Do you need a website in today’s digital landscape?
My perspective on this magnetic tool. Yet, it is not the only one.
Imagine yourself in a spaceship, seated at your control center, surrounded by buttons and guidelines to navigate space.
Through these controls, you connect and communicate with fellow travellers. You make friends and build relationships. Not only that, but you also transport merchandise or supply goods to distant lands. You navigate the busy space, uncovering new territories and horizons. Quite an envisioning! In a similar way, a website is full of stories. It serves as a spaceship that speaks a lot about our robustness and resilience in exploring the online world.
🖼 For a creative, what is a website?
For anyone, whether working in a creative field or not, a website is an important step. It represents a demanding exercise for creatives to showcase their work to recruiters, agencies and fellow peers. However, before the rise of the internet, the cherished printed portfolio existed — a relic of its own. I vividly recall the time and dedication I poured into crafting that portfolio. Each page, organised in A3 format, highlighted my most advanced projects: those I was the most proud of. For interviews and presentations, I used to walk around the streets of Paris, carrying it around in a bound leather case. Oh! Dear youth it was a dynamic load to carry.
I have witnessed the transformative journey from print to digital. I cannot complain about the lightness technology has provided us in sharing our work. Today, any creative can share its work using PDFs, links, and QR codes on a phone, iPad or MacBook. I see the value and headspace it has activated. The essence remains unchanged — presenting your best work aligning with your personality. It has just evolved into different formats and interactiveness for the better.
📡 Information, many pieces of Information
If we look at it factually, a website is a set of pages of information on a subject published by a single person or organization. It resumes itself as a tool to communicate what you do, what you offer as a product, and what you believe in. It positions you into the gigantic web of ideas, inventions and stories. I used to think it was the center of my business. For that reason, I dedicated a lot of time and care to craft an experience of my studio within those pages and space. It is quite a property to have. I don’t have a physical studio where people can visit and engage with me in person, but this digital vitrine serves as a starting point of contact.
When I did my first pop-up event in 2022, I learned a lot about offline events and the significance of having a physical space. Live events and face-to-face interactions are transformative; they infuse more substance into everything. The walls, vitrine, and the overall space become tangible expressions. They amplify how you interact with people. You live a more connected experience thanks to the vibrant life around and within that space. Do not get me wrong, I think websites are great. They serve their intended purpose by directing to your work, business, or projects — conveying whatever you want them to say about you. But, I realised they are an additional chapter to many stories. As a creative, it is a liberating truth. It opens our eyes to the possibility of expressing ourselves in places we would not associate with this ‘’status’’ of a portfolio. That shift pushes us to (re)define our work and, most importantly, how we perceive what we have as a multitude: a set of voices that speak as one.
⏳ An archive of information, an archive of stories
I started crafting websites during my second or third year of graphic design school. We were already adding that parameter to our projects. When I graduated and started looking for a job, I realized my printed portfolio needed a digital version. I had so much fun playing around with my first website and comparing it to today: it is night and day. However, it initiated a growing thought process: What message do I want to convey? How do I say it genuinely, playfully, and, above all, in a professional manner?
The internet’s archive is composed of the journey of websites up to the present day. These evolutions span various aspects: technology, art, design, information clarity, trends and strategies. Moreover, they reflect political and societal transformations, becoming digital relics of what humans have been diligently stacking. Countless life stories are meticulously organized alongside one another, using tags, categories, and themes, creating a vivid map of interconnected narratives.
🔮 Do I need a website?
In this digital age, the question of whether you need a website or not is a thought-provoking one. There is a need to pause and ask if it is relevant to you, your goal and your schedule to have one. Hopefully, technology has evolved. No-code tools and templates have revolutionized our process. We can create functional and custom websites tailored to our personality and DNA within minutes or weeks. Many generated websites with templates are highly professional and effective! They place you within a field, market and events, and you can start speaking, promoting and directing people to that ‘’space’’ of yours.
Not every creative has a website, yet they are still creating beautiful art and being noticeable by ‘’their people’’. With the rise of social platforms, the website has reached its peak of urgency. Today, you can thrive with YouTube and Instagram alone. You can fully stand on Substack or Twitter. You can use emails and paying forms funnels to get your clients or followers directly where you want them to go. With all these creative hacks of how to be smart with information and redirection, do you still want to create a website?
