Greg i have a problem.

You wouldn’t believe how often I hear that. “The color of my red logo looks different in the product photos on my screen!” I don’t even need to see the photos—I already know what probably went wrong. My bet? The so-called “Photographer.”

The fix is surprisingly simple, and there’s a straightforward way to avoid disappointments like this. Here’s my take…

How to Spot a Bad Photographer: Two Simple Questions.

• What color space do you use for your photos?
  If they say, Adobe RGB! It’s the best because Adobe has the best colors! you can stop right there. Politely back away. The only correct answer? No color space at all.
• Is your camera calibrated?
  If they respond with, Cali… what? That’s your cue to run.

Want to dig deeper? Photos are shot in RAW mode, which has no color space (just the sensor’s own space). A pro will edit them and export in sRGB. Why? Nearly every device—your smartphone, monitor, or TV—only properly supports sRGB.

There are exceptions. The 0.01% of designers, photographers, and artists might use expensive (and arguably excessive) Adobe RGB screens, and a few fine print stores work with ProPhoto RGB. But even they usually default to sRGB for consistency.

And about calibration: Proper photographers ensure that their cameras, monitors, and printers all speak the same language in color accuracy. It’s called a calibrated color workspace, and it’s how the red you see on screen matches the red you print.

It´s a good sign when you see your photographer messing around with Color Cards.

Greg make it…  webbish!

The client didn’t know how to describe it otherwise, so he used this funny phrase. What does it mean? Web is a different medium than a folder or a book, so you can’t cut and paste design between them. Following many different rules it’s actually more challenging to design for Web than for print. Why? Because with print you know how the end result will look. Online, it’s a guess, at best. You don’t know if a user will read your site on his computer, smartphone or tablet. What resolution? What connection speed?

You need to be prepared for all of them. Are you? 🙂

Keep the User in Focus.

I see failures like this very frequently. Fancy websites with nice navigation styles which are very artistic but not user friendly… well, epic failures. For daily usage you need a clean and straightforward design. In my opinion there is absolutely no point to reinvent the wheel, and that´s why designers/artists always fail at it. There is a reason why Microsoft, Google and Apple invest millions and years of work in their UI designs. And as a silly little designer or even web agency you don’t have the luxury and capacity for a complete UI.

Check out  5 Ridiculously Common Misconceptions about UX  by Usman Anwar and How Design Impacts Blog Readership by Damion Wasylow