Hiring a Web Designer Pt. 2
This is the follow up to a previous post. The last one was full of questions you as the site owner should know before seeking a designer. Now, we’ll move into some general questions you might want to ask perspective designer. In my opinion, these four request/questions should be considered above all others.
Do you have client references?
A good company will. It tells a lot about the designer/client interaction and can be the best way to find out more about the company.
Do you have a list of clients?
Don’t always check the references. Those are almost always the good clients. Seek a client list and reach out to a company or two who aren’t references and see what they have to say.
Can I see your portfolio?
If for some odd reason, they don’t have an online portfolio, make sure to see it. Make sure that you believe they are capable of the work you are seeking. Some firms only take on small websites while others have the ability to take on large ones. You might want to find a company that performs work with a similar scope of work that you are seeking. This gives you a greater likelihood to receive an accurate quote. A firm that’s used to working on $2500 sites may have trouble estimating the work that’s involved with a $20000 site build.
Do you have examples of how the site you created helped the client?
A good designer will know this. If the objective of the site was to sell products, is it? Do the sites they create get good traffic and search well on Google? A designer is typically given a set of goals or parameters from the client. Knowing that they fulfilled these and knowing how they did it are good traits for a designer to have. You, as the client, want to know that the designer is listening and that they are successful in implementing a client’s desires.
Hiring a Web Designer
Matt has been writing a series of articles outlining what it takes to hire an architect. His posts inspired me to write about what it takes to hire a web designer. Here are a few basic questions you might want to ask yourself before you start inquiring with web designers. Most are going to want this information in order to give you a proper quote and begin.
What is your budget?
This is probably the most important question. I’ve worked on websites that cost as little as $1000 and as much as $10000. With websites, I believe you truly get what you pay for. When thinking about budget, be sure to include some sort of recurring monthly fee in mind for hosting. This also can have a pretty significant price range, $5 to $100. It all depends on who hosts it and what kind of services you’d like. Finally, a domain name, or multiple domain names will need to be purchased. These typically cost about $10.
What do you want on the site?
Start thinking about what kind of content and how many pages you’d like. Do you want to sell products? Do you want a blog?
Who is your audience?
A pretty simple question. Who are you trying to cater to; an age group, gender, business type, etc. This certainly will affect the overall design and functionality of the site.
How much updating will your site need?
Chances are, if you’re hiring someone to create the website, most likely you’re going to want to have them update it for you. That is of course assuming you, or someone on staff doesn’t know how to make updates themselves. This will add extra cost in the future. (See next question for an option.)
Would you like to make changes yourself?
These days, most of my clients expect to make updates themselves. This means that the site has some sort of database associated with it and a content management system (CMS). This option may cost more up front, but could save money in the future since the end user is making the updates.
Do you have an identity?
Do you have specific colors, a logo, fonts or any other design elements that the designer should know about up front? If the web designer is expected to create an identity rather than working from a pre-existing one, it could increase the cost significantly.
When do you want to go live with the site?
It’s an important question. It could take weeks or months to complete the site depending upon the scope of work for the site and the workload for your chosen designer.
Stay tuned for more on the topic of hiring a web designer. Future posts will include questions to ask the designer, what to look for in a designer, how to be critical of their portfolio and more detailed questions to ask them.
Rework – Book Review
This post will contain the first official book review on blueprintfordesign.com. I’m sure this review might ruffle some feathers.
The book I chose to review is Rework by Jason Fried and Heinemeier Hansson. These are the fellows who created Basecamp and are the founders of 37Signals. I had heard quite a bit about the book amongst the design community and was excited to read it. Once I received the book and started reading the “reviews” from so called “famous people” my opinion began changing. Here’s the quote that amused me most.
If given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has his MBA, I’m investing in Rework every time…a must read.
- Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks
Quoting Wendy’s father from the movie Peter Pan (it’s my daughter’s favorite right now), that’s “absolute poppycock.” If I’m going to judge this book by it’s cover, which I’m not ashamed to admit that I do, I wouldn’t have read this book. But alas, I did.
The opening to this post may have seemed a little negative. That’s not entirely the case in my opinion of this book. I would say that I’m split in my decision if I like or dislike this book. For me, most of the content in the book seemed kind of obvious. It was nice to be affirmed that my thought process is similar to a successful company such as 37Signals.
The book is simple and short. It reads like a bunch of emails or short blog posts that have been compiled into book form. This mildly annoyed me. They claim to be writing in a conversational style (just like this blog post I guess). They also claim in the book that they cut thousands of words during the final edit. Due to the shortness and the lack of much explanation on their various topics, I felt like maybe they cut out too much. I actually think more would have been better in this case.
