The Myth of DIY Expertise
With AI, drag-and-drop tools, and platforms like Webflow, Wix, or WordPress, we’re given the impression that we can create functional, exceptional websites ourselves, or we often think “Any novice can do this ”. But clearly, that’s not true. An expert will consistently outperform a novice or DIYer in any skill, every time, and with 95% of users basing their trust in a company on its website's appearance, partnering with an expert is the only way to guarantee exceptional UI/UX work.
While it may be hard to identify an expert, there is a clear distinction between those who merely dabble and those who truly master their craft.
The Expert Advantage
So what makes experts?
Here’s an answer: arduous self-application and years of experience. And these directly translate into key qualities like:
Better ideas: They have extensive knowledge built from years of exposure to several projects and challenges. That kind of experience allows them to connect disparate ideas, which of course leads to innovative solutions and superior results.
Industry knowledge: There are things only experience can provide. An Expert UX designer has deep insight into their work, an understanding of industry standards, a dexterous application of design principles, and they know shortcuts that a novice definitely lacks.
Efficiency: Experts deliver exceptional work in the shortest possible time. While a novice UX designer will take longer to deliver a subpar design (because they’re just learning their way around), an expert will take way less time to deliver a design that requires little or zero edits.
Cost-effectiveness: Upfront costs might seem higher, but experts prevent costly mistakes and time-consuming revisions. If you design by yourself or work with a novice you’re likely either to completely discard the final output, or spend double the amount trying to keep the design together. Either way, you spend way more money working with a novice than with an expert.
That’s not to mention other skills like:
Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others is crucial for creating user-centric designs.
Problem-solving: Experts excel at identifying and resolving design challenges.
Creativity: Their ability to think outside the box and generate innovative solutions.
Attention to detail: A keen eye for small details that can significantly impact user experience.
Communication skills: Effectively conveying design ideas and collaborating with teams.
User research expertise: Gathering and analyzing user data to inform design decisions.
Usability testing: Evaluating designs through user testing to identify areas for improvement.
Adaptability: Staying up-to-date with design trends and technologies.
Collaboration: Working effectively with cross-functional teams.
Project management skills: Organizing and prioritizing tasks to meet deadlines.
The Risks of DIY
The idea that you can do things on your own or a novice can handle it is tempting. However, attention to detail, industry standards, SEO optimization, functionality, and design principles are very important skills that a novice or DIYer lacks.
Working with a novice web designer can lead to several problems that ultimately cost time, and money, and potentially damage your business's reputation.
Their lack of experience and efficiency means they require significantly more time to complete projects, resulting in prolonged timelines and increased costs. On top of that, their limited design skills will likely produce a website that lacks essential functionality and just doesn’t look great.
All these are aside from things like usability issues, slow loading times, and compatibility problems. Slow load time is at the top of the list of what frustrates visitors and drives them away, negatively impacting your brand's image and credibility.
Not to mention security issues and errors in your code that can leave your website vulnerable to hacking attempts and data breaches, malfunctions and downtime, disrupting your operations and potentially alienating customers. Ultimately, the risks associated with working with a novice web designer far outweigh the potential cost savings, as the resulting website will not effectively achieve your business goals and could even harm your brand's reputation.
The results speak for themselves.
Choose Expertise
That takes time—multiple years of experience—and that’s what we offer at CS Pro Media. With dozens of years of experience and over 1000 projects in our portfolio, we have delivered functional websites custom-tailored to clients’ needs.
Let us handle the complexities of web design, so you can focus on growing your business.
Comments