You Call Yourself A Designer
Saturday, August 26th, 2006 7:31 am by
aj 
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So you consider yourself a web designer? Good for you. How long have you been designing, what skills do you posses, do you have a portfolio? These are the questions any employer will ask before choosing you out of an unlimited supply of design talent. Is there any way to stand out?
Know What You’re Good At
When searching for a potential client or browsing through job openings at forums and freelance sites around the net, know your skill set before you attempt to apply for the job. I see it all the time, when someone is looking for a designer, they receive a ton of replies, but more than half of the people replying lack decent design skills. Money talks, and it can take you over into thinking you can handle a project that is way out of your league, especially if you are just beginning. Don’t go around saying you’re experienced when you really have the slightest idea of how to get things done.
Learn on your own time
Trying to take on client work, meet deadlines, and learn new techniques at the same time is challenging. Start slow - don’t attempt to jump right into the work force if you have yet to gain the experience needed to meet many of today’s “new” requirements for design, including valid xhtml / css coding.
Instead of spending countless time looking for work you could have, get in Photoshop and get practicing. Put together a bunch of premade templates, where you have the ability to tweak and improve your designing skills, and still maybe able to make a few extra bucks by selling the templates off. Only when you have what you believe is the right amount of experience should you attempt to please the hard to please client market.
Show Some Professionalism
An average forum thread with someone looking for a designer looks like this:
I’m in need of a web 2.0 design, looking for people to pm me with examples of work and price quote. Thanks
First, anyone with reasonable intelligence will want to get directly in touch with the person and get a much larger background about the potential project, otherwise, ignore the project completely. If the employer can’t even explain the project, chances are, you don’t want to work for them.
Next, there’s the PM issue. This gets on my nerves every time I see it, because of how people that our “designers” act about it. If a potential client asks you to contact them, then do it! They’re your potential client, and if you want to work for them, put some damn effort into it! You’ll see replies in forum threads with the designers bidding for the project telling the employer to get in touch with them if they’re interested. Not only does that lack professionalism, but it shows a disinterest in actually doing any work for the client.
So, am I a designer or not?
Real designers show professionalism, understand the business model, and treat every potential client as if they already were a client. Anyone can open up photoshop, paint, etc, and put together a random image. That doesn’t mean you know enough to consider yourself a designer. If you’re serious about web design, do some reading, keep practicing and improving your skills, and then find some clients - not the other way around.
I am a young designer who has been doing this longer than most other people my age. I had an early start, and have built upon it over the last few years. Devlounge was my first major successful project, which I hope is the first of many. DL is now officially out of my hands, but I hope to continue contributing for as long as I can. See more posts by 
First time here, or frequent flyer. Whatever the case may be, we highly recommend 
I have FrontPage experience. Pick me!
Sorry, couldn’t resist
@Ronalfy - haha
I’m in need of a web 2.0 design, looking for people to pm me with examples of work and price quote. Thanks
this could be a valid work offer but 7 out of ten when anyone can bid on the project. You have two problems ahead (possible I know)
- the client has no budget or thinks anyone will do it well under the going rates. Or has no prior experience dealing with the real desingers that ask money worth their expertise and time.
You get this:
- very talented people that dont know what to ask and are blinded to the offering, and are willing to do it free or almost free.
But how will you communicate with each other, you dont get paid so you wont do more than design time. There it goes wrong, you need to give advice to your client and that costs extra time. I recommend to always ask a reasonable price. Your client needs to be reasonable too, and there you need to convince the client what you are worth to his project! And I know one thing or more about it!
Great post. I get students and recent grads asking me all the time how to get freelance work or employmenet. You nailed it with “Learn on your own time.”
Too often they just want to show me what they’ve done for school projects. I ask them what they’ve done in their own time, and 9 out of 10 have nothing to show me. Well, I know for a fact mid to upper level agencies want someone that has enough passion in what they’re doing, that they’re constantly creating.
I’ve told many students, that even if design wasn’t what I did for a living, I’d still do it. I love it, and it drives me to create. If you don’t have that sort of passion, you’ll end up working in-house for a company that specializes in mass mailings and catalog design. Not the most exciting career, but you’ll get paid well to use the skills you learned in school
Good information.
I too agree about learning on your own time, even when you have a job that doesn’t require you to deploy certain skills.
I use my personal time to read new books, explore techniques, etc. that I can apply when given a new project to work on. Not only does it impress the boss, but also helps you build your portfolio/resume for future jobs.
Paul Boag from boagworld.com has a good post about learning additional design skills.
Here is the link to the post: Investing in your staff.
Online portfolio is key. This is the digital era and clients expect you to demonstrate your skills - theres no place better than on your personal website. Nice article.