When designing a website for a client, the first thing I do is ask what the client wants from their website. Most clients will have a succinct idea of what they want in their website, and realize they need more content. Others are all over the place and need help getting things in order. No matter what the situation is, communication must be clear.

I’ve heard sob stories from people who contracted other designers. The worse stories are of designers who design websites with no idea on how to code them. DESIGNERS, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU TAKE ON A JOB YOU CAN’T HANDLE?!

Being a designer myself, I get frustrated by other designers who bring down the designing profession. It’s almost like their menu options are:

As a designer, you should have a system of how to design, and another system on how to handle. Each project is different, designing is not.

Designers, if you have a question about the concept, contact your client.

Clients, if you want something new in the concept, contact your designer.

The phone works in both ways AND you burn 0.6 calories when you pick up the phone! (Designers are not math majors so don’t quote me on that).

And clients, remember that when you contract someone for a project, you’re allowed to contact us 5 times a day to see what the progress is. It will annoy us if you really do contact us that many times, but as designers, we understand that the project is your product, your baby, your precious!

Finger Lakes Web Design, All Designed For You delivers design that works for you! For more design tips, read more here.

Every profession has those moments where you become overstressed by the work. When building websites, I have to switch between browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox to make sure everything shows up correctly and there are no glitches. Later I think I’ll rant about Internet Explorer, but for this post, I’ll stay on topic. Sometimes stress can be caused by a misunderstanding between a professional and client. Here’s an example of some of the stories travel agents have to tell:

A woman called to make reservations, “I want to go from Chicago to Hippopotamus, New York” The agent was at a loss for words. Finally, the agent: “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?” “Yes, what flights do you have?” replied the customer. After some searching, the agent came back with, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ve looked up every airport code in the country and can’t find a Hippopotamus anywhere.” The customer retorted, “Oh don’t be silly. Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!” The agent scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo, do you?” “That’s it! I knew it was a big animal!”

As a professional, the best way I’ve found to dealing his stressful times, is finding what exactly is negative about the situation and making it comical. In the end, life to short to let the stress get to you, not to mention too much stress is unhealthy. Even as a normal person, always live life by finding the brighter side of whatever you’re dealing with in your life.

Here’s a comic to cheer up my fellows designers!

All Designed For You is based in the Finger Lakes. For more design tips, read more here.

Please be aware that design is subjective. The following rules are not meant to be offensive, however the majority of designers are of this mindset. Again, trust your designers, we love design and only want to give you the best!

1) Comic Sans is the bane of a designers’ existence. There are sooo many other fonts out there, let your designer show you a few.

2) Cats/Kittens do not give a design its character… unless it’s bad. Of course if your website is icanhascheezburger.com, then no worries. This goes for any “cute” figures such as puppies, glitter hearts, unicorns, etc. Think about your product and clients’ needs and that’s where you’ll find your design.

3) It is possible to use too many different fonts. As a base, start with your body text font, title text font, caption text font, and logo text font. Even these different types of text do not need to be different fonts. It’s all about your design and what it needs.

4) Try using DaFont.com, ColorSchemeDesigner.com, and istock.com if you need help getting the initial concept of your design together. Your designer will sort it all out.

5) Your branding is your first impression. Your company’s logo is sooo important, I cannot stress this enough. A logo should be timeless, convey your company’s essence, and be original. In this day and age where everything has been done before, it’s not impossible to stand out.

So what have we learned…

Class dismissed!

All Designed For You is based in the Finger Lakes. For more design tips, read more here.

Vincent Connare created a font that was designed to imitate comic book lettering for use in informal documents.

…Many people did not get this memo.

From logos to signage, soooo many people are uninformed on the fact that Comic Sans is not branding material.

A word of advice to people, there are a million different fonts out there. Trust your designer when they recommend a different font choice. I can understand how Comic Sans may seem friendly, child-like, fun, cheerful, and the most dirty of adjectives, modern… the truth is it simply isn’t.

Branding should be timeless.

Design is meant to give your business an identity. As designers, it’s our duty to inform and educate people on every aspect and choice we’ve laid out in a design. Let us do the homework, research the font, the styles, the themes, the idea, etc.

It’s what we’re paid to do.

Even a Lebanese Butcher Shop can look professional. You don’t have to go to a million dollar marketing firm to get the best. Designers are trained to understand the market, the culture, the people and their everyday interests.

Trust the profession and trust your designers.

All Designed For You is based in the Finger Lakes. For more design tips, read more here.