You know the type. The business owner who sighs dramatically and says, “I just can’t find a good web designer!” as if they’re searching for a unicorn that codes in CSS. They’ll go on about missed deadlines, subpar designs, and freelancers who mysteriously “disappear.” And yet, if you listen closely, you’ll notice a pattern: every single web designer they’ve worked with has been “terrible.” At some point, you have to ask—who’s the common denominator here?
Here’s the thing: if you’ve gone through multiple designers and every experience has been a disaster, the problem might not be them. It might be you. Web designers aren’t magical creatures who can extract your vision telepathically. They need clear communication, realistic expectations, and—shocker—actual content to work with. If you don’t provide those things, no amount of “good design” will save you from yourself.
In this article, you will learn:
- The key mistakes bad clients make when working with web designers.
- How these mistakes result in poor websites and frustrated designers.
- What to do instead to ensure a successful web design project.
Let’s dive in and find out why your “bad web designer” problem is actually a bad client problem.
1. You Don’t Provide a Proper Brief
Imagine walking into a restaurant, sitting down, and telling the waiter, “Just bring me something good.” When the food arrives, you wrinkle your nose and say, “Ugh, this isn’t what I wanted at all.” Whose fault is that?
This is exactly what happens when you hire a web designer without a proper brief. Designers aren’t mind readers. They need specifics: your brand identity, your goals, your ideal customer, and what you actually want your website to do. But too many business owners give vague directions like, “I want it to pop” or “Make it modern”—which is about as useful as telling a builder, “Just make it look nice.”
Here’s what happens when you don’t provide a solid brief:
- The designer takes a guess at what you want.
- You don’t like it.
- Revisions pile up.
- Frustration builds.
- The project drags on (or worse, collapses entirely).
A good web design brief should cover things like:
✔ Your business’s purpose and key messaging.
✔ Who your ideal customer is.
✔ Your preferred style (with examples of sites you like).
✔ Specific functionalities you need (e.g., e-commerce, booking forms, memberships).
✔ Branding assets like logos, colors, and fonts.
Without this, you’re not hiring a designer—you’re asking someone to read your mind. And when that inevitably fails, it’s not proof that “good web designers don’t exist.” It’s proof that you didn’t give them a fighting chance.
2. You Can’t Clearly Define Your Ideal Customer
Picture this: you hire a designer to build your website, and they ask, “Who’s your target audience?” You pause, then confidently say, “Everyone! My business is for everyone.”
Cue the silent, internal scream of every web designer ever.
Here’s the problem—if your website is trying to attract everyone, it will appeal to no one. A good web designer can create something sleek, professional, and well-structured, but if you can’t clearly define who your ideal customer is, your website will end up being a beautifully designed confusing mess. Think of it like throwing a party: if you don’t know who’s coming, how do you know what food to serve, what music to play, or whether you need a bouncy castle or a whiskey bar?
When you don’t define your audience, you force the designer to:
- Guess at the tone, style, and structure of your site.
- Make a generic, middle-of-the-road design that won’t convert.
- Create endless revisions because you keep “figuring it out as you go.”
Want to know if you’re guilty of this? Try answering these questions:
- Who is your primary customer? (Hint: “everyone” is the wrong answer.)
- What problem does your business solve for them?
- What kind of design and messaging would resonate with them?
Your website isn’t for you—it’s for your customers. If you can’t tell your designer who they are, don’t be surprised when your site doesn’t attract the right people.
3. You Keep Changing the Scope Without Understanding the Impact
Ah, scope creep—the silent killer of web design projects everywhere. It starts innocently enough: “Hey, can we just add a little contact form here?” A few days later: “Actually, let’s turn that contact form into a full booking system.” A week after that: “Oh, and I just had an idea—what if we add a members-only portal with AI-powered chat support?”
Before you know it, your “simple website” has mutated into a Frankenstein monster of endless revisions, shifting priorities, and a designer who is one bad email away from faking their own death.
Here’s why this is a problem:
- Web design projects are scoped based on time, budget, and deliverables. If you change one of those things, the others need to change too.
- Every “small” request adds up, creating delays and frustration.
- The designer either eats the extra work (and resents you) or charges more (and you resent them).
Now, don’t get me wrong—changes happen. But there’s a right way to handle them:
✔ Define your needs upfront. The more thought you put in at the start, the fewer surprises later.
✔ Understand the impact of changes. If you add features, expect adjustments to cost or timeline.
✔ Use a structured change request process. Instead of throwing in random ideas mid-project, batch your revisions and discuss them professionally.
Scope creep isn’t just a headache for designers—it’s a sign that you don’t have a clear vision for your site. And if you don’t know what you want, don’t blame the designer when they can’t magically make you happy.
4. You Expect Miracles Without Providing Necessary Content
A web designer is not a magician. Yet, some clients seem to think they can conjure up compelling text, high-quality images, and a fully fleshed-out brand identity out of thin air.
You’d be surprised how many business owners say, “Just use placeholder text for now, I’ll send the real content later,” and then—spoiler alert—never send it. Months go by, deadlines pass, and suddenly, they’re frustrated that the project is “taking forever.” Meanwhile, the designer is waiting for literally anything to work with.
Here’s what happens when you don’t provide content upfront:
- The designer is forced to make generic filler choices that don’t represent your business.
- The project gets stuck in limbo because you haven’t delivered your part.
- The final website feels disjointed because design and content weren’t developed together.
Let’s be clear: a designer is not automatically your copywriter, photographer, or branding expert (unless you’ve explicitly hired them for those services). If you don’t provide:
✔ Clear, well-written text that explains your business.
✔ High-quality images that align with your brand.
✔ A logo, color scheme, and brand guidelines (or at least a solid direction).
…then don’t be shocked when your website turns out bland, unfinished, or delayed.
