British Summer, Broken Fans and Melting Mouse Mats
Web design in the UK usually involves a comfy chair, a laptop, and an endless supply of tea. But throw in a surprise 30-degree heatwave and suddenly, designing websites becomes a survival challenge.
If you’ve ever tried adjusting page layouts while sweating through your office chair, this one’s for you. This blog is part serious, part sarcastic – a tongue-in-cheek look at why the UK just isn’t built for web design during the summer… and why we keep going anyway.
British Homes Were Not Built For This
Let’s start with the obvious: UK homes aren’t made for heat.
They’re designed to trap warmth, not let it out. So when a rare heatwave hits, most of us are working in rooms that feel more like greenhouses than creative studios.
Unlike our friends in Spain or Australia, we don’t have ceiling fans, proper ventilation, or aircon units. Most of us are relying on a £12 Argos desk fan that sounds like a plane taking off and just circulates warm air.
The Struggle Is Real for Remote Designers
Remote work has its perks — flexible hours, working in pyjamas, easy access to biscuits — but when the temperature rises, so do the problems.
Screens reflect sunlight directly into your retinas. Keyboards get uncomfortably warm. Your carefully chosen ergonomic chair becomes a sweaty torture device.
And let’s not forget the dreaded laptop overheating — you’re halfway through designing a client’s homepage and suddenly your machine sounds like it’s preparing for take-off.
Warm Weather Creativity Slump
There’s something about heat that makes your brain slow to a crawl.
You open Figma, ready to mock up a landing page, and suddenly forget how shapes work. Fonts blur together. Everything feels like effort.
Psychologists call it cognitive fatigue. We call it “summer mode”.
Yet, deadlines still loom. Clients still need their Shopify themes polished. SEO still needs tweaking. The internet never sleeps – even if we want to.
Too Hot to Code, Too Tired to Complain
Coding during a heatwave is like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube underwater.
You know what you’re supposed to do, but your brain’s on standby. Every syntax error feels like a personal attack. CSS decides to stop behaving. PHP breaks and you’re too warm to fix it.
Your hydration tracker says you need more water, but you’re 80% iced coffee and 20% regret.
Wi-Fi and Weather – A British Tragedy
Ever noticed your Wi-Fi gets worse in extreme weather?
We don’t have fibre-optic cabling woven through every terrace house in the North East. So when a heatwave rolls in, internet connections get wobbly — right when you’re about to send that important site preview link to your client.
Cue the refresh button marathon and the dreaded “This site can’t be reached” message.
Our Clients Still Need Us (Even in 30°C)
Here’s the thing — clients don’t stop needing websites just because the weather’s tropical.
We’ve still got:
- Wedding car hire sites to launch
- Local tradespeople needing mobile-first redesigns
- North East shops going online for the first time
- SEO audits to run before month-end
So yes, it’s hot. Yes, we’re melting. But no, we’re not slowing down.
Ways Web Designers Are Coping With the Heat
Because British people thrive on sarcasm and innovation, we’ve developed elite survival techniques for designing websites in summer:
1. Working in the dark – curtains drawn like we’re in a vampire film
2. Desk fan + iced towel combo – surprisingly effective
3. Moving the office outdoors – until your battery dies and sun glare ruins everything
4. Frequent breaks to lie down dramatically on the sofa – absolutely essential
5. Swapping coffee for diluted squash – desperate times
Website Speed vs Human Speed
Ironically, while we’re slowed down by the weather, we’re still optimising sites to be faster than ever.
Clients want lightning-speed websites with lazy-loaded images, quick GTmetrix scores and responsive design across all devices.
Meanwhile, we’re responding with:
“Sure, we’ll have that sorted today… right after we wipe the condensation off our keyboards.”
No Aircon, No Problem – Just Passion
Here’s the honest bit.
Despite the heat, the sweat, the overheating laptops and slow internet, we still love what we do.
Building a beautiful, high-converting website for a North East business? Seeing it go live and make sales? That’s the buzz. That’s why we power through.
(Although we wouldn’t say no to a fan upgrade, just saying.)
Final Thoughts: It’s Hot, But Your Website Still Matters
If you’re thinking of waiting until “it cools down” to start your website project — don’t.
We might be hotter than a car seat in the sun right now, but we’re still building sites, still answering emails, and still turning ideas into fully functioning digital platforms.
After all, this is the UK. Give it 72 hours and we’ll probably be googling “why is it raining in July?”
Until then, we’ll keep working — one ice cube at a time.
Need a Website Designed While We Melt?
At InfaCloud, we design and develop high-performing websites for businesses across the North East — rain, snow, or heatwave. If you’re looking for a new site, a refresh, or help going online, we’re ready to help.
Contact us today – fans optional, websites essential
