Tag: clients

Your client isn’t a child, but…

In every single one of the jobs I have done I have acted in accordance to my client’s wishes when it came to designing their site. In only one or 2 jobs have I been given carte blanche to do as I pleased. I can work either way. Clients of mine are free to tell me they want something done this or that way or to have an aspect changed,whatever. It’s their site,you know.

Sometimes I’ve been asked to do something that went against my personal checklist of suckage such as a splash page or background music. Again,their site. The best you can do is tell them why it’s bad. I always say: you want people to want to be there,right? And then I go on to suggest why this or that is a bad idea. Usually they get it. That’s all you have to do. Tell them why it’s a bad idea to have a splash page or background music and hope they will at least consider your points.
Chris Heilmann, who I think is a great guy and probably a genius, told me a funny thing about splash pages. He said

” it’s like you receive a flier on which is printed welcome to my pizza menu, please read my pizza menu.
Then you get to read the pizza menu. “

I thought that was a hilarious visual image. And so true!
Ok, but so what if you think you know better than your client? Want to alienate them? Want to make them feel stupid? Not a good idea. Take it from me. Do it right and they will think you have the best approach. Do it wrong and they will think you are a bossy jerk.
Everyone has different sensibility when it comes to design. Sometimes, you the designer (Mom), says “but vitamins are good for you honey” and the client says “I like shiny things”.
In other words if they want a splash page and you can’t talk them out of it then they get a splash page.

Legal Ho-Ha

I’ve been very busy lately.I got involved somehow, don’t ask how, in a nasty dispute involving ICANN, an adult film star’s trademarked stage name and her intellectual property (a concept that kind of makes me giggle).

One of my side jobs is being the Web master for a site which content is a niche of a niche in fetish. It is not porn. It doesn’t even involve nudity.And no, it isn’t bondage.And no it doesn’t involve waste materials. UGH. I have nothing against folks expressing themselves in a safe, consensual manner. But I can’t ignore the gleam of sleaze that shines off of the industry itself. I wouldn’t choose to write about this if the niche I was talking about was objectionable to women. I’m sure there would be some people who could find something objectionable towards women on this site.But as a woman, I personally do not. My motivations are practical- working for this site pays my rent which is a big step toward being able to finally save some money.

However,my client has a number of other sites sites he wants to get rid of, sites that no one under 18 can visit.So you know what those must be.

Anyway, moving on – the dispute was settled- and so we can all breathe a sigh of relief that this performer’s intellectual property is one less unauthorized domain name compromised.My client is tired of the legal stuff and so he handed the domain over just like that.He was just keeping it up because she broke their contract and was trying to recover just the costs of the server.Well, that’s his side of the story

How did I get involved? Again, don’t ask. Let me tell you it was sheer naivete on my part.

So how do you feel about taking on jobs like this? Do you judge me? Or do you feel it is ok to work for a site as long as it’s content isn’t distasteful to you? Of course I’d rather it wasn’t related to that industry at all-more like something to do with pottery or crafts.But those niche sites don’t seem to need my help,ha ha.

Sheru Arora Thinks I’m Great

I asked my last client to write a little bit about how great it was to work with me.

Sheru Arora

Sion, it was a pleasure having you create my webpage for me. You’re an extremely talented professional and make working with you very easy. I’ll definitely be referring my colleagues to you and hope we can work again soon!
Good Luck and Thanks again,

Arora

AskArora.com

He left that as a comment on an unrelated post so I moved it here so it can have it’s own category.

I’ve Had It

I’m going to ask my clients if they wouldn’t mind coming here to this blog and giving me some testimonials about their experiences of working with me.

I will ask them to briefly describe the collaborative process we went through,and whether they were satisfied with the finished product.

Why?

Because of this one bad apple client.
I’m getting what can only be described as looneytunes emails about how I am bitter and angry,how they were able to do business like they like(lots of work done for them and they pay for half)before they got messed up with me and my money demanding ways.

I have really had it with these folks.
I’ve had the pleasure of working on and completing 4 sites since theirs,2 of them were hardly paying one not at all,because they couldn’t afford it.I like to do work like this and balance it out with clients who can and should pay.But I cut struggling artists a break.Because I am an artist.
My very latest client is a student and I really enjoyed bringing his vision to life. I did the same thing for the bad apple which is why they quoted a price which was double what I expected.
And they have made me chase this ever since.

According to them I am the unprofessional one.I responded with what I found out that other more higher paid and better known designers have written in their blogs that they would do in my shoes:pull the site until the client pays. So I told them if I am unprofessional they should be happy because they wouldn’t at all like what a professional designer would do if they were me.

We are now in the middle of an email-a-thon because they don’t want me to have the last word! So childish.

Each time I’ve answered an email I have remained on subject,used polite language and refrained from making personal remarks(as much as I could,anyway).
And yet they keep calling me unprofessional merely because I keep asking they pay me.And when they failed to send me a check after a check bounced, I took out 2 links(I put them back later the same night because I’m a bit of a pussy).

Now I have gotten the owner’s life story because I told him he was trying to get something for nothing.
That’s professional? I never felt the need to give my life story to a client!

Designers:Really, really get it on paper,please,for me! Don’t make the mistake that I did.I totally wish I could have just let it go without needing the rest of the payment but I kind of do need that money.Otherwise…you know.