A couple hundred silly quotes doesn't mean that every client isn't knowledgeable about these things, but there are loads of people who are new to creating websites and working with a designer. People believe that the designer is responsible for everything on the site and little is required from them.
I've outlined a few basic rules that people should know about web design. It's not complete, especially since I'm not a professional myself...
- The Internet has limits and the designer is aware of them. If the designer says you can't have a 50-minute DVD quality video that takes up 10 megabytes on your site, then that's the truth. Trust the designer.
- Words like fun, edgy, creative, corporate, loud, dynamic, etc don't mean anything, so using them to describe the site you want won't help the designer. Get specific.
- You have to tell the designer what you want and don't want. If you say, "I'll know what I want when I see it," then you'll get exactly what you don't want.
- If the designer says that changing a few colors, moving images, and adding text won't be easy to do, then that's right, it's not.
- Read the contract you have with your designer, the one you signed. They usually work for money, so non-payment equals no work done.
- If you want something done and the designer does it, but you're not happy with the results, it's not the designer's fault.
- A white background with yellow text is illegible and the designer will tell you this. When something will look bad the designer will let you know, so trust him/her.
- It's helpful to know some computer terminology, like operating system, browser, web address, etc. Both parties should speak the same language.
- You provide the content, not the designer.
- The designer waits for your approval. Keep in contact with the designer (reply to emails, voice mails, etc).
