Ep. 9: How should I learn web design?
About this Episode
For this week’s episode of #1800HEYPUNO, we had a chat with Julie Edwards (@julieedwardsdesigns) about how she can transition from a graphic designer to a full-on web designer! Woo! Takin’ it to the next L-E-V-E-L. Julie is interested in working with small businesses to design their websites from scratch. She wanted to know if she should learn User Experience Design first? Puno breaks down how to think about what kind of web design work you want to do and then back-track what you need to learn from there.
Keep watching to hear how Puno got started in web design and learn how you (too!) can start designing websites for clients. It may not be as hard as you think!
⭐️ Check out our Squarespace Design Course ⭐️
See Julie Edwards’ work here.
Take a peek at the Template Comparison ToolApps mentioned: InVision
👋🏼 If you like what you see, hit Subscribe on YouTube.
Transcript
Intro
Puno: [Rings] Hello?
Julie: Hello?
Puno: Hi! Who is this?
Julie: Hi, my name's Julie.
Julie: Hi Julie.
Julie: Hi!
Puno: How are you? Where are you calling from?
Julie: I'm doing good. I'm calling from Oakland, California.
Puno: Awesome. Well, tell me a little bit about yourself and what you're calling in for.
Julie: Yeah, well, I'm a graphic designer and I've mostly been working in print, and I really want to start taking on web projects. The problem is I don't know where to start focusing my efforts. I'm not sure if I should start by learning Sketch and then partner with a developer, or do I learn how to start customizing Squarespace, or should I even just take a general assembly class on UI UX? I was wondering what you recommend is a good starting point, so I can eventually take on some freelance web design projects.
Puno: Yeah, good question.
🎵[Music] 🎵
Puno: Do you have a portfolio?
Julie: Yeah, most of my portfolio is going to be with print projects. My portfolio can be found at julieedwardsdesigns.com.
Puno: julieedwardsdesigns.com. Beautiful. I love this. Oh my gosh.
Julie: Thank you.
Puno: Who took that photo in the back?
Julie: Aubrey Pick.
Puno: Damn, that's good. It looks so refreshing. Oh, and then like the fiddle leaf, great job.
Julie: Everybody has to have one of those.
Puno: Oh I love it. Okay, you've got a lot of print stuff. You have branding here, so business cards and then wedding branding. What's amazing about print is that print designers are very good at layout and typography. I find that I use print as a lot of references as a web designer. I think this is just going to be such an easy move for you. The only part is learning the technical part of it.
Julie: I guess I just don't know where to start because I feel like there's so many different avenues now. I think that the last website I did was in Dreamweaver, so...
Puno: Girl!
Julie: I just feel like....
Puno: Dreamweaver!
Julie: Actually, the first website I ever did, I hand-coded in notepad.
Puno: So are you familiar with HTML or CSS or just feel a bit rusty on that right now?
Julie: I feel very rusty. I mean, it's been years since I've actually delved into that. So yeah, definitely rusty.
Puno: I feel like I know the answer to this, but what is the reason why you want to be doing more web design projects?
Julie: Yeah, well as I take on branding projects, I feel like you design a logo, you come up with this strategy, and then positioning. Usually, after I designed the logo, the next question is, okay, can you build my website? I don't want to turn down work because I can't do the web part of it.
Puno: Do you think that the type of clientele are going to be the same? So for example, you would activate this like, Coyuchi, and you would just be like, hey, you know, I can also do web design for you.
Julie: Exactly. For Coyuchi, I've done landing pages, but I haven't actually done like a big full on web design. That's something that I really want to do.
Puno: When you said you made the landing page, is it this that I'm looking at right now?
Julie: Yeah, that's one of them. Yes. I've done a couple of different landing pages, and usually, I'm just working off of existing templates and Photoshop. They had an agency that created the existing website, and then I've just kind of taken some of those Photoshop files and then modified them according to whatever they might need.
Puno: Essentially this was UI design. You're basically doing the graphics for it, and then sending it off to the agencies so that they can develop it.
