Archive

Archive for the ‘Website Design’ Category

6 Things You Need for Your Web Project to Succeed

March 19th, 2009 No comments

Being at an age where I’m just beginning to carve my path in the real world, I tend to have many peers and co-workers who constantly think about making an income besides sitting in front of the computer eight to ten hours a day in a windowless room.

leadin

I’ve had thousands of conversations about initiating startup companies, selling IT products or services online, creating profit-generating web applications (like a derivative face book site), and putting up blogs. Eventually, I began to see characteristics that I feel are needed in order for your own project to succeed, and I present them here.

Don’t be afraid to commit.

If you’re comfortable with your current salary and you need the promise of eating at least one meal a day (sans ramen noodles), why change it? If you can’t commit whole-heartedly to your endeavor, things won’t happen, and you’ll constantly put your project second on your to-do list (i.e. right below playing “teh gamez”). In addition, when you have other obligations that take up the majority of your day, you won’t be able to commit the time and resources needed to get things rolling. Who wants to sit in front of their computer after work to design the UI interface of your application or draft a business proposal to pitch to a small-business venture investor when you’ve already used most of your thinking and creative energy at something else?

While talking to a friend of mine who’s in the midst of developing a startup company, I heard the ultimate startup killer, “I think I’m gonna try and get a part-time job somewhere, just to help pay the bills”. To which I responded with, “There isn’t a better motivation then ‘hungry’”. Put yourself in the situation where there’s no other alternative to success. You can ask anyone who knows me, one of my most-used phrases is a rip-off from Nike, “just do it”. Take a leap of faith in your ability to succeed and overcome the obstacles of your projects.

I’m not unnecessarily asking you to quit your day job (that would be hypocritical of me), but you may have to consider (a) scaling down your project to something you can manage on a part-time basis, (b) adjusting your commitment to other duties and responsibilities, or (c) coming up with something else that you’re equally passionate about, but can manage do to in your spare time.

Before doing anything, set your goals and develop your idea in a presentable way.

Right on the onset of your project, there should first be a clear definition of goals and what it is, exactly, you’re peddling. When you’re asked about your idea, you should be able to respond in a concise, clear, and marketable way. If it takes more than five minutes to describe your idea, it says that the concept is either (a) too complex — so you should consider simplifying, (b) you’re clueless as to what needs to happen — so you should develop your ideas further, or (c) a combination of both.

Whether you’re talking to an acquaintance about your idea (i.e. a random person you met at the bars) or pitching it to a potential investor, you should always be prepared to cover these questions:

  • How do you describe your project in two to three sentences?
  • Who are you selling to and what’s your plan-of-attack to reach and market to them?
  • Why would people attain services or products from you, or how are you different from what’s already out there?
  • Who are you working with, and how does it compliment your skill set? In other words, do you have the right people to make it happen?

Besides helping you conceptualize your idea in a more graspable way, these points give your audience the basics of what you’re trying to accomplish, and allows them to comment/suggest things constructively.

Avoid going solo.

There are several reasons why a single founder is bound to fail. For one, hard decisions are going to be tough to settle without another person (or two) calling the shots. Things won’t happen and there will always be impasse’s between you and yourself.

Also, there won’t be enough diversity in generating ideas and problem-solving processes. If decisions were made in a group, person A’s idea of “let’s make a myspace derivative… only we give the user even more freedom to customize their page” might be swayed by person B’s more even-keeled reasoning.

Additionally, with a partner, you can motivate each other to keep things going, akin to having a workout buddy to force yourself to go to the gym.

But there’s the other extreme, and it’s the “too many cooks/chiefs/shot-caller” team. This runs into the problem of things being argued constantly, a lot of profanity-slinging, and important decisions not being made in time.

A good-sized decision-making team (drawn from observation and experience) is two to three diverse (but like-minded in the end result) individuals. Personally, I believe a three-person team is the way to go because there won’t be any ties when issues are being decided upon.

For example, I, being technical, simplistic, and lacking business/marketing sense, would choose a more open-minded, “full-of-big-ideas”, business-savvy peer to be in a startup with. Then, I’d pick someone that falls in the middle, someone I’d dub “the mediator”, the person who’s in between the two extreme personalities. We will all have varying skill sets and personalities that compliments each other, and we each “fill in the blanks”, so to speak, of what the other partners lack.

Hire (and pay) well.

When your startup relies on other people (programmers, graphics designers, business school MBA grads), you have to pick the right people, and once you do, you have to keep them on the payroll. Being a cheapskate when it comes to human resources will cost you a lot in the long run. How would you expect employees to commit to developing your idea when you won’t commit to keeping them on board? When your employees jump ship, you’ll be stuck in the water. Your success hinges on the people working with and for you.

Don’t make money your sole goal.

You have to be passionate (borderline obsessive) about your idea. You can’t be in it just to make a boatload of cash. Look at profit as just one of the benefits of accomplishing your project. If you’re not passionate about your plan, come up with something else, because this shows your lack of interest (and most probably your lack of expertise) in your chosen area.

For example, I’ve been trying (for almost two months) to launch a blog that my brother and I co-founded (about consumer-related topics such as mobile phones, PDA’s, cars, etc). Although these are things I’m knowledgeable and deeply involved in, I lack neither the extreme fervor to get it up and running, nor the expertise that, say, a professional consumer technology editor working for a magazine, has. With Six Revisions, it took me two days to launch, design, set-up, and start publishing stories. When you follow your passion instead of chasing after the dollar bills, things happen quickly and successfully.

Be confident and unyielding, but listen to what other people are trying to say.

You have to believe in your idea, you should have the mindset of proving your naysayers wrong… but always listen to what your peers have to say. Believe it or not, other people are smart, reasonable, and experienced too. Don’t miss out on an angle that you failed to see, or make a mistake that your super-PHP-expert friend warned you from the start about SQL injections — listen keenly and avoid the temptation to shut them out just because they’re not saying what you want to hear. If you feel their criticisms or suggestions are wrong or won’t work in your case, simply say, “Thanks for the input, but I think I got it”. This says that even though you’re not going with their idea or suggestion — it still indicates that you appreciate their input and that you’re always open to any ideas they may have in the future. If you shut out these valuable resources, in the end, you’ll have no one to else to blame but yourself.

All in all, I think these are things you should keep in mind and try to have when you’re thinking of that next big project that will oust digg.com’s spot in the social bookmarking arena. My biggest suggestion is to believe in yourself and don’t doubt your abilitiesif you don’t think it’ll work, I can almost guarantee that you’ve killed your idea right there.

14 Essential Magazines for Graphic Designers

March 19th, 2009 No comments

In spite of the tremendous expansion of the Internet, the power of the printed word remains strong and popular.

magazines

Print media is where it all began and today we take a close look at some amazing design magazines that can really boost your productivity and expand your design knowledge.

In addition to their printed versions, some magazines also offer online versions on their websites as well as PDF downloads and single issue orders. Order online or pick them up at your local bookstore.

Here’s our recommended list with descriptions taken from each magazine’s website…

Web Designer

Web Designer is the UK’s premier publication for the discerning online author.

Aimed at all those at intermediate to professional levels within the trendy 20-35 age bracket, its predominantly tutorial-based format follows cutting-edge projects in Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop.

Supplemented by the latest industry news and feature topics, Web Designer reflects all that is inspirational and exciting about working with new media content – representing the only choice of its kind on the newsstand.

