they like and don’t like and what they want and don’t want, I was off. They only got to see the eventual product once I’d finished it. Was it a risk on their part to just give me all this trust? Maybe, but they did come to me rather than any number of the thousands of ‘web designers’ out there and that is what got me thinking about all this in the first place.

The Issue We’re told at a very early stage in life that the client is always right. They have every say in changing stuff around and realigning and asking for tweaks etc, after all they’re footing the bill right? See this is where I don’t agree completely. Yeah loaded statement I know but here’s where I’m coming from before you jump up and down my throat.

In this particular case when looking for getting a website designed you effectively have an incredible amount of choice in front of you to select whom you’d like to get the job done for you. You hunt around and find a designer whose style you like. You decide upon that particular designer because you like what they’ve done. Choosing the designer is effectively the biggest choice you’re going to make. The creative decisions are not yours.

The Play This is where things become interesting; when you were asked to do a design the client put a certain amount of trust in you. I approach each design as if it’s one of my drawings. A lot of effort and time is put into every element on the page. I’ve been doing this for a while now and have a better knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. I’ve spent hours looking and learning from design magazines, books, movies, comics. All the while gaining experience and knowledge from all over the place. I see things differently. The ‘client’ hasn’t spent that time, or doesn’t have that spark to do it, which is why they’ve come to me. They know what they like.

The Spark Different people tackle this area in different ways. I’ve mentioned that I am now calling any website I design as a Broken Kode Original. I find that a lot of people offering web designing services lack that original spark. It’s like that additional element that elevates their work from the rest just doesn’t exist. ‘Web designers’ like that really annoy me. Show me some creativity dammit and stop using the word design as a crutch!

So effectively what I’m saying is that if you ask me to design a website for you, expect to give me a lot of input into what you like and don’t like right at the beginning and then see NOTHING until I’m done. Think of it as a painting, I never show a work in progress because you can’t see what’s in my head until I’ve got it on paper. If you asked me to do it for you, you obviously like what you see and therefore should have enough trust in me to provide you with a quality design.

I would love to get more website design commissions as they’ve not been coming in very often lately. Obviously I’m doing something wrong and not promoting that aspect of my work enough. However at least now I know how I want to approach designing websites that keeps me interested and vibrant. (Aside: Broken Kode will get realigned in the not too distant future)