Networking online has become easier and more beneficial with so much open communication. Internet users love to share ideas which you can find all throughout blogs and web forums. But aside from hanging out and having fun online there is real business to be done.
In this guide I want to share some of my ideas working in a collaborative web team. Pairing up with one or two other talented individuals is the best way to create outstanding project works. You can learn a lot from other designers and share tips between each other. You’ll find that collaborating on projects can be a lot of fun and is probably the best way to meet other work-driven individuals in your field.
Shared Experiences
There’s no doubt that two heads are better than one. And when it comes to building a website this rule is standard convention.
Two web designers can bring a set of totally different skills to the table. Consider collaborating in a team of 3 or even 4 designers/developers! You can quickly see how your shared experience comes together in a powerful opportunity. Each person will be more equipped to handle a different piece to the puzzle – CSS styles, coding HTML, Photoshop graphics, illustrations, vector icons, etc.
Just be sure you are using these techniques to your advantage. Squabbling with your teammates is how projects slow to a grinding halt. Listen to each other and plan ahead for who will be working on what role.
Cutting Project Timelines
When I was younger freelancing was such an exciting field to jump into. I got to work on all kinds of different projects and had complete control over the programming and functionality.
But as you grow older and more experienced time becomes a necessity. You have to be careful with each day and spread out your workload evenly. When working on a collab project the time required to finish such work is greatly reduced. You would be shocked how quickly two sets of hands can type compared with just one.
Mix-and-Match Styles
Another great point to mention is mixing design styles. Each web designer is ultimately unique in their preferences for building a website. Fixed widths, flexible layouts, 1/2/3/4 columns, side navigation, the list goes on and on.
If you have trouble compromising with other ideas then you may not enjoy this as much. When working together on a design you’ll have to bow down every so often and throw away some of your own ideas. This can be rough – especially if you really love your style of design! But keep in mind that you’re working for the project and not for yourself.
You want to please clients with the end result and this should be your bottom line. Motives aside you can quickly gather feedback from your partner about how your ideas mesh into the current website. You need to work with somebody you can trust and feel comfortable sharing feedback of your own.
Always Keep Learning
Remember that freelancing is just a tool for work or higher education. Even just as humans on Earth we are here to live and learn lessons. And the best way to get information is by sharing with other people!
Fortunately the Internet has allowed us to connect with each other from continents away. This is such a blessing that newbies in any field can partner with others around the world and learn a few tricks of the trade. Even moderate-to-experienced web designers do not understand everything. And you should never stop searching for true knowledge.
Brilliant-minded people often find themselves working with other bright individuals. When collaborating with other designers use this to your advantage and ask questions! You can learn so much from other designers and build respectful friendly relationships.
Ideas Come to Life
I have launched plenty of startups online and the more you work the more you begin to understand. But I have always felt that partnering with 2 or 3 people can improve the quality of any website idea.
I feel such energy coming together brings out another part of my creative mind. And this is the case with many designers who can openly express their ideas and build them quickly. It’s difficult to put these feelings into words, but when you spend time working with another creative professional you should understand.
You’ll feel more invigorated and excited to jump into any project. Over time you can develop a close bond with other designers & developers. You both know how to tackle a project and have no troubles splitting the workload. If you’re ever serious about collaborating on design projects strive to build a lifelong connection with your partners.
There is so much to experience and it’s unlikely you can enjoy this all by yourself. It feels good to receive credit for the entirety of a website, and there is always time for more solo work. But try not to push aside the realistic power of a creative web design team.
Conclusion
There are so many benefits to collaborating with other designers on web projects. There are certainly benefits to working by yourself as well – you get majority control and have the ability to manage every aspect of the website. But when you can let go of this need to control it’s so relieving to understand you have a partner to bounce ideas off. Along with the points listed here feel free to share your thoughts on collaborative web design in our post discussion area.
Good post…This words are so perfect.. Now we have more possibilities to make a good works with a different persons. Important talk about all by design and sharing different ideas for make a good project
Great post Jake. I couldn’t agree more about bouncing of each others idea. Where I work, our web designers tend to work on their own for clients work but when it comes to our own website, we always work collaboratively including staff outside of the web design team such as myself. This way, we can come up with some really interesting use-ability points that a web designer might have missed. Would you agree that sometimes web designers miss the use-ability angle?
for designers and beginners it is a great post… also ur site is great.. thanks..
Collaboration is a struggle for me.. thanks for the inspiration!
Totally agree with both sides of this article. While working alone on web projects can help you manage every aspect, finding a reliable designer or developer (usually one that’s in the field you’re less enthusiastic about) can really help speed up your turnaround and give you a powerful tool for projects moving forward.
good read. Thanks for sharing. This is very useful.
Nice post. Here we use a “hybrid” approach: 2 or 3 designers contribute with a concept each, which provides variety for the client. Sometimes the client ends up asking us to “incorporate this element from concept A into concept B” but that’s OK.
Flavio, I can see a lot of clients asking for that. Seems pretty common when provided with more than one design concept.
Great post Jake.
Now, try to get the government to work this way!
Thanks for article, but sometines 3 designers, or developers can share very different view….that is beginning of sometimes very painfull process. Mostly however it helps with reducing time and you can learn valuable things and differents approaches.
Check out the blog on website design https://www.webstarttoday.com/blog/2012/03/22/welcome-to-web-start-today/
So nice and very helpful post about web design. Keep this good work continue.
Awesome post! I have been looking into doing some collaborative projects myself. This article was a great “heads up”. Thanks!
Agreed, collaborative web designs really helps a lot as we learn form other and we also get a chance to enhance our thinking.
I totally agree. There are certainly times when working alone is better than working with others but it can always be beneficial to ask opinions and suggestions of others to make a project more effective.