Much of the content in the book is their views on how to be a successful “starter” (their word for entrepreneur) in this postmodern business world we live in. I can think of a few of my past colleagues and bosses who are the antithesis of the concepts in Rework. There is talk of how meetings are toxic, business plans are rubbish, and that resumes are useless. They also write about the negatives of being a workaholic. This, I agree with wholeheartedly. Companies that expect you to work insane hours all the time and have unrealistic expectations of their employees annoy me, too. Recently, I was offered a job in which the person who recruited me informed me that my hours are 8am – 5pm. BUT, I would NEVER leave work before 6pm and that most likely I would work till 7pm each night. Who do they think they are? They are the kind of people who would keel over if they read this book.
Some good quotes from Rework.
- What do you really learn from mistakes? You learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that? You still don’t know what you should do next. (pg. 16)
- Interruption is not collaboration, it’s just interruption. And when you’re interrupted, you’re not getting work done. (pg. 104)
- They often include at least one moron who inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone’s time with nonsense. (pg. 108 – talking about meetings.)
- When good enough get’s the job done, go for it. (pg. 113)
- If you merely replicate competitors, there’s no point to your existence. (pg. 149)
- Accounting is a department. Marketing isn’t. (pg. 193)
- A lot of companies post help-wanted ads seeking “rock stars” or “ninjas.” Lame. (pg. 253)
- Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work. (pg. 271)
If you’re looking for a quick read that may inspire you some as a business owner, check out Rework. It might not be earth shattering, but it’s certainly worth checking out.
Blurb
Blurb is awesome.
This website allows you to create an actual book and get it printed. Buy 1 or buy 100. It’s up to you. Both hardcover (with dust jacket) and softcover books can be made. The pricing is reasonable and the quality of the book is great. There are so many possibilities of how a well designed book could help any creative business. I have a book that serves as both my resume and portfolio in one that I show potential clients or working relationships. If I think there’s real potential, I’ll even leave it behind. The book tends to leave a pretty good impression!
With Blurb there are two ways to create your book. They have their own free software called Booksmart. I’ve used it and it’s a piece of cake to use. With this, both the option to create completely custom books and books from a template are available. The other way is to create the book using their guidelines in most any professional graphic design software. Templates are available to ensure that you’re specs meet their publishing requirements.
Have a look at some examples on Blurb’s website.
Blurb even acts as a bookstore. Upload your book, set the price, and sell. It’s as simple as that.
Goodbye Moleskine
I must admit, I am pretty excited about the possibility of the Courier from Microsoft. It looks to actually be better than the iPad in my humble opinion. While I understand that this is just a concept and there is potential for the actual product to be far different than this, I can’t help but dream of owning one. I use my handy Moleskine (grid lines) journal for everything. I sketch my ideas in it, keep appointments, keep contacts, etc. It’s not organized. This would change everything. I LOVE the fact that you can draw on it with a pen or tap with your fingers.
I found the below video and more info at engadget.com
Tweetery – iPhone App
By no means do I consider myself a power Twitter user. I’ll send out the occasional tweet here and there, but the vast majority of my Twitter usage is to learn and gather info from other designers and professionals that I follow. In fact, after (finally) purchasing an iPhone this year, I actually started using Twitter more and more. From the onset, I used Tweetdeck. I had already heard of it and it’s free. One day I saw Tweetery as a free App to download so I gave it a try. (As of 2/27/10 the app is $1.99.) Initially, I was impressed. When you first open it you are greeted with a nice looking homepage that is refreshingly different than your typical “Twitter look” that most Apps tend to use.
Here is what it says on Tweetery’s website.
Simplify your tweet stream! Temporarily mute people who over tweet. Take action on a tweet faster than ever with our slick tweet action panel. With a clean, elegant interface maximizing legibility and simplicity, Tweetery is more than a twitter client– it’s a pleasure to use.
PROS
- Simple
- Dark colors are easy on the eyes – nice gray and blue color scheme
- Quick – Especially compared to Tweetdeck
- Readability – good word spacing, contrast, and size
- Large buttons – when you click on a specific tweet the window that pops up is clear, the buttons are big, and any web link is highlighted and easy to tap
CONS
- Unlike Tweetdeck, there isn’t a visual way to know what Tweets you haven’t seen since you’re last visit
- Price (while not expensive) it does cost $1.99 (What can I say, I’m cheap)
- While I prefer the dark color scheme, a light one might be a nice option
- No built-in link shortener
Screenshots
