Designing is not only about making a website look and feel awesome. True, that heads the priority list, but it is not the be all and end all of all things. Three key skills that a good designer should have alongside his mastery of the process of designing include:
1-Awareness of the fact that people are not just going on to the internet on their computers. It is essential for every designer to understand that the brilliance that is the internet is being accessed by people when they are away from their computers as well. In fact, access to the internet from different devices like phones and tablets has been gaining popularity for some time now. Designing a user interface for different devices is harder and more expensive, from the point of view of the customer. It falls on the shoulders of the designer to get it right for the clients.
2-Copywriting. No, a designer is not a content person; yes he is responsible for predominantly what the site looks like and not what is in it; and yes he is responsible for the links to places and not what is in those links and pages. While designers hardly make the best copy writers, it is important to understand that even the little bit that they right should make sense to the rest of the people. For example, where there is an error like a 403 or a 404 error, to make it comprehensible for the rest of the world, a designer needs to put it into words that make sense and are coherent.
3-Attention to Detail. While it is a prerequisite to be able to pay attention to detail when designing, it is being included in this list because apparently its importance hasn’t sunk in yet. One of the first things when designing is scrutiny. Things like having the same color scheme throughout, making sure lines do not go out of the boxes they are meant to be in, it’s the small stuff that matters.
Did you skip any of these? Maybe you need a new designer!
