Often when we search for who designed a website, there is a purpose, such as needing a designer for ourselves or checking for the website’s credibility.

We can easily use screenshots of the website to use as an example. There is enough proof suggesting that we spend more time defining the website’s design elements than maintaining them. 

Why we find out who designed a website

The type of website or the content of the website affects the credibility of the website. People often underestimate the website’s credibility, even based on the colors used. 

A credible website typically increases conversions with ease. However, about 75% of a website’s credibility depends on its design. Therefore, you might be checking for a website designer to prevent yourself from encountering a scam or hire a good designer who built an efficient website.

What to look for when searching for who designed a website

A designer designs a website, and a website developer builds it. A website needs both the designer and website developer to construct it. A web developer obtains the design from the designer to build the website.

Minor business websites owe their design credentials to regional agencies or freelancers. These agencies or the person who built them would include their link in the websites they built to promote themselves. We can find their information at the footer of their client website.

We can find the creator name of the website next to the “created by” or “copyrighted” information. Often this creator is the web developer of the website who can be the designer of the website. But only a few people are equipped with both skills.

If there is no information in the web page’s footer, check for the “About” or the “Terms of Services” page. They are available as links at the end of the website.

The information we find after we right-click on any web page, displayed by the “view page source,” contains the author’s name in its code. But, again, this person might be only the web developer rather than the designer. 

Most credible websites register with authentic organizations. If we can’t find the creator in the footer or the page source information, and if we want to be sure of the creator being the website designer, we should ask.

Suggestions to find out who designed a website

We can email the website owner to ask for the designer of the website.

If finding the owner is hard, we can do it in two steps.

Creator Finder website: This website displays the creator of the website. You will have to input the website address in the search box to get results.

Image Source: findcreators.io

Domain Tools website: If the creator information is unavailable through the Creator Finder website, search through this website’s search box to find the website owner.

Image Source: whois.domaintools.com

The Domain owner need not be the website owner.

A partner or a corporation can own a business website. Therefore, a website collecting user information will have the email address of information of the owner of the data of the website. Therefore, they are a credible source of information according to the legal requirements of the privacy policy.

If there is no owner information, access the public information on domain ownership given by the WHOIS records. In addition, sales prospecting tools such as Hunter can also display email addresses associated with domains.

Other information from the domain name

The website owner is not obligated to tell us the designer of the website or reply to the email we sent at once. There is information other than the Meta author from the code displaying the owner/designer of the website.

 Sometimes the domain name can contain the actual name of the designer when they host the website on their server. 

Finding the name of the designer or their logo

A marketing agency or a private website designer can include their logo at the bottom of the page in the footer. 

Sometimes they can also add their name in a comment in the HTML head section. 

Online help to find out who designed a website

Humans TXT

Access the help provided by Humans TXT to find information on the people behind a website. Websites, including the text file humans.txt as a part of the code in the site root, have author information. The author tag is present at the <head> tag of the website.

Image Source: humans.txt

Check style.css 

A company can add CSS Checkbox style to their HTML code to make their HTML UI design more attractive and for increasing engagement. 

This feature is more explicit to Word Press websites but can apply to any other website. They include the people’s information if they have filled out the information.

To do this, go to the source code and search for style.css. In the full URL of that file in the code, there will be an area with people’s information, including the designers listed. 

 Squarespace

Websites built using Squarespace have the website information on them. Right-click to select “View Page Source.” This additional information, such as the publisher’s name or an image source, is limited to Squarespace websites. You might find the owner/designer information if an external person is associated with designing the website.

Image Source: architectureplusinformation.com

If the designer’s or author’s name is still in the hidden mode, the owner may want to keep the information concealed. Please respect their privacy and move on.