Recently I had a discovery call with a founder who mentioned that she had a few other web designers in mind. Which is completely fair. You should be doing your research. A website at this stage of your business is a significant investment and the person you choose to build it matters more than most founders realise, until they’ve made the wrong choice.

But that conversation stayed with me. Because I kept thinking about what criteria she, and founders like her, are actually using to make that decision. And whether those criterias are the ones that will actually get them what they need.

So I want to talk about how to choose a web designer when you’re a scaling brand. Not a generic guide. My honest perspective, as someone who works with exactly that kind of founder every day.

The brief that arrives before the call

Something I notice regularly is, founders who find me through my website or on TikTok will send a brief before we’ve even spoken. They’ve listed the pages they need, the apps they want integrated, the features they’re looking for. SEO setup, mobile optimisation, loading speed, Klaviyo integration, reviews, and so on.

And those things matter of course. But they’re also the minimum expectation of any competent web designer in this industry.

Emailing a long list of technical requirements, usually means the founder is shopping for execution, and fast delivery. Someone who will do what they ask, how they ask, and deliver something functional. Which is fine if that’s what you need. But if you’re a scaling brand with real goals of being in retail, or a major relaunch, or receiving funding, or expanding into new markets, then execution alone won’t get you there.

Technical execution isn’t always the most important thing to look for, because of course a competent web designer can design a website that’s also mobile friendly and loads fast. Like duh! You’re missing the bigger picture here.

The Shopify assumption

I also see this regularly: a founder reaches out because they see I specialise in Shopify and they need a Shopify site. It’s logical and reasonable. But Shopify being the platform isn’t enough of a reason on its own.

A streetwear brand needs a Shopify site. So does a premium West African snack brand preparing for direct-to-consumer growth, and a premium underwear brand trying to guide Black and brown women to their perfect shade. All three are on Shopify. All three need completely different things from the person building their site.

Platform knowledge is necessary but it doesn’t tell you whether a designer understands your customer, your category, your goals, or the specific moment your brand is in. And those are the things that determine whether the website actually achieves the goals you had for your launch.

The question nobody asks on the first call

Some founders hop on a discovery call with a web designer, ready to describe what they want the website to look like. The mood board. The references. The vibe. And that is useful context, as I always want to know how a founder sees their brand and website visually.

But the question that actually predicts whether the project will succeed is different. It’s: does this designer understand what the website needs to do?

Not how it needs to look. What it needs to do.

Because a website that looks exactly how you imagined but doesn’t guide new customers to the right product, doesn’t communicate the brand story clearly to someone discovering you for the first time, and doesn’t convert traffic into sales, is a website that has failed (regardless of how beautiful it looks).

The web designers who ask about your goals before they ask about your aesthetic are the ones worth paying attention to. The ones who want to understand where the business is going before they start talking about layouts and colour palettes. The ones who treat the brief as a starting point for a strategic conversation rather than a checklist to execute against.

What actually matters at this stage

If you’re a scaling brand, that’s a few years in, has loyal customers, bigger goals on the horizon, here’s what I’d actually look for in a web designer:

  • Do they ask about your business before they ask about your brand? Goals, growth stage, where the friction is, what’s not converting and why. These questions should come before mood boards and references.

  • Do they have experience with brands at your stage specifically? A designer who works mainly with early startups and small businesses, has a different skill set to one who works with established brands repositioning or relaunching. They’re not the same project.

  • Do their past projects show evidence of strategic thinking, not just aesthetic taste? Look at their case studies/portfolio. Are they describing what the site looks like or what it achieved? Can they articulate why specific decisions were made and what problem those decisions solved?

  • Do they push back when something doesn’t serve the goal? A designer who agrees with everything you say and executes exactly what you ask isn’t a strategic partner. They’re a pair of hands. At this stage, you need someone who will tell you when a design decision isn’t serving the customer journey, even if you thought you wanted it.

The honest version of what I offer

I’m not the right fit for every brand that needs a Shopify site. I work with scaling product brands and impact organisations at a specific moment:  when the business has outgrown its current site and needs a website that reflects where it’s actually going.

If you’re a streetwear brand looking for someone to execute a specific aesthetic vision, I’m probably not your person. If you’re a founder who wants someone to do exactly what your brief lists without question, I’m definitely not your person either.

But if you’re a female founder who has built something real, who knows their business has evolved faster than their website has, and who wants a designer who will understand the goals before touching the layouts, that’s the kind of project I’m built for.

The right web designer for a scaling brand isn’t necessarily the one with the prettiest portfolio or the fastest turnaround time or the most competitive rate. It’s the one who understands what you’re actually trying to build; and has the experience to build it in a way that serves those goals rather than just satisfying the brief.

Your website is your digital store. You wouldn’t hand the keys to your physical store to someone who didn’t understand your brand, your customer, or what you were trying to achieve. The same logic applies here.

JAL Studios builds custom Shopify websites for scaling product brands that have outgrown where they started. If you’re looking for a strategic partner rather than just a designer, start with our enquiry form.