One Skool, Two Communities: Our New Learning Hubs

I still remember staring at the blank screen in the late ‘90s, persuading Microsoft Publisher to cough up something vaguely resembling a web page. Not pretty. I’ve come a long way since those prehistoric days, but I still get the same itch: how do we make creative work less painful and more effective for everyone, without weeks lost to faffing about with code or jargon?

This nagging question eventually led me to Squarespace, and in turn, Pixelhaze Academy. If you’ve seen our work, you’ll know we have no time for gatekeeping or tech snobbery. Our mission has always focused on making professional web design quicker, less scary, and genuinely enjoyable, whether you’re a seasoned creative or looking to flip your career on its head.

But one thing has always bugged me. In all my training travels, from Welsh valleys to London start-ups, I’ve watched people sign up to courses or online memberships, only to lose steam. Why? Lack of talent isn’t the problem. More often than not, the issue is the lack of the right structure, practical support, and most importantly, a community that gets you.

So, after months of quietly experimenting, listening, and probably breaking a few things behind the scenes, I’m properly chuffed to announce our two new learning hubs powered by Skool to tackle precisely these problems.

What follows is the practical guide I wish someone had handed me years ago: how to pick the right learning community, what traps to avoid, and what really moves the needle if you want to learn web design fast and well, with less stress and more satisfaction.

Why This Matters

You’re reading this because you want to build better websites, learn sharper skills, or maybe switch up your career. Here’s an important point. Most online courses overload you with videos, checklists, and “lifetime access,” then disappear into the online abyss once the payment clears. The result is that you’re left shouting questions into the void, not knowing which answer (if any) you can trust.

The reality is that learning web design doesn’t happen in isolation. Things change all the time, best practices shift, styles evolve, and Google’s rules seem to update overnight. If you try to do it solo, you risk wasting weeks sifting through “top ten hacks” or picking up bad habits cobbled from random forums.

A well-built community, with the right people and proven frameworks, saves you from learning the wrong way, burning money on tools you barely use, or having to “undo and redo” your work down the line. A strong community provides far more than moral support. It offers the single biggest shortcut to learning smarter (and avoiding that notorious web designer forehead dent from all the head-banging).

Time and money: protected. Sanity: preserved.

Common Pitfalls

Here’s what most people get wrong when stepping into web design learning hubs, and I’ve fallen into most of these myself.

1. Choosing a “One Size Fits All” Course

Many folks assume all web design memberships dole out roughly the same stuff: a pile of tutorial videos, maybe a forum, and a monthly invoice. The problem? If it’s not aligned with your real goals and experience level, you’ll either get overwhelmed (drowning in PDF downloads), or bored silly inside three weeks.

2. Thinking Price = Value

A pricier membership does not always mean better results, and going with the cheapest option is a false economy. If the community you land in doesn’t fit, you waste far more than the subscription: you burn goodwill, lose momentum, and give up just when things might have clicked.

3. Ignoring Community Coaching

Most of us are conditioned to believe that one-on-one teaching is the gold standard, while “course groups” are just a place to swap memes. In reality, good community coaching offers accountability, perspective, and insights you’d struggle to get from a solo tutor.

4. Failing to “Show Up” Regularly

I’ve witnessed students sign up with the best intentions, only to disappear because no one nudged them when they stalled. A good community is only as effective as your participation, and regular, low-pressure involvement works best.

5. Not Knowing Where You Fit In

It’s easy to get stuck looking at what others are doing, rather than picking an environment where your background (creative, entrepreneurial, teacher, career swapper) is understood and supported.

Confession: I built our new Skool hubs to fix each of these headaches.

Step-by-Step Fix

Here’s how to find your web design tribe and get the absolute most out of your time with us.

Step 1: Pin Down Your Current Level and End Goal

If you’re just dipping a toe into the digital waters (“I’ve never built a site, but I’m tired of paying someone else”), your needs are wildly different from someone launching a freelance design business or hoping to teach web skills at their college.

Here’s where the “Pixelhaze Personas” come in. Over hundreds of student chats, I found that learners usually match one of these:

• Career Change Colin: Maybe you’re escaping a stale industry, looking to reinvent yourself in the digital game. Focus on hands-on skills that translate directly to freelance work or consultancy.
• Freelance Fiona: You’ve tinkered with design, perhaps built a few Squarespace sites, and now you want to level up, work smarter, and get serious about charging for your time.
• Educator Eddie: You want to empower students in your school, college, or university to learn web design “the right way,” without fighting the tech all term.
• Small Biz Sam: Running your own venture, you need a pro-looking site, on your terms and on your schedule.

Step 2: Understand What Each Community Actually Offers

It’s easy to get lost in feature lists, so let’s cut the marketing fluff.

