That time I thought I could design edtrust.org all on my own

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At every stage of my career, I have learned that there is much more to being a designer than making the ‘thing.’ That Time I…tracks my greatest misses as a freelance and in-house designer.

I have been a part of the website redesign project at The Education Trust, and it has been both exciting and a significant learning process for me. When I started at The Education Trust nearly three years ago, I came in with a lot of experience in web design and development. Thinking these skills would help the organization, instead I was discouraged from partaking in any discussions that involved redesigning the site. It was probably my approach. By introducing a design as a starting point, it appeared to have been misread as an attempt to “take over” decision-making duties of the website.

However, with staff turnover, came a different approach. With that, I had to adjust as well. I attended meetings and discussions presented by leading designers and developers to learn more about responsive design, budgets, and timelines. I took that knowledge along with my existing experience, and presented it to our communications director. From that, she felt it was important to have me involved in the process. I participated — along with other colleagues — in the RFP for our site, reviewed and rated written proposals, met with potential vendors, gave input on who we liked best, and continue to be a part of the discussion with our selected web design vendor Social Driver. Ultimately, what I wanted may not have been to design the Ed Trust website myself. I’ve built websites from scratch myself, so I understand what a huge undertaking redesigning edtrust.org can be. But I realize now that what I wanted was to be heard, and have my input matter.

Photography by Danny Fowler