Quick Hits

A few basics for the month:

• Number of individual clients – 2
• Number of items added to portfolio – 1
• Main Client – Allstate Fire Protection, Inc [Local]

Work Wrap

My first project of 2010 was for Rhode Island based fire protection company Allstate Fire Protection, Inc.web

They had been looking for a simple first-time web presence just as another way to advertise their services and connect with clients. In just over a week the site was completed. I stayed away from Wordpress or php for this project because it only needed to be very basic. I’m also hosting and managing the site on my server (provided by Holdfire). Take a look at the portfolio entry for more.

In addition I’ve picked up some side work for Think! LLC once again. They’re working on a couple new things down in Destin, Florida and I’ve been helping out. I have helped code and clean up a design for Coastal Cabinets and Countertops, made some minor tweaks to a localized (Louisiana) Rhino Shield branch, and have been working on finalizing the design, layout, and code of Think! Loves to Print based off a partial design Think! provided me with at the beginning of the project.

Entering & Exiting

With the purchase of my tablet I decided to jump into the logo field. I entered a contest on 99designs for a preschool out of the Chicago area called Griffin Early Childhood Center. After reading the brief the first thing that came to my mind was alphabet blocks. To me it could capture all of the elements they were looking for — a simple logo that would convey education value and be fun. I wanted to stay away from cliché school symbols like pencils, apples, and school houses.

My initial entry was only the third or fourth in the contest. I went with a color scheme of green, yellow, red, and blue. To my surprise, the design was rated 4 out of 5 stars upon its first review. It was very encouraging, and after exchanging ideas with the contest holder I submitted a few more concepts with slight tweaks. Eventually I was notified that I was one of the final three logos being considered by the group of philanthropists behind the school (the school is being funded with grants from some big universities). In the end my logo was not chosen, but it was a nice learning experience.

From this point on I won’t be using 99designs any time soon though. This experience was a reminder why I hate contests – they restrict creativity. Essentially every entry after my own used a nearly identical color scheme. There was very little variation in many of the entries. This is prevalent on nearly all 99design contests. While there is an option for contest holders to make entries completely private (DO THIS!), the majority of them are not. This means that everyone else can see what concepts are rated the highest and build off of them. Am I the only one who thinks that is a severe problem?

Random Bits

Will the Boston Bruins ever win another game? That’s all I got for now.

Roots:

Let’s start with the main problem in the design community in general — unbelievably below-value pricing of work and services. You don’t have to go very far to see those doing the hiring – be it single individuals or companies and startups — seeking entire sites both designed and developed for way below value. Many times this means budgets of less than $200 (USD). As much as that makes little sense to expect an entire site put together for essentially nothing, it’s even more confusing to see the massive amount of people willing to do work for prices like this.

Shifting Away

So with 2009 coming to a close I made the personal decision of raising all my services prices up. 2009 was by far my slowest year in terms of number of clients and projects, but what I discovered as I looked back at the year and previous years was that I was generally under-valuating my time, work, and effort, and letting clients drag on projects that were essentially “finished” to delay payment. So that $500 dollars I charged at the start of the project (and expected to get two weeks later)? I would get it two months later, and at that point it would essentially be worthless. (You wouldn’t want your employer to give you your check for last weeks work two months from now right?)

Most design studios regardless of size will charge companies (big or small) a few thousand dollars at minimum. I’d say the client would probably be looking at requiring a minimum budget of $3-$5K to go to just about any small design studio. (A friend of the family once paid $15K for a company site.) The best part? Most design studios split work amongst the employees — so one person designs the layout, another may strictly do the logo, another the html/css, and finally someone else to implement a backend system. So why is it that when a freelance designer seeks more than a couple hundred dollar it appears to be way out of line with what everyone else is charging?

This is why I feel I was justified to raise my prices across the board. I am taking on the responsibility of an entire design studio while balancing going to school and doing whatever else I want. Do I think I’m the best solution out there? Absolutely not. What I do believe is that I should be compensated for my time and effort, and if that means fewer clients because my services look expensive to an outsider who can go to any design forum and get things done for $50 bucks, I don’t really care. I will no longer allow myself to worry about what competition is offering services for, because you either want to hire me or not.

So what exactly are we looking at for 2010? First, I’m all about flat fees. Personally I believe hourly rates do not work in this industry (at least for freelancers). Everyone works at different paces, and generally clients will want the fastest turnaround possible while demanding quality. In addition you have to remember that as a freelancer you are essentially like the guy at work who runs around and does everyone else’s job but gets paid only for the X amount of hours of work without taking into account everything you do. See what I’m saying?