Layers Magazine

Layers magazine provides in-depth tutorials, cutting-edge techniques, secret tweaks, expert insights, and a wealth of information about the entire Adobe Creative Suite®, including InDesign®, Illustrator®, Photoshop®, Acrobat®, Lightroom®, After Effects®, Premiere Pro®, Dreamweaver®, and Flash®.

Published six times a year, Layers provides the design ideas, 3D rendering tricks, digital video concepts, artist portfolio profiles, unbiased product reviews, and current industry news that make Layers an absolute must-read for today’s creative professional.

Photoshop Creative

Photoshop® Creative is the perfect magazine for learning more about Adobe’s outstanding application.

Each issue is packed with inspirational tutorials covering the whole scope of the software, from creative projects, to practical guides to using tools and techniques.

Readers also benefit from a collectable CD-ROM each issue. Whatever you use Photoshop for, Photoshop creative will help you become a better digital artist.

 

.Net

.net is the world’s best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. As well as a host of great features, .net magazine also boasts more than 30 pages of tutorials each issue, covering topics such as CSS, PHP, Flash, JavaScript, web graphics, and more – all written by contributors from some of the world’s biggest design agencies.

Each month you’ll also receive a packed CD, including an hour of video projects, full software, templates, tutorial files, and more!

Each month .net includes the hottest new sites from around the web, features a bevy of brilliant tutorials, and covers the major issues affecting designers and developers.

Print

Print is a bimonthly magazine about visual culture and design. Founded in 1940 by William Edwin Rudge, Print is dedicated to showcasing the extraordinary in design on and off the page.

Covering a field as broad as communication itselfpublication and book design, animation and motion graphics, corporate branding and rock posters, exhibitions and street art—Print covers commercial, social, and environmental design from every angle. Engagingly written by cultural reporters and critics who look at design in its social, political, and historical contexts, Print explores why our world looks the way it looks, and why the way it looks matters.

A four-time winner of the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Award for General Excellence, most recently in 2008, Print has been honored many times by ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, AIGA, The Art Directors Club, and The Type Directors Club.

I.D.

Looking for cutting-edge design from every discipline? Insight into what drives the hottest design trends? Unique coverage of the world’s best designers? Then discover I.D. and get the one design magazine that covers it all: concepts, products, environments, interactive, furniture, and more.

Published since 1954, I.D. Magazine is America’s leading critical magazine covering the art, business, and culture of design.

Winner of five National Magazine Awards, the publication appears seven times a year. Issues include the Annual Design Review (America’s oldest and most prestigious juried design-recognition program) as well as the I.D. 40, and Design + Business.

 

How

HOW magazine’s goal is to help designers, whether they work for a design firm, for an in-house design department or for themselves, run successful, creative, profitable studios.

HOW strives to serve the business, technological and creative needs of graphic-design professionals. The magazine provides a practical mix of essential business information, up-to-date technological tips, the creative whys and hows behind noteworthy projects, and profiles of professionals who are influencing design.

Founded in 1985, the HOW brand now extends beyond the print magazine to annual events for design professionals, yearly design competitions, digital products and books.

More info | Subscribe

Communication Arts

Communication Arts magazine is the leading trade journal for visual communications. It showcases the top work in graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography and interactive design.

Since 1959, more graphic designers, art directors, creative directors, commercial photographers and illustrators have turned to Communication Arts for ideas and inspiration than to any other creative publication. What makes Communication Arts so special?

Our unique combination of respected juried Annuals, in-depth profiles in our multi-topic issues and numerous informative columns makes Communication Arts the premier publication to cover all aspects of visual communications.

 

Digital Arts

Digital Arts is the UK’s leading resource for creative professionals, both in print and online. Digital Arts addresses the needs of those within the exploding digital media market by providing relevant and forward thinking content, and by consistently running more exclusive reviews and features than any other magazine or Web site in the market.

Now in its fifth year, Digital Arts consistently delivers high-quality content, providing its professional readership with the latest news and reviews first.

Digital Arts prides itself on providing unbiased product-led information and professional advice, across all platforms and disciplines. Digital Arts uses extensive in-house lab facilities for product assays, producing top-class reviews and trustworthy lab tests.

Before & After

Before & After magazine has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990.

Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.

The magazine is available as a PDF or printed as other magazines.

CMYK

CMYK Magazine is where aspiring creatives showcase their talents to an industry driven by inspiration and new ways of creative problem solving.

At the same time, CMYK Magazine is where creative directors, agency principals and art buyers recruit students and recent graduates at today’s top art-design schools: art directors, copywriters, designers, photographers and illustrators.

Each issue of CMYK Magazine features as many as 100 selections from more than 80 art-design students attending over 30 of the world’s leading art-design schools, departments and workshops.

Computer Arts

Computer Arts is the one-stop shop for professional advice on creating digital art and illustrations.

Computer Arts, the world’s best-selling magazine for digital artists and designers, boasts a strong line-up of tutorials every issue, covering everything from manipulating photographs with Photoshop to creating amazing vector illustrations with Illustrator.

You’ll also find tonnes of tips and tricks for web design, typography, 3D, animation, motion graphics and multimedia. It’s the one-stop shop for professional advice.

 

Computer Arts Projects

Computer Arts Projects is the only magazine to give you an in-depth guide to a different creative subject every month. Computer Arts Projects is the successful monthly spin-off of Computer Arts magazine.

Each issue gives you an in-depth guide to a different creative subject, and recent issues have covered themes such as print design, web design, Photoshop, typography, packaging, creative advertising, and how to start your own design business.

Inside every edition, you’ll find great step-by-step tutorials and tips from the best digital artists in the business, showcases and profiles of up-and-coming talent and established creatives, as well as explorative features on the subject in hand.

 

Advanced Photoshop

Advanced Photoshop magazine is the perfect magazine for polishing up already great Photoshop skills. Aimed towards Adobe Photoshop professionals and enthusiasts, every issue prides itself on its unbeatable quality and sophisticated content.

Every month you can have the chance to develop your techniques with a bunch of creative and challenging Masterclass and Workshop tutorials. Our intention is to give you the chance to learn new tricks and fine-tune your skills.

Whether you’re a design student, an enthusiast who is considering going into the design industry full-time, or an established pro, we guarantee that there will always be something new to get your teeth into.

How NOT To Design A Logo

March 18th, 2009 No comments

Logo design in today’s world is totally under rated.

People do not understand how important a good logo is and how valuable it is to their business.

In this article I am going to outline the ways in which you should NOT go about getting your logo designed… that is, if you are truly serious about business.

What is A Logo?

To understand what a logo is meant to do, we first must know what a logo is. A logo’s design is for immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and an implied superiority. The logo is one aspect of a company’s commercial brand, or economic entity, and its shapes, colours, fonts, and images usually are different from others in a similar market. Logos are also used to identify organizations and other non-commercial entities.

It makes me wonder why people have no logo or why they would even bother with a cheap logo design if a logo is meant to do all of these things?

Logo Design Contests

contents

The worst deal you could probably go for is a logo design contest. Logo design contests are where you give a brief and then you have multiple designers come back to you with their designs. Although this sounds like a mighty good deal, the quality is usually far from anything you would want to represent your business.

You will be wasting your money and in the long term, in terms of damage done to your business, that amount could be quite considerable.

