Malleck Design :: Blog

How to compete with crowdsourcing

Joe — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:56:41 +0000

For the majority of freelance designers and design firms the rise of crowdsourcing is quite unsettling. The growing demand for cheap commoditized design is growing and severely undercutting the industry. This article on Sixrevisions got me thinking about this issue and how it relates to my business and other designers in my position. While I’m not going to write on the evils or merits of the crowdsourcing trend, I do want to share some thoughts that I had while thinking about my own business and what I need to do to compete.

1. Face Reality

Sometimes, truth hurts, but, it’s best to face it head on. The fact is, crowdsourcing is not going away anytime soon. From the business side of things I can see why it is gaining steam: low cost & choice. This is very appealing to small businesses with tight budgets, especially in lean times. For this reason, I think that this segment of the industry is going to be around for a long time. That’s the reality. Accepting this, I think, is the first step to readjusting to the new reality marketplace. Whining about it wont help anything.

2. Focus on Your Value Proposition

We all know that this is important in any kind of business. It’s what sets you apart from the rest of your competitors. It is what keeps your clients coming to you again, and again. Now, more than ever, it’s time to refine and refocus your value proposition. What makes your business unique? What value can you bring that the crowdsourcing sites cannot bring? Why is that worth the cost? These are questions that I am currently sorting out again in my own business. It can be a difficult task, but well worth it in the end.

3. Focus on Client Relationships

One of the huge negatives of croudsourcing is the lack of relationship between the designer and the client. As you probably already know, business is ALL about relationship. Why do I go pay double to get my haircut by my hairdresser rather than go to supercuts? Because I like my hairdresser, she’s nice. She gets me a cup of coffee (good coffee, not some instant crap) when I go to get my haircut. She asks me about what’s going on in my personal life and takes an interest. This is all pretty basic stuff. But it keeps me going back. Why would I go somewhere else? Even if she raised her rates, I wouldn’t even think of not going to her. Focusing on building quality relationships with clients that go beyond just the work that’s being done can add tremendous value to your services. Raise the bar. Care more. Remember the little things. This crowdsourcing cannot compete with.

4. Expand Your Skill Set

You’ve heard the term “Jack of all trades, master of none” before I’m sure. In this day and age, however, I think it’s to the designer’s advantage to know a bit of everything. Specialize in something, for sure, but don’t plateau. Expand your skill set to accommodate your client’s future needs. It may mean branching out into UX design, or learning a new scripting language. These things can make you more valuable to clients. If you’ve already formed a strong relationship with them they will be coming to you to solve their problem. It would be a shame to turn them away because what they need is not in your skill set.

5. Don’t Give Up

There will always be Walmart, and there will always be Neiman Marcus, and there will always be a market for both. I see this time as an opportunity to contrast my strengths with crowdsourcing’s weaknesses. I’m embracing the market reality, telling people about the real value of my services, taking excellent care of my clients, and adding more skills to my skill set. This is how I plan to compete.

How about you? Do you have plans on how you are going to compete? Or is crowdsourcing a non-issue to you? I’d love to hear what you think.

Killing the Artist

Joe — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:05:39 +0000

One of the hardest things to learn, when venturing out on your own in the design world, is that you shouldn’t be too attached emotionally to your work. Clients come to you for a creative solution to their problem, and they trust that you are going to provide them that solution. Some clients give you all the freedom in the world and let you have your way with their website, brochure or whatever. These projects are always a pleasure to work on because it feeds the artist that is in most of us. For the most part, however, clients have their own idea of what the end result should look like, generally. Sometimes they have preconceived idea, or they simply do not like what you have done after they see your first iteration. There are times when it doesn’t matter how detailed a brief you get or how many interviews you do, sometimes you just miss the mark. They don’t like your design for some reason or another, valid, or invalid—dosen’t really matter. This is where you have to kill the artist in yourself and think like a business person.

What’s so bad about the artist?

