← The Angry Designer Graphic Design, Freelancing, Branding & Creative Business Podcast
The Angry Designer Graphic Design, Freelancing, Branding & Creative Business Podcast
Why Niching is Failing Graphic Designers and What to Do Instead
00:13:06
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- [00:00]
A
Every designer hears the same thing. Pick a niche, specialize, you know, focus. That's how you stand out. And sure, niching works. But here's the problem. If you pick the wrong kind of niche, you're basically building a cage, a wall around you, one that clients, tech, or even the economy can shut out. So the real question isn't should you niche. The real question is how do you niche without boxing yourself in and making yourself vulnerable? Because there is a third option that nobody's talking about. And it might actually be the future of how you sell design. What's up, designers? My name is Mossimo and this is the Angry Designer podcast now powered by WIX Studio. Now, I've always been a huge preacher of niching, and honestly, I still am. When I niched my studio into a specific industry, technology companies, in a few short years, our studio exploded and turned into a seven figure creative agency. Niching in an industry gave us the credibility, authority, focus that we needed. And we rocked in a very lucrative space. Clients just didn't see us as designers. They saw us as specialists, partners who understood their world, their industry and could get ramped up quickly. That's the beauty of industry niching. And after 25 successful years later, I still believe it was the best business decision I ever made. Here's the catch though. Industry niching does take time. You've got to grind to build trust in a specific vertical. And if that industry takes a hit, you might actually feel it. Plus, let's be honest, after 10 years in the same vertical in a very niche space, it can get a little stale. Now compare that though to Craft Nation. That's when you focus on one craft, whether it be logos, packaging, PowerPoints, copywriting on paper. That sounds smart, you know, master one craft, be known for, charge more. That's what they preach. But the trap there is obvious. You become temporary. Once that job's done, once the logo's delivered, you're gone. Once the PowerPoint is presented, that's it. You're stuck in a cycle where every project is a one and done. And now with AI and services like Fiverr in the mix, you're not just temporary, you're vulnerable. You've left yourself open. You are one tech or service innovation from being replaced. That's not necessarily a game that I want to recommend or play. So here's where designers get stuck. I mean, everybody, including me, is screaming at you to niche, specialized focus. But if you niche by industry, it's a long, slow haul and you tie your career to one specific vertical. And if you niche by your craft, well, you risk becoming known as a one trick pony. Easy to replace, easy to forget after that job is done by the customer. No wonder designers are terrified of the idea of niching. It feels like no matter what you do, it's a lose, lose situation. That's exactly what I was thinking when I had a conversation with my good friend Mr. James Bernard, who is an incredible globally known logo designer. Shameless. Plug for me. And now a word from our sponsor.
- [03:23]
B
All right designers, let's cut the bull. How many times have you had a killer website design only to watch it fall apart because of code or developer telling you no, no, no. Or maybe you've held back from web design altogether, thinking it's just too complicated and too technical or totally out of your wheelhouse. Either way, it's time for a change. Wix Studio is designed for designers, removing the barriers that limits your designs. Whether you're tired of developers watering down your ideas or too intimidated by the technical side of web, wix Studio puts the creative power back in your hands. No code required. With a drag and drop interface that feels designer intuitive, plus no code, animations and even AI powered tools, you can create fully custom websites that match your vision. Every pixel, every detail.
- [04:21]
A
And if you're worried about the learning curve, don't be.
- [04:24]
B
Wix Studio is designed to feel as intuitive as your favorite design tools. Some designers here even say more. So that means you can jump right in and focus. Focus on what you do best. Designing badass brand aligned websites that'll take your business to the next level. So whether you've had enough of developers holding you back or you're ready to finally step into web design, check out wix studio.com and take control. That's wix studio.com go and take back.
