When to Fire Your Graphic Designer
Filed Under: Customers, Design
Where I work (day job) we use a handful of local graphic designers primarily for print work. Well we sent off one print job to a local sign printer according to the specifications he requires. Not a problem. Right?! Well his “graphic designer” couldn’t work with the .eps file we sent (fonts were converted to outlines, etc. which is standard for sending a job to a printer). So he decided to change all of the artwork to “fit” him….it’s time for the print company to fire that guy’s ass. We aren’t happy with the work that was done, and will not pay for it. And I’m sure we are not the customer that this has happened to.
We had our graphic designer to the design work, paid her for it, got the client to sign off on the work after a few rounds, and then this printer’s graphic designer at, quite frankly, a whimsy decided to change it? Who the”F” does he think he is? And yes, it’s a “he”.
And another time to fire when is when the work they do looks like crappy clipart. Now if you’re thinking I don’t like clipart…well some of it is good, but way too much of it isn’t.
The State of the “Web Design”
Filed Under: Comments, Customers, Design
I subscribe to various industry newsletters, and I have to agree whole heartedly.
The crux of his disillusionment is that web developers’ “highly trained skills have been commoditized by market ignorance.”That is, clients don’t understand the web, so they fail to understand what they need, and don’t have the knowledge or the ability to identify what they need. The client also lacks the ability to differentiate the “right” solution or developer from a poor one.
As a result, clients often end up with a poor solution to their problem, because they go with the cheapest solution. This cheap and poor solution inevitably fails, and it’s another black mark for the entire industry.
I’ve seen this happen 100 times before. Cheap doesn’t mean good. It means cheap. These web sites simply don’t have the resources allocated to them to ensure success. The Web is not a case of “build it and they’ll come.” It’s a case of build it, promote the heck out of it, provide entertaining, ever-changing information, and they may come — and then they may stay.
So what’s the solution? As PMichaud points out, major education of the entire market would be nice. But that’s not going to happen.
Maybe a standard accreditation system for web professionals? I think that’s impossible — there are simply too many variables across too many markets.
There is no real solution. Some clients will always take the cheap option, just as some clients will always understand that allocating more resources to a project may enhance its prospects for success. And there will always be web developers who don’t provide the best solution.
It’s up to the web developer to work within the parameters of the industry — great clients, idiot prospects, slow payers, big payers, tough competitors, red tape, fast changing technology … and lots more.
These are the same challenges every business faces. We need to adapt, and make it work, or fizzle out.
Source: SitePoint Newsletter Tribune #387
I just realized why this industry sucks
The state of the “web design” and to a lesser extent the web development industry has been a source of frustration to me for many years.It always vexed me that the success stories were rarely related to the quality of output or anything like that, but more often were narratives of a system that someone developed by which he could churn large volumes of passable product, or enabled others to do the same (LogoWorks, for example).Certainly, the low barrier to entry created and exacerbated by desktop publishing and hacked copies of photoshop have contributed to the market saturation by the writhing tumult of mediocre (and worse) service providers. But that’s not the whole picture.Wide availability is only half of the equation: the other is our lemon market. Basically, people consuming our service cannot distinguish quality, and therefore low quality offerings demand prices equal to high quality offerings, all things being equal. That means that our highly trained skills have been commoditized by market ignorance.Ours is worse than normal lemon industries, I’m afraid. In our case the bulk of crap isn’t peddled by unscrupulous vendors looking for a quick buck and a schill to scam it from — the crap is provided by well-meaning amateurs who believe the hype. The market is so rife with unprofessionalism, that even those within it take years to sort the wheat from the chaffe.Most people who suck don’t realize they suck, and most people buying sucky service don’t realize they’re getting sucky service!The solution on a large scale is education, but it’s not realistic until there is a market force that tends to push consumers to become educated. If a customer could drive a logo or an e-commerce system 75 miles per hour with darling, little Cindy-Lou strapped in the back, you can bet they’d want to make sure the logo has decent brakes.
The fact is that the risk is just as real, if not as immediately life threatening: skimping on marketing or essential software systems is a great way to doom a start up. You might lose your life savings, or you might have to explain to little Cindy-Lou why Santa isn’t coming this year — you might just have a venture that fizzles quietly.
