Your worst critic will be yourself.

Whatever you do that you’re passionate about, this statement will prove itself to be true at least once. Coming from a background of art and web design, I know that feeling that comes with putting in too many hours on your latest work. I have been building my own websites since 2002. Most of the designs have never been seen by anyone but myself. This is normal; usually, when you’re brainstorming a new design, you think of several concepts before you narrow it down to one. The same applies when you’re doing work for a client. It’s just a process where the ideas need time to clarify before you get to what you really aim for.

However, the real problem comes when you spend too much time into it. Whether it’s for yourself or for a client, you have to eventually come out with a finished product in the interest of time. I’ve guilty of doing this myself, designing and re-designing until everything is considered perfect. But what I think causes this the most is how you evaluate yourself on your work. Why do them make it so hard on themselves? Well, most people that are generally good at certain things start to get overcritical of themselves, in their desire to improve. It’s pretty much the same as being bad at something and seeing yourself as being good from an ego-inflated point of view. Even if you’re truly good at what you do, it’s counterproductive to only rely on yourself for opinions.

The steps for creating a website design can be viewed like working on a sculpture. First you’re roughing out the basic form, setting the theme and major features, etc. Then you start getting into the details that round it out. For me, I find that boredom starts to hit once you start diving deeper in the details. At this point I get too picky of my work, making one mindless alteration after another. At best, I stop working on it for a while and at the worst I throw away the whole layout and start working on a different one.

At this point, your efficiency is just grinding to a halt. This will sound obvious, but you’ll work more efficiently when you’re enthusiastic about what you’re doing. Step away, and do something else. It’s better if you just want to put it off for a while. Yes, it’s usually nice to give your website a fresh new look every now and then, but here are some signs that might indicate that you’re burying yourself into a design hole.

You redesign soon after launching a new design

It’s perfectly normal to do some minor tweaks or cosmetic changes soon. Bugs or glitches may appear in a brand new look for your blog. However, don’t jump too far ahead by creating a whole different Version 3 when you just unveiled Version 2. This can be an indication that you’re already somewhat bored with the new design, which shouldn’t be a concern. It is you, as the designer, that has looked at your design the most. Aside from sneak peeks you may have shared, everyone else will see it as a brand new look. They won’t be as critical as you are. Your design would still rock, even if you’re already sick of looking at it.

Other tasks get postponed

You are opening a new section, writing a new review, etc. However, you also have a new design you want to finish and because it’s a major change to the website you see it as a huge milestone. Remember that, unless you have a team of writers to help you, it’s not a good idea to focus on so many changes at once. You then start to lose track of what your visitors really want. Fall behind on your normal routine of updating content and your visitors lose interest and stop visiting. Even if you announce the big changes to be done in the future, people will eventually stop caring. Either way, don’t give your visitors a cruel tease with little in the way of updates, because their payback will bite. More people will unsubscribe to your newsfeeds, and also contribute to a drop in your traffic. It might be harder to pull them back in the second time.

Overuse of “Coming Soon” pages

I hate the “Coming Soon” page when it means taking down the whole website! Okay, I tolerate as a means of doing maintenance work, but not to say “We’re gonna be bigger and badder than before. In the meantime check out our competition- er, friends!” Just a few years ago, I’ve seen this happen a lot in anime communities. Usually they’re younger adults that have a lot of time to watch and review anime but then -poof- their content is down and they get obsessed of keeping up with the Joneses of cutting-edge design. In some cases, these websites never came back! Check out this, this, this and this as a chronic case of procrastination. If you must commit to your redesign and absolutely must bring down the main site, at least keep the content accessible. Move it to a temporary new location, for instance.

Your best bet would be to preview your designs to other people. Go over to a design forum and select the designs you think are best, or just show your very best and await the input. (Sitepoint’s website reviews forum is a good place to start) Don’t grind on your work for many days at a time. It’s easy to get jaded and bored at looking at your work all the time. More importantly, it can potentially delay other work you have for your website. With this in mind, you should be able to divide your time more easily and prioritize your design work when necessary.