An artist creates works of art that are expressions of his thoughts and feelings. He is attached to his work emotionally as it is essentially part of him. While most designers are artists at some level, and artistic sensibilities play a huge role in crafting effective design, the artist must not be allowed to rule when it comes to work for clients. Why? Because the artist is too emotionally attached to the work. When a client, or colleague, criticizes the work, the artist takes it as a criticism of himself. And it’s understandable that he would. To the artist, this piece of design is representing his thoughts and feelings expressed in color, layout and type. He thought to himself during the process of designing, “Man wait until people see this, they’re going to be blown away!”. What he should have been thinking is, “Man, this is going to do exactly what the client wants to get done, in a creative way.”This mentality is focused on client needs and the solution to their problem and not a focus on self-gratification.

Killing my own artist

I have had to come to grips with this personally. And it wasn’t easy. There was a client that was great from the get go. They seemed flexible, they liked the work in my portfolio, they pointed out some sites that they liked and colors that they were looking to use. All good. So I got to work. I was pumped. The design was looking awesome. One of my personal best, in my opinion. I was so excited to show the client the first mockup and to hear them say “Wow, that is so incredible! Thanks for going the extra mile.” Boy was I surprised when I heard “I don’t get how you got the idea that this is what we were looking for. It looks nothing like the sites we showed you that we liked.” My heart sank. I couldn’t understand it. I put so much of myself into the design. And that was the problem. I was designing for me, not the client and their problem. In the end I had to start over and I got the job done for them in a way that pleased them and solved their problem. In my opinion the end product wasn’t as nice artistically than the first design, but that is irrelevant. What matters is that the client got what they paid for.

Conclusion

Now I’m not saying that you should not try to push yourself to create the best work you can, or that we shouldn’t use our artistic sensibilities in what we do. I’m just saying that maybe we need to redefine what “best” means to us as individuals. Is it great work if it solves the problem for the client but dosen’t get praise from your peers. I think so. Sometimes we have to bite the bullet and do things that we may not be fully on board with just to please our clients, because that is why we are in business.

15 Incredibly useful jQuery navigation tutorials

Joe — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:02:33 +0000

Having a clear, usable navigation system in place is key to any website design. There are many things you can do with CSS to spice up the navigation and make it more interesting and click-able. But you can take it a step further by using some cool jQuery techniques. Listed below are some amazing tutorials that will help you learn some great techniques to incorporate into your designs. Check them out and let me know what you think!

This week’s super nice website – David Fooks

Joe — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:19:56 +0000

I’m always on the lookout for well designed websites. I love seeing the innovation that talented web designers bring to their projects. It’s both inspiring and motivating. Every week, I’ll be posting an article that features a favorite site that I’ve discovered. I’ll breakdown what I like about it and why. I hope that these articles will inspire you.

This weeks pick: David Fooks

David Fooks has done well with his little portfolio site. He keeps it minimal, but maintains interest throughout the site.

The Homepage

What I like about the homepage is that it takes an original path, but it doesn’t over complicate things or confuse the user. The use of illustration gives the site sense of mystery. The first thing I wanted to do was see what the jellyfish and the bear were all about. Upon rolling over them a little speech-bubble came up letting me know what this link was pointing to.

This feedback is what makes the illustrations work as navigation. The jellyfish and the bear are also effectively doing what I assume David wanted them to do: attract attention. Most likely users who go to this site will click on either of these illustrations pointing them to one of David Fook’s portfolios.

The Navigation

The main navigation also uses cleaver little illustrations with the same type of feedback as the links below. The icons are used well, and communicate what they are effectively.

The Portfolio

The portfolio section is a nice set of thumbnails ready to be clicked. This is a great way to organize portfolio peices. It gives the user the ability to quickly scan the work and until they see something that resembles what they are looking for.
Once clicked, the thublnail takes you to a project detail page that discusses the project. The entire portfolio can be navigated through this section as well without having to go back to the portfolio page.

Call to Action

Every site should have a clear call to action. This site’s call to action is on every page near the footer. A large graphic urging the user to “contact me” is used to clearly state what the user should do.

Conclusion

This site is one of the better sites that I’ve seen. Classy, elegant, and cleaver. David Fooks has done an incredible job and avoided the trap of over-designing. He has proved that simple does not equal boring.
Visit This Site

What do you think?

Thoughts on List Posts

Joe — Sat, 15 May 2010 07:24:55 +0000

A couple of places around the web have been going on a bit about how many design blogs are pumping out tons of list post just to drive traffic to their site. The argument is that these types of posts are short-sighted and don’t offer the readers anything to be really loyal to.