On another note, design contests & designers who design on a speculative basis are damaging the design industry as designers should not have to invest time and resources with no guarantee of payment.

If you want further proof, read these articles: Logo Design Contests Are Bad For Business or The Reality of Logo Design Contests.

Too Good To Be True Deals

logo-design1

If you do a search on ‘logo design’ on google you will find many businesses offering logo designs for very cheap and unbelievable prices. Such deals as “5 design concepts from 5 designers!” or “6 logos from 5 designers only $200? – Stay away!

These deals are extremely deceiving and the quality is far from satisfactory. Have you ever wondered how much thought they actually put into your logo design? Professional logo designers have a strict logo design process that can take weeks or in some cases months to complete a logo. They may offer you a result within 24 hours or maybe even less meaning literally no thought was put into your logo design.

Stock Imagery

 

Some so called “designers” (usually the same people who enter design contests) steal images from stock sites to design your logo… or in some cases business owners download and use the stock images themselves. This is a huge no-no. Did you know that stock imagery gets downloaded by thousands of people? This should be reason enough not to use stock imagery as your logo.

If you do this, other people will have access to your logo design and can and will use it in places that will potentially devalue your business. Ensure your logo design is original.

Do It Yourself Logo Design

 

Closely linked to the stock imagery scenario above, business owners or those wanting a logo will try to do it themselves. I highly recommend against this and suggest you leave the design to a professional, much as you would leave your dental work to a dentist.

Free Logo Makers

 

You will find many free online logo makers on the web. Not only do these logos look unprofessional, hundreds of other people could have the same logo as you and what is the point of that? These logos have no thought, concept or memorability about them, they are merely symbols.

They say nothing about your business and do nothing that a logo is supposed to do… I repeat, stay away from free logo makers.

Getting A Design Without Feedback

phallic1

Before approving and implementing a design, ensure you get feedback from your clients, peers, and stakeholders. Getting feedback on a design is a crucial part of the logo design process as it ensures that your logo is going to be successful.

Take these poor phallic logo designs above. I wonder if they realized their logos had such hidden meaning? Ensure you don’t turn out like this by getting a professionally designed logo.

What is the cost of a professional logo design?

The cost of a professional logo design is a question that cannot be easily answered as every company has different needs, however, the best way to approach this problem is to draw up a customized quote for each individual.

A number of factors have to be taken into consideration when designing a logo, such as how many logo concepts need to be presented, how many revisions are required, how much research is needed, the size of the business and so on.

To wrap up, I’d like to quote a comparison by David Airey: Comparing the design industry to any other is by no means exact, but the, “How much for a logo?” question is kind of like asking an estate agent, “How much for a house?”.

Disclaimer: This article was written exclusively for WDD by Jacob Cass and reflects his personal opinion on logo design. It does not necessarily reflect WDD’s opinion on the subject. Jacob is a professional logo designer who runs the popular blog Just Creative Design

Categories: Designing, Website Design Tags: ,

Why Mood Boards Matter

March 18th, 2009 No comments

It has happened to everyone. You spend countless hours producing a beautiful, pixel-perfect comp only to have it rejected by the client because it isn’t what they were envisioning in their mind’s eye. It’s the dreaded “I’ll know it when I see it” curse.

You get sent back to the drawing board, your ego and the budget take a hit, and everyone is frustrated by the process. After this happens a few times you realize that getting the client involved earlier in the process can make a huge difference in the outcome of your design presentations.

As designers, we often think we have all the answers. It is our job to know what looks good and we take that responsibility seriously! But even if you are talented and your work is top-notch its easy to misread client expectations. Words fail miserably when trying to translate design concepts. What one person calls “edgy” another might see as chaotic.

And if your client hasn’t been very forthcoming about what they want their new site to look like it’s even harder to hit the mark in one shot. Visuals communicate things that words cannot. A picture is worth a thousand words, and mood boards are a great tool to create that picture for your client.

Pictures are worth a thousand words

What exactly is a mood board?

Mood boards (sometimes called inspiration boards) are used in a variety of disciplines. You’ve no doubt seen them used for Interior Design, where fabric swatches and paint chip samples are grouped together on a poster to show a homeowner what type of atmosphere the new decor will create. They are also used frequently in Fashion to highlight trends and styles. In essence they are a compilation of inspirational elements used by designers to flesh out ideas at the beginning of a design project.

A mood board is extremely useful for establishing the aesthetic feel of a web site. It usually fits into the process somewhere after wireframes and before design mockups. Things that can be explored in the mood board include photography style, color palettes, typography, patterns, and the overall look and feel of the site. Soft or hard? Grungy or clean? Dark or light? A rough collage of colors, textures and pictures is all it takes to evoke a specific style or feeling.

The mood board is intentionally casual; it lets the designer start with broad strokes and get feedback before too much time is invested in the wrong direction. Think of it as rapid visual prototyping.

cloourpattle

How do I create one?

The first thing you should do is evaluate the project and pick the mood board style that will work best. There are many different ways to present a mood board. The direction you choose will be based on the time allotted, personal work habits and most importantly your client’s personality.

Style 1: Loose Collage

If they are big thinkers who aren’t obsessed with the details, chances are they will love this part of the process and won’t require refined mood boards. A loose collage will work just fine to convey the type of look and feel you are going for. An example of this style is below:

stage1

This is the easiest way to create a mood board because it can be thrown together quickly and does not force you to make decisions about smaller details such as fonts or specific colors. Grab bits of inspiration from anywhere you choose. Scan in things you find around you or search online for suitable pictures and textures. Sometimes it is helpful to include screenshots of other sites with a similar look and feel.

While this is the most time-efficient and fun style to make, it can unfortunately be confusing and distracting to clients who do not fully grasp the idea.

Style 2: Refined Template

If your client has not worked with many designers or marketing people, or if they are extremely detail-oriented, you may want to take a more formal approach. In this style, a template is created to showcase the different elements. An example of this style is below:

stage2

A color palette is defined, font treatments such as a heading and subheading are chosen, and items like button styles and photography can also be worked in. A standardized template will help your client to focus on the featured elements.

I typically create 3 mood boards for any design project. Depending on the style, I spend 1 to 3 hours on each. Before starting I come up with a list of adjectives for each board. An example might be:

  • Dark, glossy, slick, modern, edgy, hard, aggressive
  • Soft, muted, round, layered, elegant, realistic
  • Colorful, rough, sketchy, bright, illustration

These adjectives serve as guidelines as I pull together the elements. The words (and boards) should have strong differences. Including a wide range of styles is important for getting the most out of this process.

How do I present it?

Prepare your client by explaining how the mood board fits into your process. Tell them what you hope to get out of the review and let them know that any and all feedback is welcomed at this point.

When you are presenting, clue your client in to the inspiration behind each of your boards. Your starter list of adjectives is helpful here. Remind them that nothing on the boards is set in stone and that they are simply a tool used to focus the design process.

You will find that in most cases a client will know which mood board feels right to them within seconds. If they need to see a few additional options, making revisions at this stage is quick and painless.

What are the benefits?

Faster mockup production

Some clients will argue that they don’t want to pay for mood boards and would rather go straight to mockups, but a few short hours spent up front can save countless hours down the line. With a visual guide created and a clear vision of where you’re headed it’s much easier to jump right in to the visual prototyping process. There is no blank-canvas syndrome to deal with, and no gnawing feeling that you are wasting your time on a concept they might not like. Best of all, there are no big surprises. Since using mood boards I have yet to run into a project that was a complete do-over.

