There’s a lot that goes into a full website design project. Branding, website strategy, website design, development, copy, and more. A lot of designers think that they need to do it all to be a real designer, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Today we’re going to go over why you don’t need to do it all and the steps to get started focusing on the parts you really love.
Find Something You Specialize In
First, it’s important to realize that finding something you specialize in is good for you, your clients, and your business. When you’re focusing on the parts of a project you really love you’re going to be happier, better at it, and give your clients a better end-product.
There’s absolutely no reason to feel like less of a professional if you don’t offer all of the pieces that go into a website design. Each piece, branding, strategy, design, and development, is really it’s own expertise. Giving your full attention to one thing and outsourcing the things you don’t specialize in will only make you better.
Identify the Parts You Aren’t Excited About
To get started really focusing on the parts you love, you have to identify the parts that you aren’t so crazy about. Think through your normal process of each of your offerings or what you imagine your ideal offering to look like.
Are there any parts that make you nervous, anxious, or just annoyed? For a lot of designers, that’s the development, but for you it could be branding, client communication, or website design. Whatever pieces don’t make you feel excited are the parts it’s time to get rid of.
Once you do, you’re going to find yourself enjoying your projects a whole lot more, as it will remove stress before, during, and after your projects. Just the thought of getting rid of it right now might make you feel better.
Find Your Partners in Crime
Once you decide which pieces of projects aren’t your specialty, it’s time to find your partners in crime.
First, consider someone you’re familiar with who specializes in something you want to outsource. If you don’t know anyone personally, look at people whose work you admire or ask around for recommendations. Something important is that you want to look for people who specialize in a piece you want to outsource, rather than people who offer your speciality as well as the piece you’re looking to get rid of.
How Will You Work Together?
The next step is figuring out the process of how you’ll work together.
You’ll need to decide things like whether the client will work with both of you individually or if one of you will manage the project and subcontract a specific piece to the other person and how communication will be managed.
After that, you’ll need to adjust the offerings on your website. There are two options here. You can either keep your original packages and simply include the cost and timeline of others in it. If you go this route, expect to increase your current package prices. You’ll likely find that people who specialize in something specific are able to charge more for what they do because they’re better at it.
You can also just list the single piece you specialize in, such as branding, or website design. If you do this, make it clear what’s included and what’s not. For example, a lot of potential clients aren’t going to know what it means if you say your web design service doesn’t include development.
Finally Ditch the Stress
I hope by thinking through the process you’re already able to see how much more you can enjoy your projects by only focusing on your favorite parts. Those stressful pieces won’t be your responsibility anymore and it’s always fun to collaborate with other creatives on a project.
If you’re a designer who is ready to ditch the development portion of your projects, I’ve got a free resource for you. To learn more about working with a developer, unlock the ultimate checklist to go from hours of code to development-free design projects. Click the button below to get started!
10 Steps To Go From Hours Of Code To Development-Free Design
