Standout Squarespace Course Review
Updated Feb 2024!
When I started the Standout Squarespace* course by Rache at Square Stylist, I had high hopes - but with a price tag that was more than I was charging for a client project at the time - was it worth the investment?
After almost 2 years in the course - here’s my full Standout Squarespace* Course Review… and spoiler alert, if you want to become a Squarespace Website Designer that “stands out” (see what she did with the name there!), has the confidence to charge premium prices to your clients, has learnt an incredible new skill and is part of one of the loveliest communities out there it’s absolutely worth it!
Oh & wanna get a sense of Rache’s teaching style, plus learn more about Standout Squarespace - you can check out her Free Workshop here!
This post may contain affiliate links. These are denoted by a *. If you make a purchase via one of these links I may get a small kickback. I only recommend products and services I use and love myself! Thanks in advance :)
OK… so firstly,
What is Standout Squarespace?
Standout Squarespace* is a mega in depth Squarespace design course created by Rache (founder of Square Stylist) and arguably the Squarespace expert when it comes to squeezing every last bit of juice the platform has to offer.
Now when I first signed up to the course, I thought of it as a way to learn how to use code to create more exciting and interesting designs on Squarespace (and to stop having that sinking feeling in my stomach when a client put something on their mood board which I knew Squarespace couldn’t do natively but I had no idea how to tackle)!
Since then, my perspective on Standout Squarespace* has changed… now, after almost 2 years in the course I see it more as a complete step by step university level learning experience that gives you everything you need to know to stand out from the crowd and charge premium prices, with confidence as a Squarespace Website Designer.
It’s a course, support system and community that takes you from zero (if you’ve never even opened up Squarespace before, or designed a website the course will meet you where you are) to pretty much sky’s the limit (Rache is consistently adding to the course content, pushing the boundaries and developing, as are the students in the course who are constantly challenging themselves and each other to reach new heights with code on Squarespace!)
I think you *could* argue it’s the most complete Squarespace web design and development course out there - covering everything from design essentials and wireframing, to Squarespace basics, through CSS foundations, to more complex CSS and Javascript.
It’s incredible, intense and not for the faint of heart - but if you want a deep mastery of Squarespace then it achieves that more than anything else I’ve seen out there.
What’s the Standout Squarespace Curriculum?
At the time of writing the Standout Squarespace* Curriculum has two key parts to it, the first is the Foundations phase - which you can purchase as a standalone, and which teaches you alll of the ins and outs of Squarespace a deep dive into design principles, plus, if you’re thinking of becoming a Squarespace Webdesigner as a business, a good chunk of content on web design business principles too.
The main modules are:
MODULE ONE: INTENTIONAL DESIGN
Covering gathering inspiration, crafting a responsive and accessible website, website strategy, site performance & SEO, plus a tonne of guides, templates & resources to help you actually do the thing!
MODULE TWO: SQUARESPACE CORE
Learn how to translate your strategic & standout designs onto Squarespace the right way. There are a zillion people teaching Squarespace out there, but very few who know the platform the way Rache does - this module blew my mind (even as a Squarespace pro!) and taught me a bunch of things I’d been doing “wrong” for years! From assigning colors, to typography to fully mastering Squarespace’s fluid Engine, this is the basics even the pros need.
MODULE THREE: BUILD OUT & LAUNCH
Probably my fave part of Rache’s teaching approach is where she takes you through step by step case studies & you get the chance to try out the skills you’ve learnt (as a teacher in a past life this is defs the best way to ensure what you’ve learnt sticks!) In this module you’ll learn everything from speed hacks, to leveraging blogs & e commerce & most importantly have your own site ready to launch.
MODULE FOUR: BUSINESS UNIT
Now if after all of that you’ve got the bug & you don’t want to stop at just one site, but you’d like to open your own web design studio or side hustle this is the module where you’ll learn how. With everything from identifying your own standout style, to getting your head around contracts to knowing how to manage pricing & proposals - you’ll learn alll the things PLUS get the templates you need too.
Now at this point you might be wondering “but where’s the code?!”
And you’d be right. Standout Squarespace Foundations has pretty much no code in it, that’s where the full Standout Squarespace course comes in with the “Advanced” part of the course. Rache revamped the curriculum for this course at the end of 2023 so it’s fully Fluid Engine compatible so here’s an overview.
MODULE ONE: CSS ESSENTIALS
Learn how to select anything & everything on your Squarespace site in the '“right” way to make designing a breeze. Never seek block or section IDs again - you’re not gonna need them & with it, you’ll unlock a whole world of possibilities for your use of CSS, including making templates possible!