Smoother client buy-in

Additionally, early client participation makes them a bigger part of the project. When clients feel involved they are more likely to trust you. Mood boards make it clear that you are listening to them and considering their input. They also gain insight into the thinking behind your decisions, dispelling the all-too-common notion that designers choose everything on a whim. Knowing why you picked something will often keep personal preferences (ie/ the client’s favorite color is purple so she would like to see that as a background) from creeping in as change requests.

Less frustration, more fun

Mood boards are so much fun, they hardly feel like work. Designing loosely lets you brainstorm, explore and play with different styles without all the limitations a layout (and coding realities) will later impose. They also keep revision cycles to a minimum, something every designer can appreciate.

Examples

Now that you know why they’re useful, it’s time to make them a part of your process. Not quite ready to jump in? Check out a few examples to get your creative juices flowing.

Below, a collage mood board created for an online store selling baby clothing and accessories.

djectives they chose to describe their brand include stylish, friendly, and modern. The collage suggests a blue and brown color scheme, a mix of handwritten and serif fonts, rounded buttons and a few handmade elements.

For comparison, here is an example of a template mood board for the same project:

The template takes a more streamlined approach, dropping the handmade elements but keeping the blue and brown color scheme. The color palette, patterns, type treatments and photo usage are all more explicit.

If you need more ideas, the Flickr Inspiration Boards group has a great collection from designers of all kinds.

Try using mood boards in your next project. They’re a fun, efficient and effective way to communicate big design ideas.

Written exclusively for WDD by Mindy Wagner. She is a web designer at Viget Labs and has worked in both print and web design for over 8 years. She has a degree in Electronic Media Art and Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Categories: Designing, Website Design Tags: ,

Designing Outside Your Comfort Zone

March 18th, 2009 No comments

When you’ve been designing for a few years, it’s easy to fall into patterns. You carve out your personal style and find your inner voice. You figure out what you’re good at, and the world encourages you to play to those strengths.

Bosses, clients and peers want to see you do what you’ve always done because they know they like it. There are no unpleasant surprises. Sticking to your strengths is an easy formula for success, but only in the short-term. If you don’t adapt and grow as a designer, you’ll end up like that poor guy wearing the Members Only jacket without a hint of irony. Sure, it was uber-cool once. But styles change, and so should you.

In your personal comfort zone you feel confident. You know you can perform well there. But if you find your design work to be comfortable and easy, it means you’re not growing. Remember the pre-project jitters you used to get as a young designer? The overwhelming excitement of all the possibilities and challenges in front of you? If you haven’t felt that way in a while, you’re asleep at the wheel. It’s time to push yourself outside the zone!

Expand Your Design Arsenal

The great Milton Glaser said “To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.” Which means it always make sense to acquire a few more communication techniques in your personal design arsenal. Here’s how you can push yourself outside your comfort zone:

1. Identify the boundaries of your personal comfort zone

boundaries

So much of what we do during our design process is unconscious. If you don’t stop to examine yourself every now and then its easy to fall into a rut. You might use the same typeface in nearly every comp without even thinking about it, for instance. Or you might automatically put a gradient on your buttons, or always use white backgrounds, or put beautifully detailed illustrations on every homepage you design. Whatever your habits are, it is important to make yourself aware them.

Look at your portfolio and try to see the big picture. Make a list of all the things that make up “your style”. While you’re doing this, take an honest look at your strengths and weaknesses. We all have areas we need to improve in. Admitting you’re lousy at something is the first step toward getting better at it. If you feel like you can’t make an honest assessment of your own work, ask a designer friend to be brutally honest or go to an online design forum and request a critique. While the truth can be hard to hear, it will definitely motivate you.

2. Set Specific, Attainable Goals

 

Those things you’re already good at? They represent past successes. They worked for you once, so you know they’ll work again. But why let your skills stagnate? Other things can work too… perhaps even better. Think about the designs that inspire you daily. Are there certain styles you admire but feel you can’t recreate? If so, make a pact with yourself:

Pick a design technique (or two or three) that you would like to explore. The key to becoming a more well-rounded and flexible designer is a willingness to new things. You need to embrace risk every now and then to push your own creative boundaries. That said, its important to pick your moment. Everyone knows its hard to risk failure when you are getting paid to be good. There is a time and a place for exploring new design directions. If a client has hired you specifically because you’re great at typography, they don’t want to see you test out an illustrative concept. But opportunities to stretch your creativity come by all the time. You just have to make them work for you.

Don’t aim to become a radically different designer than you are now. Build on what you’re good at – don’t throw it away and start over. Aim to be yourself only braver and more well-rounded. Work on being the designer you always wanted to be put felt you couldn’t possibly pull off. Make a list of specific, attainable goals you would like to achieve in the next three months. Mine might say

1) Create a typography-heavy site design

2) Create a conceptual illustration for use on a homepage

3) Work with a dark background color

Post your list where you will see it every day. The next time a new project comes in, look at your list and see if this project can help you to meet one of your goals.

3. Get Passionate About Change

painting

Now that you know what areas you want to improve, it’s time to inspire yourself. If you really want to change and grow you have to get passionate and excited about your new goals. Feed your brain with inspiration from as many places as possible. Soak up ideas. Whatever you do, don’t stick to the web galleries or the same old blogs you’ve been reading for years. Find new sources and explore new avenues. Look more closely at your peers at work, or rock stars within the design community. Examine at their growth as designers and take cues from them.

A quick flip through a few portfolios can be incredibly enlightening. The designers you think are top-notch probably weren’t always so amazing. If you dig back a few years, you will be able to see their progression. They had to stretch too. Pick a few role models to remind yourself what all the hard work is about.

When you’re trying to move outside your comfort zone as a designer, it’s important to do it in other areas of your life as well. Try listening to music you wouldn’t normally listen to. Take your laptop somewhere unfamiliar. Walk to work a different way each morning. Get out of your routine and wake your mind up so it starts to look forward to something new and different.

4. Dive In and Do Something Differently

divein

All that time you spent assessing and inspiring yourself won’t go to waste. A project is going to come along that fits perfectly with one of your goals. And when it does, you’ll be more than ready to try out some new techniques.

To really maximize your learning, start big instead of just dabbling. Don’t be afraid to dive headfirst into the style you’re trying to learn. Chances are your first attempts won’t be completely successful, but you can always reign it back in later on. Now is the time to forget about failure and give yourself a free pass.

Even if you throw away everything you do at the beginning, working through the process will teach you things and help you feel more comfortable with your newly adopted techniques. The final design will probably only reflect a slight shift in your personal style, and that’s ok. In fact, that’s GOOD. You want to evolve your old style, not destroy it.

Starting big lets you play and learn, which lets you grow. Then you can take those too-big concepts and boil them down to something worthwhile. The end result? You’ll learn a new way to communicate through design. And you’ll find out that even if you’re not as talented as you’d like to be, you aren’t as horrible as you imagined either.

Pass or Fail: The Top 30 Technology Company Homepages

March 18th, 2009 No comments

Although there are lots of posts that evaluate different design blogs, I haven’t seen many that focus specifically on corporate websites.

Therefore, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the homepages of the Top 30 technology companies (the order of this list was determined by the InfoTech 100 from Business Week), and assign them a PASS or FAIL rating based on the quality of their homepage design.

