How to Evaluate a Website Development Agency’s Portfolio

Look‍‍‍ Beyond the Homepage: 5 Minute Portfolio Test 

When you check an agency's portfolio site, the most natural first reaction is to open a few links, enjoy their visuals and move on, but the homepage is only a fraction of what a website should deliver to the viewer.

A good website agency portfolio not only showcases an agency's creative abilities but it also communicates the agency's work understanding on the technical side as well. That is to say that a portfolio should not just make beautiful pages but it should also show the agency's understanding of how people use websites (e.g., through the structure of the website and its ease).

So, go through your shortlist one by one, and for each of these websites, spend some minutes looking around, pretending to be a genuine visitor of their client's website. Look up their service pages, their product categories, contact forms, etc. You could even think about the various other content pieces that might be on their website and find out if these can be discovered easily and if the site is encouraging you to go deeper.

Pull out those important factors:

• Navigation: Is there a shortcut for visitors to find what is important on the web site without clicking unnecessary buttons?

• Consistency: Are colours, type, buttons and other design elements a part of the same coherent set?

• Content hierarchy: Are headings, pictures and actions that ask for user interaction presented in a way that is easy to follow for the user?

• User journey: Is it clear what the business is offering and how one can take action accordingly?

Demonstrating a good portfolio shows an agency's grasp of human interface design beyond aesthetic design only. It shows that the agency also understands human behaviour when people are interacting with digital interfaces.

Put the Website to the Test: The Stress Test 

A website in the portfolio may seem to have a perfect look but a close interaction can expose issues. Technical excellence and smoothness of interface deserve as equal treatment as the beauty of a site's design. 

As a first step, try out the site through your mobile phone and see whether the text is readable, buttons are big enough to be comfortably tapped, images fit perfectly, and navigation does not force awkward scrolling. 

Continue with a test of the desktop experience to see whether the layout of the site is suitable for large screens or not and if the resizing of images, etc., works in different browsers smoothly. 

The aspects below would guide your evaluation： 

Loading speed: Is there any unnecessary delay in pages loading? 

Mobile Responsiveness: Is the website compatible with different screen sizes of the devices (i.e., it looks consistent whether you are using a phone, tablet, or even a desktop computer)?

Core functions: Are forms, search fields, sorting facilities, and navigation features working properly without errors?

Accessibility: Is the content clear to the user's eyes and does the site allow smooth navigation of the important areas to the ‍‍‍user?

The‍‍‍ Relevance Filter: Have They Built Something Like Your Project?

A creative studio might have a great portfolio but all great projects are not automatically great for your particular requirements. 

Let's say a client wants to open an online shop on the Internet; they would want to look for examples of e-commerce websites with product listings, a good checkout page, payment option integration and maybe also an example of how inventory was handled. If the company is a B2B company, on the other hand, they can really benefit from cases with highly detailed descriptions of the service pages, lead-generation pages and pages integrated with CRM systems.

Keep on the lookout for three different levels of relevance: 

Industry-related: Have they got experience with working on businesses that share your target audience, buying processes, or the operational issues of those businesses?

Feature-related: Has it delivered features similar to what your project needs?

Business-model-related: Has it been able to grasp whether your website is there to get your business to produce leads, make sales, keep customers happy or handle intricate workflows? 

Hands-on experience in the same industry is definitely an advantage, but one doesn't expect from an agency to work in another industry just because an expert isn't there. An agency that understands problem solutions and has the right kinds of software know-how can make an excellent product for a new niche even if it takes the time to fully understand your business and your product.

Read Between the Projects: Look for Evidence of Ownership

One way a portfolio can speak more loudly is that it explains what exactly the agency contributed.

Some of these studios may display results of big team efforts, joint projects with external companies, or even former places of employment. At times, the project only involved one component of the site development: a design, frontend programming, or technical support.

Any of the cases does, however not in and of itself represent an issue in choosing an agency. To be sure, it is crucial to know the precise job the agency carried out.

Here are some questions that you should pose before you make a decision:

• Which aspects of the project were the responsibility of your team?

• Was there a major challenge on this project?

• If yes, then how was it handled and to what extent was it successful?

• What kind of quality testing and quality assurance processes did you undertake to ensure good user experience?

• Did you launch the website without a hitch and what have been the developments post-launch?

Weaving together such responses from the potential agency would be a good start towards figuring out if they have sufficient background to carry out a full scope of development from design all the way through development and ‍‍‍launching.

Conclusion: Choose a Portfolio That Promises More Than Good Design 

Assessing a portfolio goes far beyond layouts. Usability, performance, and the technical side of the projects, among other factors, must be carefully considered. It’s important to identify an agency that fits your vision for the long term, and with that in mind, I recommend considering FODUU as your potential website development agency in India. FODUU focuses on web design, development and creating functional digital solutions to help businesses.

Ultimately, the ideal digital partner isn’t the agency with the fanciest designs. It is the one that has the understanding to explain why the designs they create work, while also having the knowledge to show why their services align with your specific goals and how to design your digital business needs in a practical, scalable way.