Characteristics of a typical construction job site:

• Chaotic
• Half-finished
• One thing must get done before something else can be completed
• A lot of guys walking around focused on exactly their role in the build
• The foreman is in charge of progress and deciding what gets worked on today, but he’s also following plans
• Building materials scattered everywhere

Website Builds

A website build is kind of like building a house (you will definitely have to use your imagination for this one). You’ve got the foundation, basic framework, and all the finishing detail work that makes a website—or a house—your home. Your website is your online home, after all.

To build either, a lot of decisions have to be made. But which of those decisions are you prepared to make?

Let’s take a look at it from a hammer swinger’s point of view first.

Hammer Swinger Approach to Building a Website

Have you ever visited the job site of a building that is being built? Generally, you’ll find a crew of people working, right? Those people working are typically electricians, plumbers, and carpenters. Concrete finishers might be there if any concrete needs to be poured. These guys are the hammer swingers. They’re essential to getting the job done. The building would remain a pile of sticks without their skillset.

All of those workers, specialized in their respective work, have one thing in common: They’re following the plans for the build.

These highly-skilled individuals aren’t the ones who came up with plan, no. But they are uniquely qualified to follow it to its end to produce the home or building designed for a specific purpose.

An Architect’s Approach to Building a Website

The plans by which the carpenters are building the house are very specific. Everything has been plotted out and accounted for. Those plans take into account things like homeowner preference in style, the number of bedrooms needed, the size of the garage required, and more. The plans are designed to combine both beauty and functionality.

The scope of those plans are limited by the total budget, and the details are formed by balancing those homeowner preferences we mentioned as well as the functionality. You need your home to be both your style and function in a way that makes sense for your family, right?

Your website is no different.

Hiring a Hammer Swinger vs. an Architect

It seems pretty clear you need both, right? A website plan without execution is nothing more than a model house. And a website built without a plan is worse than a pile of sticks.

Meet Annie Hurst, Website Architect & Hammer Swinger

“I do my best work when I follow my creative process. And that process begins with understanding my customer.” — Annie Hurst

Annie is the creative director and CEO of Off-Center Design, a digital marketing company in Washington, Missouri. She’s also the chief geek who builds the websites (she does more too, which you can learn about here if you’d like).

Much like a structural architect, Annie is an artist and an engineer. Her creative process produces art and function through code. What does that mean for your home on the web?

“I think because I spent my early years as an artist and designer,” Annie says, “I portray my customers through visual storytelling in a way many website developers and strategists can’t. Instead of using paint or pencil, I’m using images and code and user-experience design now. It’s like painting a portrait of my customer.”

And that portrait is possible because of the sum of its digital parts.

What goes into a website?

Every website build at Off-Center Design starts with Annie meeting the customer. This is an important step because it lays the foundation for her understanding of who this customer is and how their business should be portrayed online. It also forms the picture of this client’s target audience or market. She talks to them about their goals, how they need the website to function, and who they’re ultimately trying to reach with their digital marketing efforts.

Once Annie has had a chance to talk with her customer, she starts brainstorming ways to meet all of her customer’s needs—this is the beginning of the building plans.

“The goal is always to entice my customers’ customers to stay on the website, gain information, and make a connection that will lead to a sale.”

Annie involves her team once she’s developed a strategy that balances function with beauty, customer preference, user experience, and marketing goals.

Imagine being the architect for your website design.

If you read everything that goes into the formation of a website strategy—or building plan—then you know there is a lot of expertise involved in its formation. Even more skill required in managing all of the website build’s moving parts while maintaining the original vision.

Arriving at a finished product that accurately portrays a business and appeals to its customers is no accident—it’s a carefully orchestrated architectural feat.

Imagine trying to orchestrate that yourself. You would need to if you hire a hammer swinger instead of an architect.

While Annie is excellent at swinging hammers, she is terrible at building a house with a plan designed by others that doesn’t allow for things like that walk-in closet door to open fully or enough headspace so you don’t bonk your head every time you walk down the stairs to the basement.

Trusting Someone Else with Your Home

It can be hard to trust someone else to plan your website. But the plan is an extension of the information you present to the architect. To make sure you’ll love the end result, make sure you:

• Love the general artistic style of the architect.
• Present all of the pertinent information up front.
• Ask questions, assume nothing.
• Commit to participating in the process.

Asking questions is important because miscommunications happen when we don’t ask questions. And participating in the process means you’re planning right alongside the architect. You’re helping to shape the entire project with your contributions. The finished product would not be the same without your help.

When should you skip the architect and hire the hammer swinger?

Annie and her content writer Mindy thought long and hard about this question. And they came up blank.

We can’t think of a scenario when you shouldn’t have an architect involved in your build. The architect is essential for bringing the many pieces of information together to form a balanced plan. Even if Annie isn’t your architect of choice, find one before you proceed. You’ll have a much better website-building experience if you do.

To talk to Annie about becoming your website architect, shoot her an email with a few proposed dates for a website consultation.