Julie: Right.
Puno: What was it about this that you're like, that's not enough? Like I want to take this all the way?
Julie: Well, I guess if I'm starting from scratch, so because an agency had already built out the website, I'm only creating additional pages as they need them.
Puno: Right.
Julie: I'd like to be able to work with a new business who wants a website and they have nothing in existence today and they need something a month from now.
Puno: Right. So I used to actually do UX design, but for me, and especially like if you're looking into something like General Assembly, the UX/UI classes that they have are typically for web apps or mobile apps. I feel like you're doing more small business, service-based people, even weddings, and they're not necessarily these apps. I wouldn't recommend taking a UX class because that's just more like wire frames, user personas, like research, all of that stuff to make an app work.
Julie: Okay.
Puno: So the next question is are you going to be doing large sites or you're going to be doing smaller sites. I think you could answer that with budget. So if you feel like a lot of your clients are going to be 10k, 20k, $50,000 for websites or are they going to be under 10,000?
Julie: I would imagine that they're probably going to be under 10,000 because I typically like working with smaller startups, like somebody who might do woodworking and they're just starting out.
Puno: Nick Offerman, let me offer you a woodworking website. The other thing too that I heard is you really want to own the branding from the website. I'm the same way. I think, as I was a UX designer before and I did interactive art direction, I was always handed brand guidelines. Some kind pre-designed thing and I never could put my twist on it.
Puno: So, the place where I think you should start is Squarespace, for sure. I'm not just saying that because I have a course for it. I did so much research on the different platforms, but when it really comes down to it, it's the workflow and your client's budget. For Coyuchi, they probably need a Shopify site, unless they have not as many SKUs. It'll help set yourself up for success and really lead your client down the right path. If they don't want a website that's $10,000 or more than just, you know, be like, look, I'm going to be able to build you a Squarespace website. You're going to be able to maintain it on your own. You're going to be able to change the copy whenever you want. Add photos whenever you want. That's what you need right now as a small business.
Puno: The first thing to do to learn Squarespace is build three websites doing it. That's exactly what I did. The first website I built was for ilovecreatives. That's when I learned so much about, not just layout, but features.
Julie: Got it.
Puno: So like, oh, this is a way I can use the blog. It doesn't have to just be a blog. It can be ads, it can be creative profiles. I made that Squarespace template comparison page because I was so confused by all the different Squarespace templates, and I was like, well, why do you have a thousand to choose from. They all seem slightly the same. So I broke it down, and I was like, oh, there's really only nine templates. Some of the people who go on there, they're just like, oh my god, this explains so much. And then my friend's websites, I built both of them and I just charged them about $1,500 each.
Julie: Okay.
Puno: I'm also going to let you know, like pushing my Squarespace. It just goes through everything too, but I feel like that's the way to go.
Julie: Okay. So I had one other question then. If I did use Squarespace, how do you present the design to the client. Can you use Invision?
Julie: Totally.
Puno: I do know other designers that will plop their Photoshop comps into Invision. For me, I just don't want to do any more process that I don't really have to do.
Julie: Yeah. I.
Puno: If the whole point is like I want a $3,000 website, then I'm going to try to keep it under budget, and I'm not going to give them all the frivolous stuff that I used to do when I was in an ad agency.
Julie: Easy.
Puno: It's that easy.
Julie: Okay, well that's super helpful. I really appreciate everything that you're doing. It's so helpful for designers like myself and just knowing that there's a community out there and a good little website to go to to check out jobs and everything. I really appreciate everything that you're doing. You're really inspiring.
Puno: Aw, thank you, Julie! If you have any other questions feel free to like reach out. I don't have a phone number yet, but we do have that form.
Julie: Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Puno: All right, I'll talk to you later. All right, bye.
Julie: Bye Julie.
Outro
Puno: Thank you so much for watching this until now and increasing our watch time number. Subscribe! That one is so good. It teaches you how to use the zoom key and it's cute and funny. We use the green screen. Subscribe! Please!
