My no-code background

As a digital designer really I’ve been using no-code or low-code methods and tools for a long time in my client work, without realising it was a thing.

I regularly used tools like Squarespace, WordPress and Zapier (among others), but mostly I spent my time creating, modifying and supporting many WordPress websites using low-code methods.

As a designer I’ve always been more interested in visual problem-solving than the technical build, even though I enjoy building things. But when you have to rely on someone else for crucial parts of a build, it makes it hard to learn fast and come up with better ideas.

As a designer I’ve always been more interested in visual problem-solving than the technical build.

My no-code breakthrough (if you can call it that) was in late 2019 after a particularly low time, personally. I was looking for ways to get enjoy my work more, and stumbled upon some tweets by Ben at Makerpad. Form those, I discovered there was a whole host of new no-code tools coming along, as well as a community building around it.

From there I decided to start building experiments in new tools, to see what was possible. Mostly this was in Glide and Carrd.

The most successful experiment was deckof.carrd.co. It’s a design gallery of Carrd websites and it was the first time I created something I knew there was a need for, after listening to the community. It’s brought me a lot of attention, even though it’s a fairly simple website and now gets about 300-500 visits a month.

From there I started working on researching and building my own products. I wanted to combine my design background with helping the no-code community in some way, and I noticed a trend of makers saying they struggled with design, but didn’t have the time or inclination to learn from courses.

I wanted to combine my design background with helping the no-code community in some way.

I spent the summer of 2020 talking to makers 1:1, gathering insights and feedback to validate ideas. That lead me to create two products – an ebook of design tips called Tiny Design Lessons, and a directory of design resources called Maker Design Tools.

Those products have shown me what’s possible with no-code as a maker, and I want to keep going, creating more products and being part of this great community.

Side note: I’ve recently been featured on Makerpad if you’re interested in more insights into my no-code journey.