Business & Tech articles

I really don’t need to explain how important your reputation is, do I? Short version: if people think you suck, either as a person or as a designer, they won’t hire you. It’s not a difficult concept, all things considered. Figuring out what other people think of us is much harder. Controlling what they think about you is next to impossible, as any attempt to “change your image” will probably backfire, unless you’re a consummate actor....

Design work is very time consuming. But it’s not just the labor you put into building websites that takes time and concentration. Because the projects you work on typically have a short shelf life, you’re constantly having to find new gigs, woo potential clients, and sign them onto your service — which is like another job in and of itself. So, when do you find time to look for more work when you're so busy actually doing it? You could set aside...

The Internet as a concept, and as a community, is much like a teenager: it’s struggling to establish its identity, everyone is trying to tell it what to do, and it tends to lash out at both people who deserve it as well as those who don’t. It does so at random, and you’re not its real dad, anyway. The practice of designing websites, however, has gone right past the teenage years and blown past the whole human-life-span metaphor entirely. Web...

Every day, people are asking themselves things like, “React or Vue?” “VR or no VR?” “CSS Grid or Flexbox?” These are the wrong questions entirely, because the technology you focus on or use next should always be matched to both the job and the people at hand. Besides, here are the answers: Personal preference. Not yet, wait ‘til the market starts to truly expand again. CSS Grid for known quantities, Flexbox for unknown quantities....

It’s becoming easier to design websites, what with Wix, Squarespace, and even now WordPress providing DIY site builder tools. On the flipside of that, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to convince even the least technically-savvy business owner that they shouldn’t try to build their own website. Sadly, the rise of the site builder isn’t the only excuse prospects have for not wanting to work with web designers. In this post,...

It’s the first day of Spring! As you look to clean up other parts of your life (e.g. your home, your refrigerator, your yard) make the cleanup of your web design business a priority as well. If you’re anything like me, you set aside time later in the week or month, promising yourself that you’ll finally take care of “business stuff”. And if you’re also like me, you often have to postpone those business maintenance tasks because new...

Social media is an interesting thing. As web design professionals, it can be a great opportunity to share your work and get in front of prospects who might otherwise never find you online. But for as much good as social media can do to propel your marketing efforts, it has the potential to be just as harmful to your business. Social Media Mistakes That Can Harm Your Web Design Business CareerBuilder surveyed over 1,000 people involved in the hiring...

The holy grail of web design used to be a three-column layout where every column had equal height. Now, the holy grail is making it so anyone can design a website or app. Visual design apps abound, one of the big names in the Mac community right now is Framer X. Framer X isn’t staying on only the Mac platform, though. The team has big plans, and it involves more than making it easier to push pixels. They reached out to WDD to see if we wanted to get a sneak...

3D Printing is a revolutionary new technology that allows you to realize, well, just about anything. The most common form of 3D printers use a special form of plastic filament to print durable, hard ABS plastic components or items. However, there are 3D printers—industrial mostly—that can work with materials like concrete, glass, titanium, steel and more. The tougher materials aren’t really necessary for design, but it’s still...

I recently began reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss and have been blown away by what I’ve learned so far. Regardless of what your ultimate career goal is—to actively build websites for clients or to turn your business into a thriving digital agency—there are ways in which you can work less and accomplish more. I’m about halfway through the book and I’ve already shaved an hour off of each workday just by using the tips in the book....

According to some historical records, some people out there have boundless energy, loads of free time, and ambition enough to make a dictator blush. These people are called “not parents”, “morning people”, and “annoying”. Some say these people invented the Side Hustle(™). Those historical records are wrong. The Side Hustle was invented long ago by people who just needed more money. Could have been Eve for all we know. Now...

As the managing attorney of a commercial law boutique practice, I am asked several times per week some variation of the following question: How should I best protect my intellectual property from being stolen? Is it as simple as filling out a copyright or trademark application and paying a small fee to a do it yourself on-line service? Will that really provide sufficient protection? What do you think? I have set forth below a few of the many aspects...

All of the work you do to grow your web design business requires an investment of time and energy. And if you do this song-and-dance routine for long enough, you’re bound to become exhausted by it all. So, how do you stop doing so much without losing momentum? Productivity tools help quite a bit as do templates — be they for managing projects, clients, or  to streamline your design work. In other words, anything you can do to automate, delegate,...

It’s going to happen at some point this year; you will face designer burnout. One of the reasons that burnout is so common for creatives is that it’s a never-ending process. (You can’t just stop having ideas because you are off the clock.) But there are things you can do to help make the burnout less bad and stay energized and focused more of the time. Here’s your checklist for the new year. (Seems like a great resolution, right?) 1. Get Away...