Laura Coutts on building a Squarespace design business without compromising quality

In this episode of Looks Good From Here, we dive deep with Laura Coutts, founder of Hatch Labs and a 10+ year Squarespace veteran who's built a global client base from Melbourne, Australia. Laura's journey from lawyer to copywriter to premium web designer offers incredible insights for anyone looking to build a sustainable design business. Watch it here or continue reading below.

From law to web design: an unconventional career path

Laura's journey into web design was anything but linear. "I first started off as a lawyer," she explained. "Probably the best way to describe it is I was a failed lawyer. I did my degree, got my qualifications, and decided after about a year that it was definitely not the path for me."

After leaving law, Laura worked as a copywriter at a real estate newspaper, where she gained valuable grammar and writing skills. She then spent eight years in online content editing, working for nonprofits and insurance companies in both Australia and the UK. When her second daughter was about to start childcare, the corporate commute became unsustainable. Laura decided to strike out on her own, dabbling in wedding and family photography while simultaneously building a web design business.

The web design work won out because it was "much more fun, less pressure, more flexible." And when it came time to choose a platform, Laura's previous frustrations with WordPress made the decision easy. "I'd done years of working in WordPress, just the most frustrating platform to work with, even if you know code," she said. "I found a lot of the smaller clients that I was going to be working for had huge frustrations with not keeping on top of plug-in updates and really not understanding how the whole system worked."

Why Squarespace: trading flexibility for stability

Laura chose Squarespace as her design platform from day one, recognizing that most functionality was already built into the platform as native blocks. "Broken plugins were the main reason that people ran into issues in WordPress," she noted. "I was happy to trade the flexibility of not having exactly the right slideshow or exactly the right button in order to have a stable platform that people didn't have to update."

That said, Laura didn't accept Squarespace's limitations at face value. She taught herself CSS early on to push beyond the platform's native framework. "My websites do use an awful lot of CSS to get them to look a certain way," she explained. Today, she combines custom CSS with carefully selected plugins from developers like Will Myers to achieve the flexibility she needs.

Making complex simple: Laura's design philosophy

When asked what makes a website feel premium, Laura emphasized cohesion over any single element. "There's a cohesion that you don't have to think about," she said. "Sometimes you get to a site and it's jarring and you don't quite know why. It could be that there's a discord between the messaging and the design, or it could be that the fonts are just not quite the right size. You shouldn't have to think when you get to a website. It should be an experience presented to you, and it should be frictionless."

Laura's design process reflects this philosophy. Her mantra, both in creating content and design, is to "make complex simple." She takes inspiration from Apple's approach: deceptively simple design that requires significant thought to achieve. "Generally the first iterations of a site I do are messy and they're full of things I don't need," Laura explained. "The design process for me involves creating something that almost has everything in it and then stripping it out and amplifying it until it's at its bare minimum."

The content-first approach to web design

Laura's background in copywriting and content editing fundamentally shapes how she approaches website projects. "Copywriting to me is the foundation of websites," she said. "Good content is the foundation of websites. The design really is the wallpaper that sits around it, but the content and the structure are the bones."

She spends over half her time on projects figuring out messaging and getting content right. "People are so immersed in whatever it is that they do," Laura explained. "To be able to succinctly talk about it is really difficult. And to pitch their product in terms of how a user would see it is a real mental shift."

Managing custom code across hundreds of sites

With close to 200 sites under her belt, Laura faces the reality that all designers using custom code must confront: what happens when Squarespace updates their platform and code breaks?

"There are moments of panic where Squarespace will go and change a whole set of class names with very little warning," Laura admitted. "It's really not feasible for me to go back and change them all. I do unfortunately have to rely on clients coming back sometimes and saying, 'Hey, this is not really working anymore.'"

Her approach is to be transparent with clients from the start. "I do let my clients know that if we use custom code that there is a chance that at some point they'll need that updated," she said. "As I see it, that happens to all websites. You log in, sometimes things are not working, you get in touch with a developer. If it's been six or seven years, sometimes you're going to have to do an update. I think that's a good trade-off to make."

