Designers are the worst.

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I’ve been juggling two capital-D Design projects right now. One just wrapped, an animation for a software company, and the other is a publication for a nonprofit. It’s a little whiplash-inducing, shifting between these high-stakes, high-polish projects and the scrappy, DIY ethos I usually promote. I love to lower the barriers to good design, so it’s a little weird to make something that feels, well...fancy.

It’s the kind of thing that puts me in my head a bit. Makes me think about who gets to call themselves a “real” designer.

There’s a small design studio in Philly I really admire. A while back, they posted a job listing I was excited to read—until I hit the line that said they were looking for someone who “doesn’t just throw a gradient on it and call it ‘good design.’” I laughed out loud. And then I closed the tab. Because that’s kind of my whole deal. It’s also what I encourage other people to do all the time.

But after the laugh faded, a sneaky little voice crept in, am I even a real designer? A real designer wouldn’t settle for a gradient. 

I’m not technically trained in graphic design (my background is in video), so this sort of second-guessing is not new for me. It likes to pop up any time I’m working with a talented graphic designer on something sleek or high-budget—like last week. There I was: knee-deep in a glossy video, building scenes using a truly stunning set of brand guidelines (the kind that came from a big agency and probably cost more than my entire yearly income), and the anxiety crept in. Those polished guidelines weren’t just a pdf, they were a gut-wrenching reminder of how many elite designers are out there. The ones who know every rule and have memorized every keystroke ever. The ones who think gradients are a joke. Cue the panic.

But here’s the thing I always forget until I’m about halfway through a project like this: the work is never really about the design. Not right off the bat, anyway. That video didn’t need me to add visual panache, it needed me to tell a story clearly, concisely, and in a way people would actually pay attention to. The most valuable part was the structure. The clarity. The decisions.

That’s the part I’m good at. It’s the part most small brands and DIYers would benefit from focusing on, too. Plenty of people don’t think they need a new website. Theirs works fine (they say). They don’t need to put themselves out there because they already have customers. They’re well known in their community.

It’s true, if you’re only ever trying to reach the people who already know and love you, you’re probably covered by a “works fine” website. But your website is also there for the ones who don’t know you yet. (Frankly, those are the people you should be designing the website for in the first place.) They might care, might buy from you, or might show up, but only if they have something to go on first. And that’s what your website is for. That’s where story-driven design shines.

Do you need a website that’s capital-D Designed? Absolutely not. Unless your audience expects slick, cutting-edge visuals, you don’t need to stress about aesthetics. What you do need is something that helps people understand what you do, why it matters, and what to do next. It needs to be organized and work well too. Making it look gorgeous is the last box you should try to check.

Those stunning brand guidelines I used only looked as good as they did because someone had already put in the work to nail the concept behind them. Great design isn’t nearly as intimidating once you unpack it.

Scraps

• I’ve been watching public media scramble with the absolute chaos of being defunded and I’ve been super inspired by their fast response. I loved to see Marc Brown jump in. And I’ve been cheering on my Philly affiliate station, who pivoted to emergency fundraising seemingly overnight. (I stopped paying for NYT two years ago and instead started donating to WHYY. It’s been great! Try it!)