Click on the screenshots to check out each website.

 

1. Amazon.com: PASS

Although it may be a little cluttered for my taste, it would be short-sighted to say that the Amazon.com homepage is a FAIL. Amazon has created a company that has landed at the top of the InfoTech 100, and the fact that one hundred percent of their sales are made online shows that they understand how to use their website to attract and retain customers.

 

2. Apple: PASS

As an Apple user, I may be a little biased, but I honestly don’t think that anyone could look at the Apple homepage and say that it fails in terms of design. The homepage is uncluttered, provides easy to use navigation and gracefully showcases several of Apple’s products.

 

3. Research in Motion (RIM): PASS

Let’s be honest; the RIM homepage is not going to win any awards for being innovative. However, while this may be true, the homepage does get the job done. Not only does it provide links to all of the relevant topics of interest, but it also showcases their latest product. If I was a school teacher, the RIM homepage would probably get a B- (while the Apple homepage would be at the top of the class with an A+).

 

4. Nintendo: FAIL

Okay, I already know that this is going to be a controversial one, but I have to give the Nintendo homepage a FAIL. While I do like the color scheme of this homepage, there are simply too many elements in the layout. Since it already looks like they are trying to replicate the Apple homepage, Nintendo needs to take another look and realize that they could benefit by cutting out about 75% of the homepage elements below the navigation bar.

 

5. Western Digital: PASS

This homepage falls into the same category as the RIM homepage. It’s definitely not pushing any envelopes, but at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with it. This is a corporate homepage we are talking about, and not only does the menu make navigating the website easy, but I like the fact that they use the main area of their homepage to promote a single product (instead of making Nintendo’s mistake and trying to cram as many products onto a single page as possible).

 

6. America Movil: FAIL

Although this isn’t technically their homepage (it’s the first page of their website, but you have to click “Enter Fullscreen” to visit their actual homepage), I do not appreciate a website that forces me to go into a fullscreen mode. Unless I’m watching a movie, I do not want a window to be in fullscreen. Not only it interrupts my flow of browsing, but it’s going to cause problems for people who don’t have a 1024×768 resolution.

 

7. China Mobile: PASS

First of all, kudos to China Mobile for having their website in multiple languages. While I think they could cut the size of their Press Releases area in half (and do a better job at emphasizing the “Hot Products” on the right side of the page), the China Mobile homepage successfully accomplishes the basic goals of a corporate homepage.

 

8. Nokia: PASS

I really like the fact that Nokia puts all of the necessary navigation elements (links and search box) at the top of the page, and then uses the main real estate of their hompeage to showcase their latest products (the large box actually scrolls through several different products). Additionally, they finish things off with a few other boxes that lead to destinations of potential interest (such as capitalizing on the new “Twilight” trend).

 

9. ASUSTeK Computer: FAIL

Although you can’t see it in the screenshot, there are simply too many moving elements on this homepage (including the left and middle columns). Unlike the main area of the Nokia homepage (which scrolls through several different elements), the main area of this homepage is animated, but it simply loops the same offer over and over. Additionally, there’s too much clutter on the homepage for a user to figure out what they actually want to do.

 

10. High Tech Computer (HTC): PASS

If I was going to pick my two favorite homepages out of the first ten companies on this list, Apple would be #1 and HTC would be #2. The homepage is relatively uncluttered, and (in addition to the navigation) simply displays four main elements (three of which are to popular products/offers).

 

11. Google: PASS

If you need proof that minimalist designs are more effective than cluttered ones, just compare the stock prices of Google and Yahoo. Google is a search company, and from the second that you visit their homepage, you know exactly what you are supposed to do with their website.

 

12. MTN Group: PASS

It’s definitely not my favorite homepage on this list, but it gets the job done. In addition to providing visitors with easy to find navigational links, MTN Group promotes all of the latest news that’s related to their company.

 

13. IBM: PASS

I actually have to admit that I was little surprised with the IBM homepage. Given the reputation of the company, I was expecting an extremely bland homepage, but theirs actually has a little flair. I also like the fact that each of the main navigation links is actually a drop-down menu, which makes it easier for users to find exactly what they want.

 

14. Mobile Telesystems: FAIL

I want to like this homepage. However, there is simply too much red in the design, which results in an overwhelming experience when the page loads. On top of that, Mobile Telesystems really needs to increase the size of their fonts for their navigational links.

 

15. Telefonica: FAIL

I don’t think I need to go into much detail about why this design is a fail. I guess that it’s a decent attempt at a design, but it simply doesn’t come together well. Telefonica’s needs to scrap this design and start over from scratch (it wouldn’t hurt them to get a little inspiration from some of the top homepages on this list).

 

16. VimpelCom: PASS

Like several of the other websites on this list, VimpelCom could benefit from increasing the size of their font. Also, I’m not sure why the paragraph under the “Brief Business Description” is one long hyperlink. However, those are both minor details, and I otherwise like the design of this homepage. I think their use of ample white space helps to bring attention to their main content.

 

17. Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Ind.): FAIL

Although I will give them credit for making it easy to switch their site between English and Traditional Chinese, this homepage just doesn’t do it for me. I think what really turns me off is the badly done header. If they could come up with a more attractive header and improve the link structure below the header, Foxconn might be able to move into the PASS category.

 

18. AT&T: PASS

Even though they have a lot on their homepage, AT&T is a company that offers a lot of different products and services, so I don’t think their homepage is overwhelming or too cluttered. Additionally, I also like that their main content area highlights several of their best offers.

 

19. Accenture: PASS

Not the most exciting homepage (although I do like the picture of Tiger), but like several of the other homepages on the list, it gets the job done. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but my one suggestion would be to increase the font size of the links on the right side of the page (I think a lot of designers underestimate the importance of having text that is large enough for people of all ages and monitor sizes to read).

 

20. LG Electronics: FAIL

I like this homepage. However, I have to give it a fail because even though I have a fast Internet connection, it takes this page forever to load. Not only do you have to wait to load the “Select Your Region” page, but then there’s another delay before the actual homepage loads!

 

21. Bharti: PASS

I think that the picture on this page is a pretty cool. I also like their one sentence mission statement about 2020. I would recommend formatting the description of their company differently, but other than that, this a pretty good corporate homepage.

 

22. Oracle: PASS

I like the use of white space, and unlike the Mobile Telesystems homepage, Oracle successfully uses red in their color scheme without going overboard. My only suggestion would be to move the bottom navigation (Customer Spotlight, News and Special Event) above the list of links, and to potentially prune down the total number of links in those four columns.

 

23. Microsoft: FAIL

As an Apple guy, I was hoping I would get to fail Microsoft. Although I remained objective, I’m glad that I get to give them a FAIL. The reason is because of the “Microsoft Silverlight” pop-up that automatically appears when their homepage loads. Just like America Movil forcing a full screen, I don’t want anything to pop-up while I’m browsing (especially when it forces me to click the Install link or the No Thanks link).

 

24. Maroc Telecom: FAIL

Since I’m not one of their target customers, I don’t mind the fact that I can’t read what’s on the homepage. However, I do have to FAIL this page because they are trying to cram too much into a small space. If they would actually take advantage of the full page and spread apart their layout, they might actually be able to earn a PASS.

