Web Designer Hiring: 5 Steps

Ecommerce is quickly replacing traditional shopping. Demand for web designers is high and predicted to continue so, with a 13% growth rate for the field, significantly higher than the total labor market.

To enhance your digital presence, engage a web designer with design and technical expertise who understands your brand and target clients. How do you attract design applicants, evaluate their work, and choose the ideal web designer?

Five steps can help you locate a designer whose vision matches yours:

  1. Create a website budget
  2. Write a web designer resume
  3. Review resumes and digital portfolios
  4. Prepare interview questions
  5. Create a brief and contract

Before hiring a web designer, you must decide if you need a web designer or a web developer.

A web designer creates your website’s pictures and typography. They’ll also design the user experience, including how they navigate the site and find content. Some designers have web development expertise and can design and execute site features.

Designers work on your site’s aesthetic components, while developers execute functionality, such as responsive design for mobile devices. They can speed up navigation and keep clients from leaving for a competitor’s site. To recruit a web developer, use the same methods as web designers.

1. Create A Website Budget

Modern websites go beyond brand marketing. A well-designed commercial website may be a pre-purchase product research and sales driver. It must be attractive and functional. If it doesn’t—if your site is stagnant or outdated—you may be losing money.

Your website design is crucial. 38.5% of consumers assess items and companies by their websites, 38% will cease interacting with a badly designed website, and 50% will choose your rival if they have a terrible experience on your site.

It’s important to engage a skilled web designer, either a freelancer or a full-timer if your organization routinely adds site components. Depending on the size of your organization, employing a freelancer or in-house designer may be less expensive than a full-service agency.

2. Write A Web Designer Job Description

Create a web designer job description after deciding whether to hire a staff or freelance designer. Start with a short description of your workplace that explains its objective. Explain why you’re a wonderful business partner or employer and why this project is enjoyable and unique.

As you highlight designer attributes, stress their uniqueness. You’ll want a site designer with technological know-how, visual flair, and consumer attention.

3. Evaluate Resumes And Digital Portfolios

Once you start receiving resumes, you’ll need to look for these criteria in a web designer:

  • A bachelor’s degree in graphic design, digital design, or web development 
  • Adobe certification in web design and/or development 
  • Previous experience as a web designer 
  • A demonstrated sense of visual design fundamentals, including image composition, typography, and informational hierarchy 
  • An understanding of user experience (UX) and information architecture
  • Experience using coding languages, such as HTML or JavaScript

You’re nearly ready to employ a web designer after narrowing down the resumes. Next, digital portfolios of designers’ past work will be evaluated. Top applicants’ portfolios will include clean design, straightforward navigation, and unambiguous calls to action.

4. Interview Questions

Best web designers have specialized skills. They’re visually gifted problem solvers. They’re innovative and organized. The following questions can help you choose a candidate with these skills:

  • What do you need from clients before a project?
  • Compare desktop and mobile design.
  • How do you handle numerous stakeholders’ expectations and opinions?
  • What do you do when deadlines approach and project pieces are unresolved?
  • Describe a website you’re proud of.

Consider clear communication, adaptability, and technical understanding while evaluating candidates. Ask to speak with prior clients.

5. Create A Project Brief And Contract

If you’re hiring a freelance web designer, give a project brief explaining your design demands, goals, timetable, and budget. They’ll provide a design suggestion. Your final applicant should comprehend your company’s aims, brand ethos, and target consumers’ wants. Then, create a design services contract for your chosen designer.

If you’re making staff hire, you should still prepare a project brief, but your new web designer can help you with this and other duties, from sketching wireframes to launching your revamped website.