Working For Friends, Family and Keeping That Website Current

Posted on December 16, 2009 by itees

In my last post, I wanted to highlight that in many cases I’ve seen websites and print marketing done by individuals and small companies without hiring a professional designer. In various group discussions on LinkedIn, artists from all over are commenting with their experiences. In these comments, some artists have brought up a few very important points, which I’m going to pass on now.

As designers, many times, friends and family ask us to “help them out” with a project. Depending on who this is and the scope of the project, we may decide to help. One artist reported that after creating various materials for a friend and gratis of course, the friend didn’t use any of them and instead got a family member who just happened to have a computer and “Word” & “Photoshop” to create something.

Now, I suppose the big question here is, why wouldn’t you use the materials created by the professional designer, and instead use the amateurish piece by the family member. Instead of using a professional printing company, it was printed out on their home printer. The end result did not look professional. Secondly, wouldn’t the friend realize how rude that was, after asking the professional to invest time and effort in the project.

In addition, they have said that it always seems to be the non-paying, non-profit clients who they’re “helping out” who send the most changes or edits. It’s interesting how when someone has to pay, they understand the rules a bit better.

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Clients change their look and their logos. As artists we understand this, we do as well. I had changed my company logo a few times over the years, until I settled on the (sndi) I have now and the current color palette. I also previously wrote about how I changed this (i-tees) site into a blog, and I’m sure at some point, I’ll change the look again.

One thing an artist just reminded me of, is when you’ve created a wonderful website for someone and they seemed to be very happy with it… then a short time later it has been replaced with a totally different design. The most important part to remember, is not to be too disappointed. With the web, this is bound to happen, hopefully not often, but face it, it will. I suppose what bothers us most, is that it happened and the client didn’t tell us or come back to us for the new design. We wonder about whether they really liked the original or just said they did, so they’d have the site up, (urgency again, content over design and style) who knows? I always wonder about this. I remember a magazine site I did a few years ago, and about one year later there was a new site up. It didn’t really have any new features, or e-commerce, it just had a different look.

It’s also important to realize that if they do create a new website with new features, they may not realize you can do what they want. Always be sure that your clients know about all your capabilities. I have a current client who’s website I update and he never knew I designed books, good thing I mentioned this, and was able to design his book cover.

What you need to do, is check all the links you’re featuring on your portfolio website, perhaps once a month. I sometimes forget to do this, but will this week. You don’t want to have an image or link up and a potential client goes to see it, and it’s a different site. I’ve also had sites disappear or go down for one reason or another. So be sure to update your portfolio and site often.

The Client, The Graphic and Website Designer and Mutual Respect

Posted on December 8, 2009 by itees

Let’s discuss the mutual respect that there should be, between a client and a professional designer, or anyone working, no matter the industry.

Setting up and traveling to meetings with clients, who don’t show up, or don’t call to cancel is unacceptable. How about when we write estimates for potential clients, and they never respond again. How about thinking we’ll show a sample design for free to gain a client or do endless revisions, to the point where we can’t wait for the assignment to be done?

What is it about our profession in recent years, that we do not seem to get the respect we deserve?

I hate to say this because I love my computers, (macs of course, I do have a pc but I only use it to check website development, cross-platform) but I think since computers came to our aid in helping us create digitally, it made every worker in an office think they’re a graphic or website designer. In turn, it has watered down our profession.

Recently, I had a meeting scheduled with a client that I just started working with. This is not the first time this has happened but I arrive at the scheduled time, and he’s not there. He’s not on the way, or going to be late, but is on the phone with someone at the business. He didn’t even call me to cancel, or say he’d be late, but forgot, again? Well, my time is just as valuable as his, I traveled to get there, and this made me angry. It makes the assignment an unpleasant experience and now I just wish the job was finished. Now, I’m going to admit, this doesn’t happen very often, and occasionally I have clients who cancel down to the wire. These are not clients I enjoy working with, and will most likely not work with them again in the future, unless they come or just send documents to me.

Writing estimates for potential clients. I do have older estimates that I can open up and alter to fit the particular client I’m writing for, but depending on the potential client, and the assignment, an estimate can take between 1/2 hr – a few hours. Many times, I put it aside and come back to it later or the next day, to make sure it says everything it needs to. I know it seems like a lot to ask, but would it be so hard for someone to just respond? The first issue is, you don’t even know if they received it, unless you mark the email with a return notification. Sometimes, when you’re sending an attachment your email could go into their spam folder, and they might not have seen it. While reviewing designers, is it so difficult to just send a thank you for applying, we’ll let you know, or we’ve selected another? At least then you know they’ve gotten it, and you were considered.

Can you show me what you have in mind? For Free? Sorry, but this really annoys me. The whole point of having a portfolio, a body of your best work to show, is so that potential clients can look through your work and have a clear understanding of the quality of what you would deliver. If they cannot tell after seeing all of your design samples and are willing to hire you, then you probably don’t want them for a client. A designer begins with a concept, and that concept is in their mind, before they touch the computer, so if you want to know what my concept is, you’ll have to hire me to find out.

