So I was approached by Jobtrio.com owner Josh to improve his site’s look.  In his words, turning it from a $100k site into a $1 million site with subtle design tweaks!  Thought it would be helpful to some to show how I went about improving the look. It’s a great site, and usability-wise it was/is excellent.

Below is the original (click to enlarge):

Job Trio Original Design

Now you’ll notice it’s not bad, at all.  It just needs some touches to bring it out to it’s full potential.

It’s weak points:

1. White space is good, but I think here we’ve got a little too much white space.
2. We could use nicer fonts for the main titles (could use sIFR/cufon if image replacement is a problem).
3. The navigation shine and appearance could be improved.
4. The search button here is pretty important, at the moment it’s not very engaging, so I think that should be improved.
5. Better fonts all round, no need to have native text on the title elements and navigation.

By first assessing a sites current issues, it’s then very simple to go in and make the necessary improvements.

So here’s the finished product:

JobTrio-Redesign

The new site design should be up in the coming months!

Being a freelancer requires, partly, a mind-reading skill.  Depending on the type of client, they’ll usually have designs in their heads and it’s your job to extract this visualisation and get it down into a workable design.  It also requires translation skills, yes, I’m talking about those phrases that always tend to crop up when you get a new client,  some feedback or as part of the brief.  These are some of the phrases that I’ve found to be the most popular:

1. “Make it pop”
2. “Make it look like mint.com”
3. “I need a million dollar site”
4. “Make it bluer/greener/redder/“
5. “I need this done yesterday”
6. “If I bring you [X] amount of work what discount can you offer?”
7. “I’ll send it round the office and see what the others think”
8. “That’s a little out of my [$50] budget”
9. “I’ve got it! Add a key-line through the middle!”
10. “I love it! Can you change this and this and this and this and this….”
11. “Can you make the logo bigger?”
12. “Do I have to pay the whole bill at once?”

I’m sure there are more, be great to hear any others that I’ve missed!!

First of all, there are a lot of good freelance web designers, trouble is there are also a lot of bad ones as with every industry. If it is a toss up between going to a web design company or using a freelancer, bear in mind that you can get a lot more bang for your buck with a freelance web designer. Many web design agencies and companies simply outsource their work to freelancers like my self and sell to their clients (that’s you) at a profit thereby making it more expensive for you! There is no problem with this, but if you do your research you can come straight to the source and get the same output for less money.

A few VERY important tips to consider when choosing your web designer(s):

1. Do they have an up-to-date website?  If it looks dated, then chances are their designs will be too.  Make sure you always get up-to-the minute design and development as the web is always changing and your business needs to change with it.
2. Obviously check out their portfolio, are the links working to online sites they’ve made? If not, then they’re not updating their website, not a good sign.
3. What do they actually offer? Many design companies will throw lots of extras at you to try and entice you; for example hosting, (which is cheap) and you should never be persuaded to go with a company based on the extras they offer.
4. What companies/individuals have they produced work for? Are they successful? Do they look good?
5. Avoid at all costs paying HUGE amounts of money on promises like ‘we’ll make sure you get in google at the number 1 position, whatever your keywords’.  This is an empty promise; whilst there are plenty of legit SEO companies, there are also plenty of cowboys out to rob you blind for a service that hasn’t been done properly.
6. SEO (search engine optimisation) is hugely important for the success of your new web presence, and the web site built for you should be Search Engine friendly at no extra cost.  If you’re confused about SEO, I’ll be writing a post on it, but for now send me an email and I’ll answer any questions you have.
7. Design is subjective; what is best for your business and what YOU think is best can be very different things.  Make sure your web designer knows how to brand properly.
8. What is their after-sale policy? Will they set you up and never get back in touch?  Make sure they are always available after-sales to answer any questions you have and help you out if needs be.
9. Lots of web designers work in different ways so it’s important to make sure you pick a web designer that works in a similar way to yourself.
10. I can recommend this freelance web designer

Just be careful, like any business it really is worth getting a few quotes from designers you like before biting the bullet.

1. Have you got the design skills?

Design is subjective, but you need to have a great eye for detail if you want to become a freelance web designer.  You will also need to know how to code html and css.  There are few freelance web designers who can’t code html.  You can learn code, but you can’t really learn design: my first designs were god-awful and I bet the majority of web designers will agree, getting good at design is something that takes time and experience.  Enter design contests, join forums and get your work critiqued.  Don’t get upset when you get negative feedback; it’s not personal! The design part is fun so practice practice practice and eventually people will love your work and you’ll find yourself in demand.

2. Have you got the coding skills?

As mentioned, not only do you need to offer cracking design skills, you also need to learn how to code well.  You can attend classes, or teach yourself, there are some fantastic resources on web design for beginners.  I taught myself over a long summer, using free online resources so you can too!  I aim to write some tutorials in the hopefully-not-so-far future.