I agree. But I also think that they have their place, and I like them.

There not that bad…

A list post with “25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs”, or whatever, may not give deep insights into design theory, practice, or business, but it does serve a purpose. Obviosly there is a need or desire for these kinds of posts since they draw so much traffic to the blogs that post them. However, these blogs still have the same problem as any other blog. They must deliver content that connects with their audience or they will loose readership and go by the wayside.

Not everyone wants to read the Wall Street Journal everyday. Sometimes you just want to look at some pretty pictures, get inspired, or read the funny pages. My point is, there are times when these list posts are all I am looking for. Sometimes I need to find a certain plugin to solve a problem. Other times I want to check out how designers are creating sites for a certain industry. These lists come in handy—saving me a lot of time searching for whatever it is I am looking for.

That said, when I have the time, I do like to read the more in-depth blog posts on design, marketing, and business. These articles are just as valuable. They are also, admittedly, better at creating a loyal readership.

What’s my point? I like lists. I think that they serve a need that people have, and they will continue to do so until that need goes away. I think it’s interesting to discuss their legitimacy, but it’s ultimately pointless to do so. Better to just produce the kind of content that will best serve you audience and build your readership.

What do you think?

Are list posts dumbing down the design community?

Twitter’s not as pointless as you thought it was

Joe — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:45:00 +0000

Lots of people are on Twitter, but many people I talk to in business aren’t fully convinced yet. I understand. When I first heard about Twitter, admittedly, I thought, “What is the point of that? Can’t you do the same thing on Facebook?”. I was very cynical about the whole thing. To me, it seemed like yet another venue for self-indulgent people to post self-indulgent things. And it is, in part. Twitter has become something more. I have grown to love it, and I recommend that people, especially in business, use it.

Making Connections

The cool thing, for me, about Twitter is the connections that I’ve been able to make with people in the design industry. These relationships have been really helpful and inspiring. I may not have made those connections had I not followed them on Twitter and dialogued with them. I’ve also made some great connections with people in related industries that have led to business opportunities. Twitter is great because of its conversational qualities. People expect you to be engaged and reply to their Tweets. This opens the door wide open with opportunities to expand your network and build relationships. Obviously spamming is not cool. Unsolicited DM’s or @mentions are just as annoying as spam emails. Just remember the golden rule when Tweeting, and you should be fine.

People expect you to be engaged and reply to their Tweets. This opens the door wide open with opportunities to expand your network and build relationships.

Great Content

This is one of my favorite things about Twitter. I have come accross some of the most usefull and interesting blogs, articles, and resources through people I follow on twitter. The chances of me finding this great content on my own are slim. There is so much information on the internet having this kind of network of content gatherers is priceless. Usually you follow people with general interests as yourself, so, usually what the link to is useful to you as well.

Marketing

Twitter won’t work miracles, but if your not using it, I think you could be missing some opportunities. There are lots of “eyeballs” on Twitter, looking for what you offer. Having a presence on Twitter can only have a positive effect on your business marketing strategy. What’s better is that it’s free! But be careful that you’re not just Tweeting about special offers and events related to your business. It’s a good idea to post links to industry related content, or just things that you think your followers would find interesting. When someone is constantly selling, it gets annoying. The Golden Rule applies here too.

If you haven’t tried Twitter yet, give it a shot. Give it some time. Be engaged. I think you will like the results.

Resources:

Twitter

Hootsuite

My favorite Twitter client. Schedule tweets, view stats, and multiple columns. Nice little owl mascot too!

Tweetdeck

Another great Twitter client. The iPhone app is nice.

Twhirl

Another popular client

Big list of Twitter clients

Simple & Nice – A Free WordPress Theme

Joe — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:08:49 +0000

So Malleck Design has been in business for 1 year now, and it’s been awesome. To celebrate we’re giving away some stuff starting with this free theme for your WordPress blog. It’s widget-ready and nice to look at. Best of all, it’s FREE! Download it here .

Screenshots

Download the theme here!

A Rant on Templates

Joe — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:36:52 +0000

There are templates for everything it seems these days. From website templates, WordPress templates, business card templates, what have you. Designing these types of templates can prove to be a profitable stream of passive income for a talented and dedicated designer. And while I don’t have a problem with templates in and of themselves, I do, however, have a problem with how they are used. Sometimes.