MODULE TWO: CSS TECHNIQUES
This second module builds on the CSS essentials you learnt in module one, but takes it to the next level, teaching you advanced typography (my fave!) , pseudo elements, background elements & gradients, animations & a whole new world of possibility with flexbox & grids!
MODULE THREE: ADVANCED APPLICATIONS
This is where it allll comes together, by taking the learnings from module one & two and using them along with the Standout process you’ll create your own templates to build out your sites from, meaning that your sites aren’t just robust & gorgeous they’re fast to create too, as well as touching on Javascript essentials. When you submit your Capstone project you’ll become the proud owner of the standout badge of approval & be able to enter your deets in the Standout directory!
Limited time offer for Standout Squarespace
Now, I should say that, for a limited time only (until 28 Feb 2024) when you sign up to Standout Squarespace you’ll also get the original course included for free! Perfect if you’re still using classic editor, or just want more bang for your buck - here’s a quick overview of what’s in Standout Squarespace version 1.0!
MODULE ONE: WEBSITE STRATEGY & DESIGN
MODULE TWO: BUILDING BLOCKS OF SQUARESPACE
MODULE THREE: CSS FOUNDATIONS
MODULE FOUR: CUSTOMIZATION DEEP DIVE
MODULE FIVE: PSEUDO & BACKGROUND ELEMENTS
MODULE SIX: FLEXBOX
MODULE SEVEN: CSS ANIMATIONS
MODULE EIGHT: CSS GRIDS
MODULE NINE: JAVASCRIPT ESSENTIALS
MODULE TEN: STREAMLINING & OPTIMIZATION
MODULE 11: INTEGRATE WITH EASE
FLEXIBLE UNIT: CLIENT COMMUNICATION
As you can see it’s pretty thorough!
The modules in Standout Squarespace* build on each other, but you can also dip in and out as needed for client projects (something I’ve done a lot!) and many of them (once you have the basics) are relatively stand alone so you don’t necessarily have to go through lesson by lesson in chronological order.
Rache has clearly understood that given the huge amount of course material - doing the whole shebang is too much for some people (or they need at least an overview on an accelerated timeline) and that’s why she created Standout Squarespace Foundations for those who’d like to start with a thorough understanding of the basics & business, but aren’t quite ready for advanced code.
But… the core course content is really just the tip of the iceberg! Because as well as the in-depth module content, students of the course also get access to…
The Standout Community.
A “Circle” (not to be confused with Squarespace Circle) members community with boards that you can ask questions, troubleshoot code issues, ask for advice and connect with other students who are an incredible source of knowledge. Rache and her team are super active in the community too, and she regularly responds to questions, or troubleshoots personally.
Weekly workshops, monthly walkthroughs and one-off events.
These live sessions (with replays available) are GOLD! They often showcase a specific aspect of Squarespace and a way to do something cool with it - examples like a recent “spotlight” whereby if you hover the mouse over a section it creates a circular window allowing you to see or “spotlight” an image below, or creating a horizontal timeline using summary blocks.
In fact, you name it & it’s probably in there - Rache often also uses student questions for inspiration for these topics, or a new Squarespace feature that she’s figured out something cool to do with!
In the one-off events she’s done sessions on customizing Dubsado forms using CSS, a session on accessibility with an expert in the field even a VIP day workshop. Tonnes of varied, interesting and useful subjects for Squarespace web designers.
The Knowledge base
Now I can’t tell you what’s in here (coz I’d have to kill you ;)) but it’s essentially a notion tool-kit on steroids with swipe files, code snippets, cheat sheets and supporting materials for all the modules.
I’m in there most days, and it’s so incredibly useful! It’s also regularly updated if you’re a “current” course member (I’ll get to what that means in a minute).
Now I said at the beginning of this section that this is “at the time of writing”... why is that?
When Squarespace released Fluid Engine in late summer 2022, Rache & the team revamped & redesigned the whole curriculum, creating the Foundation & Advanced parts & rejigging things - that curriculum launched at the end of 2023, buttt as with all tech, more things will evolve & so this may also change over time. The fab thing is, Rache keeps her eye on the ball & is constantly updating the course as needed.
I also mentioned “current students”, and this is worth highlighting. When you sign up to Standout Squarespace* - you sign up for lifetime membership to the core course , plus updates to this material (that list of modules above) all hosted on either Teachable or Squarespace, and one year of being in the community - so access to the Circle group, and the knowledge base.
After that first year you can continue to pay annually (or monthly) to remain a member of the community, which gives you access to the Circle Community - including regular additional walkthroughs and workshops, troubleshooting with Rache & team etc, and ongoing updates to the knowledge base.
Phew, there’s a lot there! Here’s a quick handy graphic to show you what you get in standout Squarespace Foundations vs the full standout squarespace course including standout squarespace advanced.
