A starting point, not a blueprint.
If you've ever worked with a designer on a new website, you’ve probably been shown a beautiful design comp -- a polished image showing what your future website could look like. It's tempting to treat this comp like a finished product, a perfect vision to be built pixel-for-pixel. But here's the thing: A design comp is more like a movie poster -- not the actual movie.
The design comp: a snapshot, not the whole story
Design comps are typically made in tools like Figma, Sketch, or Photoshop. They're static images that show how a site might look on a certain screen size -- usually a desktop screen. But websites aren't static. They're interactive and responsive, which means they need to adapt to different devices, screen sizes, orientations, and even user settings.
So while a comp might show one perfect version of your site, real users will be experiencing it in hundreds of slightly (or wildly) different ways.
Responsive design
Responsive design is the magic that makes a website look good whether you’re on an ultra-wide monitor, a laptop, an iPad, or a phone held sideways. But with that flexibility comes a bit of trade off: you can’t guarantee that every element will stay exactly where it was in the design comp. And that’s OK!
Pixel-perfect isn't always perfect
Imagine you’re shopping for a tailored suit. You see one displayed perfectly on a mannequin -- everything smooth, straight, and pinned just right. It looks great. But when you put it on a real person? The suit has to move with them. It needs to fit while they sit, stand, walk, and wave their arms around in a meeting.
A website design comp is that suit on the mannequin. It shows the style, the intention, and the polish. But a live, responsive website is like that suit in motion -- it needs to adjust and perform across different situations: mobile, desktop, landscape, accessibility settings, and more.
You’re not getting something less refined, you’re getting something more functional -- built to work for real people, in real situations.
Build consistency, not clones
Instead of aiming for a cloned version of the comp, the real goal is visual consistency and usability. We want your site to feel like the comp -- clean, professional, branded -- but also to be flexible, fast, and easy to use no matter where or how it’s being viewed.
So when you see your website and it’s not quite identical to the comp, don’t panic. That’s not a mistake, it’s good design doing its job in the real world.