That fizzle is a problem, because when a venture fizzles it normally isn’t spectacular like Enron — it’s normally an almost imperceptible, little squeak that goes something like: “I just decided it was time to move on to other things,” or “the market was too cold, I got in too late, oh well.” It’s never: “I started with a half-baked idea, I didn’t take the time to research the market, I didn’t invest what I should have in infrastructure or marketing, and therefore I failed to make this venture a success.” We find it almost impossible to attribute failure directly to our decisions and actions.
So here is where the dark synergy of ignorance and attribution bias forms the frothy, putrecent brew of market failure: Jimmy, on the same day, buys a car and a website, both for $1,000, both from Honest Bob’s House of Used Cars and Web Design. Both products are delivered, and off Jim goes. In a month, the saw dust that kept Jim’s junky car running finally lodged itself hopelessly in the gears of the dying vehicle, and the car simply stops moving forever. Jim cannot travel any further — the car’s failure is clear, and Bob’s trickery is revealed. The market or the courts or both will take care of Bob’s shady car business.
Jim’s web site, however, has also failed insidiously. It drives the few visitors who find it into the hills, never to return. The one person who tried to get the shopping cart checkout to work, never got the product, but thanks to faulty coding, his identity is now for sale in a Nigerian black market. In a few months Jim will grow tired of the “slow market,” and quietly stop paying his monthly hosting bill, and the site will make that tiny little squeak I mentioned before: “Market’s slow, the internet isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
That’s why it behooves all of us to look at ourselves long and hard when we fail, or when our clients fail. It wasn’t the bear market. It’s not “just time.” Statistically speaking, this probably applies to you, dear reader:
You suck at web design. You are not qualified to design web applications. Your business idea will fail because you didn’t think it through, and you hired the cheapest guy from a country you can’t point out on a map to implement it. So you have a choice: you can cry about it and crawl under a rock, or you can stand up and do the hard work of educating yourself so you can stop taking half-assed stabs in the dark at the riches and glory that you claim to want but have taken to the path of least resistance to get to.
Here’s what you need to do: pick your field of interest, and test your metal against the best. Put your design work in front of a harsh critique; you could apply for a job at a good studio with your current portfolio just to see what they say. Put your code up for review on a geek mailing list or try to apply for a job somewhere that they only hire super hackers; again, just to see what they say. Pitch your business idea to a major venture capital firm.
This experience will be humiliating, enlightening, and ultimately invaluable. It only takes a moment to open your eyes.
Source: Sitepoint Forums
19 Things NOT To Do When Building a Website
Filed Under: Design
I belong to a wonderful and resourceful group of women web developers/designers and one of them kindly posted this link 19 Things NOT To Do When Building a Website.
As far as I’m concerned it is required reading for clients and wannabees so DUMBASS mistakes won’t be made.
Logo Design
Filed Under: Design
First I have to state that I am not the most pleasant person in the morning especially if I haven’t had enough coffee. As previously mentioned I subcontract for another developer. She warned me the logo she was sending was awful. Well awful was a complete understatement.
Obviously the company, which had a fairly decent logo before, hired an inexperienced graphic designer or they were a friend/relative. Bad, bad idea!!! The new logo was seriously WTF! Did they look at the graphic designer’s portfolio? Or where they afraid to hurt the person’s feelings? I am of the opinion it’s your money so tell them you don’t like any of the designs. It’s perfectly okay.
Now if you don’t have the money for a logo to be designed there is nothing wrong with just text in an appropriate font. I’ll be the first to admit that designing a good logo is not the easiest of things. The reason I don’t find it’s the easiest of things is that I feel a good logo is too important to screw up.
Flash
Filed Under: Design
Flash is a very useful tool and when used correctly enhances a web site. Unfortunately there are some that believe, incorrectly I might add, that their entire site should be Flash. Or maybe their web developer (groan) thought they could…well make a lot of money off of a client that is uneducated. Flash sites should “do” something interesting and not act as a “static” site.
Flash drawbacks:
You have to sit and wait for it to download.
It’s lousy for search engine optimization
You can’t bookmark or print anything.
It’s expensive to maintain.
You’ll use a lot more bandwidth.
It won’t print.
If you fall under the ADA it can’t be read by braille readers.
Quite often Flash is used as a splash page and to be honest I hate dislike them. I’ll do them if the client insists, but will always advise against it.
