There a lot of misconceptions out there on what a web design company actually does. Not that there is anything wrong with it. After all, the lines between web design and graphic design and those between design, development, and marketing are just plain blurry in most cases. Confusing and convoluted at best!
We’ll start with a fairly common request for web designers. Usually goes something like this:
Customer: “For my new site, I’d like to stick with something simple and clean design-wise. Keep the colors green and white for the most part.”
Web Designer: “Okay, think I’ve got it…anything else?”
Customer: “Oh, yeah—for the logo, can you create a symbol of my business location’s building and superimpose my business name over the top?”
Web Designer: “Ummm…we don’t really do logos, but we’ll be glad to help connect you with a great graphic designer who specializes in logos.”
Customer: “How much will that cost?”
Okay, okay, forgive us for the silliness above—it’s just meant to be an example. But nonetheless, it’s usually true, isn’t it?
Here’s the thing. Unless your web designer specializes in more than just web design, it’s probably not accurate to assume that they handle logos and other very specialized fields of branding. That doesn’t mean they can’t help you though, but referring you to someone that can assist with the request.
Web Design is unusual in the concept that it so often encompasses not just website design alone, but also:
· Graphic Design – Getting the graphical elements of the site ready to be incorporated into the web design.
· Logo Design – Okay, sometimes, but not always, a web designer will be willing to do logo work too. Just know that this is a specialized field of design.
· Web Development – You mean there’s a difference between web design & web development? In short, the answer is yes. Design is the layout and visual experience; development is the code and software that makes it all work.
· SEO, SEM & Online Marketing – Indeed, these web marketing tactics are highly specialized fields, and don’t necessarily automatically go with what a website designer practices; the trades do tend to overlap a lot though.
· Offline Marketing – Well, for this, you’re going to want to work with someone that is an expert with traditional media. Not all web marketers are great offline marketers (and vice-versa).
So the point this post sets out to make is not that you need to reach out to twenty different providers to get the new website launched with success—in fact, as a full service web provider, here at WSpider, we take a team approach that ensures we’re very proficient at most of these website related tasks. Rather, the point is that it’s best to check and make sure you’re working with someone who knows and understands the field well before committing. On the surface, it would seem that all of these components and trades are similar and cross-compatible with one another; however, when actually getting down to business, the fact of the matter is that every web “designer” has their own specific areas of expertise.
