There are plenty of articles around at the moment suggesting that the time of the web designer may well be coming to an end. With an ever increasing plethora of online services around that promise to provide you with a quality website without ever needing to touch a line of code and at more and more ridiculous prices, you might want to ask me the following question “Am I worried about my job as a Freelance Web Designer?” No, not at all.
Why aren’t you worried about the “designocalypse”?
There are plenty more legitimate things to worry about on a daily basis, Nuclear War, Zika Virus, Cancer, Spiders to name a few but an automated design tool doesn’t come anywhere near making my list of fears and anxieties.
There are a few reasons for this but mainly the web design process is at first and foremost a relationship, a relationship between the client and the designer.
You can’t meet with these tools, you can’t discuss your requirements with them or what you’d like to get out of the process. It can’t laugh at your dodgy jokes or offer you a cup of steaming hot Green Tea.
All they can do is provide you with a cookie cutter website that looks the same as every other site coming off the factory line these days.
Robots can’t communicate (yet)
Human communication is a powerful tool, arguably the most powerful tool we have at our disposal and have ever had. A tool without which we wouldn’t have been able to hunt more and more complex prey when we first emerged from the dark damp caves and ascend gracefully to the top of the food chain. So why then I ask, are business owners in a seemingly ever increasing number abandoning communication? To save money? Because it’s faster? I really have no idea and it seems completely bonkers to me.
These online creators won’t know that you want to increase the conversion rates of call to action buttons on your home page, they won’t know that you want to lower your bounce rate and increase user engagement because they are just tools that don’t understand your needs, which is why you should ditch them and come straight to me.
Working together we can create a brief of your requirements, we can go through it step by step and narrow down exactly what it is you wish to achieve with your new website. Whether your goal is to Increase traffic, rank higher on Google, lower your bounce rate or generate more leads. As a web designer I’ll be able to understand your business requirements and advise you on what will give you the best possible R.O.I which leads to a more successful website and ultimately a more successful business.
What about the future?
I’m not really sure what the future holds, I understand these tools are becoming ever increasingly complex but as long as we don’t invent an artificial intelligence that can rival or surpass our own abilities to think creatively then I can confidently say that an online tool will never be able to give the same quality of service or achieve greater results than a freelance web designer.
If the day ever does come when the tools will replace us (the designers) I’ll make sure I wont go down without a fight and it will be with my head held high. I’d be able to proudly say that I worked as hard as I possibly could for my clients, providing them with quality bespoke web designs that achieved results, and at the end of the day that is all I can really ask of myself.
