In part one of the series we looked at what exactly a web designer is, what else you might need, and how to tell the difference. You’re now armed with the advantage of knowing exactly what services you need, and it’s time to get Googling!

The first thing you’ll notice when you start your search is that there are a LOT of people competing for your business, even if you’re only searching in your local area, and of course that’s usually not necessary since the whole thing takes place online and can be worked on remotely! So how do you start narrowing down the list?

Their website

There’s no getting around it, the quality of their own site is a huge indicator. If it’s not up to scratch, close it and cross our their name. Simple as that. If someone can’t manage to design or build their own site well enough to sell their own services, how can you expect them to do a good job for you?

There seems to be a fair bit of controversy lately about freelancers and small agencies using premium templates on their own websites. Critics draw attention to the fact that they haven’t actually designed that themselves and are misrepresenting themselves, but I personally think the ability to choose a suitable, quality template from the thousands upon thousands of cheap tacky options out there demands much of the same eye for design as creating one. Judge for yourself.

Their portfolio

Everyone should have at least a couple of portfolio pieces on show, even if they’re just personal projects that were completed specifically to show off there. Even the lowliest new graduate who never had a paying job is capable of creating a showpiece, if they haven’t bothered….yep that’s right you cross them off your list. Harsh but fair.

What to look for

If you’re searching for a developer it can be more difficult to judge their skill just from looking, however you can test their sites in a couple of different browsers to see if they break or make a note to ask them about any errors that pop up.

Obviously colours and certain styles are a matter of personal preference, but there are design conventions that are there for a reason and should be obeyed unless there’s a real need to break them. These conventions help the user make sense of a website, and get where they’re trying to go.

Look for text that’s difficult to read, clipart-quality graphics, pretty much anything that flashes on and off, gradients with 18 clashing colours in them, elements cramped closely together instead of making the most of the space available, and of course pages with nothing but centred text. These are all big red flags.

When you look at a homepage, is your eye instantly drawn to anything in particular? If this is a “buy now” or “sign up” button or something similarly important, the designer has done a good job.

A quick test

Not too long ago I watched with interest a competition where entrants were asked to redesign the website of a fictional company to win some nice design software.

The original, outdated site is here. Can you recognize any of the above “red flags” in this design?

You can view the submitted designs on Flickr. Some are better than others, of course, it was an open competition….but they’re all leagues ahead of the original. If you honestly think the original site was fine, then I say this in all seriousness: find someone who understands these things and have them help you choose a designer. It’s for your own good.