At Dockery Design, our team will often have to work with outside developers, or worse still— pick up a project where a web designer was not able to work with the developer. Web Designers and Developers are two sides of the website and software coins.
The programmer or developer does not need to understand everything about design. However, in the current market it is often necessary (and quite a bonus) for the developer to know how to design. Knowing the entire process is a great benefit when trying to sell your services to a client. The following are the most common mistakes that web developers make:
Mistake #1: Just Center Everything
For most programmers it makes a great deal of sense to keep copy, tag lines, and titles all aligned. Unfortunately, centered text on a website makes it look horsey. It should always be your first step to use left-align. If this becomes and issue, ensure that your site or site design is mathematically precise by using gridlines. These can be found in any Adobe product (like photoshop, illustrator, or indesign) or WYSIWYG html editor. Your design does not need to look grid-like, but it should look lined-up. When things are out of line by a few pixels it can ruin the page.
Mistake #2: Just use the free fonts
When it comes to your text, contrast is king. Many people tend to believe that all fonts look the same and are never worth paying for. The difference between bold and regular text, and Serif or Sans Serif fonts can really make a big difference when it comes to making a website look special. Avoid “trendy” fonts, or fonts that you used in a powerpoint presentation or microsoft word document. Focus on readability first, and then focus on look and feel.
Mistake #3: Let’s use the same colors we used on the last client
The idea of spending hours choosing a color scheme seems absurd to most programmers. Colors are really important to the final look of the website and its branding, and it will take a lot of effort to change the colors at a later date. Take your color choices seriously, and work first to match a proper look and feel with the branding of your website.
Mistake #4: There is no need to get too detailed
Just as you can have passable code that could be improved upon, so it is with your design. A great design takes a lot of work and a good deal of time, and this is easy to forget when you are looking at the finished product; a lot of revisions and editing goes into making these perfect. A simple change can make a lot of difference to the overall look. You should never consider a work complete until it is as good as you can make it.
Mistake #5: A lot more information will be able to go in that space
Designers and programmers often disagree about utility of space. It is natural for the programmer to want to get as much information into a space as possible. Designers, on the other hand, don’t like things looking cluttered. Sometimes the best approach is to come to a middle-ground in this debate; a bit of empty space can really improve the look of a website.
Mistake #6: Pay for pictures? Not on your life
If your images look shabby, it will destroy your website. There are plenty of great resources these days on the web and non-commercial sites. If you are going to use the non-commercial sites then make sure you get permission from the photographer first. There are also commercial sites where you can purchase good images. It is well worth the money for a good image.
Mistake #7: I don’t need any advice or opinions from other people
Programmers work with great designers, so why not ask for their expert advice? When showing what you are working on, you should be looking for helpful tips and not just a bit of praise; this should be all about learning and not pampering your ego. A designer is paid to be great at designing and programmers are not, so take their advice. You should trust their opinions and follow some of their suggestions.
Mistake #8: I have Photoshop. That means I AM a designer
It is a lot worse to be a bad designer who thinks they are good than just a bad designer. A good designer becomes good by constantly working with high-standard designs; they spend a lot of their time looking at what is good. If you want to improve then you too will need to look at design resources and even read the occasional design magazine. All good programmers enjoy looking at other people’s code and the same must be true for up-and-coming designers. This will give help to teach a sense for what is ‘good design’. You just can’t get that from Photoshop
Learning to design well will take the same amount of time and effort as learning to do any other skill. Your work as a developer or other web worker might not ever involve you designing a website, but it is good to have the above information anyway.
Do you have tips for designers or developers? Let us know!
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Wish my designers would read this, they are driving our web developer crazy.
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Really enjoyed this by the way. I don’t know why web developers and designers can’t get along. I don’t understand why designers and business manager can’t get along, and I really don’t understand why my boss stares into the middle distance when I talk about web development….
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The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it’ll do even better in those areas, but for now it’s a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod’s strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
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