A web designer can make your content look great, but they can’t create your entire business identity for you. That’s your job.
5. You Don’t Respect the Designer’s Expertise
You hired a web designer for their skills and experience. So why are you treating them like a pixel-pushing robot?
Some clients seem to believe that because they own a business, they automatically know more about web design than the professional they just hired. These are the folks who say things like:
- “Just make the logo bigger.”
- “I want it to pop more. You know, just… pop!”
- “Can you make it look exactly like Apple’s website, but on my $500 budget?”
Micromanaging every design decision, ignoring expert advice, and insisting on changes that actively harm usability won’t get you a great website—it’ll get you a frustrated designer who does the bare minimum just to escape.
Here’s what respecting your designer’s expertise looks like:
✔ Trusting their design choices (especially when they explain why something works).
✔ Giving clear feedback, but staying open to suggestions.
✔ Understanding that good design is about function, not just aesthetics.
Your designer’s goal isn’t to make a website that just looks nice—it’s to make one that actually converts visitors into customers. If they push back on an idea, it’s not because they’re being difficult; it’s because they know what works. Let them do their job, and you’ll get a far better result.
6. You Don’t Value Web Design as an Investment
Some business owners treat web design like they’re shopping in the bargain bin: “Can you do it for $200? I found someone on Fiverr who will!” or “Why does it cost so much? My nephew made a website for free once.”
Here’s a reality check: a good website is not an expense—it’s an investment. If you wouldn’t hire the cheapest plumber to fix your pipes or the cheapest surgeon to operate on you, why would you trust the cheapest web designer to build something that represents your entire business online?
When you underpay for web design, you get:
- A rushed, low-effort website that looks outdated within months.
- A template-based design that doesn’t reflect your brand.
- A lack of support when things inevitably break or need updates.
Meanwhile, investing in a professional designer means:
✔ A site built with strategy, not just aesthetics.
✔ A design tailored to convert visitors into paying customers.
✔ Long-term reliability and support when you need updates.
If you view your website as just another box to check off your to-do list, you’ll end up with a site that does nothing for your business. But if you treat it as a core part of your marketing strategy, you’ll see real returns.
Bottom line? If you keep hiring the cheapest designers and getting bad results, it’s not proof that good designers don’t exist. It’s proof that you aren’t willing to pay for one.
7. You Have Unrealistic Expectations About Time and Cost
Some business owners want their website fast, cheap, and amazing. Here’s the problem: you can only pick two.
Yet, certain clients insist that their $10,000 website should be built for $500 and launched in a week. They’ll say things like:
- “It’s just a simple website. Shouldn’t take more than a day, right?”
- “Can’t you just copy this other site I like?”
- “I need it live by Monday.” (It’s 9pm Friday.)
This is like walking into a custom furniture store and demanding a handcrafted oak dining table by tomorrow—at IKEA prices. It’s not happening.
Here’s what realistic expectations look like:
✔ Time: A well-designed site takes weeks (if not months), depending on complexity.
✔ Cost: Good web design isn’t an off-the-shelf product. Custom work costs real money.
✔ Quality: Rushed work leads to broken layouts, buggy code, and an overall bad user experience.
If you’re constantly unhappy with the designers you hire, ask yourself: Am I giving them the time and resources they actually need to do their job well? Because if you demand a gourmet meal in five minutes, don’t be surprised when you end up with a microwaved mess.
8. You Ghost or Delay Feedback, Then Demand Urgent Changes
Nothing sends a web designer into a spiral faster than a client who disappears for weeks, then suddenly resurfaces with urgent demands.
It usually goes like this:
- The designer submits a draft and asks for feedback.
- Silence. No reply. Crickets.
- A month later, at 11:47 PM on a Sunday, the client emails: “Hey, just saw this—can we launch tomorrow?”
Look, life happens. But if you are the bottleneck in the project, don’t turn around and blame the designer for “taking too long.” Web design is a collaborative process, and your input is essential. If you ghost and then rush back with last-minute demands, expect the following:
- A designer who is now scrambling (or refusing) to accommodate your timeline.
- A rushed website with errors because you forced an unrealistic deadline.
- A strained relationship where your designer will never, ever take another project from you.
Want to avoid this? Here’s how to be a dream client:
✔ Respond in a timely manner. Even a simple “I’ll review this by Friday” keeps things moving.
✔ Batch your feedback. Instead of sending five emails with scattered thoughts, consolidate your revisions.
✔ Respect timelines. If you disappear for three weeks, don’t expect a next-day turnaround.
Web designers aren’t on-call emergency responders. If you want a great website, be an engaged, responsive client—not the person who vanishes and then panics at the last second.
If you’ve gone through multiple web designers and every single one was “terrible,” it’s time for some self-reflection. The truth is, great web designers exist—but great clients are harder to find.
Let’s recap the biggest reasons why you might be the problem:
- You don’t provide a proper brief, leaving designers to guess what you want.
- You can’t clearly define your ideal customer, making your website directionless.
- You constantly change the scope without understanding how it affects time and cost.
- You expect miracles but don’t provide the necessary content.
- You ignore your designer’s expertise and insist on bad design decisions.
- You treat web design as an expense rather than an investment.
- You have unrealistic expectations about timelines and budgets.
- You ghost, delay feedback, then demand urgent changes at the last second.
If any of these hit a little too close to home, don’t worry—awareness is the first step to change. The good news? Being a great web design client isn’t hard. Communicate clearly, respect your designer’s expertise, and understand that good work takes time and money. Do that, and you’ll finally get that “good web designer” you’ve been searching for.
Next step: If you want to work more effectively with web designers, start by learning how to write a proper project brief. It’ll save you time, money, and a whole lot of frustration.
Sarah x
