Can a designer ever be a true consultant? | Hacker News Reader

Can a designer ever be a true consultant?

9 pointsnathanpowell4 comments

The dictionary definition of consultant is:

"A person who gives professional advice or services to companies for a fee"

Does anyone have any experience with cutting out the latter part of the definition?

I'm currently studying some options, and exchanging my services for an hourly, daily, weekly or even per project basis is becoming less appealing. Maybe not less appealing, but I'm certainly interested in looking at other avenues to sell my expertise and experience.

Does anyone have any experience in making the jump from "Designer" to "Consultant"? Can a designer even be a true consultant, or will hands on design always be involved? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Thanks Nathan

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I think there are many opportunities for 'consultancy' in this area. Design is not just about working in photoshop at your desk until 'it's done'.

A few examples:

1. Nathan Barry's latest photoshop course is akin to 'consultancy' in that he is providing an educational service to others. He is charging for access to this course which means it can continue bringing in revenue whilst he works on other projects.

2. Luke Wroblewski and Gabriel Svennerberg are both accomplished UX Designers who consult for companies. Much of their time is spent advising clients by asking questions rather than simply designing the answer.

3. Clarity.fm and AnyFu provide a consultancy marketplace for designers (amongst other professions)

[1] http://nathanbarry.com/photoshop/

[2] http://www.lukew.com/ http://www.svennerberg.com/

[3] https://clarity.fm/browse/search/design http://anyfu.com/

Hey Charlie,

Thanks for taking to the time to answer.

I'm currently looking at a few opportunities and am actually launching a workshop next month. I dont want to link to it yet, as it's currently only available for folks who bought my book. However, it's an area that I'm interested in expanding upon.

With regards to Luke and Gabriel, this is probably more the area I had in mind when writing my question, it would be quite interesting to develop something more along these lines, it would certainly take me out of my comfort zone.

Thanks again Charlie, you've given me some food for thought.

I believe the distinction here is between "contractor" or "staff augmentation" and "consultant." A contractor gets hired to practice his craft, while a consultant (theoretically) leaves a company better than when they first arrived.

This involves things like leading meetings to get buy in across groups, developing plans for what needs to be built, etc. It's very far from sitting behind your screen in Photoshop all day.

One of the best books I've read to understand what a consultant truly does is [Getting Naked](http://j.mp/1mAnhnn).

Hi,

I understand that it's a different role, hence my interest.

I'm not sure I agree that a contractor is there to merely practice his craft, compared to the consultant who is there to make sure a company in a better position than before. It should be a contractor's job to do that as well.

This is why I'm seeing quite a grey area between what constitutes a consultant, and a contractor, or freelancer.

I'll check out the book link, thanks.

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