DIY vs Designer : Which is right for me?

It’s a great question. As biased as I am as a web and brand designer myself, I want to dive into the positives and negatives of both options. There really is an argument and place for each, and knowing which one will serve and suit you best with where you’re at can be a little tricky. 

I get it, you’re a courageous fempreneur, deciding where and when to invest in different areas of your business can be such a difficult decision!

Yes, you could scour the internet become a wiz and overhaul the brand and design yourself, DIYing the heck out of it (and probably going grey in the process, speaking from experience!). Which realistically loses you billable hours, potentially clients, and naturally non greying hair.

OR you could leap! Farm out the responsibility, time, effort, and required skills to someone else (ideally me!) and celebrate your economic, efficient and beautiful genius-ness! But is it really that simple?

For what it’s worth, I’ve been on both sides of the DIY vs Designer fence, I know what it feels like to spend hours caved over your keyboard sweating it out with DIY YouTube tutorials, only to end up more confused than when you started, I also know what’s really involved in hiring a designer, so here’s my take…

BEFORE WE GET STARTED:

Do you know, you have 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention online - that’s how quickly we make a decision as to whether we’re sticking around for the wisdom, or hitting the dreaded exit button, never to return. Ruthless right?! 

Also, fun fact, 90% of your message is conveyed with your visuals, so your design and branding is wildly important. Subpar visuals means you’re resting on that remaining 10% being utterly captivating and effective.

Your website and brand design is your opportunity to create a home for your business that’s as unique and magnificent as you are. It has the potential to be an abundance magnet. 

TRANSLATION : Truly resonant branding and design = money in your pocket.

But if no-one’s looking, no-one’s buying! You need highly engaged site visitors that linger and convert to get that dreamy ‘wallet-full-o’-cash’ style turnover you dream about. And let’s get real, if you aren’t loving your current marketing, chances are your dream client probably isn’t either. It’s not enough to just be seen, you need to shine! 

The fact you’re even reading this blog, indicates to me you aren’t feeling totally confident in your current web design and branding. 

So you have a choice - do it yourself (DIY) or call in the big guns and hire yourself an amazing brand and website designer to do it for you.

LET’S START WITH ‘DIY’

Which in case you’ve never come across the acronym before, stands for ‘Do It Yourself’.

DIY is how I first experienced website and brand design…

I needed a website for my creative endeavours and I didn’t have a budget to hire a professional to help me, so off I went into the web wilderness armed with coffee and determination to build the ‘site of my dreams’ (with literally zero knowledge). How hard can it be? I thought to myself! 

Thankfully for me, I discovered I loved it and decided to completely reroute my career path to study it and create a business out of it, BUT prior to that moment, I was just like you and I can genuinely say these were the negatives I faced in choosing this option.

THE NEGATIVES:

• I needed to learn EVERYTHING! Every single step of the way (and there is A LOT of steps involved). I needed to identify what I needed to know, find where to learn it, study it until I understood it, and then successfully implement the learning (emphasis on successfully!). Honestly this took forever! It felt like every Youtube tutorial mentioned yet another thing I’d never heard of and required extra learning to hatch it out. So for me the major cons were TIME, frustration, challenges, hurdles and overwhelm.

• The other major con, was the gap between what I wanted it to look like and what I was actually capable of making it look like based on the knowledge and experience I had at that point. Website design and branding are absolutely skills you can grow and polish, but getting there takes a huge amount of time and commitment. Realistically, if you are needing a website, I’d be willing to guess your to do list is pretty hefty as is. If that’s the case, tasks that take longer than expected and don’t end up delivering the results you’d hoped for aren’t really winners!

But it’s not all gloom and doom let’s look at the DIY perks:

DIY POSITIVES

• Aside from your web hosting fees, domain registrations and any other additional costs you might incur along the way, DIY will really only cost you time - so if your time is worth the effort and you’ve got the time to invest in this project, go for it!

• You’ll also get complete creative freedom and control. Ideally if you’re choosing a professional designer, they have the skill and experience to interpret and deliver on your creative ideas anyway, but it’s worth mentioning as a perk for DIY regardless.

*TOP TIP: If you are DIYing your website, I totally recommend using Squarespace.

Their drag and drop ‘fluid engine’ design system makes it very user friendly regardless of your experience level. Plus, they have a huge range of beautiful base templates to start from if that’s your style (you can of course start from scratch and go full custom if you want to too though!)

I personally love Squarespace for it’s simplicity. I find I can still get incredibly creative and custom, unique results (with a few sneaky design tweaks or code plugins), without the more complicated interfaces of some of the other providers. I also feel confident handing my clients’ sites over, knowing they’ll be able to pick up the reigns and start using their sites right from day one.

MID POINT : USING TEMPLATES

The in between option is to purchase a template license from a designer who specialises in and sells templates. I’m working on offering these in the future, but for now, you might want to check out someone such as: Big Cat Creative. 