Who’s the Standout Squarespace Course For?
In short anyone who wants to be a Squarespace expert. That goes for both Standout Squarespace Foundations & Standout Squarespace Advanced.
The full version will gives the confidence in coding on the platform to achieve (pretty much) whatever a gal can dream up, whilst the Foundations will gives the right "foundations” (funnily enough!) to know that they’re using the platform in the very best way, be it for themselves or for their clients.
Now this might be someone who wants to learn the platform to create their own website, but is more likely to be someone who wants to become a Squarespace Website Designer, or is already a Squarespace Web Designer who wants to significantly increase their Squarespace web design skills (most likely to be able to design with fewer limitations and command higher prices).
You absolutely can do this course as a beginner, it takes you from zero so you don’t need a base level first.
Although, if you’re not sure you like the Squarespace platform, you’re best to hop in and have a play around first (you could give my free Squarespace template a whirl - it gives you a set of tutorials and 6 month free trial). And you can also try out Rache’s Free Workshop to see what’s possible when you mix CSS and Squarespace!
Plus - she has a tonne of fabulous videos on Youtube that I highly recommend binging #freecontentforthewin !
You can also take Standout Squarespace* if you’re an experienced web designer on a different non-Squarespace platform, to learn the ins and outs of designing and developing in Squarespace if you want to diversify the platforms you can work on.
Finally… if you’re an experienced Squarespace designer you’d get loads out of the course too - because almost certainly the content, the community and Rache’s approach will teach you a ton! (I legitimately don’t know how she does it - the content and how much it evolves genuinely blows my mind… I wonder if she ever sleeps!!)
In my opinion, the things you will need for Standout Squarespace to be a good fit for you are…
Dedication
The course is a beast, and even 3 years after purchasing I’ve still not yet gone through everything… you’ll need to be dedicated and committed not just to watching the tutorials but to doing the work to embed the knowledge. Of course this is a bit less the case with Standout Squarespace Foundations but like any investment, you wanna have the time to make the most of it!
Time
Following on from dedication, if you don’t have, or can’t make the time to work through the course, it’s probably not the right fit right now. Now that’s not to say you need hours and hours - you could set aside just a few hours each week and go at your own pace, but it’s not a binge-it-in-a-weekend kind of thing. At all.
Patience
This isn’t a paint by numbers course. Yes, Rache walks you through step by step and gives incredibly clear instructions, but you need to be able to understand, practice, be OK to make mistakes, pick yourself up and try again. People legitimately go to University to learn this stuff, it’s that in depth, and very much worth it, but you need to treat it as a deep learning experience.
Will the Standout Squarespace Course make me an expert Squarespace Web designer?
You will make yourself an expert Squarespace Website Designer if you work through the course materials, follow Rache’s instruction and suggestion, take the time, dedicate yourself and have a patient approach to the learning journey.
If you just watch the modules but don’t do the work, or copy ‘n paste code snippets, yes you’ll probably save a bunch of hours googling, but no, you probably won’t be a true Squarespace web design expert at the end of the process!
Said another way, Standout Squarespace has everything you need to become an expert Squarespace Website Designer, but you need to bring your a-game to the experience too!
In what scenario is Standout Squarespace not the right choice?
You (in conjunction with Rache - reach out to her to say hey, she’s so lovely!) are the only person that can really answer this, but I’d say - if you don’t have time, dedication or patience for the learning process (as I mentioned before) this course probably isn’t right for you right now.
In addition, if you’re not sure you want to design websites in Squarespace, or learn to code - it’s also probably not a great fit - but you could definitely give the Free Workshop a go to see what you can achieve with CSS and get an intro to Rache’s teaching style to see how you enjoy it - she’s one of my fave teachers out there, so it’s worth giving the workshop a go just to experience her style!
Is Standout Squarespace worth the investment?
In short, yes, absolutely.
In fact I’d go further and say what you get is so much more valuable than the amount of money you invest.
If you’re a Squarespace newb, or a designer wanting to be able to offer more value to your clients then I can highly recommend Standout Squarespace!
How do I enroll for Standout Squarespace?
Doors are always open to Standout Squarespace, but when you enroll before 28 February 2024, remember you’ll get access to version 1.0 too (that’s the last time that’ll be offered), so if you’ve been thinking about it for a while, now’s the time to check out Rache’s Free Workshop to get a flavour & then check out the Standout Squarespace Course!
Standout Squarespace has been a game changer for me (most of the work you see showcased on my site, including the website itself!) were built with things I learnt from the course - and I’m still working my way through some of the modules, so go check it out, and tell Rache I say hi if you do!!
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