I will admit that I was tempted on whim to enter a logo design contest on 99designs, but it was because I was new to this site and invited, so when I looked through the samples submitted up to that point, I felt they weren’t the right approach, and a concept came to me immediately, so it wasn’t that difficult to put together what I had in mind, and submit the two color variations. I won that contest and they became a paying client, and hired me for a second assignment. But, I am against this type of website that puts designers working for free, competing against each other for little gain. Imagine if 99 designers enter a complicated assignment like website design, and with all the work involved, only one person can win and get paid. That’s a lot of designers working very hard for free. I think a site like this was created solely for lazy clients, who’d rather not look through those 99 portfolios and just choose the right designer for their assignment.

I had a logo concept in my mind come to me for the green books campaign which I was started by Eco-Libris and is for a great cause. I knew that over 100 bloggers were participating, (being one of the bloggers) reviewing 100+ green books, and it would be good publicity for me if those bloggers used the logo in their review, and many did. So I put it together, sent it along to Eco-Libris and they liked it and used it immediately. It was definitely worth the effort, for a good cause and the publicity it would draw to my work and in addition, my cause with Mary Jo Rhodes, Frogs Are Green.

Endless Revisions. When I write estimates they always stipulate how many revisions will be included but that never seems real to clients, who send their copy changes over and over. I’ll never understand why clients cannot review their copy carefully before sending it along. Whether we’re working on a print marketing project or a website page, the copy has to be loaded and styled. Don’t they realize we must redo it, if they send a new document? Recently I’ve also seen clients tell you the size has changed after you’re finished. This a complete redesign, but they don’t realize what’s involved. Imagine I have designed a book cover which is horizontal format, and after approved, the client now wants the cover in a vertical format, I must redesign the cover altogether.

All I’m saying is that we deserve the respect that we give to our clients, and I look forward to hearing your stories and/or comments.

Designers, Artists, Have Your Own Professional Website!

Posted on December 1, 2009 by itees

No Matter Your Industry, Look Like A Professional!

I was participating in a discussion on LinkedIn, and started to notice a pattern. Someone had posted that they were looking for design help, and of course, I, along with so many others responded. Many designers were sending their brief descriptions and some posted their web address as well. Since I was part of the discussion, until I decide to turn it off, I see everyone’s response. Many of these artists were sending links to their LinkedIn address, or their portfolio on a community art website.

This got me wondering how many artists or professionals in my or other industries do not have a website of their own. How can you look your best and be a working professional, without your own domain and site? Some said they they wished they had the time to learn web design, and some have learned Dreamweaver, etc., so they could build their own site, but that is not the point at all. Although it’s always good to know as much as you can, being able to get the job done is most important and you can always partner up.

I cannot do it all, and would never dream of wanting to. If I need copyrighting, specialized illustration, complicated programming, etc…I hire someone to work with me. I have always done this. Maybe it comes from the many years I worked on staff as an art director, realizing that I had to spread the assignments out, and would match up the designers, photographers, illustrators and more, to the right projects.

I’ve also heard recently, people in different industries, telling me they are building their own sites, and they think it looks great. Trust me, if you didn’t hire a professional, it doesn’t look good. We already have the problem of browsers (Safari, IE, Firefox) and platforms (Mac and PC) displaying the code in different ways, add into the mix someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, and that will look unprofessional.

As designers, we know more than anyone else the importance of branding, quality and professionalism.

There are so many options, and in these tough, economic times, there are ways to have your own domain and website without spending a lot, and still be able to manage it yourself, if you do not know programming.

Many clients have just this type of solution and what I’ve done is install a FREE WordPress blog right onto their own domain and hosting account. You still have to pay for the domain name and hosting registration but WordPress, like most blogs, gives you all sorts of wonderful options, galleries, e-commerce, pages, posts, and these blogs are really search engine friendly. You can also customize the design, by choosing a template and then adding your own header image or logo, and then adjusting the color palettes. Another option for originality is to have a designer create a custom look and then load the design into WordPress, or other CMS (content management systems) systems like, Joomla.

Another way to go if you’re an illustrator or graphic designer, is to work with a website programmer, design the site yourself, which will cut down the cost, and just have the programmer build it.

Some artists and designers choose to build a portfolio and profile on an artist community site. I also have profiles on many of these sites. They’re helpful if we are looking for assignments and can point potential clients to our work, reviews, amount earned, ratings, etc. But what if a client is looking for a designer? How are they going to find you among all the profiles listed? Unfortunately there isn’t criteria that should be listed, such as, how many years experience do they have and in what industries?, what style do they design in? It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I’ve also heard some designers say, “But if I have my own website I’ll have to promote it.” Yes, this is somewhat true. I will say that I do not get the same traffic at my portfolio site as I do with this blog. But the important thing is to have a site that’s rich in content, tags, and galleries, and it will help clients find you.

In this cyber age, whether a designer, artist, writer, or other professional, show off your best work, the most professional way.