The original post: /r/web_design by /u/apat4891 on 2025-01-20 06:54:13.

I’m a psychotherapist who practices from a presence oriented perspective, using meditative practices and mindful approaches to mental health.

I want to change the design of my website and create a flyer for a therapy group I am starting, and I’ve had a struggle finding a designer who understands what I am looking for. I had a meeting with two designers, and much of it was about them telling me what they can do to change my website and attract more clients. They felt it is too blank, looks dull, does not look like something that will attract clients. They showed me websites of other therapists and suggested I add some elements to my website that other people in my profession have on theirs. One of the things they suggested, for example, was that I highlight that I studied at a prestigious university rather than it being hidden somewhere among a lot of text. Another was that I allow people to book appointments through my website.

I wasn’t able to get this through to them that the purpose of the website is not to attract clients or get a large number of people to visit it so that they take appointments with me and I become rich and famous. My schedule is full. I am not looking to grow my practice. The website is a self-expression of the interpersonal space I offer when someone comes to talk to me about their suffering. As a piece of self expression, it has quite a bit of content in the form of blog posts and articles by me, which express precisely what kind of space I offer. However, I would like the visuals of the website to also convey the same - that is, qualities of simplicity, space, a soothing calmness, humility. No gimmicks, no self-aggrandisement, no highlighting I went to Harvard or wherever.

Apart from self-expression, the purpose of the website is that current and former clients may keep in touch with some of the practices we did in therapy, by reading the articles there. Secondly, only a certain kind of prospective client would resonate with the website, and if someone does resonate and contacts me, I am happy to put them on a waitlist and contact them when space for a new client opens up in my practice.

Ideally, I am looking for a designer who considers themselves an artist and has a personal portfolio of their artwork. Most designers I see have a portfolio of websites they have designed, but those designs look very similar to other designers’ work and is probably much influenced by what is in demand in the market.

If I post a job on a website like Upwork, I get a very large number of responses but their work looks mostly similar to each other and I have no idea how I can find the kind of designer I am looking for among them.

I wonder if anyone has suggestions about how to find a designer of the kind I am looking for? Where to look? Is this a familiar problem?

This is one website I quite like, and resonate with its aesthetic, although mine is much more simple than this.

www.rupertspira.com

Edit:

PS: If you just read this post and are about to respond, please

  • Don’t jump through the post instead of reading it.

  • Don’t tell me my website has flaws A, B, and C, because it is not my website as so many people have assumed without caring to read the post.

  • If you don’t skim through the post and actually read it you will see that what I found difficult about my experiences with designers was that instead of listening to me they simply talked at me telling me what my website should and should not be like. Please don’t repeat the same behaviour! Listen and engage instead of dumping me with advice based on your opinion of the website I shared.