Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, time really does fly by. I know your all going to be cursing at your screens right now like ‘WTF - Stupid pathetic post!!’ - Again I apologize. University has went into ’stress’ mode again and i’ve been getting so much work upon work upon work.

Another thing aswell, its my birthday in two days time (big 18) and my big birthday bash is on a week on saturday, so i’ve been doing alot to get that sorted aswell.

The Birthday Bash

I’ve always wanted a big 18th party, so about October last year I went on the lookout for the right place and it seems the right place was only 10 minutes down the road from me. The place in which I am having the party is actually an Italian restaurant called Fratellis which has a function room upstairs were i’ll be having it.

I’m really looking forward to it and hope it’ll be a good night. I’ll definitely get lots of photos and i’ll upload them to my host and give you all a swatch.

Thats all for now, have a nice night.

Regards,
James

Since it’s Valentines Day today, I’ve decided to be nice before I pop out for dinner with my girlfriend and post up some websites and blogs which I have respect for and would like to

- TalkFreelance
- Sitepoint
- V7N
- Tyler Cruz
- Push Standards
- Josh Buckley
- Balue
- Jon Wheatley
- Chris Brandrick
- Mach2Designs
- Andrew Benton
- Joe Tech
- ProBlogger
- UniqueBlogDesigns
- iamjacksdesign
FreelanceSwitch
Wake Up Later

That’s all for now,
Thanks again.

This has got to be the weirdest most unconventional posts I have ever posted on EatFruitPlease. But if you didn’t know already I am a frequent Bebo user and today I went on and it seems like Bebo have messed up somehow and allowed everyone to send ‘Bebo Luv’ more than once.

Bebo Luv

Bebo Luv is basically ‘Luv’ which you can send to someone special or someone who you like but usually only allowed to send it once in the space of 24 hours.

Have Bebo Messed Up OR Just Allowing Everyone To Send Love More Than Once Just Because Its Valentines Day Eve?

But the more I think of it. Have Bebo really messed up? Or are they allowing it just because its like the day before Valentines Day?

Fun times lol.

Regards

Some of my readers may know that I am a web & graphic designer and I have been for over four years now. Just up until this year I have been meaning to write out a contract agreement and I finally have done so. Basically this will guarantee me protection against any scamming clients that I may come across. But hopefully this is not the case but it is a good thing to have.

What is a contract agreement?

If your a freelancer like myself a contract is a really good thing to have by your site. It prevents scammers from trying anything unusual and work threatening. It also guarantees you protection with any down payments or payment transactions in general, for instance if you said on the contract something like ‘You must agree that sending the final down payment within 24 hours of the completed design’ this would be something that the client would have to do. If the client breaks any rules on a serious matter you can go further and complain and even claim a chargeback.

It is recommended that every freelancer has one because you don’t have a clue who is behind the screen that you are dealing with. Having people steal your work and scamming you really isn’t a nice thing to deal with especially if you have no documentation of ‘that’ person working with you.

You’ve probably heard the saying - ‘Always have something in writing’. Well this saying can relate to this article. The importance of having some sort of documentation is crucial especially if you are handling business with really high-end companies and dealing with money which passes the $x,xxx mark.

Advantages of having a signed Contract

The first main advantage is one I have mentioned above and that is protection. It protects you against any scammers or what have you. They can still steal your work, but if you have some sort of document with an agreement it helps you so much further. Another advantage of having a contract is that you can write your own rules and regulations when that person is dealing with you. For example, you could say in the contract, ‘You must agree that if you want a refund and a revision has already been completed of your design, 60% will be refunded and 40% will be kept’. This is an advantage because you have stated that your client will get a refund but you are also letting the client know that in working with you, you will also keep part of the money as a result of completing a revision. The last advantage I can think of is that clients will realize that you work in a professional manner and like to see you do so. This will also most definitely guarantee you that they will come back to work with you.

So if you haven’t already done so, then I personally would recommend you write out a client contract agreement and keep safe from now on. If you would like any help on what kind of things to write in your brief I would be happy to help. If you have a contract agreement written already and would like to share with me and my readers your experiences with it, be sure to do so by simply commenting!

Kindest regards - James

I say its been a good week for my under-dog project PhotoBoothGallery, it has now been featured on CSSCatwalk an up and coming top drawer CSS gallery. CSS Catwalk is owned by a good friend of mine Gareth Hodson and he was delighted to publish PBG on there to get it a little bit more exposure.

Not only that, EatFruitPlease had also been published on CSSCatwalk when it was first opened! So, now two of my websites have been published on the same CSS gallery which is great news.

If your looking for a bit more exposure and would love to feature on such a high standard css gallery such as CSScatwalk, then try your luck and see if your website is worth being advertised.

Kindest regards and thank you Gareth,
James

When designing, you have to have a plan of structural elements, a color scheme and the skills obviously needed to do the project. But when dealing with clients these don’t just come from thin air. The client brief is the main priority when designing and aiming to get the design as the client wants it is vital. But to get some inspiration to begin planning the design and throughout designing the actual design can be nothing but a little bit of music.