Ultimately, the decision is yours to make. What I know for myself is that my website experience has evolved. I see the bigger picture of what is an ecosystem. Some creatives can focus on one skill and avenue, while others navigate more skills in several ways. Depending on your background and focus, the expression of your brand will differ. You might create a simple landing page instead of a more detailed website with an extensive storyline. The key is to identify your main goal. Aligning it with your message and WHY, is a cohesive and strategic step to own your space.
Websites are just part of the ecosystem, not the ecosystem
It’s no longer just about having a website. It’s about where you want to guide your audience and which information you provide. A website is an immersive experience, a center of information on your work or business that needs external and internal connections. You bring people to your website, and you direct other sources to your website.
An experience that does more than a website
I discovered the concept of funnels a few years ago. A marketing funnel is a step-by-step process that guides your customer to your product or service. It often starts with a trigger like an ad or a freebie, then leads to a landing page that explains your offer. Once they are interested, a new layer appears, and they can add it to their purchase. With this roadmap, one product leads to many more, all linked by a story. Your audience can access a range of products that complement what they already want to buy. Although I don’t fully understand it yet, I am incorporating this approach into my ecosystem thanks to Gumroad. It offers customizable workflows that help you leverage the power of funnels. If we look at it closely, we constantly funnel content. From one piece of content, the audience is guided to another form of content, all working together as one cohesive content.
A website is a story you unfold. In this lens, funnels have become a leading center of control that focuses on one straightforward customer journey.
🌐 A body of work that speaks as a whole
I recall the insightful words shared by studio Doshi & Levien (I love their mindset). They state their work can only be fully understood if observed as a whole body of work. The same applies to each one of us. The depth of our creative thinking goes beyond a website. Our creative endeavours have become a body of work. Whether you are a writer, illustrator, videographer, public speaker, or product creator, all these facets of your creativity can coexist within a website. However, due to the identity of each field, some platforms may elevate and amplify your voice, expanding your portfolio across multiple platforms.
Some interesting places as an alternative to a website
- ✅ Social media
You can use various social media platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube as a digital portfolio. You can apply a similar strategy to how you would structure your website. Take advantage of the unique features of each platform to display your work creatively. Share personal stories, project overviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and testimonials to make it more engaging. With additional tools such as Linktree, you can guide viewers to your primary information and contact points. - ✅ Giphy power
You must have noticed I am a big fan of Giphy and its magnetism for content. A few years ago, I prompted myself to start sharing on Giphy. I was getting tired of Instagram and the constant rat race of likes. I needed a space to experiment and share my short animations. It started as a dare, and I have not looked back since. Many creatives and brands use Giphy as an extra stage to make their brand visible. You never know which key tags will be attached to your work, which can increase visibility. What you create embodies a unique narrative that gives a new angle to how people perceive your work. It also gives you a pulse of what people are searching for. - ✅ Substack or similar newsletter platforms
You can use Substack as your website. You have a navigation feature where you can add links. Your issues or posts serve as your body of work. You can hack the features to craft a visual experience and theming your content. Infusing illustrations, animations, audio, and video. It portrays many aspects of your work and personality. A universe of its own where you elevate your writing skills and brand understanding. People can discover you within Substack thanks to SEO and feed recommendations. Many internal tools are available to help you leverage your work and be more visible (tags, SEO updates, mentions, etc.). - ✅ Podcasting
A podcast or a series of podcasts can become your portfolio within the audio experience. Spotify already incorporates profile features that give information on each artist (a short bio, data or statistics and links to their social media). It is even possible for big accounts to offer goods such as tee-shirts and vinyls to their listeners. - ✅ Quora or Reddit platforms for insights
Your questions and answers can become a space for people to discover and interact with you. I use Quora, and I am always in awe of the idea of that platform. All your answers and questions can become reflections, themes and a positioning of itself. You can leverage videos, add links and even promote within the platform.
If you’re looking to build a website, you have many options. You can start from scratch, use no-code tools, or choose from templates. By exploring alternative platforms and using them intentionally as a website, you can also grasp the pulse of your audience. Ultimately, the constant question is: What is a website for me? And why do I need one? Observing and learning the language of a platform is pivotal. It helps you to use it effectively by playing with its features to showcase your work and beyond. With the right tools and strategy, you can build a space(s) meeting your goals and expand your brand’s voice.
Your center of control coexists with all the other places you have chosen to position your voice. Like a prism with different angles and expression of your unique creative voice.
What is your website story? Do you believe that having a website is still relevant in today’s digital era in order to stand out?
I write about creativity, mindfulness and my brand-building journey in “Your Creative Letter”. Feel free to look into my shop if any tools could be of help in building your space.
