1. Face Reality

Sometimes, truth hurts, but, it’s best to face it head on. The fact is, crowdsourcing is not going away anytime soon. From the business side of things I can see why it is gaining steam: low cost & choice. This is very appealing to small businesses with tight budgets, especially in lean times. For this reason, I think that this segment of the industry is going to be around for a long time. That’s the reality. Accepting this, I think, is the first step to readjusting to the new reality marketplace. Whining about it wont help anything.

2. Focus on Your Value Proposition

We all know that this is important in any kind of business. It’s what sets you apart from the rest of your competitors. It is what keeps your clients coming to you again, and again. Now, more than ever, it’s time to refine and refocus your value proposition. What makes your business unique? What value can you bring that the crowdsourcing sites cannot bring? Why is that worth the cost? These are questions that I am currently sorting out again in my own business. It can be a difficult task, but well worth it in the end.

3. Focus on Client Relationships

One of the huge negatives of croudsourcing is the lack of relationship between the designer and the client. As you probably already know, business is ALL about relationship. Why do I go pay double to get my haircut by my hairdresser rather than go to supercuts? Because I like my hairdresser, she’s nice. She gets me a cup of coffee (good coffee, not some instant crap) when I go to get my haircut. She asks me about what’s going on in my personal life and takes an interest. This is all pretty basic stuff. But it keeps me going back. Why would I go somewhere else? Even if she raised her rates, I wouldn’t even think of not going to her. Focusing on building quality relationships with clients that go beyond just the work that’s being done can add tremendous value to your services. Raise the bar. Care more. Remember the little things. This crowdsourcing cannot compete with.

4. Expand Your Skill Set

You’ve heard the term “Jack of all trades, master of none” before I’m sure. In this day and age, however, I think it’s to the designer’s advantage to know a bit of everything. Specialize in something, for sure, but don’t plateau. Expand your skill set to accommodate your client’s future needs. It may mean branching out into UX design, or learning a new scripting language. These things can make you more valuable to clients. If you’ve already formed a strong relationship with them they will be coming to you to solve their problem. It would be a shame to turn them away because what they need is not in your skill set.

5. Don’t Give Up

There will always be Walmart, and there will always be Neiman Marcus, and there will always be a market for both. I see this time as an opportunity to contrast my strengths with crowdsourcing’s weaknesses. I’m embracing the market reality, telling people about the real value of my services, taking excellent care of my clients, and adding more skills to my skill set. This is how I plan to compete.

How about you? Do you have plans on how you are going to compete? Or is crowdsourcing a non-issue to you? I’d love to hear what you think.

I agree. But I also think that they have their place, and I like them.

There not that bad…

A list post with “25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs”, or whatever, may not give deep insights into design theory, practice, or business, but it does serve a purpose. Obviosly there is a need or desire for these kinds of posts since they draw so much traffic to the blogs that post them. However, these blogs still have the same problem as any other blog. They must deliver content that connects with their audience or they will loose readership and go by the wayside.

Not everyone wants to read the Wall Street Journal everyday. Sometimes you just want to look at some pretty pictures, get inspired, or read the funny pages. My point is, there are times when these list posts are all I am looking for. Sometimes I need to find a certain plugin to solve a problem. Other times I want to check out how designers are creating sites for a certain industry. These lists come in handy—saving me a lot of time searching for whatever it is I am looking for.

That said, when I have the time, I do like to read the more in-depth blog posts on design, marketing, and business. These articles are just as valuable. They are also, admittedly, better at creating a loyal readership.

What’s my point? I like lists. I think that they serve a need that people have, and they will continue to do so until that need goes away. I think it’s interesting to discuss their legitimacy, but it’s ultimately pointless to do so. Better to just produce the kind of content that will best serve you audience and build your readership.

What do you think?

Are list posts dumbing down the design community?

What designer doesn’t love textures! I know, just like good fonts, I can’t get enough of them. Here’s a small collection of wood textures that I hope will be useful in your own designs. Just click to download or download them all in the .zip file at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Click the image below to download all the files in .zip format.

In researching vertical navigation for a particular project, I ran across some amazing examples. Listed below are some of the best that I found.

Worship Leader Insights

Hommu

House Industries

Metal Mother

Open

Riot Industries

Conclusion

Navigation is one of the most important elements in web design. It must be clear, understandable, and attractive. Both horizontal and vertical navigation systems can be effective in a design. When do you think a vertical navigation is the best solution?