reflections

One of my ongoing projects at the moment is Britster - a social networking site that will offer many of the popular features from sites like MySpace, YouTube and Date.com. What will make this site different to the rest though, is that fact that it’s aimed squarely at the British - including UK residents, ex-pats, and anybody else who wants to communicate with those living in Britain. My role in the project has been varied to date, and has included PHP development, online and offline marketing, corporate styling, and (of course) the design of the main website.

As research for the website design element of the project, I’ve looked at all the major existing social networking sites in a critical light, to see where I could make my own designs better. What I found really surprised me though - a general lack of quality, poor navigation and huge file downloads are common among both the leaders in the field and those vying for success

Please remember that these evaluations are purely my own opinion as a web designer. Just because I think a site sucks visually, it doesn’t necessarily mean the functionality is also lacking, as that isn’t what I’ve focused on.

I hope that any designer (web or otherwise) will find this roundup useful, as it highlights the pitfalls a designer may come across when creating a design for mass consumption - something we all have to tackle at some point in our careers. This may also be of interest to anyone else developing a site with social networking features.

Notes: clicking on any of the thumbnails will open up a full-size grab of the site in either a new tab or window. These are stored on my Flickr account, and I’ve grouped them into a set which you can view in full if you want to make comparisons! With this being a rather lengthy post, I’ve made use of a ‘read more’ break in the text, so you may need to click the title to read this article in its entirety.

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What do you feel you need to accomplish to be a success? Perhaps it’s all about the money, or enjoying yourself? Maybe you want to win awards, or go freelance? Maybe you’ll only feel successful once you own your own company?

I’ve been tagged for this ‘accidental meme’ by Tara at the Graphic Design Blog, who was asked the questions originally by Lauren Marie Krause (a fresh new designer from California). Ironically though, the questions she’s asked me to answer are ones that I’ve been recently been asking myself!

I’ve been in the business of web and graphic design for about 15 years now, and my client list features both start-ups and blue-chip organisations, from all over the world. Feel free to have a look at my portfolio if you like!

1. How did you get started in the business?

I originally discovered the Internet way back in 1991. I used to spend whole days - and ridiculous amounts of money - sitting in Cyberia (just off Tottenham Court Road in London), and it was then that I decided to make my first website. After a couple of months of fielding emails from people asking who had made my site, I realised that I could make some serious money if I taught myself how to do web design properly. Six months later I launched my first ‘virtual’ web design studio, and I haven’t looked back since.

2. What kept you going in those early years?

Self-conviction. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who else is going to believe in you? I guess it helped that I got a constant stream of clients right from day one - including the likes of Virgin and Easynet. It was rewarding to see something I had made being visited by thousands of people every day!

3a. Did you ever feel like you weren’t good enough or you would never make it in this industry?

Of course. As my freelance web design business got bigger it seriously interfered with my school work, and I used to get it in the neck from teachers on a regular basis because I hadn’t done an assignment on time. On more than one occasion I really felt like chucking the towel in and focusing on my studies.

3b. How did you work through that?

With the exception of one guy, my teachers and tutors just didn’t understand (or want to understand) computers - and the one that did forced his way into the school to manage the new IT suite, and only because nobody else wanted to! It was with his reassurance that I began to feel that I could really make a career for myself in design.

4. Do you look at others today and think “Wow, I wish I were that good”?

All the time. Designers like Jon Hicks, Dan Cederholm and Bryan Veloso have all had an influence on stuff I’m working on at the moment, but I’m constantly looking at the work of other designers and wishing I were as good as them. Having said that, without aspiration there is rarely growth.

5. How do you measure success?

I don’t really have a single way of gauging how successful I am. Things that people say to me, passing comments, overheard discussion - they can all make me feel like something I’ve done has made a difference.

6. By your standard, do you think you are successful?

I think I’m getting there. I’m now working full-time freelance, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. Of course, it was always my aim to retire at 35 - but I’ve got some things in the pipeline that might end up making that a reality, which would be really cool!
In the true vein of tag memes, my usual suspects willing volunteers are:

One of the team from Freelance Switch
webee from the bee design
Lisa from Design, Life, Culture, Whatever…
Jon Hicks from Hicks Design (hopeful, but you never know…)
Zep from The In-Sect

[Thanks to Mike, Charity, Tara, Lisa, David Zemen, Paul Johns and Paul B for some fantastic comments on my last post]

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Today’s been a rotten day. The phone has not stopped ringing, I have had nasty emails from people accusing me of things I haven’t even done, I am still trying to debug masses of code - and to end the day I spent 3 hours on the phone to a prospect, repeatedly explaining something that a kid would grasp in 5 minutes.