When I begin designing I listen to some music for about half an hour and then start work. It usually helps me focus and set the tone for the actual design itself. I know this may sound a bit weird, but trying to tie up the genre of music with type of design is quite good to do also. For example, if your designing a web 2.0, clean, smooth design you should try listening to some r&b or some soul music for a laid back feel. If your designing a rather different site such as a grunge gaming website then you’d be best listening to some Foo Fighters (awesome band by the way) or some kind of rock music which has some loud bass, just to tie in with that type of design.

It really helps me personally so maybe you should try also. I have been doing this for about a year now after reading an article on a forum. You always hear about people talking about listening to music when designing, but not telling you what type of music so I decided to try and co-operate the ‘genre’ of music with the type of design and its helped greatly. I myself love listening to music everyday, if its on the bus, walking about and when i’m designing so I listen to music a fair bit each day. So maybe if your line of inspiration is different from mine you should try mine out and let me know how your getting on.

Thats all I really have at the moment, not a very long article but just a little helpful thought you should keep in mind. If you would like to keep up with all my posts why not get them delivered to your email? Just simply enter your email address to the email feed on the left hand side and follow the simple instructions.

Kindest regards,
James

It’s true. PhotoBoothGallery has been featured on CSSVault today. Once PBG opened I searched ‘css galleries’ on Google and I got a huge list of course with lots of sites, so I went through one by one submitting PhotoBoothGallery to them and its CSSVault who are the only one of those 10-15 websites that I applied to.

“PhotoBoothGallery is a website which enables mac users to submit their favourite PhotoBooth images and display them for people to see. Its a great way to have fun and show other apple mac users your images.”

Currently PhotoBoothGallery is for sale. If you would like to know any more info on it then please don’t hesitate to contact me through the contact form.

Kindest regards,
James

This article is aimed at the freelancers in the industry who have a one sided opinion on whatever it is they do. I would also like to thank Sled (if your reading Sled give me your website - if you have one - and i’ll link your name to your site) for giving me the inspiration to write about a debatable talking point.

Sled commented on the article about ‘Unreliable People’ and said the following;

“Be polite if you hire someone, don’t try to show you are the boss when you ask for a quote. Because really, the coder couldn’t care less, if he’s a decent coder - and that’s what you’re looking for right? - he’ll survive without your pathetic money.
Say a fucking “no thanks” if the quote is to high. It won’t shorten your life. It’s just fucking nice to know!

One more thing, for every designer, “quality coding” isn’t worth less then “quality designs”.“

I would just like to elaborate a bit more on the point which I have made bold type in Sled’s comment. I believe this is a really good point. I have heard about it way too much times before, design related freelancers getting into the mindset that coding is somewhat ‘less expensive’ than designing. Why? Where does this commonly used term come from? I totally agree that coding is the secondary part of creating any sort of online media, but I don’t believe it should be cheaper or less expensive than designing.

The way I look at it is this. Without a design, coding can’t be executed well without any graphic elements what so ever… yes designs can be established through creating simple css stylesheets but not as effective as graphic elements, so I can see were people are coming from, but without the coding part on a design its useless really right? Unless the design is sold off and sold off and sold off - but its highly unlikely.

A simple breakdown and comparison between coding & designing

- To begin with I will take coding as my first example. As a coding freelancer, being up to date with the latest, most commonly used internet language is vital. For example, one of the latest leading most used languages to date is strict XHTML/CSS. Now I am not a coder, but over the years this is how I have compared coding to designing.

Coding is the backend function and clockwork if you like. It is what makes your website tick and become live. Without coding, there would be no internet at all so this is something that has to be taken into account while comparing it to designing. When coding, a lot of various things need to be tested out before it can go live, things such as checking to see if the code is valid and has no errors or bugs. Testing the code on various browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. All these different stages have to be taken into account when pricing your coding and obviously .

- As a designer, it is you who makes the impression, the visual impact and the immediate interaction with the visitor. Coders do not do this. Well to a certain extent they do with rollover images, fading on certain images etc but not to the extent of designers. You can see how people immediately think designing is more expensive due to the innovation of certain graphic elements which creates the overall aesthetic appeal to someone and I can see how people think designing is ‘worth more’ due to the more thinking knowledge that needs to be implemented when designing to make something unique and custom. When coding, this isn’t really the case. When a coder gets a design or graphic to code they then have to know ‘which certain code’ to use and how it will effect the final functionality of whatever it is that they are coding. Basically in simpler terms, the code is already there, its just implementing it to a design to make it work - whereas designing its different, you actually have to come up with a certain design element and then figure out a way to design.

I hope that all made sense and how you can see how immediately people can have a certain opinion on something. I’ll personally admit that I immediately thought there was more money in designing but it is not the case. More common nowadays are Custom Management Systems (CMS) which are basically custom backend functional scripts which can be coded and sold for $xx,xxx.

I would love to know your input on this point and would like to thank Sled again for making this point a while ago on my previous article. If you have any opinions on this point and would like to share it, then please do by commenting, they’re always appreciated here at EatFruitPlease.

