Hi, I’m Mel!
Squarespace web designer + Founder of Five Design Co.

And, like most of us, I was not born a Squarespace web designer. 😉

I have a master’s degree in urban planning, am a former marketing manager, and I “retired” from corporate life at age 30 to start a wellness company. Along the way, I created and maintained several websites, published a gazillion blog posts, and taught myself how to code for fun.

I started and grew my Squarespace web design business (sort of accidentally!) in less than a year, and now consistently have a waiting list for web design services. Which is to say: you don’t need a PhD in computer science to become a successful web designer!

Here are my tips for getting started as a new web designer & my favorite resources for Squarespace web design!

Of course, Squarespace is my very favorite website platform for designing client websites. It’s great for a wide range of website types and styles, offers commerce and membership capability, and is simple enough to teach your clients how to make small updates and maintain their own site moving forward. (Most clients really appreciate being able to do this!)

As a web designer, you have access to all of your client sites in your own Squarespace dashboard, which is a convenient alternative to managing all clients’ personal log-in info.

Squarespace Circle is an online community of Squarespace web designers. It’s free to join and offers helpful resources for building client websites including Squarespace guides and toolkits, notifications regarding Squarespace updates, a member forum for web design questions, and priority Squarespace support.

And, as a member of Squarespace Circle, you can pass along 20% off Squarespace products to your clients, as well as an extended website trial (6 months instead of 14 days).

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! They’re an affordable (and efficient!) way to add additional functionality to your clients’ websites.

SQSP Themes is my favorite source of Squarespace plugins. There are some popular ones that are very common for client sites (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! (And, you can use them on unlimited websites!)

Though Squarespace 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 does have some additional functionality beyond what Squarespace Member Areas offers, so may be a better (or even necessary) option in some cases.

Membership programs (online courses, resource libraries, video archives, etc.) are an increasingly common and important part of online business, so a great addition to your web design services!

As someone who has designed many different 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 the “best” tool for different types of membership programs.

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, including how to purchase the appropriate font license for your client’s particular site and, if needed, how to properly convert your fonts to web fonts.

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’ site.

→ 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.

The free 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!

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 (which also has a JPG version too) is a free image compressor that helps ensure the images you’re using on client websites are optimized for page loading speed and SEO.

One of the super important details to be sure your client websites include is all those necessary legal policies and documents (like a GDPR-compliant privacy policy and cookie banner).

The Contract Shop is a popular source of downloadable / fillable legal templates like Privacy Policy, Website Terms & Conditions, and other legal policies or documents your clients may need to have in place on their business websites.

One of the few admin items you’ll need in running a web design business is a way to legally and securely send and sign client contracts and invoices, and process payment for your projects.

I’ve used Bonsai for custom design projects (I’m a fan of its simplicity), but there are also many other client/project management options like Dubsado and Honeybook.

Inside the Square is a helpful third-party resource (run by Squarespace CSS guru Becca Harpain). In addition to the many Squarespace custom code tutorials free on her site, she also offers some more advanced resources that are good to have in your Squarespace web design toolkit.

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.

Paige Brunton’s online training, Square Secrets Business™ is a full blueprint in starting and growing your own web design business.

I haven’t personally taken the training (so can’t speak to my own experience in it), but have heard great things about it!

It’s only open for enrollment a few times a year, but worth checking out if you’d like a more structured, step-by-step guide to building a successful web design business.

As a new web designer (generally without much website traffic yourself), it can be challenging to land your first clients and build your web design portfolio.

Upwork is a “work marketplace” to connect with potential clients seeking to hire a freelance web designer. You can apply for listed projects, or be invited to interview based on the skills shared in your freelancer profile.

In general, Upwork is a safe and effective way to connect with clients as a new web designer. It does take a cut of your earnings (up to 20%), so in the long-run it’s usually better to book clients through your own website—but, Upwork can be a great place to get started!

If you regularly recommend Squarespace to new users, it can be worth signing up for Squarespace’s affiliate program, which is managed through Impact. You’ll earn rewards for each new Squarespace user you refer!