- [04:56]
A
Web design for graphic designers. On our way to Creative south, we were talking about, you know, the cyclical nature of his business. He's known for logos and he lands a project and he crushes it and the client's thrilled and then that's it. He's got to go hunt again for the next logo project. You can be world famous at what you do, but if that thing you do ends when it gets delivered, then you're constantly back to square one. In talking to James, it really made me wonder, what if instead of stopping at just that craft, he could build layers around his craft and start offering complimentary services, but that are still in line with his logo craft? What if he could go walk back to that same customer and bring More value, more opportunities, more services, and more reasons for that customer to keep him around time and time and time again. That's where this idea of stacking your skill comes in. It's not abandoning the idea of niching by any means. It's evolving it. Skill stacking is the idea of combining your complimentary skills or services, but amp them up to what you're already doing, what you're already offering to your customer and even being known for. Stacking is when you start with your core craft or your skill, you know your anchor, and then you build or deliver complimentary services on top of it that are aligned already with what you do. So these aren't random skills. You're not chasing shiny objects on the web. These skills amplify your core, your deliverable. They extend more value to your customer, and it makes you stickier. All right, so hear me out. Your logo designer. Instead of just handing off a logo and disappearing, you can now offer to animate it. You can prep it for AI. You can build out a corporate ID for them. Email footers, social mass heads. You build out their entire brand system, okay? Menu boards, signboards, directional signs. Pentagram in New York does this extremely well with their logo design systems. And Pentagram, they charge millions of dollars for doing it. So suddenly you, you're not just delivering a logo. You're not a logo designer. You're their visual brand guardian, the expert. Let's say you're a copywriter. Instead of stopping at that blog post, you can now map out their entire content strategy. You can write their web copy, UX microcopy. You can handle their email flows, their E newsletters. Now you're not just their writer, you are their voice of the brand. Or let's say you're a presentation designer instead of just delivering slides. And you can now extend that to sales decks, pitch decks, animated keynotes, menu boards, signboards. You turn decks into social content. Now you're not just their store or their slide monkey. You're. You're. You're telling stories. You're a storytelling expert. You see where I'm going with this? You're still niche, you're still specialized, but now you've built an ecosystem around what your core craft is. And ecosystems don't disappear overnight. And they're not easily replaced by technology or blind services. You might be thinking, why don't I just stay a generalist? It's safe. I'll do a little bit of everything, keep all my doors open, keep everybody happy. Here's the problem with being a generalist and this is from experience, unless your being a generalist is literally your niche, and that's your specialty, you've somehow branded yourself as like the Swiss army knife of design with, with this big, big giant personal brand. Being a generalist is actually harder. It's more forgettable and is way easier to ignore because generalists blend in. You're just another designer in the pond. It's really hard to get noticed. And specialists, they stand out in a crowd. That's why I've always preached niching. It gives you clarity, purpose, direction. It gives you authority in the client's eyes. It makes clients remember you as the expert. Without it, you're just another designer who can do it all, which usually translate to. Doesn't really stand out for anything. The thing is, a lot of designers are already halfway to stacking without even really realizing it or taking advantage of it. I mean, logo designers are already building out corporate ID systems, brand guidelines, even responsive logos, presentation designers. They're. They're already creating templates to be reused. They're already animating these decks. They're already doing content spinoffs, and copywriters are already mapping strategy, writing UX flows. They're already doing the work, but they're not packaging it as their expertise. They're selling services, but not selling their stack. And that's a massive missed opportunity. Because when you're able to package your stack, when you open own that stack and position yourself as that expert in that area, that's when your whole game changes. So here's the challenge. What's your core? Logos, layouts, copywriting, presentations, print. Write that shit down. That's your core anchor. And then ask yourself, what are two, three, five additional skills that you can stack around it to complement your core. That grows your offering and makes you harder to replace, but still keeps you in line with the core. These are things that keep you longer in the room after that first project is done. Because honestly, designers, niching isn't dead. But craft niching alone can be a scary world to live in. Skill stacking is the evolution of niching. It's the evolution of craft niching. It gives you the flexibility of a generalist, but then the authority of a specialist. And if you don't start stacking well, you're just waiting for some tech or some service or your clients even to. To come in and replace you. Don't just be the designer that they hire once. Be the designer that they can't let go of and bring back time and time again. And if you like this and want more of this kind of no BS Design talk, check out our newsletter, Anger Management for designers. We've got stories, we've got weekly challenges. We got AI prompts and comics and everything that really we can't squeeze into this show. All right, designers, on behalf of myself and Sean, stay creative and stay angry.
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B
Peace. Sam. Sa. Sam.