The Best Resources for New Squarespace Web Designers
A surprisingly common theme you’ll find among Squarespace web designers is that we’re mostly self-taught.
That means no computer science degrees or formal training—instead, most of us have relied on helpful tutorials, blog posts and forums to learn our craft.
So, I thought it’d be helpful to compile and share my top, tried-and-true, most-used Squarespace web designer resources (that I wish I’d known about as a new designer!).
But first, a little context on how I got here:
How I got started as a web designer
Like many others, I’m not a web designer by training—I actually have a master’s degree in urban planning, worked as a healthcare marketing manager, and then left my job to start a wellness company.
Over the years, I’ve helped build or maintain quite a few websites, spent some time as a wellness blogger, and taught myself how to code for fun (so relaxing 💆♀️).
Though I enjoyed building websites and helping others with their sites, it never even crossed my mind to “be a web designer” in a paid capacity.
Many of us are brought up with the mindset that we must be formally trained to be of value or share expertise. Looking back, I can definitely say I had that mindset too for many years, but my accidental foray into web design has taught me that it’s simply not true:
You don’t need a degree in computer science to run a successful web design business.
(In fact, I recently designed a website for someone who actually has a degree in computer science—but they don’t teach ya Squarespace web design there.)
Anyway, all of this to say that it’s quite common for Squarespace web designers to be self-taught. And, one of the ways we’re self-taught is through all the lovely Squarespace resources and tutorials shared across the internet!
So, here’s a round-up of some of the Squarespace web design resources I’ve found most helpful over the years, and that I now recommend to new Squarespace web designers looking to improve your design skills and grow a web design business of your own.
This post contains affiliate links through which I may earn a commission if you choose to purchase, at no additional cost to you. As always, these are products or services I personally use & love!
The best resources for Squarespace web designers
Here are some of my favorite resources that I regularly use as a Squarespace web designer:
Squarespace Circle
If you’re not already a member, Squarespace Circle is an online community of Squarespace web designers. It’s free to join and offers a bunch of helpful resources for building client websites including:
Squarespace web design guides + toolkits
notifications regarding Squarespace updates
an interactive member forum for specific web design questions
access to priority Squarespace support
extended website trials (6 months instead of 14 days—super helpful for client projects!)
a 20% discount on Squarespace products you can pass along to your clients
And, as a member, you get the little Squarespace Circle Member icon to use on your website, letting potential clients know that you’re a member of Squarespace Circle and have access to those priority features. (This can also help to show that you’re up-to-date with Squarespace products and services, and can make best use of them on your clients’ sites.)
Squarespace plugins
Sometimes, a client would like a fancy feature Squarespace doesn’t support, and that would take forever to custom code (if you even know how to do that 😅).
Solution: plugins!
Plugins are an affordable (and efficient!) way to add additional functionality to your clients’ Squarespace websites.
SQSP Themes is my favorite source of Squarespace plugins. There are some popular ones that are very common for client sites (like a related posts reel, blog sidebar, etc.).
→ For web designers, I recommend investing in the Business Plugin Bundle, which includes the business license on all SQSP Themes plugins—over 80% savings compared to purchasing the plugins individually!
These plugins can then be used in your web design work across unlimited sites. Woohoo!
Squarespace CSS cheat sheet
Part of what sets Squarespace web designers apart from the very easy-to-use built-in Squarespace templates (or even paid template shops!) is that we know how to use custom code to fully customize a website to meet a client’s needs.
Inside the Square is a helpful third-party resource run by Squarespace CSS guru Becca Harpain. She shares Squarespace custom code tutorials free on her site, and offers more advanced resources that are good to have in your Squarespace web design toolkit as well.
If you’re new to Squarespace CSS, grab her Squarespace CSS Cheat Sheet, which gives quick access to Squarespace element names (saves time searching for them!), as well as some useful copy/paste custom code snippets.
And, if you really want to master your custom web design skills, Becca’s Custom Code Academy is an online training in writing your own custom code on a Squarespace website.
Squarespace Collection/Block Identifier extension
The Squarespace Collection/Block Identifier Google Chrome Extension is a web designer must-have for quickly and easily finding the collection (page) and block IDs on Squarespace sites—so you don’t have to dig through the code to find them!
