I am a 22 year old who feels sort of
like I'm ten. I love ghost stories, pretty
much any type of tea, british &
egyptian history, photography, wp,
and my favourite band is SoCo. I'm
also a bit of a Georgia Nicolson addict.
Ohmygiddygod. I LIKE designing, I however, am not, a machine.
There are so many ideas in my head that I have, and a lot of them I’ll never be able to use just because life is way to short to get to them all. I have ideas for designs, for photography, for books, for stories, for movies, ways to redecorate a house, clothing — I have so many ideas for so many things. However, I’ve chosen early to do web design because it’s something that I enjoy and something that I’m good at. I am, however — as the title says — not a machine, and the funny thing is the people who I’m around the most who I design for (friends, mainly) seem to think I am… and I have friends who have this issue as well.
And the thing that pisses me off the most? Is people who think that just because I haven’t been to school for what I do then I don’t deserve to get paid as much as those who have been (read please). EVEN THOUGH! I have friends who have been to school for web design/development and still can’t do some of the things I can. While they have all of the training for it, they don’t have the creativity or instinct for designing. It’s just a job to them. (I’m not saying this about everyone who has been to school for it, just one or two people I know)
I was contacted about a year ago through Amy for a project (I was just doing the design, mainly, and basic setup of the site) her and Amanda were doing which was going to basically be a myspace type site, but more CSS/XHTML friendly, and prettier and just much better then myspace (not hard, right?). Well I quoted Amanda $300 for the project (which if you contacted any other designer you would have easily got a quote triple that) — I was taking into account that one of the people for the project was a friend and that they didn’t have much money to blow out — HOWEVER she told me there was no way in HELL I was getting that much because I didn’t have a degree, or any training for it, so she (Amanda) wasn’t paying for it. And this is the type of shit I’m talking about, if you want a nice design and you aren’t capable of doing it yourself, then do not contact a designer ask them for how much they’d charge and then when they tell you (and would be saving you a SHIT load of money) tell them that their time, and creativity, and work isn’t worth 1/3 of what someone else would charge for the project.
This is not just a job for me, this is not just fun and games either, it’s something that I love and something that I’m passionate about. And JUST because I can’t afford 76k in schooling/loans/debts/paying shit off until I’m 80, does not mean that I don’t know what I’m doing, it does NOT mean that my work and time isn’t worth anyone else’s.
And this goes double for friends. Just because your friend can create a site, and put it in wordpress and is generous enough not to charge you an amount out your ass for it, don’t take them for granted - Every designer, every developer, everyone has a life outside of the computer, no matter who you are. And by riding their ass all day, or telling them they’re not worth the time or effort you’re going to initially put stress on them, stress that they don’t need and don’t deserve, and is going to end up being passed to someone else because you’re too ignorant to realize a good job when you see one and be honest and fair about the payment that should be given.
And with that, I think I’m done, however, another thing that pisses me off? People who are making sites about something they know nothing about. Like motherhood, and what it’s like taking a kid to the park, or wiping their nasty poop covered behinds. If you don’t have a kid, if you’re not a mother, then don’t fucking make a site about moms and for moms and get shit sent to you to review when oh wait YOU DON’T HAVE KIDS. You don’t know how well a diaper bag will work if you don’t have a kid to use it for, and don’t give moms tips on how to plan their day when you don’t have two kids begging at your heels every 5 minutes for 100 different things, you don’t know, now stop pretending you do. However I’ll continue on that later, promise.
And the thing that pisses me off the most? Is people who think that just because I haven’t been to school for what I do then I don’t deserve to get paid as much as those who have been (read please). EVEN THOUGH! I have friends who have been to school for web design/development and still can’t do some of the things I can. While they have all of the training for it, they don’t have the creativity or instinct for designing. It’s just a job to them. (I’m not saying this about everyone who has been to school for it, just one or two people I know)
I was contacted about a year ago through Amy for a project (I was just doing the design, mainly, and basic setup of the site) her and Amanda were doing which was going to basically be a myspace type site, but more CSS/XHTML friendly, and prettier and just much better then myspace (not hard, right?). Well I quoted Amanda $300 for the project (which if you contacted any other designer you would have easily got a quote triple that) — I was taking into account that one of the people for the project was a friend and that they didn’t have much money to blow out — HOWEVER she told me there was no way in HELL I was getting that much because I didn’t have a degree, or any training for it, so she (Amanda) wasn’t paying for it. And this is the type of shit I’m talking about, if you want a nice design and you aren’t capable of doing it yourself, then do not contact a designer ask them for how much they’d charge and then when they tell you (and would be saving you a SHIT load of money) tell them that their time, and creativity, and work isn’t worth 1/3 of what someone else would charge for the project.
This is not just a job for me, this is not just fun and games either, it’s something that I love and something that I’m passionate about. And JUST because I can’t afford 76k in schooling/loans/debts/paying shit off until I’m 80, does not mean that I don’t know what I’m doing, it does NOT mean that my work and time isn’t worth anyone else’s.
And this goes double for friends. Just because your friend can create a site, and put it in wordpress and is generous enough not to charge you an amount out your ass for it, don’t take them for granted - Every designer, every developer, everyone has a life outside of the computer, no matter who you are. And by riding their ass all day, or telling them they’re not worth the time or effort you’re going to initially put stress on them, stress that they don’t need and don’t deserve, and is going to end up being passed to someone else because you’re too ignorant to realize a good job when you see one and be honest and fair about the payment that should be given.
And with that, I think I’m done, however, another thing that pisses me off? People who are making sites about something they know nothing about. Like motherhood, and what it’s like taking a kid to the park, or wiping their nasty poop covered behinds. If you don’t have a kid, if you’re not a mother, then don’t fucking make a site about moms and for moms and get shit sent to you to review when oh wait YOU DON’T HAVE KIDS. You don’t know how well a diaper bag will work if you don’t have a kid to use it for, and don’t give moms tips on how to plan their day when you don’t have two kids begging at your heels every 5 minutes for 100 different things, you don’t know, now stop pretending you do. However I’ll continue on that later, promise.
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