If you decide to go with this option, you’ll want to do some research around which website host will work best for you. There’s a great comparison blog available here:

You’ll also want to do your research around what’s actually included in your template and get realistic about the fact you will still be DIYing your site - just within the bones of a predesigned template.

CONCLUSION ON DIY

The thing is, yes you could do everything you’ll pay your designer to do but… How long will it take you? Will it really look the way you want it to in the end? And how much time and money will you have to invest learning how in the process?

The designer removes the hurdle, so you can get onto the next big dream you’re heading for faster. 

BUT - and it is a big BUT, designer’s can be pretty expensive and having the kind of capital required to hire one isn’t always an option (been there!).

You absolutely can create your website and brand yourself, and a great one at that! Just know that you are making a huge commitment and be ready for the work that will follow.

At the end, not only will you have saved money, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you learnt a new skill, overcame the hurdles and challenges that arose, and completely did it yourself! Plus they’re skills that will never not be helpful for your business moving forward, perks all round.

INVESTING IN A DESIGNER:

Recently I came across a meme about the reality of when your client asks you to charge less for the same service, to keep the copyright gods happy I borrowed the concept and rebuilt it with my own illustrations:

Moral of the meme:

• As my mum would say to me “there’s no accounting for quality, you pay for what you get.” If you decide to cut corners on the cost of the designer you hire, ensure you’ve done your research first! You pay for what you get!

• You’re not just paying for your designer’s time but their artisanal skillset, knowledge, craftsmanship, understanding of their tools and their experience. Not to mention their creativity! Cut corners on any of the above and you essentially cut corners on the result.

  
  

I could get my hands on a scalpel, some rubber gloves and all 20 seasons of Greys Anatomy, but it would be an extremely bad idea for me to attempt open heart surgery (Even if I had the YouTube tutorial running as I went along)!

Not hiring a designer for your website and brand is certainly A LOT less risky than me performing open heart surgery, but you get the analogy right?!

Your designer didn’t just magically become a designer, they most likely invested a lot of time and potentially money learning and mastering their skillset, the tools of their craft and the strategy behind great branding and design.

When you invest in their services, you not only invest in all this knowledge, skill and experience, but also in their creativity - that magical essence they spend all day long honing.

Let’s dive into the perks…

DESIGNER POSITIVES

Designers are usually passionate about branding and design. They most likely live and breathe it. So not only are they experienced and skilled, but they probably have a pretty great ‘finger on the pulse’ of what’s current and effective.

Also, this is what they do! Not only do they know these things, but they know how to implement them too. You can pretty much guarantee they also know how not to implement them as well, because they’ve probably tried that too!

Fun Fact (and another perk): designers are often not just designers - they often have a myriad of other creative skills and experiences to pull from. Whether it’s photography, videography, graphic design, illustration, copywriting, understanding the psychology and strategy behind colours, placements, layouts etc. or any number of other potentialities. Did someone say one stop shop?!

PLUS and this is a good one, they do the work! You get to skip the DIY headache of hours of research about what to include on your website, where, how and why. Which opens you up to do whatever you need to do - sip a Piña colada by the beach, or actually run the business you’re hoping to market! Investing in a designer takes this one GIANT thing off your plate, so you can get back to spreading your magic!

How about the negatives to consider if you hire a Designer?

DESIGNER NEGATIVES:

• Cost - Great design and branding takes a lot of time, and sadly the time of an expert isn’t free. DIY definitely has this one over designers!

• Trust - After all, this is your business baby and you’re trusting a stranger (skilled expert but still stranger) to take care of a really major part of it - that’s hard for a lot of people

• Creative control and collaboration - sharing this role and trusting someone to deliver isn’t for everyone, neither is releasing control and having faith in the expert you’re collaborating with. TOP TIP: Research until you love your decision.

CONCLUSION ON HIRING A WEB AND BRAND DESIGNER:

Choosing a designer is a leap of faith - my advice? Check all the parachute hooks, ropes and pullies before you jump! (Metaphorically). When you commit to a designer, you are handing them the reigns on how your brand and business will be represented to the world. This is a HUGE deal, so do your research first and pick one you really trust and love.

Remember the visuals are pulling 90% of your messaging delivery and you’ve just got 3 seconds to make an impact - they really matter - so choose wisely!

ADVICE ON HOW TO CHOOSE A DESIGNER:

Make your decision wisely - it is an investment. I would say not just financially but also creatively and collaboratively also. 

• You need to know you like the designer and the general presentation of their style (obviously each brand they create will be unique - one would hope! But overall their work most probably has a consistent style - minimalistic, wildly creative, feminine, conservative, logical etc.). 

• Check that their company mission and or values align with yours (for the most part). They don’t have to be a perfect match and it isn’t essential, but it’s a great place to check how you will resonate in collaboration and communication throughout the process of working together. 

