Get Your Vision on the Table: Part Two
Previously I highlighted some factors to keep in mind when choosing a web development company to bring your marketing visions to the Internet. I mentioned the importance of having efficient communication with the company you choose, whether through email, phone, or face-to-face meetings.
Today I will emphasize the advantage of choosing a team that you can sit down with in person. Meeting clients in the board room has always been the first line of action here at Navigator. A face-to-face meeting provides uncomplicated, direct conversation that often results in dynamic web projects that fit the client’s original ideas.
It doesn’t have to be time-consuming. If you’ve already followed my tips to find the right company to fit your web project, you’ve made it halfway to getting the plan in motion. With my few simple communication strategies, a one-hour meeting with your web developer can be constructive and rewarding. Get your vision on the board room table today with these tips:
1. Come with samples
You will be communicating with web programmers and graphic designers; visual people who will greatly appreciate samples of fonts, graphics, images, colour palettes that closely resemble, reflect, or contrast with your ideas. No sample is too far-flung: if you like a certain shade of green that you have on a favourite shirt or logo, bring it! If you feel at a loss for web content comparison, visit Dribbble, or Smashing Magazine. Scan the sites of your competitors, and come with links to sites you like or dislike. Check out this Navigator post for more.
2. Don’t be shy
Hiring a team of web professionals means that you don’t have to be a tech expert, and so shouldn’t make you feel intimidated going into a project meeting with the team. But if at any point words or concepts trickle into the conversation that you’re not clear on the definition of, definitely ask for clarification. It’ll bring the discussion back down to earth, and make you feel much more confident in your project decisions.
3. Get pumped
If you’ve done your homework, you should already have a general idea of your web team’s aesthetic proficiencies. Likely, they communicate a vision through their work that you find attractive and appealing. So be excited! Go into the meeting with a positive attitude. You’ve probably found a team that “speaks the same language” as you and that is pretty awesome. Your good vibes will rub off. This might even be fun.
4. Leave your feelings out of it, for now
You got the good vibes with your team, but you’re not best friends yet. So when you say, “I want my site to have a relaxed feel,” they will not have a picture-perfect vision of what “relaxed” means to you. Avoid describing concepts in emotional terms, and stick to direct examples. So instead of saying “this doesn’t feel quite right to me…” try, “the hard corners on the font give the homepage a sinister look”. Ditto with ambiguous descriptions like “can you make this more edgy?” or “I need something that will really pop”. The more direct you can be about what you want, the quicker you will get what you want from your designer.
Not so painful, right? All those great ideas bubbling over in your brain can be effectively communicated in a board-room-meeting setting. Get cracking!
See Also:
5 Street-Smart Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer