Hello, my name is Jhames

I’ve reached an age where I roll my eyes after reading younger designers’ ranting diatribes about the current state of web design. If I rolled my eyes back any further, I swear I’d awaken in on the set of “Doctor Who” from the 1970s. These younger designers raise their stylī in the air and exclaim that we require HTML to be more than just semantic markup, and how we must design websites without regard to Search Engine Optimization or universal access for the user. To dip my stylus in the same lake of hyperbole as these designers, we must employ a “pure” state of web design and force users to adopt our user environment as theirs.

A friend and former coworker of mine is venturing into business for himself: a “have IA – will travel” enterprise, if you will. He’s enjoyed my past entries about freelance and has mentioned (more than once) that we should talk more over drinks sometime – code for “I want to pick your brain” – as he ventures into sole proprietorship. Since my upkeep in this blog has been less than exemplary, I thought his search for knowledge would be as good a time as any to post what (and what not) to do in business. I should preface this entry by stating a) I’ve learned these lessons first-hand and b) you shouldn’t take what I say as gospel truth. Obviously, mileage will vary depending on how you choose to work. Without further adieu!

We interrupt VeganMoFo to address a question I was sent regarding payment after completing a project without having a contract. What sucks most about this type of situation is that you can end up looking like the bad guy if you don’t resolve the matter in a diplomatic fashion. Especially when dealing with companies that do not understand or appreciate the cost of design services. Not only am I going to help you get your money, I’ll even tell you how you can win over potential clients that balk at your hourly rate!

Yesterday I received a tweet asking if I knew anyone looking to hire a designer for work. I didn’t know the twitter user but he is not the only person who has contacted me in hopes I could either use his services or connect him with someone needing design assistance. I put together the following options for creative folks that aren’t sure how or where to find work, and these suggestions are based on personal experience. Keep in mind I am an extroverted person so individual mileage will vary.

Charging by the hour tells your clients that you mean business. Time is money and you’re keeping the meter running with every meeting and phone conference. No matter how many times I set limits on design iterations or halted work when clients didn’t respond in a timely manner, I learned (the hard way) that flat-fee bids gave clients license to extend projects well beyond reasonable deadlines. Yes, I had client work, but I wasn’t making any money on my projects and found it harder to line up future work with project milestones that slipped often. I took a look at how I managed my projects. Communication with clients was always good and I provided changes to the work in a timely basis. I couldn’t figure out why so many of my projects were taking forever to complete. Cue Miriam Aarons.

Last Saturday evening I received an e-mail from a friend: I wonder if you have already developed, from lots and lots of years of cohorts asking you stuff like this, a primer  à la So You’re Thinking of Freelance Web Design for Weensy Could Be Micromanager Clients! laying around. As it just so happens… no. Mostly, my friends/cohorts ask questions about contract language or how much should they charge for their services. Project management is one of the many hats a freelance designer must wear whilst working but, to date, no one ever asked me how to manage a project. I had to think about my friend’s request: I have an approach to project management but nothing officially captured in a formal process. So I sat at my desk and typed a response to my friend—and a mutual friend who works in print for her … Continue reading →

The biggest mistake any designer can make is committing to work without a written agreement between oneself and the client. A verbal agreement provides little to no protection in a business transaction since physical proof of what terms were mutually agreed upon by all interested parties cannot be verified or upheld in court. The best protection for everyone is a written agreement that states the services which will be provided by the designer to the client in exchange for compensation and promotional use. Seems easy enough: a contract with outlined terms of the project and signatures from all vested parties. That couldn’t be more than 1-2 pages, right?

So let’s have a chat about blogs and newspapers. Seattle is home to many a newspaper, now one less with the passing of Seattle Post-Intelligencer in print format, two of which are free weekly publications: Seattle Weekly and The Stranger. In order to maintain reader interest beyond a laissez-faire interest, both weekly publications have online blogs that track daily life in Seattle, as well as nationally and globally. Both publications are known for their reporting and commentary that often cross acerbic and sardonic lines. As such, each publication attracts a certain kind of reader that associates with its personality.

Timing is everything on the Internet, which means I need to set aside more time to compose my thoughts. But that’s another post for another time. So, like, what’s this twitter stuff people in the states seem to be fond of? So, Twitter. What the hell is it? What does it do? Why does everyone talk about it so much? How do I use it? How am I going to make money using it? These are all very good questions, and, naturally, they’re pointless to ask. This is 2009 and the site has been around for years. That you are only catching on to this tool mean you should be ashamed of yourself for even asking these questions. For shame. Now go take up something like knitting to tidy your idle hands and lackadaisical interest for all things internet.

Get burned enough times and you find yourself coming up with trademark phrases like Learn From My Mistakes™. A lot of little mistakes with past projects added up to one giant mistake: overlooking the importance of risk management. During the course of a project lifecycle, it’s important to mitigate any and all risks so neither you nor the client waste time or money.