Legitimate Uses

Templates serve a need, to be sure. The need, usually, is to quickly get a decent looking site/blog whatever up with minimal thought,planning, or budget. For people on a short timeline and a shoestring budget I can see how using a template can be an attractive option. For these website owners templates serve an immediate need and I think that this use is completely valid.

Another valid use of templates, in my opinion, is the time when a web developer who is lacking in design skills, or is working on a project that has no budget for design, buys and uses a template. This use of a template makes sense as long as the client knows that they are getting a template site that is being developed further for them.

Not so great uses of templates

Ok, I’m all for free enterprise, and you can run your business however you like. But I’m just going to say it: designers should not call themselves designers if they use templates.They should call themselves template installers, or something like that. I’m not talking about frameworks like Starkers or Thematic. I’m talking about marketing yourself as a designer, saying that you provide custom design work for your clients, and then charge them whatever thousands of dollars to instal whatever CMS your into and skin it with a template you just bought. At this point you are not a designer. You have just entered the world of glorified data entry.

I have a problem with this because, in my opinion, it doesn’t serve the client well, and it devalues the design industry as a whole. If a template is used on a client project and only changed slightly, chances are that there is that same template out there on another business’ site. I have actually seen a web design company use one template several times for drastically different businesses. Now, can you tell me that the needs of each of these businesses are being served by this practice? Is the integrity and power of their brand identity being reinforced, or watered down by the use of a generic template?

If a business claims to provide custom web solutions for clients and then serves them up with recycled template designs, that is misleading at best, and deceptive at worst. The truth is that most clients don’t have an understanding of the web industry. They don’t know what goes into building a site. They can’t tell weather or not what you have presented them is a template, not created by you, or an original design. This is not their fault, they shouldn’t need to be aware of these things. The web designer should be trustworthy enough to let them know that they are receiving a website that uses a template that was not tailored to their specific need. They should know that you did not design it and that you are merely changing a few things, like popping their logo into the header.

Transparency

I have to be completely honest here: I have used templates. A handful of times because the client specifically requested that I come in and do some development/design work to their existing site. This, in my opinion, is a legitimate use of a template, because both parties were aware that one was being used for this particular job. I always advise clients to avoid using templates for obvious reasons. A custom design can drive home a message and meet goals much better than a one-size-fits-most template.

Conclusion

I think that a designer with modest of design skill is better off creating their own original designs. For themselves and their clients. In the long run they will develop a stronger skill set and know that they haven’t deceived their clients into believing that they have given them a custom solution. They will stand out from their competition and be reliant on their own natural ability.

Free Hi-Res Wood Textures for Designers

Joe — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:08:40 +0000

What designer doesn’t love textures! I know, just like good fonts, I can’t get enough of them. Here’s a small collection of wood textures that I hope will be useful in your own designs. Just click to download or download them all in the .zip file at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Click the image below to download all the files in .zip format.

A case for Photoshop

Joe — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:18:37 +0000

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles being published these days on whether or not to use a graphics program, like Photoshop or Fireworks, to design mockup of a website. The new trend seems to be going towards designing in browser using mostly markup and skipping Photoshop all together. There have been lots of great articles written by some really good designers who subscribe to this technique (This one is especially good).

Some good points

At first the technique sounded like it could be a good idea. And for some projects I think it would be. A content-heavy site that would need to have a stiff structure to organize the content could be designed with mostly markup, as the graphic elements would be minimal. It would certainly be easier for the client to grasp what the site would look like in the browser, and it would also cut out a step in the process. These are all great points.

I still use Photoshop.

Most of the sites that I design are for small businesses. These clients needs a site that gives voice to their message through the design. Using Photoshop to create my mockups allows me, in my opinion, to be a bit more creative and push the boundaries. I get to let my artistic instincts guide me. Making revisions to the PSD is much simpler that messing with the code. Getting things lined up and approved before the coding part makes the whole thing go much more smoothly. Also, code is boxy. And when you start with code, I would imagine that it would be hard to get away from that square look. This article is a good counter point to the in-browser argument.

Like I said, I could see designing in-browser with mark-up as beneficial for some projects, but not all. I think that it would behoove (yes, behoove) any designer to adopt both techniques and apply them accordingly.