Colette Smith
Front End Engineer / Web designer / Photographer
UK, Suffolk/London
www.colettesmith.com
www.colettesmith.uk
instagram @cs_design_studio
Q What do you do?
“I’m a Front-End Web Developer and Designer.”
I love helping people bring their ideas to life by creating visually stunning designs that highlight the true essence of their work or business.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I studied BA Fine Art at Central St Martins, University of the Arts, London. I then worked as a photographer's assistant for a number of editorial photographers whilst simultaneously developing my own photographic practice. I moved to Suffolk, got married, had a child and toyed with the idea of teaching. Teaching wasn’t for me so I started learning to code, decided to make websites for small businesses and artists and have not looked back.
I have completed courses at @SuperHi: ‘HTML, CSS and Javascript’ and ‘Javascript for designers’ and the ilovecreatives Squarespace Design Course which have been instrumental in progressing my ideas. Most recently I have finished a software engineering course with “The Jump Digital School” - I cannot recommend them enough to anyone wanting to break into tech.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
My Fine Art training helps me design sites that stand out. The quality of the visual assets is crucial to successful web design; being a photographer means I am able to ensure my client’s products and business are portrayed with the maximum impact. A clean aesthetic sums my work up: functional clarity in line with branding and encompassing client’s interests.
Q What are you working on right now?
I am working on my developer portfolio at the mo! I have recently finished a software engineering bootcamp so I’m eager to showcase my developer skills. When it’s done it will be here: colettesmith.uk
Q What’s your style?
I like clean minimal design with a focus on the brand. I aim to style my sites to suit the client’s needs so that the design does not distract from the product.
As part of the ILoveCreatives course, I recreated a site in Squarespace of a photographer that I admire - Lasse Flode. It was a fun challenge to make Squarespace work for a more unusual layout.
As part of my Front End Dev course I cloned the studio freight site studiofreight.com ( I really admire their style) It taught me loads about grid layout and utilising SCSS for styling.
I have worked on a site for the artist James Hutch who is a painter and Illustrator. This was an interesting project because he did not have much idea how he wanted his site to look - just that you could see the work clearly and that his projects were well presented. He didn’t want it to look too formal, but wanted some randomness in his layout. I thought it should be simple but showcase his work with the addition of some fun animations.
Ideally I would love to work with more creative businesses, agencies and firms that chime with my style.
Here are some sites that I admire:
byconsulat.com/en
semicreative.co.nz
monolif.co
thecarbonation.com
edoardolunardi.dev
joshuakaplan.com
housetmm.com
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I wish I could combine my love of design and custom code to create more sites in tune with my style. I find it extremely satisfying getting something to work the way you imagined it to.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I find it frustrating not being able to quite finish a job because of waiting on content from clients. I try to make sure I have all the copy etc before I start designing, but this isn’t always possible.
The other thing is having time to promote myself, and making my work seen - this is something I am bad at and often put off.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
DELETE all my emails.
And make me yummy food.
And tell me to get on with my portfolio…
Oh and do the housework…. Maybe that’s too much for $20
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I wish I could have told myself to stop doubting myself. I wish I’d started coding earlier. I would have not wasted time trying to do a ‘sensible job’ (I trained to be an early years Montessori teacher and it was not for me) and done a course on front end development years ago. Oh and maybe a post grad design course.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I’d ask them about self promotion and marketing - it is my weak point. I am also always open to new design ideas and concepts, I would ask them what they would have differently in some of my projects.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I like working with creatives or people that share my design style. The areas of interest that I think suit my aesthetic style are anything creative including fashion, photography, product design, music and art. I have, however, also enjoyed working with people out of this sector. I find I can bring something creative to their branding to make it more appealing and accessible. I've alway loved architecture and would love to design a site for an architect one day; I imagine a minimalist design with beautiful photography and clean typography.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I would love to develop a site for a creative I admire. Maybe a musician, artist or designer. Although I am useless at playing any instrument I am a massive fan of music and admire what it takes to create it.
I also think my design development style is in line with creative agencies / architects / graphic designers portfolios etc.
Q: What is your rate?
I am based in the UK so the rates are a little different - here my rates are £75 per hour for web design/development.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Anyone can get in touch via email or instagram DM or phone. I don’t really mind. It’s always helpful if they have a budget in mind and a description of what they want. Once I have this to go on I can make suggestions regarding ideas, perhaps they haven’t considered, and give them a rough timeline for the project. Face to face is great, but I want to work with people from around the world as well as locally. Basically I’m super approachable, just get in touch.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
I’d have to say Jimmy Hutch because he's an outstanding fine art painter and Illustrator. He has done some amazing projects including one with a charity called Suffolk Mind.
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Hmm that’s a tough one. It’s a challenge. Life demands lots of things from each of us; sometimes I’ve chosen aspirations to pursue that weren’t really me. Photography, design, coding, music - that’s me. It’s nice to be on the right path. That alone keeps me invested.
This member profile was originally published in November 2021, updated September 2023.