Web Design

I do a fair amount of web design, I don’t think I’m amazing at it, but I also don’t suck. But here’s the thing, while I can design a good looking website, there’s only so much I can do to code sweet features. I have a basic understanding of PHP, a splash of Javascript, and a good handle on CSS, but I certainly have my limits.

There in lies the problem.

Sure you can make decent money selling designs, but when your customer asks you to code some unique feature for them, you either have to outsource and pay someone else to do it, or try and find a free script that someone already wrote, which can take time and in the case of free scripts end up being pretty limiting. Granted I haven’t had any problems with this yet, because most of the stuff my clients have wanted were pretty easy to code, things like calendars, contact forms, basic databases, etc. but I’d rather not push my luck, so I’m looking to learn a few more programming languages before I have a client ask me to code something I can’t.

I realized just how limited my skills were this week, when I came up with a concept for a new website and hit a wall almost instantly. I realized that I would need to have an advanced understanding of countless different programming languages, languages I don’t have three years to learn. This is where large design firms have an advantage, instead of one or two people who know a little bit about a bunch of languages, they have a group of people who specialize in different languages, making it a whole lot easier for them to develop fantastic websites.

So now I’m a designer who’s considering paying another design firm to develop the features I need… sure I can still do my thing and make the frontend look pretty, but somebody else is going to have to do all of the work on the backend, the stuff that actually runs the site. And the backend is what people pay through the nose for, designs are dirt cheap in comparison.