 

25. Turkcell: PASS

As you have probably noticed, I really think that this general type of layout is one of the most effective for corporate homepages. It gives companies the ability to highlight the main elements of their company, and generally draws visitors deeper into the website.

 

26. LG Display: FAIL

This homepage suffers from the same problem as the Maroc Telecom homepage. Instead of spreading things out, they have crammed all of the elements of their layout into a small space. They don’t necessarily need to remove any of the elements from their homepage, but they do need to spread out the elements that are there.

 

27. NHN USA: PASS

I really like the bold header that is a part of this layout. It really grabs your attention, and the five links that are integrated into the header make navigation easy. I would suggest potentially changing the navigation links from grey to black, but other than that, this is a great looking homepage.

 

28. COSMOTE: FAIL

Like the Maroc Telecom homepage, this isn’t getting a FAIL for being in a different language. The reason that it’s receiving a fail is because it is way too cluttered. There are simply too many elements jammed into this layout. Additionally, I’m really not a big fan of how much they used bright green in this layout.

 

29. Millicom International Cellular: PASS

Especially when you consider the fact that this is a corporate homepage, the design is quite nice and bright. The navigation is easy to use, and the main area of the layout is divided well between information about the company, links to documents for investors and a couple elements with additional information.

 

30. HP: PASS

Not every website can get away with a black background, but the HP website pulls it off successfully. Their use of big images in the middle of the page seems like a really effective way to grab visitor’s attention and get them onto specific product pages.

Categories: Website Design Tags: ,

10 Characteristics of Excellent Portfolio Sites

March 18th, 2009 No comments

Recently we looked at the characteristics of effective blog theme design, and I’d like to take a similar look at the portfolio sites of freelance designers.

A designer’s online portfolio is a critical part of the business, and in some cases the most valuable asset of the business.

A good portfolio site is a constant lead-generation tool, but what is it specifically that makes a great portfolio site?

1. Clear Communication

A portfolio site should clearly and concisely communicate with visitors about the services that are provided and what the designer has to offer to potential clients. Because there are so many different types of design and various specializations, it’s not safe to assume that visitors will have a clear understanding of the services that are offered without them being communicated.

The purpose of a portfolio site is to show the work of the designer and to attract new clients. However, without a website that communicates effectively with visitors, it’s unlikely that visitors will make the extra effort to contact the designer about potential work.

Tony Geer not only has an attractive portfolio site, but he also uses prime screen real estate to quickly tell visitors what he offers and allows them to contact him or browse through his work.

 

Leigh Taylor has a little badge on her site that lets visitors know that she is currently available for work.

 

Some freelance designers choose to post prices on their portfolio site, whether it’s an hourly rate or project-based pricing, and others choose not to post prices. Whichever method you choose, it should be communicated clearly on the site. If you’re using set prices, the details of services provided and what fits into those packages should be listed and explained, if necessary.

If you’ve decided not to display prices, which is the choice of most freelancers, it should be clearly stated to visitors how they can get more information about services and pricing, or perhaps get a quote for their specific needs. Most freelancers accomplish this by simply asking the visitor to complete a contact form that may help to get some of the details of the project in order to get a quote.

The method you choose for pricing is a matter of personal preference, but whatever you choose, be sure that it is clearly and concisely communicated.

Adaptd offers web design, web development, and SEO services, which is very clear from their navigation menu that is on every page. Once you click on one of the options you’ll see a clear description of each of the services, and they have chosen to list prices on the site as well.

 

2. Personality

When potential clients are looking at freelancers for their project, there are a number of factors that will weigh in to their decision. Of course, they’ll expect to see that the designer has the abilities and experience to do a good job, and cost is also a common concern. Just as important as these factors is the desire of clients to work with someone that they like and someone that will give them a good overall experience.

Most business owners or decision makers who are responsible for handling and overseeing the design process of their company’s website are at least somewhat intimidated by the process. They typically want to work with someone that will help to make it a smooth, enjoyable, and successful experience. If a freelancer is able to show some personality through their portfolio site, potential clients are far more likely to feel a personal connection and to see them working together.

Winnie Lim uses a brief message as a greeting to visitors that gives a personal touch, and it encourages them to read more on her About page.

 

3. Creative

Portfolio sites often feature some of the most creative designs. Because design is an artistic and creative profession, the website of a freelance designer is seen as a true representation of their work and their skill levels. Portfolio sites sometimes take more creative liberties without the potential negative results as other types of sites. In fact, in many cases potential clients will expect to see some creativity and originality from the site of a freelance designer.

Creativity can come in any number of different forms. Maleika Attawel uses a soft textured look on her portfolio.

 

4. Lack of Excess

The first point we looked at was the need for clear communication. One of the biggest influences on the communication of a website is how much information is provided. While portfolio sites have some necessary items that need to be stated and explained, getting rid of any excess will help the existing information to stand out more and to be easily understood.

In addition to eliminating excess wording and content, excess design elements can also be avoided. Some of the most elegant and highly-respected portfolio sites are very minimal in their approach. The basics of a portfolio site are very simple: a listing of services, description of qualifications, showcase of past work, and a means of contact. Excess elements outside of the necessary can often do more harm than good. Many portfolios are now including a blog (which we’ll look at later), but most other content and excess elements in the design will do little to help attract new business.

Rob Morris has a great looking portfolio site that features a clean layout with only the relevant information.

 

5. Examples of Past Work

Of course, a portfolio site would not be a portfolio site with examples of past work. This is what most potential clients will want to see, and in most cases they’ll be gauging your skill level based on these examples.

The quality of work in your portfolio is a major factor on the success of the portfolio site, but presentation can also make a big difference. In some cases designers display their work in a creative or impressive way that almost overshadows the work itself (which can be good or bad).

Matt Dempsey’s site showcases his work with nice, full-size images.

 

6. Shows the Best Work

Not every design you’ve ever done needs to be included in your portfolio. In fact, it’s better to only showcase specific examples rather than everything. Most potential clients aren’t going to sit and look through everything anyway, so be sure that what you display has been chosen for maximum impact.

In some cases you may be offering different types of design (such as blog theme design, e-commerce sites, logo design, business cards, etc.), so it’s good to have a few high-quality examples to show for each category rather than having one big collection of all of your work. Smaller, more selective portfolios are also easier for visitors to look through in order to find something relevant to them.

Robbie Manson’s homepage showcases his featured projects prominently. Each one has more detail of his work explained if you click on the images.

 

7. Call to Action

Since the ultimate purpose of the online portfolio is to attract new customers, it only makes sense to ask visitors for their business. How you go about this is up to you, but most portfolio sites simply encourage visitors to contact them for a quote or to fill out a form for more information. It’s a simple act, but prompting potential clients to take that step can make a big difference in the number of inquiries received.

Luke Larson’s site has a link that says “hire me” that takes you right to the contact form. The link is a small change from just having a standard contact link, but it obviously encourages the visitor to take action.

 

8. Ease of Contact

Once you’ve made that call to action for visitors to contact you about your services, it’s critical that they have an easy way to contact you. Most portfolio sites use a contact form, although some will choose to just list an email address. Either way, the contact information should be easily found and accessed from any page (meaning, if you have a contact form, make sue that each page on your site links to that contact form).

Most designers want to get some basic information from potential clients about their needs at the time of initial contact. This can be easily accomplished through a form, but remember that if too much information is requested or required, some contacts may be lost. The easier you make it to contact you, the more likely people will be willing to do so. You’ll have to make a decision about what information is critical to you so that you get what’s necessary, but not enough to turn off potential clients.