3. What sort of competition is there in your area?

Check out the websites of local web design companies to see what you’re up against; of course you can aim your services to anyone around the world, but local businesses area  great way to start, get a little cash and add to your portfolio.  You can always offer your services to them as well!

4. Extend your portfolio.

Your portfolio is one the most important tools in your arsenal, pick out a selection of your best work; QUALITY OVER QUANTITY, that’s right, don’t put everything you’ve ever done in there, it won’t do you any favours.  Offering live links to webpages you’ve built are a great way of showing off your work, so try to have a few decent links in there.  There are lots of ongoing arguments about paid web design contests and spec work, personally when you’re first starting out I think they can offer a very positive experience for the inexperienced.  You get feedback, a portfolio piece and maybe cash if you win.  I sometimes enter contests even now to make sure I’m still beating my competition in terms of design skill.  It can be fun too!  Check out 99designs.com for an idea.

5. Getting work .

So you’ve got the skills, and a swanky, shiny portfolio that you’re very proud of, good for you, but work won’t suddenly start falling in your lap, you need to get it all seen.  Network, both locally (offer business cards to local companies in need of a web presence) and online, all your twitters, flikr’s and other er’s offer a great way to get links to your portfolio and into the public eye.  Hopefully someone will love your work and want you to design them a new website.

6. The pressure to get clients.

The pressure to get work can be pretty intense at first when you’re trying to make rent every month, but this is true in all aspects of the freelance lifestyle, you’re selling yourself as much as your work.  You will need some business/marketing skills if you want to fully monetize your skillset.  This means doing that little bit extra for clients to keep them coming back as well as creating a brand identity; business cards, a decent, recognisable, memorable logo.

7.Don’t expect too much too fast:

Money won’t flow in to your bank accounts right away, or for a while, it’s hard work.  You probably won’t be able to live off freelancing right away, so moonlight if needs be.  It takes a bit of courage going from salary to no guaranteed freelance work, but it’s so rewarding when you’re up and running and well worth all the hard work!

1. Know what you’re worth.

When you first start out, there are never enough leads, so I always found myself taking everything that comes along. A lot of your first leads (and a few later) will be people fishing through multiple freelancers just like yourself. Never assume they’ve only emailed you! There are exceptions but if you’re too cheap they’ll run away, better to overprice than underprice, then at least you’ll get paid what you’re worth and the work won’t suffer because you don’t think you’re getting enough.

2. Get your taxes in order.

Becoming a freelancer means (unless you have your own accountant/FA) you’ll have to document ALL your incomings and outgoings, from a UK standpoint you can use any assets you’ve bought (like PC/software) to lower your tax bracket. I just use Office Accounting and add entries everytime I buy something related to work or get paid. Register as self employed with HMRC ASAP, there is a penalty (of £100 I think) if you leave it too late. Yes taxes are a pain in the ass, no way around it.

3. Promote promote promote.

I initially worked with a partner in a another company and the first thing we did was order thousands of branded business cards and went round our local town asking every shop along the way if they needed a website. Use blogs, social networking, CSS showcase websites (there are now thousands of these). Leads won’t appear from nowhere, your website is your shopfront, use it and publicise it.

4. Sort out a pricing strategy.

In my old company we hadn’t set out any kind of pricing strategy and so when clients asked for more details (such as price etc) we guestimated. Work out what you’re spending and how much you need to earn, add some more and use that as a basis.

5. Get organised, especially your time.

As a freelancer, on many occasions I’ve worked into the early hours, whilst sometimes this is essential to meet a deadline, it’s important to give yourself working hours, and if you’re working per hour, keep track of hours spent working. It can often be hard to give yourself a break, take weekends off, have a decent lunchbreak etc. So be strict with yourself and your clients, you’re only human after all .

6. Recognise a bad client before working with them.

Eventually it becomes second nature to recognise a potential client that will be difficult, you can find out more about identifying clients here: 12 Breeds of client and how to recognise them

7. Stick with what you do best.

You WILL get potential clients asking you to do something you know you cannot do, don’t risk it, it’ll be sloppy work you won’t put in your portfolio and lead to an unhappy client. If you’re a frontend web designer stick to that, you can always learn other skills along the way. If you try and take on too much it’ll be damaging to your rep, brand, work and your client.

8. Avoid spec work.

When I first started, money incomings were slow, so I’d happily do a bit of spec work. I ended up making a bit of money, but the amount of work triples, and more on often than not you’ll get nothing for the work you provide. Better to get a few local clients to put on your portfolio and if your work and promotion is good, you’ll find more work. Most clients I’ve found to be pretty consistent which is good, I know what they like after working with them for so long. This means they’ll stay with you, so keep them happy!