What is Digg?Sponsored by Dragon Age: Origins
Can't get enough Dragon Age: Origins? Play the flash game. view!
DragonAgeJourneys.com - Play the free companion flash game to Dragon Age: Origins.
49 Comments
- streak, on 12/02/2007, -20/+73.
- cbegin, on 12/02/2007, -4/+43....and a faster web server. Come back next week when we discuss "The Secret to Handling a Lot of Web Traffic"
Mirror? - rupertmorris, on 12/02/2007, -0/+29Very good tips, very genuine.
Also, consider contributing to various Open Source movements, as they bring in TONS of traffic and raise your web profile. Also, if you are familiar with a CMS or Blogging platform, you'll know how to whip off a site in a day that would take others weeks or months.
I myself write Wordpress plugins, and get retarded amounts of hits. I don't even seek out web work (I'm a 3D artist), yet land handy bill-paying jobs at opportune moments between 3D jobs.
I can't stress this enough: contribute to open source movements. Write a theme for your fav. CMS. Write a plugin. Whatever your strength is. It demonstrates your skills, gets you mad hits, and practices your knowledge in a practical way. - restlessdesign, on 12/02/2007, -1/+267. Submit your own articles to Digg =P
- D3koy, on 12/02/2007, -2/+22The article for those still interested: Sorry it takes up so much space...
Each week I get two or three requests for design work. They come sometimes from contacts, but more often than not they come from random people. Sometimes they even come from web-famous people or well-known companies. What is interesting about this though is that I no longer freelance, advertise for work or even have a portfolio.
Actually it can be pretty hard to contact me, though I did finally put up a little website for myself two weeks ago.
Although these days I turn away all this work, for some years I did in fact work as a freelance designer and happily always had more work than I could do – despite being inclined to overwork.
So how do you get web design jobs? Or any other type of job? Here are some things that have worked for me.
1.
Push Yourself and Get Good
I’m not the best designer out there, and you don’t need to be either. But you do need to be pretty good. I like to think that there is an 80/20 rule applying here. That is to get 80% good takes a few years of work, to get that last 20% and get to the top of your field takes a lot more effort (and/or talent). I think I’ve gotten to 80%, I design things that are solid. I’ve never won any awards, but my work is functional, appealing and generally well-liked. I admire really great, cool and clever designers, but know that I’m probably never going to be one of them.
So how do you get 80% good? You push yourself of course! I started out years ago as a mathematics major who liked photoshop tutorials, not exactly a recipe for good design. But I read a lot of really good design books on typography, grids, aesthetics, colour, more typography, branding, advertising, even more typography … you get the picture. I went to design events and conferences, talked to designers as much as possible, got a job at a small agency and endlessly talked to the senior web designer there.
I also did as much work as I could find. First I wrote tutorials, then I started entering competitions (never mind that I never won, or even had anything worth competing most of the time), then I started taking charity jobs, then freelance work and the whole time I would design my own sites and brands over and over and over. Do I think you need talent to be a good designer? Not particularly. It sure helps, but I like to think I made up for a lack of talent or artistic background with sheer hard work.
2.
Be Likeable, Excited and Enthusiastic
I have met some really talented people who I would never want to work with, simply because I didn’t really like them. The people who are going to hire you are … well, people. And like any other people, they are going to like someone who is nice, friendly, warm, interested in them and interested in their project.
It’s often the little things that make a big difference in this area. Cyan likes to tell a story about a photographer she knows who takes cups of coffee with him to photo shoots for his clients, and has noted that a few times this has been the deciding factor in winning him future jobs. A friendly tone in emails, a genuine interest in people, enthusiasm about work, it all helps!
3.
Be Referrable!
A large number of jobs for most freelancers come from referred clients. Do a good job for one person and they tell others for you. 80% of all the jobs I’ve worked were referrals and I think being referrable is extremely important. Focus on the characteristics that make people want to work with you, and be reliable, very reliable.
Reliability is one of the most prized characteristics for a freelancer. As a client finding someone you can rely on means solving a problem permanently. Many freelancers are not reliable, and this presents and easy way to stand out from the rest.
4.
Design the portfolio you think your clients want to see
It never fails to amaze me how many designer portfolios I see that feel like they are aimed at other designers. The language you use on your portfolio site, the pieces you choose and the presentation should all be pitched at the clients you are trying to land. When hiring designers for corporate work I’ve had people present me portfolios of grungy, edgy or just arty work. This is a huge turn off and for a client, rather confusing. People want to see what they want to buy, not something completely different. So if your target market is edgy, make it edgy, if it’s corporate, make it corporate. Spend the time defining your brand and target market and then create a portfolio that will appeal to them.
5.
Focus on Clients and Be Flexible
To be a good designer you need to do work that fits your brief. You should not do work that you happen to want to do, use a trendy style just because, be fixated on designing how you like or any of the other many sins designers regularly commit. If you focus on solving your client’s problem, are flexible and adjust to their needs and within the framework of your brief put together the best possible design solution you can, then you are going to be a designer in demand.
One common complaint I hear from designers is, “my client has bad taste” or “my client demands changes that ‘ruin’ a design”. First of all, let me say, I *completely* understand. Unfortunately that’s rubbish, and you’ll need to get over it.
If you want to make things to please yourself, go be an artist. If you want to be a designer you have to learn to manage your client, explain why some things are good and others bad, fit their requirements, be flexible and compensate for external issues out of your control (your client’s love of pink or their horrid logo). That’s just part of the job description.
6.
Get a High Profile
Most of what I’ve said so far applied to me when I worked as a freelancer. In February of this year I stopped taking freelance work and started working fulltime for Eden. Since then the visibility of some of the sites I have designed has gotten a little higher. Sites like FreelanceSwitch, FlashDen and PSDTUTS get seen by a lot of people and generally result in the plethora of job offers that still trickle in.
But you don’t need to own a high traffic website to get a high profile. Most of the job offers just get sent to our various contact forms saying things like “Who is your web designer?”, “I have a job for your web designer” and so on. In other words you just need to design a site that has a high profile. You can do this by getting your work into CSS and web design galleries or by offering to design a high profile blog (lord knows, some of them could do with a redesign).
There are other ways to get a high profile too. Positioning yourself as an expert and achieving credibility are great ways to make clients come to you. Often becoming an acknowledged expert has more to do with deciding you are one than any external nomination. One excellent strategy to achieving is outlined in Leo’s recent article on giving away your services
Those are my insights into why work offers come easy for me. I hope they help you too on your way to freelance and design success! - smackhero, on 12/02/2007, -2/+11we don't need a comment validation algorithm because peer moderation acts as a collective content filtering system that's far superior to any comment validation algorithm that could be hard-coded. it's just unnecessary to try to filter out bad comments when there's already a moderation system in place that will take care of it.
- SubKamran, on 12/02/2007, -0/+7This is good. I am an independent designer and going to college; I've already got more projects than I can do at once. It's important to be flexible and never say "I can't do that," but instead point out that you can do it soon or when your queue loosens up a bit. For example, I am doing 3 projects right now and 2 queued for winter break.
I haven't updated my site in a very long time... I should get on that; but it hasn't been important for a long time either. I get projects based on referrals, even from people who I didn't work with (friends, students, etc.). I work part time at my U's student office as a web designer and the supervising designer has been so much help to my learning (and I've been doing web design for about 6 years). You never stop learning.
It's very true about what he said about client flexibility. Sometimes clients have "bad" taste, but if you're getting paid and coding your design properly, it doesn't matter how you think it looks, it matters that your client is happy. In my designs, I try to explain my decisions and sometimes the client has a better idea! One of the projects I've been working on has been through about 4 homepage redesigns and we finally found the right one. It wasn't my idea, it was my client's. - MrBeanie, on 12/02/2007, -3/+9http://www.duggmirror.com
- xGrill, on 12/02/2007, -12/+18dont digg this guy down, digg him up so digg knows how faulty their comment system is!
- championchap, on 12/02/2007, -3/+8duggmirror works just fine, since you cant be botherd to look yourself heres the link
http://www.duggmirror.com/
the trick is to go to the comments of the story and change digg to duggmirror in the url - eatmorgnome, on 12/02/2007, -1/+61. work hard
2. don't suck
3. don't be an ass - armbar, on 12/02/2007, -1/+5Digg Rule #12: Sarcasm always gets the Green Thumb.
- drgmdp, on 12/02/2007, -2/+6let it be
- smackhero, on 12/02/2007, -0/+4yea, it really sucks when the client has poor taste, but sometimes you just have to realize that it's a job and that you're being paid to produce end results that satisfy the client's tastes not your own. sometimes it may help to explain to a client why certain aesthetic decisions are bad to protect their interests, but other times you just have to let it go and cut your losses.
for instance, recently i was commissioned to redesign a corporate website to implement a content management system. and while i was able to convince the VP to change certain web design faux pas, like having a corporate ecommerce site in a flash popup window, i was unable to convince them to allow me to redesign the layout and logo. but considering that i signed on knowing that they mainly just wanted a CMS developed, and while the original design isn't great, it's passable, so I just have to let it go. i mean, i'm still making 7g's either way, and it's less work for me.
these kinds of decisions are difficult when you're really passionate about your work, but right now i need the income more than i need to preserve my artistic integrity. and unless you're doing well enough that you can pick and choose which projects you want to take on, being a graphic/web designer isn't exactly the best career for artistic freedom. - crapmatic, on 12/02/2007, -0/+4The domain freelanceswitch.com is hosted by: Datotel LLC. Guess I'll be avoiding them.
- matude, on 12/02/2007, -2/+5The secret is to just make an article about it and upload it to every possible news site/forum you know and hope for the right people to come to you? As I can see from google's 89 search results for "The Secret to Getting a Lot of Web Design Work"..