Thanks again,
James

It’s hard to believe that it is now February in the year 2008. Christmas day seems like only yesterday away, time has really flown by. I have to say though, what a year already. Firstly, I’d just like to start by letting you all know that I have passed my minor and major coursework in one of my modules in university. Basically the minor coursework was to develop a mini interactive portfolio using the Photoshop skills that we had learned and Macromedia Director, a program which I had never used before. In doing this it was really play time for me. Due to my understanding and experience in Photoshop I really found this module a fun and learning experience - by using my skills in Photoshop and combining them with another peice of software and one which I picked up fairly quickly. I came up with a really nice clean concept and usability, you can check out some snapshots I got on my camera over on my flickr account.

Client Work

I’d say overall the month of January has been a really successful time for me personally in my whole entire freelancing time. I’ve had so much fun with really great clients recently.

Fulfilling Goals

If you can remember back to the end of december when I was talking about my goals, well I can safely say I am fulfilling some of these goals. I signed up with local gym in January and manage to go at least twice a week.

I have also been talking with a good friend of mine Andy who works at a design firm situated near him called 383project. They are currently recruiting and if you remember correctly, one of my goals for 2008 is to find work in a design firm. I have been thinking over this goal though. If I could I would love to get a job which is relatively close to home because firstly, I don’t really have the financial benefits of leaving Glasgow to rent a flat or whatever and secondly a major factor would be driving (if I couldn’t get a place near the firm). I have been speaking with Andy and we were talking about a possible internship with the company - meaning I could do a contract basis over the summer and if I enjoyed it a lot I would possibly stay there and work full time. I have been reading about internship deals lately and they really help you gain experience in a company and can lead to a brighter future with the potential of landing a full time job.

I guess thats all I have for now folks. Check back soon as I have a really nice article lined up.

Kindest regards,
James

This article will offer some tips on how to create that reputation that you need online. The tips are for all the starting out freelancers who aren’t getting much client work and want to earn that reputation to get up there with the best of the best.

Something that I have I noticed during my time freelancing is the lack of urgency in some freelancers. They expect that if they make a design and sell it, they believe their the best in the business and sky rocket their prices to high $xxx and end up with no client base.

In my opinion, as a beginning freelancer you have to be patient and gradually build your reputation. Becoming a ‘well-known’ freelancer doesn’t come fast and doesn’t come easy. I know that may sound a little bit off-putting but if you have the skills and you have the mindset to work hard and gather some immediate clients then you can then start planning ahead and then think about raising your prices.

Building A Portfolio - One of the key elements to becoming successful and earning the amount that you’d like to earn is to build up a portfolio of all your ‘best’ work. From past experiences I would also recommend keeping any ‘mock-up’ designs and ‘mess around’ designs that you have because you just don’t know a client may want to see some examples of a specific type of design and you might have some lying around.

Try & Keep Positive - Due to the expansion in the freelance niche, most freelancers pricelists are sky high and it can be a bit daunting knowing that these people do actually make alot from freelancing. But thinking negative and getting into the mindset that ‘you will never make that much’ won’t help you one bit. My advice to you is to stay positive and constantly criticize your own work by constructing pro’s & cons from it. You will learn so much by doing that.

Promote Yourself Properly - We all know how much SPAM can annoy people. So don’t do it! Too many freelancers these days begin out and think that advertising there website or portfolio anywhere possible is going to get them lots of juicy ‘traffic’ were as a matter of fact, it won’t. So how do you promote yourself properly? Well firstly when you have just finished dealing with a client and the job is successful and the client loves the finished article, ask nicely if they would recommend you to anyone who is looking for whatever it is you do (designing, coding, programming).As the weeks go by and the more clients you get the more ‘backend’ exposure if you like is happening.

TIP: As you get more clients, you maybe feel that you need to raise your current prices, in my opinion doing this is a bad move. As you raise your prices, your long term clients and current clients will gradually fall away with your contact and this can then obviously lead to your client base decreasing, remember at the end of the day why are they getting in touch with you? It may be your designing/coding/programming skills that their after and money might not be the case but in most cases you’ll find that money is the major factor. How do I get around earning more money then? Working hard is the key to this question. If you are a hard worker and love to earn money, then doing a promotion or deal is the easiest most quickest way. Lets say for example you are a designer and your current price for a website design is $50.00, ways of earning more money could be simply ‘Offering Two Designs For An Overall Value of $75.00.’ In a situation like this you have to have the mindset of really working hard and getting the work done, this is obviously $35.00 under the actual budget of two website designs, but this is what your clients will like and what will attract them to you. I’d also recommend that setting a restriction of how many people can get this deal, for example the deal will only happen for the first five people to contact you.

Those tips above remember are aimed at starting out freelancers. I hope these pointers have helped because they are only some of the pointers and stages in which I have encountered and learned through my time as a freelancer. If your a freelancer and have any stories and would like to add to this then please feel free to do so by commenting.

Thats all for now, thanks for reading EatFruitPlease.

Regards,
James