Which web designer is the best?
That’s a great question. Recently, I got an email from Jonathan Stark, and he addressed this “best” idea in it. So with his inspiration, and to answer your question, first, let me ask you three quick questions:
Question 1: Which restaurant is the best?
- Taco Bell
- Chilis
- Dominos Pizza
Got your answer?
Great.
Question 2: Consider this scenario:
You’re running late for a meeting that’s an hour drive away. It’s pouring torrential rain outside. You have to drop your son off at home for a shower because he just finished playing rugby (in the rain), your colicky baby is finally sleeping in her car seat, and you haven’t had a thing to eat since having coffee 7 hours ago.
Which restaurant is the best?
- Taco Bell
- Chilis
- Dominos Pizza
…
Question 3: Consider this scenario:
Your daughter is having her 8th birthday party and 43 kids are invited, along with their parents. (Yep, she’s the most popular kid at school.) She’s expecting pizza for the party dinner and hanging those 800 balloons you inflated has taken much longer than you expected. Dinner is supposed to be served in just an hour.
Which restaurant is the best?
- Taco Bell
- Chilis
- Dominos Pizza
If you’re like me, you probably picked a different restaurant to each scenario.
The word “best” is a trap. It’s loaded with assumptions and far too absolute for the real, chaotic world.
The answer to “which is best” should always be prefaced with “here’s the situation”, or else answered by “it depends”.
Different scenarios call for different solutions.
This is why your business’ situation at this point in time will be a huge determining factor in which web designer is the best for you.
- Are you just starting out in business, making the rent is a stretch, and you’re struggling to get clients? If so, it’s possible that forgoing a website altogether for now or building a temporary one yourself on Wix or Squarespace might be the best possible answer for you.
- Does your business have no issue making the bills and setting a little extra aside each month? Do you know your site needs a new redesign, but you know that for your personality, you really want to be super involved in every detail of the redesign process? Then hiring an in-house designer is probably going to be your best bet.
- If money isn’t an obstacle and if you love cookie cutter processes, want a dedicated account manager that works with the project manager, technical team, and creative team, and you get a real kick out of infrastructures like that, then hiring a large, renowned web design agency that has dozens of team members might be a good answer for you.
- If your business is ready to make an investment in a website, but you’d rather not even think about the design and just let a tiny little team obsess over making you look amazing, then hiring an agency like Smitten might be an excellent choice.
The scenarios and the proper answers to the question could go on and on. Because of this, you’re the best one to decide which web designer is the best. And what you decided today might be very different from what you decide 5 years from now when your business, or your energy, or your investment capital for a website is in a different place.