- cwncool, on 12/02/2007, -7/+10yes
- coreyb, on 12/02/2007, -1/+4Hey he is from Mars, how else do you write it? tat tat tat tat...
- smackhero, on 12/02/2007, -0/+3great advice. i haven't been applying this as much lately, but one of the first high profile sites i worked on was the Open Source Directory--when they first started, before they were bought by O'Reilly & Associates. i was actually still in high school at the time and just starting off as web designer. i didn't really have any experience outside of sites i maintained myself, and i wasn't particularly skilled. in fact, i don't think i could have gotten anyone to pay me to design a website or logo at that time.
however, i did contribute to various open source efforts, and while many of these projects didn't go anywhere and most were abandoned after a few years, it did give me some valuable work experience. and OSDir certainly looks a heck of a lot better these days than it did when i designed their first logo, but it's still nice to have contributed however little to a project that did turn out quite well. and for a young aspiring web designer, it did wonders to strengthen my portfolio and resume. - bxblox, on 12/03/2007, -0/+2Anyone who looks for freelance design work and doesn't suck shouldn't have much of a problem finding it.
- tripple-breve, on 12/02/2007, -6/+8Very practical. Thanks!
- daljit0606, on 12/02/2007, -2/+4Its a very informative and practical post..good show..
- ZigVicious, on 12/02/2007, -1/+3Digg Rule #13: Unfortunately, not all Digg users can detect sarcasm.
- TheKrillr, on 12/02/2007, -4/+5stuf? stuf what? your ass? with a pineapple?
- Biks, on 12/03/2007, -0/+1Don't suck ass hard? :-)
- LoungeActx, on 12/02/2007, -1/+2You really wanna know the secret to getting good freelance work? Get a good headhunter.
- yohan, on 12/02/2007, -5/+6Because it shows how crappy their comment validation algorithm is. You can post a comment of ".", do you think that's a valid comment?!
- bxblox, on 12/10/2007, -0/+1how true...
typical client: "See this other site/ad/piece/design/logo, I want the exact same thing.... but different. - thomasmallen, on 12/03/2007, -0/+1These are pretty much all common sense...I'd appreciate some aimed tips instead of this bogusness.
- liminaldust, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1While I agree with you on some points, that site is likable, also quite clean and usable. The double-curve has been used in much crappier ways.
The post is mostly baby-talk, but he has one or two good comments stashed in there. from the post, you seem to be hating on him...
I can understand the frustration though ~
it is a cookie cutter, uninspired site with a lot of useless content thrown in. the whole thing just screams show off.
However, this attitude appeals to some people with money.
It's over-the-top cocky for such a site, but perhaps you need that attitude to fool high-profile clients.
I'll be high and mighty and tell myself i wouldn't be like this guy.. but who knows... - theadvinci, on 05/23/2008, -0/+1@r2700, Biks: Exactly :)
- Biks, on 12/03/2007, -0/+1I've always said: If it weren't for the client, this project would've come out GOOD.
- DiggerDoombot, on 12/02/2007, -2/+2I'm guessing Sweater Girl, Tron Guy and Peter Pan Man?
- MikeonTV, on 12/02/2007, -5/+5Sounds like common sense is all you need by this guys list.
- Culled, on 12/02/2007, -6/+6How does that make sense?
- Dedpoet, on 12/03/2007, -1/+1Are you kidding me? A missing comma? Did you read your own comment?
- dnields, on 12/02/2007, -3/+3True... but unfortunately, "Common" sense is not a commonly shared attribute of many people.
- anarchytv, on 12/03/2007, -1/+1meth
- r2700, on 12/03/2007, -1/+1Why would you want 3 new clients a week? Clients are such a pain in the ass.
- hutchy, on 12/02/2007, -3/+3http://duggmirror.com/design/The_Secret_to_Getting ...
- byobusiness, on 12/04/2007, -1/+0i think that is a good tips for me
- pbgswd, on 12/02/2007, -4/+3it would also help to have a site that doesnt go down when its on digg
- chadu, on 12/02/2007, -5/+4period
- VideoExperiment, on 12/02/2007, -6/+4Good words of wisdom
- blackfox026, on 12/02/2007, -5/+3Incredibly insightful post. +1
- jkremer3, on 12/02/2007, -4/+1So the keyyyy is....do it for a living, and be a nice person. HMMMMM, never woulda guessed!
- Akraz, on 12/02/2007, -5/+1after 14 hours(but only on front page for 20 minutes). the site dies
- d2002, on 12/02/2007, -10/+3If only more designers read this article my life would be a lot easier.
- PRlME, on 12/02/2007, -10/+3all you ***** ***** jump on Digg for the littlest *****. stuf already, who really gives a ***** if you c an post "." is it such a huge problem? so far for the past 2 months its the only dot i seen. A bigger problem on digg is ***** like you guys (sorry for all the cussing)
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is