• Ensure that their systems seem well organised and thorough - chances are their pre-experience is a taste of how they roll in general

• Vibe check! Does your gut say yes? 

  
  

A FEW THINGS TO NOTE: 

Many designers offer payment plans - so don’t be put off by the total cost as it’s often broken into smaller chunks and spread over time anyway.

Plus designers are pretty motivated to work on projects they’re passionate about. If you absolutely love a designer but can’t quite make their existing payment plan work for your circumstances, many will consider a more frequent plan that breaks their payments up into smaller amounts. So long as the overall cost and project dates aren’t affected, many will be happy to oblige to smaller and more frequent payments throughout the project dates. The only way to know is to ask!

Most designers offer a free ‘discovery’ or consultation call before you book the project. This is an opportunity for you both to get to know each other and to see whether working together feels like the right fit. So make the most of it!

Tips on what to ask your designer (or research in their packages):

• Check the ‘deliverables’ they offer what you’ll actually get for your money

• Ask what happens afterwards - will they maintain the site or will you? I strongly recommend thinking about what will work best for you here. And don’t be afraid to ask your designer what they offer - I don’t personally offer a retainer option, but I’m never not there for my clients - If they wanted to add or edit something I’d absolutely do it for them. It would simply be a matter of booking, billing and delivering.

• If you will be maintaining the site, will they train you first? Or offer a support period?

• What is their process and strategy? Everyone is different - some specialise in speed, some in depth, some build from the ground up, others customise templates, some focus just on design and need all the branding already completed, others offer a mixed design and branding service.

• Consider whether you’d feel comfortable being associated with this designer - if you like them enough to book them I’m guessing (and hoping) you do! But it is worth considering. Most designers will link and reference their past work through their website and marketing so this is something to consider.

• Check what you will need to provide

• Check the timelines

• Ask how many revisions you’ll receive and what happens if you’re not happy with the designs they present

• Get clear on how the payment is divided

• Ask what you'll get in the end

A FINAL VIBE CHECK, ASK YOURSELF:

• Do you genuinely feel they’ll deliver an amazing website for you?

• Are you excited to work with them?

• Do they seem excited to work with you?

• Do you gel well in communication style and personality?

• Do you feel confident trusting them with your website and brand design?

  
  

If you got a solid YES for all of the above, go for it!

A word from the wise?

Once you’ve decided, lean in & celebrate!

Trust that you’ve made the right decision for you and your brand, know that you’re in the hands of an expert, and get ready to have some fun and make some magic!

Be open and honest with your feedback, but also respect that the project has a start and end date, there’ll be amazing inspiration and ideas from now until eternity and it’s possible you’ll be tempted by them all!

Do your best to be selective in your requests and keep the project on track by trusting your hired expert to deliver something wonderful.

So, now we’ve dived into the positive and negative elements of each option, I hope you feel more informed to make your choice.

If you’re still on the fence, here are a couple more things to consider:

• Do you have the time to take DIY on right now?

• Do you have the desire to learn all the skills required and actually complete the task? Pushing through the adversities that will inevitably arise?

• How easily overwhelmed by technology are you? While the act of designing a website itself isn’t actually particularly technical anymore, some of the language and integrated systems you’ll discover can be overwhelming if you aren’t familiar with them or haven’t come across them before. You’ll need to be willing to learn.

• Does the idea of branding and design excite you? Or fill you with ‘meh’? There will be challenges, there will be learning hurdles, there will be frustration, and it will take longer than you think. Whatever you feel about your design will come through in the outcome - your passion for the project matters.

• Do you have the capital to invest in a designer, or is it something you could work towards?

• Have you researched designers to see what they offer, cost and deliver? Or what their past client work looks like?

• Have you read their testimonials

• What does your gut say?

  
  

SUMMARY

In conclusion, there are definite perks and downfalls for each option, but they are both great options depending on the circumstance.

Bottom line? Nobody should be embarrassed about something that takes as much time or courage as building a business or designing brand and website.

You deserve to be seen and celebrated, your empire needs your confidence!

Whichever path you choose, I highly recommend taking the fastest exit out of the Brand Shame and Analysis Paralysis express way.

Either way, I am here cheering for you!

Whether you’re ready to hire a designer and would like to check out my services, or you’ve decided to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in to the DIY of your site design and branding, I’m here to help you. Fling me a question anytime! 

CURIOUS ABOUT WORKING WITH ME?

Hey lovely, I’m Ballantyne. Fine Arts grad., lifelong creative, and the Squarespace website and brand designer behind Liberated Lion Creative studio. 

I’m passionate about creating aligned, resonant Squarespace website designs and branding for heart-centred fempreneurs, so they can get back to what they do best, shining their magic in the world! Are you ready to get started?

Was this helpful?

*You might enjoy these posts too if it was!