I use this allll the time in customizing Squarespace websites.
CompressPNG image compressor
One of the small but important details in web design is image size—which, of course, impacts site loading speed and therefore SEO!
Compress PNG is a free image compressor that helps ensure the images you’re using on client websites are optimized for efficient page loading. They also have JPEG, PDF, SVG, and GIF compressors too.
Creative Market custom fonts
As a web designer, you may need access to additional custom fonts beyond what Squarespace sites natively offer in their style settings (Google and Adobe fonts).
Creative Market is my favorite source for quality custom fonts, including natural-looking script or “handwriting” fonts—a common request from web design clients!
→ Here’s a full tutorial on adding custom font to a Squarespace website. This tutorial also includes how to purchase the appropriate font license for your client’s particular site and, if needed, how to properly convert your custom fonts to web fonts.
Canva design software
Most of your work as a web designer is done in the back-end of Squarespace itself, but there are some things we may need to do in design software first and then upload to Squarespace.
Canva (my favorite easy-to-use design software!) is super useful for many purposes as a web designer—everything from designing logos (if you offer branding services), to creating background banner imagery for use through your clients’ sites.
→ For web designers, I recommend upgrading to Canva Pro, which gives you many, many additional features particularly useful in web design, including the “background remover” that allows you to create transparent PNG files—a common necessity for client websites.
Here’s more about the many ways to use Canva as a web designer or small business owner.
MemberSpace
Though Squarespace now offers its own membership-protection service (Squarespace Member Areas), MemberSpace is another useful membership-building option to have in your back pocket, if needed.
MemberSpace has some additional functionality beyond what Squarespace Member Areas offers, so may be a better (or even necessary) option in some cases.
Because membership programs (online courses, resource libraries, video archives, etc.) are an increasingly common and important part of online business, they’re also a great addition to your web design services!
As someone who has designed dozens of membership programs for my custom web design clients, I find it useful to be well-versed in both Squarespace Member Areas and MemberSpace, as each would be suitable for different types of membership programs.
→ If you’re interested in learning more about designing membership programs on Squarespace, and adding membership program design as a service offering in your web design business, here’s a full overview of how Member Areas and MemberSpace compare.
More Squarespace web designer resources
I’ve also put together a full page of Squarespace Web Designer Resources, which includes some more helpful Squarespace tips and tricks, and additional recommended resources. I’ll continue to keep that page updated as needed!
Tips for new Squarespace web designers
The resources above are great to have on hand for your Squarespace web design needs.
And, here are a few helpful tips for getting started as a new Squarespace web designer:
Practice makes perfect! (Well, close to perfect! 😉) The best way to master a skill like web design is to practice it. So, even if you don’t have floods of project requests coming in, go ahead and practice new techniques or ideas on trial sites.
Create pro bono websites to build your portfolio. One of the best ways to build your web design portfolio as a new designer is to offer to build a few websites for free. Make a list of people you know who need a new or improved website (is your cousin in band? has your sister talked about starting a blog? do you have a friend starting a small business? know of a non-profit in need of an improved site?) and offer to design their site for free, in exchange for use in your portfolio.
Use a freelance marketplace to connect with clients. Ideally, you’ll be drawing in plenty of custom web design clients directly from your own website. But, when just starting out, you likely won’t have clients knocking down your door to work with you. So, a freelance marketplace like Upwork can be hugely helpful in landing your first paying clients and further polishing your web design craft, streamlining your workflow, and building your portfolio.
Invest in continuing education to improve your web design skills. Whether it’s improving your knowledge of Squarespace CSS, learning how to add new functionality to a site (like membership-protected content), or better understanding SEO and how to help your clients optimize their search ranking—invest in learning new skills that can add value to your offerings as a web designer.
Price your services fairly. This can be really tricky to figure out, especially if you’re new to the industry and aren’t quite sure what would be considered standard or fair. Just keep in mind: you don’t want to come in pricing your services at the high-end of very experienced designers who have the skills and clout to back up those prices. But you also don’t want to low-ball yourself and assume that just because you’re new, your services have no value. Unlike other industries in which your rate may be more correlated to your years of formal experience, your web design rate can be much more closely tied to the quality of the product you’re able to provide.
