Hi,

Me and my friends from college are starting up a web design business and to start with we need some work in our portfolio. For this reason I'm coming hear to ask if anyone would like a free website designing. Unfortunately I can't host it for free as I don't own the webspace, but if you would want it putting online we can set it all up and charge you.

Please serious offers only, and I'm doing this on a first come first serve - I don't have masses of time on my hands so I'll probably only be able to do 1 design - so be quick.

If this is against the TOS then delete it, but I don't think it is since I'm not selling or advertising anything.

Chow!

don't do things for free.

it's a sign of lacking professionism.

you usually get clients who have no idea what they want and their site will disappear from the net very quickly because they don't look after it.

If you want to do something, build a concept site of your own, build your own brand and show people what ideas you have.

Not quite!

Ive been wanting to create some sort of professional online website design business, but havent had any partners or anything to design with. One thing i was thinking of, was doing Logos, business cards, websites etc for people who needed it no charge, to start up a quick and professional portfolio.

PS: If you need an extra designer (Photoshop, Illustrator, Basic flash, basic HTML), im just a PM away!

You have to think down the road imo.

If one day you are doing freelance designs for some supplimentry income, and here comes a flock of "professional designers" who does things for free. Why would anyone pay you?

Most clients don't know what professional design is, so its up to you to tell them what it is.

If your idea of professional design (that is hours of research, concept development and refinement, in details what often goes unnoticed in the eye for casual viewers) is worth exactly nothing than please stay out of design business, because you are doing it at the expense of others who are truely professional, go mow a lawn or something.

A designer is not a layout artist, nor a web technician, design is about ideas, a concept site is a showcase of ideas and vision.

Quote from JJ72 :

You have to think down the road imo.

If one day you are doing freelance designs for some supplimentry income, and here comes a flock of "professional designers" who does things for free. Why would anyone pay you?

Most clients don't know what professional design is, so its up to you to tell them what it is.

If your idea of professional design (that is hours of research, concept development and refinement, in details what often goes unnoticed in the eye for casual viewers) is worth exactly nothing than please stay out of design business, because you are doing it at the expense of others who are truely professional, go mow a lawn or something.

A designer is not a layout artist, nor a web technician, design is about ideas, a concept site is a showcase of ideas and vision.

I make websites and graphics because I enjoy doing it and see it as a passion. I don't see it the arty farty way that you have to abide by certain "rules" and can only design stuff if your going to do it this exact way.

Quote from mcintyrej :

I make websites and graphics because I enjoy doing it and see it as a passion. I don't see it the arty farty way that you have to abide by certain "rules" and can only design stuff if your going to do it this exact way.

Then you are doing art, not design.

Design is a profession, it had it's business structure and its own very ecosytem.

You want to do things on your free time no problem, but please don't advertise it being a professional work.

If your work is truely up to a professional level, it would consume so much of your time and energy that you will never do it for free.

And imagine that kind of client you will get and how critical they will be about your design, you will end up with some small start up hobbie business owners who have no idea about proper market research, and have no idea what they want to achieve with their website.

So how can you gauge if your "design" acheives its goal, and how can you evaluate it's quality?

In the end it becomes something that you think is good, and your client who have no idea about design personally likes.

That is not professional design, professional design is about clear objective and logical methodology, with a strong creative process. A project with no solid objective and evaluation process cannot be professional design.

If you want to start a business - that is an exchange in money for a service provided, doing it for free contradicts the notion.

If you want to do whatever pleases you, then dont' be professional, do it as a hobbie, it's very simple.

I'd imagine eventually you will want to actually earn money from it....if you plan to do so, then you have to be professional. or else it will just fuel the stereotype that designers are egotistic con artists.

JJ is right, I'm afraid. Doing work for free when you start out sets a bad precedent. Just do some sites of your own as demos and use them for your portfolio.

Im going to use my Business Management qualification here... I never thought I would need too.

Penetration Pricing. Start out with low prices, and gradually bring up the prices as you attract customers. The low price attracts customers and as you complete projects, you can add them to your portfolio, whilst slowly increasing the prices.


Another thing is to make sure that your own website looks nice. Potential customers could be put off if your own website, looks naff.

Quote from spiderbait90 :

Im going to use my Business Management qualification here... I never thought I would need too.

Penetration Pricing. Start out with low prices, and gradually bring up the prices as you attract customers. The low price attracts customers and as you complete projects, you can add them to your portfolio, whilst slowly increasing the prices.


Another thing is to make sure that your own website looks nice. Potential customers could be put off if your own website, looks naff.

We're going to start doing business once we have a few examples online, I mean if I wanted a website designing but the company didn't have any examples... I wouldn't choose them! The only real reason I was posting this on here was because I was going to design a site anyway for the portfolio, but I thought it would be a good friendly favour to do help someone else out with their own website. I wasn't saying that I'll make people website's for free until I want to start charging.

Quote from JJ72 :

Then you are doing art, not design.

Design is a profession, it had it's business structure and its own very ecosytem.

You want to do things on your free time no problem, but please don't advertise it being a professional work.

If your work is truely up to a professional level, it would consume so much of your time and energy that you will never do it for free.

And imagine that kind of client you will get and how critical they will be about your design, you will end up with some small start up hobbie business owners who have no idea about proper market research, and have no idea what they want to achieve with their website.

So how can you gauge if your "design" acheives its goal, and how can you evaluate it's quality?

In the end it becomes something that you think is good, and your client who have no idea about design personally likes.

That is not professional design, professional design is about clear objective and logical methodology, with a strong creative process. A project with no solid objective and evaluation process cannot be professional design.

If you want to start a business - that is an exchange in money for a service provided, doing it for free contradicts the notion.

If you want to do whatever pleases you, then dont' be professional, do it as a hobbie, it's very simple.

I'd imagine eventually you will want to actually earn money from it....if you plan to do so, then you have to be professional. or else it will just fuel the stereotype that designers are egotistic con artists.

Art is the expression of your feelings.
Design is the balance between esthetics and reason.

To be on topic, I am a student and make some money on the side by creating web sites for individuals and smaller businesses.
When I was starting, I created a web for my mother who runs a beauty salon. When I was more experienced, I created another more polished version. I also created a web for myself. Tada, two references to go Then I created a web for my friend who is a personal trainer, also for free.

Check out my web if you want to see my "style" at www.breadfan.sk (it's in Slovak obviously) and click on Referencie, which is my portfolio.

If you need any advice, ask

I1ll take you up on your offer M8,

I will pm u details etc

Mick

I also have a very good idea that will benefit the LFS community. If im to late dont worry but if you have time it would be a nice site to build & be proud of.

Still no reply M8, is the offer still open ?