Marius Roosendaal has a contact form on his homepage that requires minimal information from the visitor. Also, by having the form right on the homepage it’s even easier for people to see and to use.

 

9. Visibility

A portfolio site can do everything right and have incredible work to display, but if no one sees it, it will do no good. There are so many freelancers and design studios out there that it’s not possible to set up a small portfolio site and expect it to draw search traffic that will convert into potential clients. In order for the site to be effective it needs to be visible.

There are a few different options when it comes to getting a portfolio in the view of potential clients. First, there are literally hundreds of design galleries that showcase exemplary work. Of course, smaller ones have relatively little traffic, but many of the larger and more established galleries have helped freelancers to land a number of new clients. Almost all galleries allow anyone to submit websites to be included, and those that are worthy will get featured.

Most of the visitors that will come to a site through a design gallery will be other designers, but many designers have benefited immensely from this exposure, and the links are great for SEO purposes as well. To find galleries to submit to, see The CSS Gallery List. New galleries are popping up all the time, but this list is comprehensive enough to keep you busy for a long time.

You can see that Dawghouse Design has received a ton of exposure from galleries.

 

A second method that’s used by some freelancers to gain exposure is the use of a blog on the same domain as the portfolio. Blogs are great for drawing traffic, building links, demonstrating expertise, and encouraging repeat visits. the blog posts may attract visitors that wind up becoming clients. Of course, maintaining a blog takes time, but it’s one of the best methods for getting eyes on your portfolio site.

In addition to just helping your portfolio site to be more visible, blogs also help to show your personality to visitors and to start to build there trust. Earlier we looked at the need for personality on a portfolio site, and a blog is a great way to show visitors more of you.

Chris Spooner uses his blog to gain exposure and find new clients. Although he doesn’t use his blog to directly promote his services, Chris has established his name and become a repsected leader in the industry primarily through the demonstration of his expertise on his blog.

A third way to get people to see your portfolio site is to use localized SEO techniques. Although competition for general web design-related terms is very stiff, you may be able to easily rank on the first page of search engines for a local term. You may even prefer working with local clients anyway. To target local visitors use city, state or province names in your page titles and throughout your site when appropriate. Additionally, work on building links to your site with localities in the anchor text of the links. (To read more, see Search Engine Optimization for Local Business Results.)

Another method for exposure is to use Pay-Per-Click advertising. With PPC you can choose which search phrases you’d like to target and how much you’re willing to spend. You can also set geographic restrictions so you’re only targeting people who are looking for your services in your local area. PPC is a great option for a small advertising budget.

10. Valid Code

Some people feel that valid XHTML and CSS are important on any website, and others feel that it doesn’t really make a difference. Even if you don’t see the need for valid code in most situations, portfolio sites are an exception. A portfolio site that has all kinds of validation errors sends the wrong message to visitors. Although most potential clients won’t care about valid code, and many probably won’t even know what it means, some will. And those that will care are unlikely to consider a designer that doesn’t have a valid website of their own.

Some designers will choose to display evidence of validation and others will not. Again, this is a matter of personal preference. The little logo or icon showing that you have valid coded isn’t really what’s important. It’s more important that if visitors decide to test your code that it will validate.

Andrew Bradshaw’s site includes a simple message in the footer to show that his code validates.

10 Excellent Tips For Designers To Improve Their Income

March 18th, 2009 No comments

Sometimes, it seems absolutely impossible to keep up with all the design work you’ve got coming in. But, other times, it may seem like you just don’t have enough work to meet your income goals.

In these times, it makes sense to offer a few more services to your clients — to make sure that you can make a little more money.

The ten services below can make it easy to boost your income and take advantage of the design skills you’ve developed.

1. Blog Setup

Everybody and their dog wants a blog these days — but a lot of these would-be bloggers aren’t up to much more than opening a free account on Blogger or WordPress. Setting up a hosted blog, installing plugins and customizing a theme are all beyond them. But if you can provide these services, you can pick up some easy cash.

While setting up a blog can require a little technical knowledge, it’s generally a fast process, especially when you get a little practice. In general, customers looking for blog set-up services don’t necessarily want a custom design: they usually have a theme in mind that they just want to slap their own images on. WordPress takes about five minutes to install, making blog set up surprisingly lucrative.

2. Hosting

Many web design clients don’t really want to worry about hosting their own website. If you’re willing to take on that worry, you can make plenty of money and increase your chances of repeat business. After all, if you both designed a website and are hosting it, a customer is unlikely to go to someone else to update his or her site.

You don’t have to mess with servers of your own, either: using a virtual server from one of the many web hosts available can handle the needs of many small websites. There is a little worry that goes along with hosting — if a client’s website isn’t up, it’s on your shoulders — but it remains a relatively easy source of income.

3. Ad Design

For your clients who are buying ad space online, it’s worth their while to use ads that match their website’s design. Offering an online ad design service saves your clients from trying to turn their logo into a banner ad and puts some money in your pocket. Because there are certain common ad sizes, you can offer a single ad design or a package of several common sizes.

4. Templates

Many web design customers aren’t actually looking for a unique design for their website. Instead, they’re more than happy to accept a template — especially if they’ll pay less for it than for a custom-designed site. Some customers are just looking for files they can set up themselves, while others want to hire a web designer to fully implement the template.

Either option allows you to continue making money off a design long after you’ve finalized it. In addition to selling your templates on your own, there are many market places with significant traffic for specific types of templates (i.e. WordPress, Joomla, etc.).

5. Icons

There are certain icons you’ll spot all over the web — such as the RSS icon. While there’s one set symbol, though, there are thousands of design variations upon that theme. Not only can you sell such icons to individuals setting up their own websites, but you can also sell them to other web designers to help them speed up their work. Icons are commonly sold in sets related either by theme or design qualities: you can often earn more with scalable vector icons. There are thousands of potential icons you can work with, as well.

6. Sub-Contracting

Design is not the only aspect of a website that a client might hire out. While you might be given all the text the client wants included in a website, you may not. Rather than trying to help your client find someone up to writing copy, you can agree to take it on as part of the website design. From there you have two options — write it yourself or sub-contract to a writer.

You effectively earn a finder’s fee from providing a writer with the work, and if you have a writer you can work with regularly, you can take on more projects than you might otherwise. You don’t have to limit yourself to writing, either: web applications, marketing and other projects associated with setting up a new website all offer sub-contracting opportunities.

7. User Testing

Putting a website through its paces can require money, leading many web designers to simply skip it. But if you offer this service to your clientele you’ll be able to provide another layer of quality work. User testing can be as simple as sitting down with a couple of people and asking them to try to use the site. It can be as cheap of offering them lunch in exchange for their time. You may have to spend more time explaining to your customers just what user testing is than you might need to spend on your other services, but that bump in income is often worth it.

8. Training

Especially when you’re setting up a website that a client expects to update on his own, you have to expect lots of questions on how to use the site. Those questions don’t have to be just another cost of doing business, though.

Instead, you can offer a client the service of walking him through every part of the completed website and explaining each step. If you and your client are in the same area, it might be worthwhile to go in and educate the client in person. However, with all the various online conferencing applications that allow you to share your desktop with an observer, physical proximity isn’t necessary.

