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