I can’t quite believe it. I’m crossing the milestone of 30 years of work this year. I’ve been independent for 20 of them.

I hadn’t really noticed it approaching, but I have noticed my interests have been shifting around a bit in recent years. No big surprise I suppose.

I’ve experimented with new design directions (UX and Product) and tried proper web development (Webflow). I love both, but neither feel the right fit on their own, as they require you to go deep to make a success of them.

In truth, I’ve felt for a long time that my current strength is in my broad skill set. My career may have mostly been in design, but ultimately I’m a generalist. I get bored if I try to do one thing all the time. I sometimes think I’m too curious and adaptable to specialise.

So what next then? What I have been doing a lot of in the last 10 years, is running and growing websites – both for clients, and my own. It’s been kind of like a Marketing Ops role, but with a design/website leaning. It’s been mostly Figma, Webflow and WordPress – with plenty of smaller tools filling in the gaps.

I’ve said in a recent newsletter email I think 2024 will be a year of growing demand for multi-disciplined, adaptable generalists that can leverage tools and knowledge.