9. Search Engine Optimization

The methods search engines use rank websites change quite often. Part of good website maintenance is updating a site as necessary to keep up with search engines’ needs. Offering search engine optimization offers you a chance to revisit past clients’ websites: they may not need visible changes, but a little tinkering under the hood may get a website better search results. You can also offer SEO services to potential clients who already have well-designed websites.

10. Marketing

While web marketing can be a full-time job, you can provide your clients with a basic web marketing package: setting up accounts on social networking sites, emailing bloggers on your client’s behalf and other small tasks. Most designers don’t have any interest in doing a large amount of marketing, but a few simple services can help a client get started as well as generate a little income.

If you’re interested in adding any of these services to your web design offerings, consider starting with your existing clientele. Send out an email explaining what you’re adding to your offerings and see if you get any bites. From there, you can start thinking about new customers. It may not be practical to add all ten services in one go (and you may need to brush up on a few skills before marketing your work), but these options can give you a starting point.

Additionally, there are far more than ten services a web designer can offer. Think about how you might combine your non-design skills with your web work and see what you come up with — you might find an option that works better with your skill set than those listed above.

Bonus Income Source: Passive Income

If you’ve still got a couple of hours left over after you finish helping your clients, consider passive income opportunities. Every service you offer results in active income: you’re trading your time directly for money.

With passive income, however, once you’ve established an income source, you get money with only minimal time and effort. Traditionally, passive income came from investments — you needed a large amount of money in order to earn income. However, these days there are plenty of opportunities for web designers to create passive income streams: most require an upfront investment of time (rather than money), but can continue to pay off indefinitely.

  • Stock Graphics: You can sell a variety of graphics through stock graphic sites. You create one image, upload it and the stock graphic company sends you money whenever someone purchases a copy of your graphic. You can often sell website templates in much the same way.
  • Niche Websites: You can create a website on a specific topic, fill it with content and set up either ads or affiliate programs. With ads, you’ll get money whenever someone visits your site and clicks on an ad. With affiliate programs, you’ll get paid whenever anyone purchases a product through your website.
  • Web Application: Projects like web applications can take a lot of upfront work. But, depending on your payment model, you can earn money for every person who uses your web application.

These are just a few examples of passive income streams. There are thousands more available to you, and they’re just a matter of figuring out how you can sell your skills without selling your time.

100th Episode Of From The Couch

March 18th, 2009 No comments

 

About the Show

6 months ago we had an epiphany. We had no idea that this idea would get us so far within the community of designers and developers.

In this episode we pop a bottle of champers and show an outtake or two of the last 100 episodes.

My Average Working Day

March 18th, 2009 No comments

In the introduction to SitePoint’s Web Design Business Kit, Brendon Sinclair (the author) describes his average working day, and that of two of his business associates. Brendon works hours that make me extremely jealous, but then he’s spent a few years building up a great team around him and has his business management extremely well organised. I thought it might be interesting for anyone thinking about starting a web design business to see what my average day looks like at the moment – 6 weeks in.

Twitter

So here we go!

8:30 AM

This is when my alarm clocks start going off, I say alarm clocks because I have more than one. I generally have trouble waking up in the morning so I have a combination of alarms that work best for me. Firstly I have a free Mac App called Alarm Clock 2 which starts fading in music from my iTunes library – this is brilliant because it wakes me up slowly, and to music which I like! After that, it’s on to multiple alarms on my iPhone set 15 minutes apart, with the alarm tone becoming increasingly annoying.

9:30 AM

By now I’m usually at my desk with a cup of coffee and two slices of toast. This point in my routine is probably the least productive, purely because I’m still waking up. I run through all my emails (usually around 20) and flag any that will need a well thought-out response (no early morning important emails, they aren’t good for business). I then check Twitter for any fresh replies or DM’s, and run through my feed reader.

11:00 AM

This is when the real work starts. I’ll usually delve back into my current client work at this point and start working on small achievable tasks. So rather than “convert static html to wordpress” I’ll set myself smaller individual goals like “convert static html to wordpress index page, configure plugins, set up widgets” etc. I find doing it this way means that I get more done in a short amount of time.

2:00 PM

I’ll usually stop for lunch at this point, which consists of soup and some sort of sandwich configuration. I watch whatever latest series was aired the night before, and generally do most of my blogging for this site around this time. I find posting stuff up around 2-3pm UK time to be a good setup, as you catch people in Europe on their lunch breaks / slacking off in the afternoon – and you catch people on the East coast of the US just getting into the swing of their day. If you mange to do well with some social media by 7pm UK time, then you get the West Coast traffic pretty easily too.

3:00 PM

This is probably where the most productive part of my day starts, I find that as long as I don’t have a big lunch (makes you sleepy) then I really start getting some good work done at this point in the day on my current client projects. There’s not much to say about the next 5 hours, they’re spent pretty solidly working with the occasional 5 minute break here and there, and another short break to have some dinner.

8:00 PM

Now’s the time I usually stop my client work for the day, I’ll spend some time on Twitter, address some of the emails which I set aside in the morning, and then move on to personal projects. This can range anywhere from building up a new site like therelease yesterday of WPress’d, adding a new plugin or widget to this blog, writing a guest post for another blog, building up some new Twitter contacts, or redesigning one of my own sites. (I’m doing this at the moment with Lyrical Media)

11:00 PM

Generally, I’ll finally let my iMac have a rest at this point and decide that it’s time to leave my office. So I take a book to bed (currently the web design business kit, which I assure you, isn’t the most comfortable thing to read in bed) and start plowing through business strategies, marketing ideas, and new software. Often I’ll keep a notepad handy at this point and jot down any blog post ideas or to do list items based on what I’m reading.

12:30 AM

After an hour and a half I put the business book down – I s’pose this is where my working day ends really. I like to keep sharp though, so I’ve taken to reading a non-business book for an hour before going to sleep each night, which I’ve actually found to be really therapeutic. Forgetting about work and getting wound up in a fictional world is quite a nice way to end the day – and I’ve also noticed that since doing this for the last 6 weeks that I’m generally reading at a much quicker pace, which is always handy.

1:30 AM

Generally lights-out time, though if I’m caught up with my book I might stay up a little later. I always fall asleep thinking about what I’ve done so far, and what I still want to do – I find that keeps me motivated for stuff to do the next morning.

Notes:

Are they long hours? Yes. – Do they feel like long hours? No.

I think that one of the greatest things about working for yourself is that (unless you’re very stupid) you’re doing something that you love. To me it doesn’t feel like work, it feels like I’ve got a hobby which by some stroke of luck I’m able to spend all of my time on.

That doesn’t mean it’s ideal, sure I’d like some variety – I’d like the luxury of an office full of my staff who can run the business while I build a web application and go out on photography trips now and again – but that’s what I’m working towards, and I’m happy to do it!

Several of you have commented on previous posts that I’m very driven and that I seem to be working hard (thank you, you’re very kind and I appreciate it!) – and I thought I’d share with you a video that really struck home with me when I first watched it, and gave me a tremendous amount of motivation.

To put it in Gary’s words – I’m HUSSLING.

Watch it, and you’ll understand – it’ll be the best 15 minutes that you spend online this week.

Oh and drop me a line in the comments! Tell me what you think of my working day, and of Gary’s philosophy – I love hearing from all of you, and it keeps me posting!

Categories: Website Design Tags: ,