You love designing, and let’s face it, you’re ridiculously awesome at it. But the coding process might be getting you down. Here are five signs that it might be time to pass the work onto someone else:
1. After finishing a design, you catch yourself thinking, “The fun part is over.”
Do you dread moving onto the development phase of a project? If you dread even one part of your job, it can make you start to question your entire career path.
You should love your job! That’s why you’re doing it in the first place, isn’t it? If development isn’t something you love, maybe it’s time to cut it from your list of services.
2. It takes you a lot longer to code than it does to design.
If you love development, regardless of how long it takes you, then go ahead and stick with it! Just because something takes a long time doesn’t immediately mean you should cut it from your workflow.
However, if it takes you a long time AND you’re not loving it, then that’s a bad sign.
If you passed the work off onto someone else who can get the job done faster, you might actually make MORE money in the long run, because you’ll have more time on your hands to take on more design projects!
3. You hold back your designs because you don’t know how to code them.
Do your coding skills affect how you design? Do you ever change your designs or remove cool elements because you won’t know how to code them?
Your less-refined coding skills might be holding back your super awesome design skills, and if you’re someone who wants to keep growing as a designer, that’s gonna suck!
Luckily, there’s going to be a developer out there who knows how to code all your crazy awesome ideas and layouts. You just need to find them.
4. You have to tell clients their ideas aren’t possible.
With WordPress in particular, pretty much everything is possible. But if you keep having to tell clients that something can’t be done, then that comes down to your abilities.
There’s no shame in admitting that you can’t do something. Heck, there are a lot of things I can’t design and I know it, because deep down I’m a kick-ass developer, not a world class designer.
If your development skills aren’t up to scratch and you can’t deliver exactly what you want to your clients, then it’s time to find a developer with more skills. You’ll walk away with happier clients, because you can start telling them that ANYTHING is possible! Everyone likes to hear that. 🙂
5. You’re craving a friend and someone to bounce ideas off of.
As a developer, you know what my favourite part is about working with a designer? Having someone who’s exactly in my situation that I can talk to, confide in, and bounce ideas off of. And I know this designer feels the same way about working with her developer (me!).
Sometimes freelancing can be very lonely. You’re in your own little bubble and you don’t have coworkers to turn to, rage with, celebrate with, or get advice from. But when you have a partner in crime—even if just for one or two projects—you have a friend. That person is in the project with you and can relate to your situation. Sometimes it just feels amazing to have someone on your side to talk to.
If I become good enough to be a real graphic designer, I would want someone else to do the coding. I know basic coding but I don’t really want to further my knowledge because it doesn’t excite me.
I think it’s awesome that you’ve figured that out already Jennifer. It’s super important to focus on the things that you love doing, otherwise you’ll burn out super quick!
It took me a long time to realize this about design.