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Hire A Designer For Your Site
There is a great discussion going on in the Forums about trying to design for yourself. For anyone that has tried to do so you know that you end up falling into two camps:
- The camp that has no problem doing it. Unfortunately these people usually end up with horrible sites because they think all of their work is good anyways.
- The camp that has a huge problem with it and takes forever getting anything done. These are the designers that are never pleased and because you are doing it for yourself you expect it to be miles ahead of the client work that you do.
How can you possibly ever be pleased with your work? It's one thing to look at a design by someone else because you are looking at the finished product and to you it might be good enough and you couldn't envision how you would do it any differently, but when you are working on your own site you are there every step of the way. The problem with this is that you know each decision that goes into every element of the design and rarely is the decision cut and dry. Do you go with a serif or a sans-serif? Do you go with red or blue? Every decision represents a fork in the road that you take and you aren't supposed to look back, but unfortunately we do. We continue walking, but we also continue wondering where the other path will lead us.
This is why so many of us can't finish sites for ourselves. We want to explore all the options and because of this we end up selecting no options. What good is an unfinished site? No good at all is the correct answer, sorry if I had to help you out on that one.
Hire someone
Back before he was making world class iPhone and iPad applications, Mike Rundle had enough time in his life to do some design work for me. I had no problem letting him go ahead with it because I not only trusted his design, but it freed me up to focus on other things. I knew I needed a site done and I knew that I would take too long in doing it. By bringing on another designer I knew the burden of decision-making would be off of my shoulders.
I know the idea of paying someone else to do what you can do seems ludicrous, but we do it ourselves every single day. Is it necessary to take your clothes to the dry cleaners? Do you really need to go out to eat? Taking it a step further, companies have people in their ranks that can read HTML For Dummies and put together a website for the company without having to hire you. However, the site won't be as good and so we fight to get them to pay us instead.
Same goes for your own site. If you try to do it yourself it might not be as good as if you bring on another professional. Sometimes you can be too involved in the project and it can suffer. Letting another designer take the reins frees the project from the shackles you have placed on it.
If I save up enough money to pay a designer to run with Drawar you best believe I'm going to make it happen. The design of this site can only grow further if it is run through the mind of someone else. Then after that maybe I can expand upon it again, but every once in a while you need a fresh perspective. As omnipotent as we are we can't see everything.
The wonderful thing about bringing on another designer is that you don't always need to pay them in cash. You can trade work if it can be arranged. Maybe they design your site and you do some design work for them. You see this on a smaller scale with the Design Swap by Yaron Schoen and Trent Walton.
Never one solution
I'm not saying that you should definitely hire someone else. What I am saying is that you shouldn't be so quick to not think about hiring someone else to do the job you know you can do. The toughest part is that you now become the client and you have to provide all the information that you hassle them for all he time.
Matter of fact don't even hesitate to hire someone that is better than you. No shame in that. Who would I hire you ask? I know you are asking me that question because I can sense it. It's hard to narrow it down between the plethora of great designers that I have come across in the past year, but I would love to pry the MIX Online team away from Microsoft for a bit to do my work or the Think Brilliant crew.
The real question is would you ever hire someone to design your site and if so who would you choose?
This article was a bit different than what you usually see right? That is what Drawar is all about. It's not about being different, it's about helping all of us dig deeper into what web design really represents. It thrives off its members contributions so if you like what you see consider becoming a Plus Member or Drawar Friend.
15 Comments
I'm afraid that I would end up as the Client From Hell. Because if I could articulate a clear vision of what I want in the first place (which I'll need to give to someone who's designing for me), then it stands to reason that I could just make it for myself.
Hiring an external would be really helpful if you're a small start-up I guess. I once started a design agency with two friends. We had big problems on making design decisions for ourselves. We had differing tastes, and we were too inexperienced to make proper strategic choices.
Now that I work for a major company, I find it particularly hard challenging working wirth graphic designers on the customer's side of the table. They often end up wanting to have their little stamp or fingerprint on the final piece. I can understand it, but it's still ...er... challenging.
I have no problem with the idea of handing the reins over to someone else. It's all abut perspective. When designing for yourself you see things in minute detail and over-complicate the process. By asking someone else they get to evaluate you and your business from a distance so they might have a better placement to assess you and the overriding message that you need to communicate.
Everything starts with figuring out what you want to communicate. It's very hard to sum yourself up in one sentence, but I bet you best friends could without hesitation.
I've found that the big consideration in hiring a peer is that you have to be of the same mind, vision wise (that also works for regular clients as well, of course).
Arguably, more than anything, design is subjective and personal. This is the reason we don't like giving source files to the "clients from hell" that we did a throwaway freebie for, or that we can't throwaway design mock ups we put some time in to but never used.
As such, I don't think most designers suffer so much with the concept of handing over their own projects, but rather the issue is which designer to trust with it. Secondly, as @Kathleen and @Ken Reynolds suggest, I think most designers feel they have their vision fleshed out in their heads, but cannot clearly communicate that to someone else just yet, hence the lack of it actually being completed.
I guess it's actually like a doctor patient relationship. You pick a doctor that you're going to feel comfortable handing your healthcare to, but you're hesitant about seeing that doctor until you can get to the point of either a) being able to accurately describe the symptoms or b) it gets so bad you can't ignore it anymore.
To an extent, I agree with the idea of hiring another designer to design your site. I love how Squared Eye has put it:
What kind of designer hires out the creation of his own brand?? An insanely intelligent designer of the highest caliber! At least, that's what I think. When I started the rebranding process with Able design, many of my colleagues, and even some clients, were confused. Why would I hire someone to design the Squared Eye logo and help me think through an identity, when I am a perfectly capable designer?