If you are interested in hiring me (which I hope at least some are) there are a few things to keep in mind. For individuals (you there looking to redesign your blog) you are generally looking at a minimum of $800 for a full site design (that’s design & code & Wordpress integration or other CMS if required). Companies (regardless of size) should expect to pay a bit more — between $1-$3K depending on project size, requirements, and features for a full site design. Smaller projects like single page design, Wordpress porting, just code, or logos will be much less and will vary by project specifics, so simply send me an email and we can discuss.

A Plea

More importantly the overriding point of this post was not to dive into every detail of the cost of my services but to encourage the community and industry in general to get with it and put a higher value on your services.

To other designers & developers: Competition is one thing, but sub $100 dollar sites, $10 logos, etc and etc are all ridiculous. The economy sucks no matter where you are (for the most part) and $100 isn’t worth shit no matter how old you are (I remember when I was 13 and thought that first $200 check was like winning the lottery). Base your prices off of how long you’ve been doing what you’re doing and how much time and effort goes into each project. If it only takes you 20 minutes then your stuff probably does suck and maybe $50 is too much for you, but for the most part there are talented and creative individuals that are not being fair to themselves.

To the clients doing the hiring: You get what you pay for. Just because you can find someone in some remote country that you can not really understand (or trust) put together a site for you for less than $100 doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Look for someone that really works for you and remember that whether you are just launching a web presence for the first time or you are getting redesigned for the 20th time, a site is a valuable investment. As someone who spent $950 for an ad at Smashing Magazine back when i was 17, I know what it means to spend money to make money. Whoever you end of hiring remember they are providing you with a service you can not take care of yourself, so be sure you are being fair to them and be open minded when it comes to pricing.

Generally anytime you’ve seen a logo from me it is always just text with a basic effect or two applied (sometimes) and occasionally some icon composed of free png images found throughout the web. I’m hoping I can eliminate at least some of that by creating my own matching symbols / icons whenever possible.

So, for the last two days I’ve been messing around in both Photoshop and Illustrator, trying my luck at new concepts while adjusting to the tablet. These are a few I worked on today. Those who have followed myself for a while (anyone?) might know a previous tagline of mine used in the past on my portfolio – summer inspired design. It’s true that I hate the winter, and because of that I try to reflect “summer elements” in as much of my work as possible. Be it a light and airy color scheme or the use of a lot of white space — I like to keep things clean and fresh.

The concepts below are just that – concepts. The first three are for the fictional site “Surfstrm” (Surfstream; of course any possible surf related domain I could think of was taking). The fourth and fifth concepts simply allowed me to experiment with drawing a fish in the same way I have always drawn one while bringing it into a digital age and spicing it up.

I am still in the midst of completing the labs page and blog archives, but please feel free to share your thoughts on these couple of ideas. More to come soon and hopefully some real logos in the near future!

Any O.A.R. fan will tell you live is really where they excel. Previous live releases Any Time Now, 34th & 8th, and Live From Madison Square Garden have all been excellent, with Any Time Now long considered to be the very best live album they have ever done. That was until Rain or Shine.

Longtime fans will continue to dispute Any Time Now VS Rain or Shine, but in my opinion Rain or Shine blows everything else they have done away. Not only is the scale of the album a completely new undertaking for O.A.R., but the sound quality is also unreal – making for an amazing, refreshing take on the O.A.R. live experience. Add in the fact that even with the weather on Night 2 including a horrible storm with heavy winds, rain, and lightning the audio remains perfect.

The album kicks off with About Mr. Brown, with a new intro that had been played only a few times previously. By the time I reached the end of the fourth track So Moved On I knew this album was going to be priceless. The ridiculous end sax on So Moved On made me so amped up even at 1:30 in the morning when I was originally listening to it for the first time. Not to mention the first freestyle of the album that also comes in that track.

Other personal highlights on that monstrous 4-disc set include Conquering Fools, Lay Down, Fool in the Rain, War Song, the entire third disc (Night 2 Disc 1), Get Away, and Rhythm of Your Shoes.

Laced with freestyles and jams throughout various songs, this album is a must have for not only any O.A.R. fan but any live-music enthusiast. Best of all, this is only the beginning in what will be a jam-packed year for O.A.R.. The band is already hard at work writing and rehearsing before heading into the studio to release the next studio album sometime this summer (my guess is late June – early July). For now, enjoy the album because it is a great one.