I recently read this analogy, and it is a good one.
Go to the grocery store and take a mime with you. Have the mime stand in front of the store and give a 2-minute presentation to each person wanting to enter as to how to find the bread on aisle 4, and the milk in the refrigerator section.
Now would you as a shopper stop and watch the mime or just go through the door? Besides you can spend the money on something else. Something that is actually useful.
Awards
Filed Under: Design
I absolutely just love watching the Oscars.
So that got me to thinking about design awards. I have to admit to groaning whenever I see some web site that has won a non-industry recognized award. You know the awards I am talking about. The ones that all you have to do is have a web site, or pretty close just to having a web site and you get an award. Oh puhleeze!!!
Now real awards are:
http://www.webbyawards.com (Web Sites)
http://www.stevieawards.com/aba/
http://www.aaf.org/ (Advertisement)
http://www.iabc.com/ (Business Communication)
http://2006.bloggies.com/ (Blogs)
http://www.podcastawards.com/ (Podcasts)
http://www.gawds.org/poll/ (Accessibility)
http://www.webstandardsawards.com/ (Web Standards)
Also any award or recognition given by HOW, Print, and Communications Arts is an excellent accomplishment.
Seeing the following awards on someone’s business web site (as in a web designers or developer’s) makes me just want to cringe:
http://www.diamondwebawards.com/
http://www.platinumwebaward.com/
http://www.juniorwebawards.net/
http://www.worldwidewebawards.net/ and any of the awards they’ve won (http://www.worldwidewebawards.net/ourawards.htm).
Web Standards
Filed Under: Design
If you already have a web site has it been done to the web standards and guidelines (HTML, CSS, XHTML or XML, 508)? Is it viewable, no make that usable, across all of the different browsers?
Web sites that are done according to the web standards and guidelines load quickly.
Do you know how well is your web site coded? Do you know what it looks like across the various web browsers? If you are considering other web site developers check out how well they have complied with the standards.
Does it add value?
Filed Under: Design
A rule that I learned several years ago* is when you are considering adding a feature or some gadget to a web site is “does it add value?” Unless it adds value don’t add it.
*Learned that tidbit as a contracted mid-level web developer at Intel Corporation.
Photography & Images – Make or break your web site
Filed Under: Design
The photography or images on your web site can make it or break it. Ever wonder why some web sites just seem to look so much better that others? It’s the photography and the client understood the importance of quality photographs or images for their web site.
You cannot expect your web designer or developer to take the images you have provided that have been taken in poor light or at a poor angle and make them look like million dollar shots. It isn’t going to happen. Sorry, but that’s the harsh truth.
If you are thinking why do I have to do this? Well who would you purchase from? The site that had a great photograph of the product or the site that didn’t care enough to make the product half-way decent. Think about it.
Product Shots
Use a tripod and a digital camera set at the highest resolution.
Lots and lots of light, and be careful of shadows (Note: There are some products such as leather that may need to be shot outdoors in natural light.)
Use a smooth white background. Don’t use a sheet that is rumpled as you don’t want shadows. Make sure it is nice and smooth.
Don’t shoot at a downward angle. Try to get a close to dead on center as possible.
Now your responsibility after having the products shot are to provide the images on a CD or CD’s with the photos clearly labeled/identified. Example: If your product ID for the item is 12345B then the image should be named 12345B.jpg and not “large blue pillow.jpg”.
Room Shots
Use a tripod and a digital camera set at the highest resolution.
Lots and lots of light, and check for shadows.
Remove the phone, floor fans, and magazines. If you want to keep the magazines or books make sure they are neatly stacked or arranged.
Remove all cords. Tie them up and out of the way if necessary.
Furniture should be smooth and not rumpled and the same for pillows or throws.
Add greenery, candles and other small items.
If you are taking photographs of the views from the residence don’t take them looking thru a screen. Open the window.
Exterior Shots
Use a tripod and a digital camera set at the highest resolution
Cut the grass and make sure that the landscaping is clean and neat.
Sweep the drive. Put away the hose and gardening tools.
Move the car, bicycles, and any other vehicle so they are not in the photographs.
And wait for a sunny day.
It may also be necessary to hire a professional photographer. There are also very talented amateurs. And look at the portfolio’s of both. When looking of the photos think “would I buy this or stay there?”
