Why it took a year to develop our new site

As some of our closest friends know, we have been working on our site for about a year.
Sounds crazy right? Yep, it is.
You’re probably thinking, Carly, you make websites for a living how can it take so long? The problem is it’s so hard to design for yourself. It’s so easy to be critical and analyze everything and lose yourself in the design process. Most designers know the challenge of designing for themselves, it’s 300% times more personal, vulnerable and harder.
We continually found ourselves saying, “We’re working on our site, it’s almost done.” Well, that “almost done” phase lasted a couple months, because we kept working on it, wanted it to be the best that it could be. (Notice I didn’t say “perfect”, because that’s never possible in design! haha)
So our hard work continued, however, as most entrepreneurs know, your own work comes last because you’re always working and focused on clients projects.
When push came to shove, I knew it was time! I’ve spent a long time knowing our site could be so much better. While I kept getting compliments on my site, we knew it wasn’t bad, but we felt ashamed knowing how much better it could be. This year we celebrated 4 years in business and we knew it was time to level up. We wanted to show off how we’ve evolved over the years with the launch our new site.

So Carly, why did it take so long?

Since we started developing our new site, we had a couple of things that held us up. One, it was hard to find the time to work on our site. We always put our clients first. Client work takes priority and sometimes that means setting our own development aside.
Secondly, we were lacking the confidence in writing our copy and how to market ourselves. Just like it’s hard to design for yourself, it’s also hard to write for yourself!! We know Sprout, we know who we are, but it was hard to put it into words. We spent a long time putting off the hard stuff (writing about ourselves) and procrastinating with other little design details (because that’s what we love). Finally, we realized we just have to be ourselves and it will be authentic, real, and informative.” It was so important that it sounded casual as if I was chatting with a friend. (Hopefully, that’s the case!) So in the end, all we needed to do was sit down, write, and be ourselves.
After tackling those 2 obstacles, we found ourselves nearing the end, and finally wrapping things up. And man, it feels good!

We are so happy with how it turned out and feel like it really speaks to who we are and shows the growth that Sprout Studio is all about.

—–
Now – its time to celebrate!
We’re pumped to have you here to explore the new site! Do you love the new site?