Web Design Problem Solving Tips

Back to the Brief

After hours of tackling a tough problem, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Returning to your project brief can help you regain focus and realign with your objectives.

Your brief is a roadmap that reminds you of the goals, target audience and key deliverables. It can also spark ideas by reconnecting you with the client’s original vision.

If your issue deviates from the brief, simplify or rethink your approach.

Pro Tip: Create a visual summary of the brief using flowcharts or mood boards. This can help you quickly align your troubleshooting efforts with the intended outcome.

Done Beats Perfect

Perfectionism is a major productivity killer. If you’re stuck on a specific issue, shift your focus to other areas of the project.

This approach reduces pressure and creates the mental space you need to come up with new perspectives on how to tackle the original problem.

Set Expectations: Define "good enough" standards with your clients or stakeholders upfront. Knowing when something meets the mark avoids unnecessary over-polishing.

Research Alternatives

If a specific tool or method isn’t working, it’s worth researching other ways to achieve your goal.

Open-source communities, official GitHub pages and forums like Web Designer Forum or Stack Overflow are treasure troves of alternative solutions.

Dedicated inspiration sites exist to expand our understanding of what is achievable, and tools like BuiltWith or Wappalyzer uncover the mystery of how other developers have solved similar problems.

Client Communication: If you discover an alternative that deviates from the plan; communicate its advantages and potential trade-offs clearly. Most clients appreciate solutions that enhance efficiency or reduce complexity.

Reframe the Problem

The way a problem is framed can be part of the issue. Take a step back and redefine the challenge. Ask yourself:

• Is this the root problem or a symptom?
• What would happen if this problem wasn’t solved?
• Can I break this into smaller, manageable tasks?

Answers to these questions will get you back on track and bring you closer to your end goal.

Advanced Tip: Use tools like mind maps or the "5 Whys" technique to dive deeper into the problem's origins. This approach often unveils overlooked solutions.

Refer to the Documentation

Documentation is an often underutilised resource. Platforms, plugins and tools you’re using frequently include guides, FAQs or troubleshooting sections that can save hours of frustration.

The community forums and user groups for the tools you’re using are also valuable resources for getting practical advice from those who’ve faced similar issues – or help from the developers themselves.

Extra Advice: Subscribe to changelogs or release notes for the tools you use. Staying updated will help you to anticipate issues before they arise.

Collaborate and Conquer

Bringing in a fresh perspective can make all the difference. Whether it’s a teammate, a mentor or even someone outside of the web design field; explaining the issue to someone else often brings clarity or suggestions on tools or approaches you hadn’t considered.

New Angle: Use collaborative design tools like Figma or Miro to visually share and brainstorm solutions with others. This can make problem-solving a more dynamic and creative process.

Prototyping and Testing

When in doubt: prototype. Quickly sketch or build a simplified version of what you’re trying to achieve.

This approach highlights flaws and uncovers more efficient approaches. If the underlying solution is good; your prototyping shines a light on areas that need further development.

Tool Recommendation: Platforms like CodePen or JSFiddle are great for testing small snippets of code outside of your main project. If it works there then the issue isn’t with that snippet, and you’ve narrowed down possible causes even further.

When used with appropriate caution, AI Tools are a powerful problem-solving resource. Many professional website designers and web developers utilise AI in their daily workflow and report high satisfaction levels with the results.

Timeboxing and Prioritisation

Set a strict limit for how much time you’ll spend troubleshooting a problem. If it’s not sorted within that window; move on to another task and revisit the problem later. This stops you from losing hours (or days) to a single hurdle, and ensures other components of your project are not neglected.

Pro Tip: Use tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritise tasks. If the issue isn’t both urgent and important; it doesn’t need solving immediately.

Utilise Debugging Tools 

Debugging tools, browser developer consoles and performance profiling software exist to pinpoint issues and are far faster at finding faults than trial and error.

Whether it’s a layout quirk in CSS or a script error in JavaScript, these tools are invaluable.

Advanced Addition: Learn to use version control systems like Git effectively. If a change creates a problem, you can quickly revert and hone-in on the exact cause.

Take Care

Body and mind are linked; making sure you’re in a good physical state is a powerful way to reach your optimum problem-solving potential. Staying hydrated, eating nutritious food and being well rested all contribute to general wellbeing and make web design a sustainable profession.

Care-Full: Taking steps to ensure your body is in optimal condition means less downtime due to illness, greater productivity, and a more enjoyable web designing experience.

Continuous Learning

Web Design is an evolving field with new products and solutions emerging each month. Building and maintaining functionality while keeping your designs efficient is challenging.

Invest time in your professional development through courses, webinars or tutorials to ensure you’re equipped to tackle new challenges.

Growth Mindset Tip: Follow industry leaders on platforms like X or LinkedIn for tips, tools and insights that can save you time and effort.

Embrace Automation

Certain tasks like testing, image optimisation and deployment can be automated.

Use automation where appropriate to optimise your workflow and free up time that you can use to focus on more complex problems.

Go Fully Automatic: CI/CD pipelines are powerful and exist to take some of the burden off your shoulders.

Final thoughts

Learning and continuous improvement is just as important as solving immediate problems. Exploring new methods and experimenting with new technologies will keep you adaptable and at the forefront of the web design industry.

By integrating these principles into your workflow, and utilising these resources, you are well equipped to tackle any website design challenges you’ll face. Let us know what tools and techniques work best for you in the comments section below.