identitydesignwebsitedesign
just me
what is it I do? exactly?
My business card says I’m in ‘visual communication.’ Thirty years ago, I’d have been a ‘commercial artist,’ but ‘visual communication’ sounds gratifyingly more expensive.
Of course, I do stuff now that wasn’t possible thirty years ago (because I was still at school). As far as the web goes, things change fast. I regularly do things that weren’t possible before lunch last Wednesday.
It takes a lot of time and effort to keep up with what’s going on. This makes my life a bloody nightmare. No, sorry, my girlfriend wrote that bit. This makes my life interesting. You might think my girlfriend’s right, but if you want me to meet your deadline, you’d best keep quiet.
I don’t do dull stuff.
I don’t do repetitive stuff (unless your repetitive stuff is really interesting — and trust me, it almost certainly isn’t). Fortunately the technology now exists for you to update your website content yourself. So if you want to update your news pages every day, let me know. I’ll build a site you can change using nothing more sophisticated than a computer.
I don’t do stuff I’m no good at either. But normally I’ll know somebody who is — I have a carefully nurtured network of little helpers who will take photographs, write copy, programme in arcane languages, erect signage, build exhibition stands and would generally sell their own mothers to get the job done.
Most have been working with me long enough to know not to appear too smart. For my part, I will co-ordinate the efforts of all these talented people, and occasionally pass on a small proportion of the enormous figure I quote you.
who said this would be easy?
Awkward by design
Nowadays I think of myself mainly as a web designer. In the last century, I was mainly a graphic designer. Being a designer is great, people give you money for doing stuff you’d want to do anyway. So I’ve been a designer everywhere I’ve lived. Aberdeen. London. Glasgow. And currently, Broughty Ferry, the posh bit of Dundee, Scotland.
In the mid-nineties, I started to notice there were other things I could design, like CD-roms and websites. I noticed this because people kept asking me to design CD-roms and websites. Obviously I’m very perceptive.
Actually, being very perceptive makes me good at this, because I can think up loads of ideas and stuff you perhaps hadn’t considered.
This means I will sometimes be a right pain in the bum and ask you lots of awkward questions, but I’m doing it to make your website better, so you’ll just have to put up with it. I want your site to work just as much as you do.