The answer was clear; I've learned that, in my personal life, external counsel is the most effective way to get to know myself, so why would business be any different?
I think that's a definitely viable option for a business, or even a successful freelancer. For me personally, though, I'm finally at the point where I trust my own instincts and judgments when it comes to my design. I've taken time to sit down and clearly articulate what my goals are in regards to my site, chosen a personality that I want to convey (that is true to my actual personality), and just really narrowed down what I want my message to be. I remember feeling overwhelmed initially (three years ago) when I started making plans for my website - I thought it should do everything and reflect aspects about me that, while true, weren't as clearly defined or definitely existent as I thought they were. (For example, I wanted to talk about my successful branding experiences...I knew the steps, I had examples from school, but I'd never branded or rebranded a company before.) I feel like now I've grown in my career to the point that I can rely on my experience and ability to be able to build my own site, while gleaning incredibly helpful guidance from the various critics here at Drawar (I can't tell you how valuable that's been to me!). And also, I'm a bit of a control freak :)
But who knows? Maybe at some point, if and when I feel like I'm too close to myself to do my own design, I'll be asking someone else to lend a hand. I'd be more apt to ask someone to code the back-end, however. I'm totally able to do it, but I'd rather feel free to focus on the design and front-end.
I understand your point, but I disagree. I'd like to think of your website as something that you made. If I compare it to an academic paper, it's something that is home to your ideas and work. Now, I think it's really helpful to have people ready that paper and give you feedback. They can even sit down with you and help you work your way through some of your arguments, change the introduction around, perhaps re-organize your content. That is all fair play, but you lose ownership as soon as you have them write the paper for you (even if it is based on your ideas).
Wireframe and mock-up your site, have people review and critique it. Take those comments to heart and work on improving it. In the end, you have something that is truly yours and you probably learned a lot in the process.
I was going to bring up Squared Eye, but looks like Dani Kelley beat me tot he punch.
Must be nice to have a fresh set of eyes save a designer from the perfectionist tunnel-vision. I'm guilty.
While I recognize its certainly a challenge to work through personal projects and I can see where you're coming from, I'd like to offer a different way of looking at things.
To me the dilemma still is a matter of perspective but i don't think solving it by hiring another designer is a viable solution most of the time. The problem is, as you say, you get caught up in the details and all the possibilities, you can see the flaws, you are too close to the issue. My recommendation would be to view the project as a challenge to yourself. Being able to master the ability to produce your vision is as important as being able to see flaws once you're halfway or all the way in.
The other component is, rather than paying a designer, design for yourself a really supportive and helpful friend-group and community that will push your design, review it, critique it, get you through rough spots and help hold you accountable for a finished product. To me that's more valuable than paying someone for a design all their own. Get designer friends who know you to project manage in a way and help you get past your process pitfalls to a finished site that really says something about you and your work.
Wierd, I just sent a commission to another designer yesterday! I did it because I'm crap at what he specialises in. I just hope he takes it on.
I don't think I could hire another designer because my site is my portfolio. The pieces in it would be a let-down after someone sees my site designed that was designed by some genius :P. There would also be questions or compliments on it, and either way it would be awkward for me as a designer to explain that I didn't design my own site.
The last time I redesigned, I thought I had a clear idea in mind and then I sketched it out and made it in photoshop and managed to push though self-doubt long enough to actually upload it. Now I just don't want to look at it. Other people have told me it's good, so I think "good enough" while I let the next design percolate for months. :)
I look at this idea from a different perspective I suppose. I would probably never hire another designer for my own site but not because I am so concerned about my vision being seen through.
Instead I have to do what I do with all of my client sites and consider my users. Often times when a potential client approaches me one of the first comments I get is "I love what you have done with your site and I would like to see some similar principles for my company web site". Well what do I say to that if the design they are commenting on isn't even something I made?
Okay so duh, I should have a portfolio that they are looking at right? Well I think as a designer your own site is a huge huge part of your portfolio.
The second reason is that when I re-design my own site I use it to really push the envelope on what I can do. I take the time to try new things because I don't always have a deadline for myself and getting something wrong over and over on my own site isn't a big deal compared to doing it on a client site.
This is something I've dealt with for a looong time. Ever since my first delve into web design, I think I've created something like 30 iterations of my site, 27 of which never made it out of the concepting phase. Hiring someone is an interesting concept and one I agree with in theory, but I just can't let go of that much control, especially over my own product.
I have found, however, that designing in the browser helps to get my site iterations up smoother and with less hassle, as I don't have to worry (as much) about loosing steam going from concept to HTML --> that's the real issue I find I run into. I get jazzed about something, put a lot of detail into it, then break for a day, revel in it's JPEG beauty and then get into other work and never get as excited about coding it up.
Love the site -- keep up the great work.
I just pretend I am someone else :)
Cons: Not really showing off what you can do - may lose client respect. I don't feel awkward hiring services like mowing lawns, baking cakes, etc. since I don't specialize in those fields and don't have time to do them. But, when web design IS your livelihood, how can you garner confidence from your clients if you use someone else?
Pros: What happens when you don't have time to do your own, when you're too busy with client work? Would a cake baker bake their own wedding cake? Timing can be a problem sometimes. I took forever (umpteen iterations) to finalize the look and often got inspired with concepts from my daily work; it was very difficult to finally let go and settle on a design. If you don't have time...well, hope that your potential clients and visitors understand that you are a business just as they are and sometimes need help.
I guess it just depends on where you are and your situation. There may be times when it is best to do it yourself, and other times when getting help is necessary.
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If I could ever afford it, I would definitely hire a designer for my site. And it'd be Jina Bolton ^^;