You will trip over as many web designers as you will coffee shops as you stroll along the foggy San Francisco avenues. This city attracts digital artists because of something in the air—probably fog, maybe inspiration. Everybody knows about their first website. mine included comic sans and an unintentional lime-green backdrop. awkward, indeed. Still, it’s a normal passage of life. You can see SF Website Design for more information.
Selecting a web designer in this city, though? That is an artistic creation by itself. You are looking for someone in Dolores Park who gets more enthusiastic about HTML than Hacky Sack. Most people start their search at portfolios. Slick enough navigation menus, amazing animations, and splashy homepages to make seasoned pros jealous. Still, elegant graphics alone are insufficient. You need someone with listening ability. Someone who asks, “Hey, what’s your story?” instead of stuffing your logo into an antiquated old design.
Let’s be honest here. One could be tempted to just recruit the cousin of a friend who “took a coding boot camp once.” Reject it. Find out from designers about failed projects and how they dealt with the mess. A skilled web designer is digital architect, code wrangler, part-time therapist, etc. Sometimes you don’t even know until you see it on the screen; there is a craft in extracting what you want.
Working here means spreading ideas over hippie salads and sometimes BART rumbles. On Slack at midnight you will hash out what you want, debate color palettes, and trade wild GIFs. Working with a local web designer is a relationship, not only about getting a website. Dialogue counts. Avoiding honest criticism could cause your endeavor to turn out as less engaging than a soggy burrito.
Talk budgets, please. San Francisco is not known for bargain basement cuisine unless perhaps for those enigmatic $2 dumplings. The price tag of a seasoned web designer covers a wide range. Refrain from jumping at the lowest bid automatically. You do occasionally actually get what you pay for. Pay peanuts, get monkeys, as grandmother used to say. Search old projects, analyze material, and actually speak with past customers. That is gold.
Ask about the procedure your designer uses. You will see drafts. Is there a rigorous “no backsies” policy or may you change anything on demand? Look for someone who can sharp your rough concepts. Whether your brand is wild, quirky, minimalist, or screaming bright, they should assist you ground the spirit of it.
If upkeep worries you, bring it up. Digital skeletons abound in San Francisco; sites ripped at the seams, left abandoned after debut. These include cloud updates, site performance tests, odd plugin issues discovered at 3AM under troubleshooting. You want someone who won’t ghost you following payment of the bill.
San Francisco is a patchwork of seasoned innovators and fresh-faced start-ups all working for digital significance. Here a competent web designer is more than just a pixel jockey. They are your co-pilot across the always changing digital terrain—and chances are they will do it while drinking a cool coffee at a Mission café.