I used to be the content manager of the corporate web site of a large New Zealand organisation, with over 200 static pages and a whole bunch of dynamic pages to look after. During my time in that role, the site went through one complete redesign (in 2002) and a further partial redesign (in 2004). Cunningly, I managed to leave just as the next full redesign was getting into stride.

In the 2002 and 2004 redesigns, I was the main day-by-day client point of contact with the web design company. Now, as Webstruxure develops Sketch, I’m spending a lot of time on the other side of the fence, talking with web designers and information architects and hearing about their experiences working with clients on sites.

As a client, I worked with the same web design company in 2002 and 2004. The experience in 2002 was very good, and whereas the experience in 2004 was rather fraught at times, we were still happy with the end result.

My main concerns as a client were with ensuring that the designers knew what I wanted, getting direct access to the designers’ technical staff rather than having to go through a gatekeeper, and making sure that the site went live on time – which, in practice, meant a few minutes before it was due to be demonstrated to senior management. The worst times in 2004 were when I felt that our redesign project was a low priority for the design company, and that they were committing resources elsewhere which our project should have had access to.

Now, talking with web designers, I’m getting to see the other side of the coin. Designers’ experiences vary widely, but a common thread is that the site redesign is usually a relatively low priority for the client organization in general, and even for the client’s representative(s) on the project. The core business of the client is not web design, and the work that the client needs to do on the project – confirming information architecture, approving designs, and in particular, providing content – tends to be well down the client’s list of priorities.

So, both clients and designers often feel that the other ‘side’ is letting them down. Both go into projects fearing that something will go wrong, and that expectation is often fulfilled. And both wish that everything could work more smoothly. We hope that tools such as Sketch will help to ease the pain that both parties feel, but the barriers are at least as much psychological as technical. I hope the closer cooperation promoted by tools like Sketch will help break down those barriers as well.