I make websites…

I’ve recently read quite a few blogs discussing and debating what many individuals give themselves as a title for the job they do.  It’s an interesting point in this day and age.  We ultimately, as designers, developers, creative directors etc make a living from a technology that didn’t exist 15 years ago.  It’s a young and immature market, growing and changing day in, day out.  As such our titles as professionals often don’t relay what we actually do, how we do it and why we do it.

Web Designer

For example, if I get asked what my profession is, my standard response is ‘Web Designer’.  It seems to suit me fine and is fairly descriptive.  But does it really show the breadth of work I actually undertake?  Perhaps not.  I do design for the web, that’s my passion and my favourite part of the job, but I am also a developer, art director and a user experience architect.  On top of this I also provide hosting and domain name registration as well as branding work and in some cases print material ranging from business cards to exhibition stands through my site.

This is obvious for people viewing my site, my list of services etc show what I can do but the label ‘Web Designer’ really doesn’t cut it when the question is posed out in the real world.  I am a web designer but I also offer and am capable of so much more.

What else?

My issue here is that I can’t think of a title that actually does encapsulate everything I do.  Officially I should say something like:

I architect, design, build and host websites and provide offline corporate material for anyone who needs them…

But that’s a bit of a mouthfull!  Perhaps I should title myself a ‘Brand Consultant’ or ‘Design Guru’, without wishing to blow my own trumpet of course, do these titles fit my range of skills and services a little more?

Decisions, decisions

I’m really not sure what to call myself now…perhaps my best bet is to stick with ‘Web Designer’ as it’s becoming a more mainstream title and does describe my main focus.  But is there anything more descriptive and all encompassing?

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts…