Recent Projects

Blue Mountain Cider - A Walla Walla Valley hard cider producer.

Vintage Cellars - A local wine bar offering a large variety of Walla Walla Valley Wines.

When Hiring a Web Designer

Our society has clearly entered the internet world however that does not mean that we are not still adjusting to it. Web design is a perfect example of this adjustment as many of the people offering web design services were actually trained to do graphic design rather than website design. What's the difference? I'm glad you asked.

Graphic design focused on creating eye catching and pleasing design for print media. Print media is obviously a different type of user experience with an additional set of knowledge and skills required to be successful. People do not interact with print media by navigating to new information from a link. Print readers simply browset/read the document and move on with whatever information they were able to glean. Website users explore information through multiple documents and expects certain standards in it's implementation. Websites that employ quirky, unique navigation for example may soon find their readers leaving prematurely.

In other words, making an attractive looking page does not mean that person has acquired the additional set of skills needed by a web developer. A true web developer will understand how to blend together the importance of a professional and eye catching design with the user functionality and search engine friendliness of websites that stands apart!

As an example web designers are often fond of graphic (picture) links because they allow increased manipulation of the website's appearance. On the other hand search engines do not offer the same level of respect to a graphic link (typically speaking) that they will a text link meaning a missed opportunity for SEO.

Note: This does not mean that a graphic link should not ever be used on a website - it means that there are considerations/actions to make when using them extensively in a site's linking structure.

When the time comes to hire a designer strongly consider using a company that offers more than a pretty design. Make sure your message is heard by your target audience by working with a web development agency!