Has "design philosophy" officially moved into played-out cliche territory?
January 15, 2010 9:45 AM Subscribe
Has "design philosophy" officially moved into played-out cliche territory?
I'm trying to get a personal site up so I can nail some freelance web dev jobs. Basically, I want to communicate that while I am capable of doing design/layout work, I'm much more proficient at getting growable, content-drive, cross-browser compatible sites up quickly (in drupal, mostly) rather than endlessly finessing lay outs for people who don't understand that internet is not print. Of course looks are important to me, and I'm good at theming/css, but I want clients who are wowed by how quickly i can roll out a site with a high level of functionality: people who are looking to get information out there quickly and conveniently (for them). i'm interested in providing solutions for information-dense sites, rather than sites that are just an internet brochure. not that there's anything wrong with those types of sites for portfolios or what have you, but i've been doing web development for a decade now and i know what i'm good at/what i enjoy doing and i think finding clients on the same level will be mutually beneficial. what's an appropriate way to introduce this on my own site?
I'm trying to get a personal site up so I can nail some freelance web dev jobs. Basically, I want to communicate that while I am capable of doing design/layout work, I'm much more proficient at getting growable, content-drive, cross-browser compatible sites up quickly (in drupal, mostly) rather than endlessly finessing lay outs for people who don't understand that internet is not print. Of course looks are important to me, and I'm good at theming/css, but I want clients who are wowed by how quickly i can roll out a site with a high level of functionality: people who are looking to get information out there quickly and conveniently (for them). i'm interested in providing solutions for information-dense sites, rather than sites that are just an internet brochure. not that there's anything wrong with those types of sites for portfolios or what have you, but i've been doing web development for a decade now and i know what i'm good at/what i enjoy doing and i think finding clients on the same level will be mutually beneficial. what's an appropriate way to introduce this on my own site?
Best answer: I'm confused by your question; nobody is going to be wowed by you rolling out a lot of functionality fast via design of your portfolio. In general nobody expects things in this field to take any time or effort. Check out the oatmeal or clients from hell for a more common perspective.
That said, if you aren't a design guy, don't sell yourself as such. Get someone else to design your website, put a credit in your footer, and focus on what you actually want to do, which is create drupal-driven websites. There is a huge market for drupal and there's no need to conflate your skills with a "design philosophy" or pre-wowing people.
posted by shownomercy at 12:07 PM on January 15, 2010
That said, if you aren't a design guy, don't sell yourself as such. Get someone else to design your website, put a credit in your footer, and focus on what you actually want to do, which is create drupal-driven websites. There is a huge market for drupal and there's no need to conflate your skills with a "design philosophy" or pre-wowing people.
posted by shownomercy at 12:07 PM on January 15, 2010
You're vomiting up turnkey solutions. Market it that way. Don't beat around the bush. "YOUR SITE FAST!" and such like that.
If you don't play it that way, expect people to "finesse" a little more.
posted by carlh at 4:59 PM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you don't play it that way, expect people to "finesse" a little more.
posted by carlh at 4:59 PM on January 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
The way to do this isn't through the design of your personal site per se, it's more through the content. Ask previous clients if you can use their stories on your personal site, and put up a bunch of smiling people with associated testimonials (and links if need be) about how much time/money they saved by using your design. If it comes from the clients, (a) it becomes PR instead of sales and (b) it won't sound to tech-y.
posted by rjacobs at 9:55 AM on January 15, 2010