It was during my exhausting conversation with the prospect that I had a strong sense of deja-vu. When he hung up, I realised that I’d had a client just like him years ago. In fact, clients and prospects seem to fit a few generic types - for me at least! These are my personal top five…

The Snail

These clients can make or (more often) break freelance designers. They do this by paying your invoices six weeks after the really, completely, absolutely latest date you can possibly accept payment - and ironically they are usually the ones who get their deliverables on time, every time. Maybe I should try the “treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen” method of invoice negotiation instead?

The Charity Case

I’ve done my fair share of unpaid work for charities in the past, and I’ve really enjoyed most of it - but this is something else entirely. These clients make paid projects totally unprofitable for you, because they take far more time and effort than you’re actually getting paid for! This problem comes in many flavours: demands for reduced prices and asking for extra unpaid (out-of-hours) support are the two I come across most often.

The Invertebrate

These guys will blindly accept anything you say, provide anything you ask for, pay you more money if you say you need it, and wait for weeks past the deadline before they call to ask how you’re getting on. So these should be the perfect client, right? Wrong! I should love these clients, but they bring out the worst in me! When doing a project for an invertebrate it’s guaranteed that I’ll be at my most lazy, unmotivated, uncaring level… It’s quite a scary metamorphosis!

The Lo-Tech

These are the ones who frequently make a face like they’ve just seen you eat your own nose - when all you’ve actually done is talked about email, social networking, blogging or web accessibility. They refer to video recorders as “Xerox machines”, think broadband is a new radio frequency, and ask for everything to be printed out on foolscap and posted to them.

The Pixel-Shifter

I hate these guys the most. I’ve spent six months trying to create a simple business card for one, and then bolted when they’ve asked me to rework their logo! After showing them any kind of design, they will typically say something like: “Could you move that down half a millimetre. Hmmmm. Now move this left an eighth of an inch for me. Hmm. Now make the text one point size bigger, and add two percent magenta to that block of colour. Hmmmmmmmm. No - I don’t like that at all. Perhaps you could try a different approach?”

The Conclusion

So… What do you do if you’ve got one of the above client-types on your books? Well, personally I’d give them the boot after you’ve finished any outstanding work for them! There are so many nice, friendly, understanding, helpful clients looking for designers, and I believe that most people can get away with being a bit choosy!

Who have I missed then? What are you stereotypical clients like? Got any clients like mine? Leave a comment and let me know!

[Thanks to Zep, The Paper Bull, Charity, Mike, Aaron, Tara, Lisa and Ludovic for your comments on recent posts]

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I was clearing out one of my storage cupboards yesterday, and sorting through some boxes that haven’t been touched for years - when I came across a couple of my old sketchbooks.

During my time studying art at school, and later while at college, I was rarely seen without a pencil and pad in hand. I literally produced hundreds of sketchbooks, full of everything from quick scribbles to detailed studies.

Unfortunately, the passage of time and occasional relocations have not been kind to my collection, and sadly much of it has now been lost. My first ever proper sketchbook surfaced a couple of years ago, but that too now seems to have vanished.

So I thought it might be nice to post some old sketches online, from the pages of those books that have survived the passage of time. I have been encouraged to do this by the recent spate of posts where other designers (David Airey for example) have posted some of their recent drawings. It has also really got me in the right frame of mind for Tara’s impending experiment! Please remember that these were done a long, long time ago - and I lacked the technique that came from years of practice…

Drawn in 1992, and heavily influenced by art from the Fighting Fantasy books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Click the image to view it in Flickr.

Drawn in 1993, and again influenced by Fighting Fantasy art. Click the image to view it in Flickr.

Drawn in 2001, a picture of my first daughter at 6 months. I just couldn’t get that left eye looking right - something that often happens to me when I draw loved ones! Click the image to view it in Flickr.

[Thank you to Lisa, Tara, Zep, Paul B, and Char for your comments on my previous post]

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