The right designer makes the world of difference

Sometimes projects come along where the design is not created in house and a client has had it designed elsewhere prior to development. This can be for a number of reasons including graphic designers that have created corporate branding and printed material or basic web designers that have not got the ability for high end projects.

Unfortunately, even though we have come a long way, it’s paramount that the designer of your site knows web technology inside out. Limitations are becoming less of a problem, but sometimes there are a number of considerations the person in design needs to understand. Simply working away without knowing the issues that could arise is a very risky strategy

Even if you have a designer that understands designing for the web to a good standard, they will always be outclassed by the simple fact that they don’t know how far they can go. Even though we can’t do some things easily, others are now very possible with HTML5. If they don’t know how good HTML5 is, they may never realise the potential of a site and hinder its final outcome.

Why a dedicated web designer is the best solution

A web professional that spends their time with websites will know every trick and method in the book. They will understand the limitations of each browser software right down to and including version support. Outsourcing the design element can sometimes be more time consuming working with a 3rd party concept than an internal concept. As a result, the overall cost of development could increase

Mistakes that graphic designers make when they do web work

Fonts

You are probably wondering why fonts are an issue in 2014. Well, the fact is that you still do not have 100% freedom of fonts. CSS3 fonts are great but you need the right font for it to work well on all browsers and visual configurations. With careful consideration, the right fonts should be used to ensure the best compatibility and ensure the design translates from concept through to final product.

Scrollbars

Time and time again, you’ll see snazzy scrollbars incorporated in design concepts. While it is now possible to do using jQuery, it can be difficult to render a concept 100% as per the design. It’s time consuming which could ramp up your costs of development and we find they often don’t work very well for usability. The browser scrollbar is there for a reason, it’s tied directly into the OS and it is extremely usable.

Lack of Call to Action

Print is very different from web and quite often there is no consideration of a call to action with graphic based concepts.

No Responsive Consideration

Responsive needs concepts for every version of desktop, tablet and mobile. Without the proper knowledge, this level of care will not come across.

Lack of User Experience (UX)

The big one of the last year is UX. It is very prominent in any new web design. Intensive care and attention is required to ensure the UX works in accordance with the visual layout.