How to Check a Web Designer’s Past Work Properly
Most people check a web designer’s past work by scrolling a portfolio page for ninety seconds. That page is a collection of screenshots taken on the best day of each project’s life.
It shows you the homepage, cropped neatly, on a desktop screen, at the moment of launch. Consequently it tells you nothing about whether the project ran on time, whether the client still owns their domain, whether the site works on a phone, or whether any of it still exists.
Learning to check a web designer’s past work takes about twenty minutes and reveals far more than any conversation will. Here is the procedure.
Why Portfolios Mislead Without Lying
Four things happen quietly on every portfolio page, and each one limits how far you can check a web designer’s past work from screenshots alone.
You see the best three projects out of forty. That is normal and reasonable, although it means the average is invisible to you.
Screenshots freeze time. A site launched in 2022 might have been abandoned in 2023, and the image looks identical either way.
The work may not be theirs. Subcontracting is common, so the person showing you a site may have built one section of it.
Design is the only thing on display. Speed, structure, security, and handover are all invisible in a picture.
None of this is deceptive. It simply means the portfolio is marketing, and marketing is not evidence.
The Twenty Minute Procedure
This is the full procedure to check a web designer’s past work. Run it in order on every candidate. You need a phone, a browser, and mobile data rather than office wifi.
1. Open the actual websites. If the portfolio shows images without links, ask for the addresses. Reluctance here is itself informative.
2. Confirm each one is still live. Dead links suggest clients who left and did not renew. One is unremarkable, and four is a pattern.
3. Time the load on your phone. Count seconds until you can read something and tap something. Anything beyond five seconds on a simple business site is a problem the designer chose not to solve.
4. Scroll the whole page on mobile. Look for text running off the edge, buttons too small to tap, and menus that do not open.
5. Look for template repetition. Ten sites sharing one structure means one template applied ten times. That is not automatically bad, although it should be reflected in the price.
6. Find work older than two years. Ask specifically for it. Recent launches show taste, while older sites show whether the work survives contact with time.
7. Search each client’s business name on Google. Does their site appear first? A designer who builds sites nobody can find has left the most valuable part undone.
8. Check the footer. Many designers credit themselves there. A credit removed from an otherwise identical site sometimes indicates a relationship that ended badly.
The Test Most People Skip
Here is the single most revealing check, and it costs nothing.
Look at whether those past clients are still clients.
A designer whose work from four years ago is still live, still updated, and still credited to them has demonstrated something no portfolio can claim. Meanwhile a portfolio full of sites that have since been replaced tells a different story, even when each individual project looked fine at launch.
You will not always be able to tell. However, when you check a web designer’s past work across several years rather than several months, patterns become visible quickly.
What the Portfolio Cannot Show You
When you check a web designer’s past work visually, five things stay hidden, and they matter enormously.
Did the project finish on time?
Did the final price match the quote?
Was handover done properly, including the domain, hosting, and logins?
Did communication hold up once the deposit was paid?
Were problems after launch fixed or invoiced?
Only a past client can answer these. Therefore ask for one.
What to Ask a Past Client
Requesting a reference is ordinary diligence, and most business owners answer honestly because somebody once did the same for them.
Keep it to five short questions.
Did the project finish on schedule?
Did the final price match the original quote?
Do you hold your own domain, hosting, and login?
How quickly did they respond once you had paid?
Would you use them again?
That last one carries the most weight, because hesitation before answering says more than the answer does.
If a designer will not connect you with anybody, treat that as your reference.
Warning Signs
Screenshots with no live links.
Every site launched within the last six months.
Portfolio sites that are slow on mobile, since your site will be built the same way.
Work that all looks identical while being priced as custom.
Client logos with no corresponding project. A logo wall proves nothing about what was actually delivered.
Sites where the designer still holds the domain. You can sometimes spot this through a public WHOIS lookup, and it tells you how they handle ownership. Our post on who actually owns your website explains why that matters more than anything on the portfolio page.
What Good Actually Looks Like
Sites that load quickly on a phone. Varied structures rather than one template repeated. Work spanning several years and still standing. Clients who rank for their own business name. A designer comfortable handing you addresses and introductions without hesitation.
None of that requires technical knowledge to assess. It requires twenty minutes and a phone.
For the wider process, see our guide to hiring a web designer in Kenya, and for the stage immediately before payment, see questions before paying a web designer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many projects should I check a web designer’s past work across? Four or five gives you a pattern. Two gives you a coincidence.
What if their portfolio has no live links? Ask for the addresses. A designer proud of their work will supply them immediately.
Is it rude to contact a past client? No. It is standard practice, and most owners are happy to help.
What if all their work is under a non disclosure agreement? Occasionally true for corporate projects, and rarely true for small business websites. Ask what they can show instead.
Should slow portfolio sites disqualify somebody? Not automatically, since the client may have added heavy content later. Ask about it and judge the answer.
Does a large portfolio mean a better designer? No. Volume and quality are separate measurements. Depth over several years matters more than quantity.
Twenty Minutes, One Phone
You can check a web designer’s past work alone, without technical knowledge, before any money moves. Anybody unwilling to be checked this way has answered your question already.
At Africa Web Experts we hand over live addresses, past clients, and the domain itself. Websites from KES 65,000, live in seventy two hours, with your login on launch day.
