One of the biggest concerns web designers have about outsourcing to a developer is that the final website won’t look exactly like the design they’ve created.
As a web designer, you have a clear vision for how a website should look, feel and flow. The last thing you want is to outsource your website builds to a developer who treats them like they are open to interpretation, uses them loosely, and creates a website that doesn’t match your vision.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way. It is totally possible for you to collaborate with a web developer who will turn your designs into a pixel-perfect website. However, there is some ground work required in order to find the right developer for the job and to get them to understand your vision.
In this post, I’m going to some ways in which you can ensure that the website your web developer builds looks exactly like your designs and your vision when outsourcing your web development.
Choose your web developer wisely
Your quest to create the perfect website begins with choosing your web developer carefully!
It doesn’t matter how well you prepare, if you don’t choose your web developer wisely, you won’t get the results you desire!
You’re looking for someone who can take your designs and create a website that looks exactly like them. Your designs aren’t a rough concept, open to the developer’s interpretation!
Make sure you review their portfolio and take a look at working examples of their previous work. With website development, screenshots don’t tell the whole picture. A website might look great from a screenshot, but when you view the live website, it might look completely different or not working as expected. So don’t just base your decision on screenshots alone!
Also, check if the developer has any reviews or testimonials from previous clients and projects they’ve worked on. You can read some testimonials from my clients over on my Testimonials page.
Speak to your web developer about what they require
Every web developer is different so it’s really important to speak to the developer you plan to work with and ask them exactly what they need in order to turn your designs into a fully-functioning website as accurately as possible.
I always send over a copy of my Designing for WordPress guide to any designers who I am working with for the first time. This guide explains which file formats I require the designs to be, which page templates I need designing, how I expected mobile and responsive designs to be presented, and so much more.
If you’d like to see what this looks like, you can grab a copy of my Designing for WordPress guide here.
It’s also worth mentioning that if the developer doesn’t tell you what they need and says something like “just send over what ever you’ve got”, this could be a red flag! A developer who has a tried, tested and repeatable process will know exactly what they need to get the job done, and if they aren’t specific about what they need, their process might not be as solid as you think.
Use a prototyping tool to create to-scale website designs
When it comes to designing a website that will be built by a web developer, it’s important to choose the right tool for the job.
In order to create a website that looks exactly like your designs, you’ll need to design to scale, and this means you’ll need to use a tool that allows a web developer to easily extract accurate sizing information.
The best tools to use to design your websites are prototyping tools like Adobe XD or Figma. I’ve got a whole blog post that delves into the reasons why you should be using a prototyping tool as a web designer. But to summarise, prototyping tools make it really easy for developers to extract all the information we require to build an accurate version of the website, without coming back to you every five minutes to ask questions!
The next best option is to use traditional design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. While these tools aren’t for showcasing the interactive elements of a website, they still allow developers to extract the information needed to create an accurate website.
The majority of decent developers will not accept flat designs like PDFs or images, or designs created in tools like Canva. If you provide your developer with designs in these formats, you are more than likely to end up with a website that looks nothing like you expected it to!
Provide working examples of features and functionality where possible
If the website you are designing requires a particular interactive feature or piece of functionality, it can be really helpful to provide your web developer with working examples of this.
I recommend providing working examples of features and functionality such as:
- Animations
- Transitions
- Hover effects
- Parallax scroll
- Sliders and slideshows,
- Fixed headers or menus
- Masonry style grids
- Tabbed content
- Pop-out menus
- Pop-out search bars
Sometimes, showing a before and after state via a prototyping or design tool isn’t enough as it won’t give us all the information we need. But seeing a live example of this in use on another website can really help us to understand your vision and bring it to life.
Are you ready to outsource your website development?
If you’re a web designer who loves creating beautiful websites but hates the coding side of things, I can help!
I specialise in turning designs into fully-functioning WordPress websites that not only look beautiful but that are also functional, strategic and fast.
Learn more about collaborating with a developer
Join my free email community for regular insights into working with a web developer, advice for designing strategic websites, and other behind the scenes bits and bobs.
