10/31/2023
Don't Believe the Hype.
Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, and a thousand other companies market themselves as the solution to not being a web designer. Or saving you from the cost of hiring a web designer.
They say that they give you the tools and templates to BECOME the equivalent of a web designer.
This is a lie. Not only is it a lie, it's straight up manipulative.
Design is not templates or making s**t look good on a screen.
Design is visual problem solving.
Design asks "Who are you? Who do you serve? How do you serve them? How are you different?" and then builds a visual identity around the answers.
Check out these images. One was made by a non-designer using Squarespace. The photos are excellent but there's no call to action. The user has to click around to explore rather than being taken on a journey.
This brewery has a great reputation but their site makes themselves the hero of the story. It's all me, me, me. Rather than being what they actually are: a guide. The visitor has a problem their trying to solve: loneliness, s**tty beer, the other bars are boring, etc. This brewery should be the guide to solving the visitor's problems.
Now look at the site that I designed. It took me only a few hours and far from pixel perfect but it elevates their brand to a whole new level.
This is what a designer does.
Let me know in the comments. If these were two different breweries and you only saw their websites, which would you choose to visit?
