I was reading an excellent Hub by battyboop called Things Not to Ask a Fashion Designer. She had six main points that were excellent, and as I was reading them, they seemed to prove true to anyone in the creative service field. If you're a tattoo artist, writer, or graphic designer, her points should hit home.

As a former web designer, I thought I'd give my perspective.

1. Don't ask me to copy a website.

However, I do want to know what websites you like, especially those that are related to your field. I'll even ask what you specifically like about those sites. It will help me get a feel of what will make you happy. But as far as "copying" the site, its the internet! Your potential customers and the owners of the original website will eventually notice!

2. I'm a web designer, not a copyrighter or content creator for your website.

Please don't ask me to be your content creator. I will charge you 5X what a copyrighter / content creator will charge you. That is not what I do. I can design logos and letterhead, but that is not the same thing as being a web designer. There are people out there that will charge you less, and possibly do a better job, resulting in everyone being happier.

3. Sorry, my world doesn't revolve around you.

Do you think I might be doing something else during the 10 phone calls or 25 instant messages? I'm happy to help, and want to make you happy, but please know this, you're not my only customer, or I may be doing something else at 9pm at night. Also, when I answer the phone, I usually don't want to hear, "Hey Matt, you're on conference call." There is a good possibility that it's a bad time to be on conference call with five people. With regards to conference calls, set that up in advance, and I'll be happy to talk. Please don't ask me to be available 24/7.

4. It will NOT take a day to do an original, complex, quality website. I'm sorry.

Please don't ask me to be done in a day or two, unless I tell you that it will be a day or two. You'd be surprised how often people think a site can be done in a day or two. What I do is different than dragging some images into Frontpage. Often times, doing a website requires more that just what you see. There is often back-end coding and programming that needs to be done. That part often gets forgotten.

5. Tell me what you want!

Ok, this isn't as much "a question", but it's important. If it's something specific in your mind, tell me as specifically as possible. You won't sound demanding. My least favorite type of client has something specific in mind, but then doesn't communicate that, so whenever I send him a design, he immeadietly doesn't like it. And then when I ask, "What is it that you don't think you like?" You say something vague like "I don't know, it just doesn't pop." If you don't like something specific, I promise you won't hurt my feelings if you tell me. You can cut my work and your price in half with good communication of your vision. We'll all be happier.

6. If your product stinks, I can't change that.

Please don't ask me to work miricles. If you have a crappy product, or crappy content, or nothing of value on your site, I can't solve those problems for you. I can probably make it pretty, but not necessarily of any value. Sorry, If your company stinks, a website won't fix that.