When kicking off a new web project, it’s tempting to get excited about seeing beautifully designed mockups right away. A sleek, polished interface early in the process can feel reassuring—but in reality, it can be a major red flag. Why? Because it often means you’re getting a generic, surface-level solution rather than one that truly meets your organization’s needs.
We often get asked by organizations looking to assess our level of expertise before trusting us with their website project to create a mockup of what we think the website might look like. In truth, we have absolutely no idea! We can mock up something that will look amazing and check those boxes to make them feel comfortable, but instead, we preach why a mockup is almost meaningless and should certainly not be of primary importance in deciding if the agency is a good fit and capable of building the solution you want or not.
Here is why…
The Problem with Early Mockups
Let’s take a step back. When a web agency presents beautiful screens before they fully understand your business goals, user needs, and technical constraints, they are:
- Making assumptions instead of informed decisions – How can they design an effective user journey when they haven’t yet defined what success looks like?
- Focusing on the wrong priorities – A great website is not just about visuals; it must be scalable, usable, and technically sound.
- Possibly recycling a template solution – If a website looks too polished too soon, it might be because it’s a repurposed design that doesn’t actually fit your needs.
The Right Approach: Discovery Before Design
A well-designed website doesn’t just solve for a single process; it must be scalable, flexible, and user-centric, ensuring that all users can navigate and complete their objectives efficiently. This means that before a single pixel is designed, there must be:
- A deep dive into organizational goals
- Clear identification of user journeys
- An understanding of technical constraints and integration requirements
Skipping this foundational work leads to wasted time, frustration, and, ultimately, a website that doesn’t perform the way it should.
Example Scenario: Signing Up for a College Class
Let’s apply this concept to a real-world scenario: a university website where students need to register for classes.
- Polished Mockup Trap: Imagine a web agency presents a beautiful, sleek registration interface right at the start of the project. It looks amazing! But when the university tries to integrate it with their existing student records system, it breaks. There’s no logic for handling prerequisite verification, waitlists, or cross-listed courses. The result? A great-looking design that fails in practice.
- The Right Approach: A discovery phase would have identified these critical factors first. Instead of an early mockup, the agency would map out user flows, analyze technical integrations, and prototype interactions before committing to visual design.
Real Solutions Take Time
Great web design is more than just aesthetics—it’s about creating an experience that works. If an agency presents a fully designed interface before understanding your needs, that’s a red flag. Instead of being impressed by early visuals, look for a team that prioritizes discovery, research, and strategy before jumping into design.
At One Cloud Media, we don’t just design for a single journey—we design systems that support every user journey. And that takes more than just a pretty picture on day one.