The Website Builders Community

• Best for: Beginners, dabblers, budget-conscious.
• What you get: Weekly check-ins (ask questions, share wins), access to core course content, sneak peeks at new materials, the chance to post your designs for honest feedback.
• Peer support: You’re not alone. Members swap tips, review each other’s work, and keep you accountable for goals.
• No pressure: Come and go as you need, a safe place to learn at your own pace.

The Pixelhaze Community

• Best for: Those aiming to make web design a career, educators seeking to lead classes, or anyone wanting in-depth guidance.
• What you get: Everything above, plus the Moonshot transformational program (a personal roadmap), real-world project briefs, personalised feedback, weekly live workshops on Zoom, and early access to our best tool, SquareForge, our rapid template builder that can cut your build time in half.
• Development plans: Personalised, reusable, built around your actual skills and ambitions.
• Ongoing coaching: Live Q&A, guest masterclasses, real project deep-dives.

Step 3: Check Your Budget and Time Commitment, Then Be Honest

The Website Builders Community is wallet-friendly and fits with busy lives. Dip in when you can, ask questions as needed, and progress at your own speed. It’s the ideal “test drive” for anyone unsure about investing heavily straight away.

The Pixelhaze Community, at $97/month, is for those ready to put some skin in the game. It’s a chunk more, but keep this in mind: one extra freelance project (thanks to the skills and portfolio you develop here) can easily cover your costs. And if you’re teaching or running a team, you'll save time and avoid plenty of headaches.

Step 4: Engage Properly, Your Advantage in Learning

We built both communities to reward regular participation. Success stories don’t belong to the loudest or most natural designers. They come from those who ask questions, share progress, and give (as well as receive) feedback.

• Post your design drafts for review, even the ugly ones. That’s where the progress really happens.
• Join our weekly Zoom sessions when you can. If you’re shy, start by watching quietly, then pop a question into the chat.
• Give feedback to others, even if you don’t feel “qualified.” You learn twice as fast from teaching and observing.

Step 5: Use the Pixelhaze Toolkit to Drive Progress

Our secret weapon, and what lets our students move past overwhelm, is the Pixelhaze system. This includes tools such as:

• The Pre-Flight Checklist: Helps you cover crucial steps before launch. Avoids rework and a lot of soul-crushing “why doesn’t it look right?”
• SquareForge: A Squarespace-specific template builder that can take you from planning to prototype in as little as a coffee break. We use this in every rapid client build. You’ll get your hands on it in the Pixelhaze Community.
• SEO fundamentals: Packaged into bite-sized frameworks, so you rank higher out of the gate (instead of learning SEO the painful way).

Step 6: Invest in Community Coaching, Going Beyond Tutorials

Nothing kills momentum like feeling isolated. Our early tests and the countless case studies from teaching over 400 sites’ worth of students proved something crucial: learning within a committed group, facing live challenges together, makes you at least three times more likely to stick with it.

Here’s why:

• You see how others frame problems you also have but felt too daft to mention
• You get immediate, honest feedback from people not trying to sell you something
• You’re pulled along by shared wins, deadlines, and the sense of all being in it together

What Most People Miss

There’s a fact most course platforms never tell you: community learning is sometimes more effective than solo learning. While solo coaching can feel high-touch, the shared experience, knowledge, and motivation found in groups often produces quicker, more sustainable progress.

A helpful strategy is to see your fellow students as collaborators and future peers, rather than competitors or passive observers. The richest insights often come from someone just one step ahead of you. Outside of the structured lessons, the best wisdom flows in quickfire discussions, “can someone check my homepage?” threads, and sharing a bit of laughter in challenging moments.

Those who understand this and return the favour tend to progress further and faster, with fewer headaches.

The Bigger Picture

Picking the right web design community can transform not just your skills but your long-term career momentum. Mastering Squarespace, building better websites, gaining confidence, these make a genuine difference for your future.

• You reclaim your evenings, no longer stuck endlessly searching through YouTube.
• You save money by launching projects right the first time.
• You build reputation because your work speaks for itself and clients start coming to you.

Just as important, you begin to see yourself differently: as an engaged member of a creative, supportive group, with the tools to keep up with industry shifts instead of chasing them.

We’ve watched our community members go from nervy beginners to trusted freelancers, in-house designers, employers, and even teachers of the next generation. The key difference wasn’t talent, but being in the right environment with the mindset to “show up” for themselves and others.

Wrap-Up

So, what should you do next?

• If you want to try things out, the Website Builders Community is ready for you: no-nonsense guides, real support, just the right amount of structure.
• If you’re aiming for deeper growth or a full-fledged web design career, the Pixelhaze Community offers individual plans, live workshops, and access to the same tools used in hundreds of successful projects.

Wherever you land, my promise is simple: you’ll never be ghosted, and you’ll always know what to do next.

Want more helpful systems like this? Join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.

See you inside, and remember, progress beats perfection every single time.