A talented individual or company can give your website a professional touch and make it stand out from your competitors. However, you should spend some time to find the right web designer to meet your needs. Here are some tips to keep in mind before you make your final decision.

1. Identify the Primary Goal of Your Web site or Blog

Before you request the help of a web designer, you need to determine the primary goal of your site. Is the purpose of your blog or website to sell products, provide information, collect contacts or provide services? Do you want to include audio, video or animation and do you require search engine optimization? Is web marketing a part of your plan? If you are unsure about any of these elements, discuss them with your designer before beginning the design process.

2. Investigate the Designer’s Skill Set

You should find out the particular skill sets and strengths of a prospective web designer or team. Some designers specialize in helping small business owners and focus in one or two main areas. They may rely on partners or other individuals to assist with other aspects of the design process. Remember that programming and designing are two completely different skill sets. Just because someone is a talented designer, does not mean that this individual can program efficiently or vice-versa. Design agencies can often provide experienced individuals who can assist you in both areas.

3. Review A Designer’s Portfolio Carefully

If you are considering hiring a web designer, make sure to review their entire portfolio. Visit other websites the person has designed, and look for at least one site that catches your attention. You need to find someone whose work you admire. You should also remember that most designers solicit additional resources for design support resources and page coding any sites they create.

4. Check Multiple References

Often the best way to find a talented web designer is by word-of-mouth referrals. However, it may still be suitable to consult multiple references. Talk to more than one site owner who have hired the individual or team you are considering to find out their experience. Every website contains multiple components that are often frequently updated so be sure to inquire the date when a particular site was created. If you encounter a negative reference for a designer with an impressive portfolio, find out how long ago the work was completed. It may be possible that the designer had issues with the client or that their skills set or policies have changed with time and experience. Read the rest of this entry »

The basic elements and principles involved in web design are true for all other types of design. These principles will show you the most effective way to put together the various design elements to come up with a good and effective site. A good company emphasizes the fact that web design is not simply about slapping all those HTML tags on the page, but it involves the use of principles to build a pleasing and useful design. Your company will need you to make the most aesthetically attractive and effective web design, so make sure you keep these elements in mind:

Balance:

Web design Balance is the equal distribution of the heavy and light elements on a singly page. Balance in your web design is concentrated in your page layout. You must achieve visual balance in your web design all throughout the page, not only in the initial view. You web design company might commonly suggest you to center the text and all the other elements on your page. It is also very common to set your page on an invisible grid system to create the balance that you need. There are three types of balance that can be achieved when designing a page.

• Symmetrical. This is achieved by placing all the elements in an even fashion – a heavy element on the left is matched with another on the right. Be careful with symmetrical balances as you do not want your site to look flat or plain boring.
• Asymmetrical. These are more challenging to build, but there are strategies to achieve this which can include the varying texture, color and image positioning and size to arrive at a pleasant looking page.
• Discordant. Symmetrical. Web sites that are off-balance suggest action or motion, so you can create a discordant design on purpose. This type of designs make viewers uncomfortable or uneasy, so they are best used for sites that are intended to make people think.

Contrast:

Web design contrast is more than just about colors and black or white, but also involves contrasting shapes, sizes and even textures. You can take full advantage of contrast by changing font size, weight and family to provide textual contrast and varying sizes of images and elements. However, be careful not to blast your readers or scare them off with contrasting colors which are way too loud. The links on your content should be contrasted well to draw most attention. Read the rest of this entry »