Building a transparent pricing structure

Laura's website features a refreshingly transparent pricing structure, from hour-of-power sessions to 15K custom builds. While most of her work (about 80%) consists of custom-priced projects, she offers smaller packages for clients who need simpler solutions.

"I like to be transparent generally with my projects," Laura explained. With custom builds, she spends significant time on discovery before any payment is required. "I develop a project plan which forms the working project plan, and they get all of that before they have to even agree whether to work with me or not," she said.

Her pricing philosophy is straightforward: "They're paying for a service and they're paying for years of experience as well. The hourly rate is actually not that important. What value does it provide to their business? If the price that I'm quoting is not providing value to their business, then I'm not the right person."

Empowering web design clients through training

Unlike many designers who rely on retainer models, Laura's business is built around empowering clients to manage their own sites. "My business model is very much about putting the website in their hands as soon as they've done the training," she said.

After launch, Laura provides two to three hours of basic training covering how to duplicate pages, create blog posts, and change copy and images. The most challenging aspects for clients? Managing page backends (URLs, meta titles, and descriptions) and handling Fluid Engine's mobile view optimization.

"I transfer ownership of the site over to them as soon as they've made their final payment," Laura explained. "I'm always on call though if people need help. People dip in and out, come back to me after six months or a year."

The value of community for freelance designers

As a Squarespace Circle member and community leader, Laura has found immense value in connecting with other designers. "As a freelancer, as most people are, we're working from home. We don't really have colleagues," she said. "Humans are fairly social creatures. It's really nice to have a group of people who understand Squarespace and who you can nerd out with."

The community aspect goes beyond social connection. "For me the community has been probably best for mental health actually," Laura noted. "There's also an amazing group of community members who are really generous with their code and their time who give out answers online. They've been really helpful over the years as well."

Laura has also organized several meetups in Melbourne, bringing local designers together. "It's really nice to know that there are other people like me sitting in their little caves doing the same thing as I do," she said.

Advice for new designers: know your value

When asked what advice she'd give to designers just starting out, Laura emphasized the importance of understanding your value. "Really know your value. Don't overestimate your value because it's also really easy to do that, but stick to your guns," she advised. "The minute you start negotiating on price, you are compromising the value that you provide to people."

Instead of lowering prices, Laura recommends adjusting scope: "Say these pages if you want to pay less, but don't negotiate on price. I think that's really important."

She also stressed the importance of maintaining your own website. "Unlike the cobbler whose kids have no shoes, my site is the last thing that I update and it's really bad," Laura admitted with a laugh. "My advice to new designers is to not neglect your own site the way that I do, because it is your calling card and it's where people come to really see if you are who you say you are."

Tools and techniques for pushing Squarespace further

Laura's toolkit combines CSS, carefully selected plugins, and tools like SquareKicker to achieve designs that push beyond Squarespace's native capabilities. She particularly values SquareKicker's horizontal scrolling feature, which she implemented on her own portfolio to display projects in a more engaging way than traditional grid layouts.

"I use both," Laura said of her approach to custom code versus plugins. "Obviously SquareKicker is one of my favorite plugins. There are some amazing plugins that I use to achieve certain effects.”

The key, Laura emphasized, is using these tools thoughtfully rather than cramming every possible effect onto a single site. "Just because you can do something that feels custom doesn't mean there's cohesion across the whole brand and the site," she noted. "It should be quite clear and consistent and easy for someone to follow."

Creating premium websites on Squarespace

Laura's approach proves that creating premium, high-end websites on Squarespace isn't about using every available tool or animation. It's about cohesion, thoughtful content strategy, and making complex simple.

By combining her background in content creation with strategic use of CSS and no code tools like SquareKicker, Laura has built a sustainable design business that empowers both herself and her clients. Her transparent pricing, thorough discovery process, and commitment to training clients ensures that websites continue to serve businesses long after launch.

For designers looking to elevate their Squarespace work, Laura's journey offers valuable lessons: invest time in content strategy, don't be afraid to learn code to achieve your vision, build community with other designers, and always stick to your value.

Ready to push your Squarespace designs further? Explore the SquareKicker Extension and discover how no code tools can help you create truly custom websites without complex coding. Start your 14-day free trial today.