CMD+Shift Design
Liz Andrade
Designer of print and web. Podcaster, Blogger, internet nerd and crazy cat lady.
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Got this question just recently via Facebook and decided to expand on my response for another installment of Ask A Freelancer.
Question
Liz,
How did you decide to specialize in wordpress design, and do you charge your clients for any time you spend training them on it?
WordPress isn’t something I decided to specialize in, it just sort of evolved. My first introduction to the software was with putting together this blog. In the months before leaving my old 9to5, I came home every night and spent hours at the computer slowly teaching myself WordPress and building what was version1.0 of the CMD+Shift Design blog. It was late 2007, I was working with WordPress Version 2.3 — which when I think about it now it was pretty primitive compared to what we know as WordPress today!
Time Lapse from Late 2007 of me learning WordPress and building V1.0 of the blog in the hours after my “9to5″ workday was over.
As I worked with the software more and with the big upgrade to features that version 2.5 brought, I was very excited about how vertistile WordPress could be and naturally started selling it to clients. It is not a solution for every type of site, but it is much more than just a blogging platform, for sure!
What I like most about it is how easy it is for my clients to use! Whenever I do a WordPress project I always include a tutorial session at the close of the process. The client has a chance to sit down with the software and get walked through how they will update and maintain their new website. As the software evolves more and more, it has just gotten easier and these sessions rarely last more than a half hour.
Over the last month, I have even opted to make screencast tutorials for my clients — in a 10 minute video I can walk them through all they need to know and they have that to reference back to whenever they need it! There are also some great resources for helping your clients get familiar with the software, like WordPress.tv.
I remember the days when having a content management system was an expensive process that was still not very simple for a casual user to pick up and for the most part — websites were fully static creations, meaning if you wanted to change something, you had to edit the code. I’ve dealt with teaching clients how to do basic HTML editing, it was awful! No client should have to deal with that stuff, they have businesses to run and they shouldnt have to shell out my hourly rate everytime they need some contact info changed.
Content manegement systems put the power into you clients hands so that they can grow their business in an efficient way and it ensures that the integrity of the design you have created with them is not compromised by any code blunders along the way.
WordPress isn’t the only game in town, there is a bunch of great CMS’s out there that can do a variety of unique things for you unique projects! There is Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine, Movable Type, Magento, CushyCMS, CMS Made Simple and a lot more. Download and install and just try one out, see what it can do and think about how it may benefit your clients and you business!
Ask A Freelancer #9 (Lightening Round!)
For the past 3 weeks I have had a Formspring account and have been asking all sorts of anonymous questions that come into me about dealing with clients, marketing, blogging, etc. I have a backlog of questions in my inbox over there and just try to pop in and answer a few of them each week. (If you have submitted something and I haven’t got to it yet, just be patient – I am answering everything!)
This has become a bit of an “Ask A Freelancer” Lightening round, so I decided to pick a few each week that I think might be of interest to you guys and re-post them here. So here we go…
At what point in your design process do you start talking with the client in detail about their project? Before someone becomes a client or after they are under contract and are “officially” a client?
Before someone signs a contract and becomes an official “client”, we usually talk in pretty broad terms about the design end of their project. We usually discuss scale at the onset of things… how large the website they need, what print pieces need designed, how many illustrations. THAT type of stuff. After a quote – if they choose to move forward, they put down a deposit, sign off on a project agreement and then we have a “kick off meeting” or a “consult” where we go further into the philosophy of their business, their goals, their businesses aesthetic, etc. etc. If after this chat we find that the scope of what we initially discussed had widened – we adjust the project agreement to accommodate it.
Do you have a niche?
I specialize in WordPress Design and Development. That is what maybe 75% – 80% of the work i do. But, I have a background in branding and print design and lately have been doing a fair amount of that. I love print, i LOVE IT. But, i think I do love web a little more.
What do you say to tire-kickers to prevent them from wasting your time? And what do you say to red-flag clients to send them elsewhere?
A red flag for me goes off when the first correspondence from a prospective client is vague. Emails like “I’d like a quote for a website.” Usually, these people either never respond, or they really have no clue what they need or want, but they know they can;t spend much money on it. I have a collection of “canned responses” in my email to respond to emails like this. It explains that I need more info to quote and then gives some wide-range ballpark prices they might expect for different types of sites. This will weed out most of those “tire-kickers,” but if they respond with more details on the project, they will already have a general idea of where your quote might fall from the previous email, so take the time to send them a quote!
What do you tell clients who see to be “afraid” of white space?
Well, when dealing with any client who is not comfortable with a design choice I have made on their project – I would explain the reason for it framed in the language of business instead of design. Telling a client “this empty space gives balance and order to the layout and allows your eye to rest.” makes perfect sense to you and your designer friends, but a client might likely heard “Wah wah wah wah wah,” try something like. “This space is important to give your companies logo more dominance, establishing a strong sense of brand and making sure your customer doesn’t get lost in too many elements.” Try not to let your client focus too strongly on what they like, but pull it always to what the customer needs.
How do you say no to a client you don’t want to take while still keeping the door open? Or what if you have too many projects flowing in at once?
Just be honest. If you have too much on your plate, tell them you can’t accept new projects for another 3 weeks – but you would love to work with them if they’d be willing to delay the start of the project! ….If you just aren’t interested in doing the job they have for you, tell them you don’t think that the project is the right fit for your skill set or style, but that they should contact you again if they have other projects in the future that the 2 of you could work on together!
Question
Liz,
I work as a web designer in a mid-sized design firm in Chicago. I love my job, but also have heard a lot about the importance of growing a “personal brand” using social networking tools. I think I would one day like to start my own design business, but RIGHT NOW I am happy with the job I have. Isn’t it kind of a waste of time to start blogging, using twitter, youtube, etc. if I am not actually doing freelance work?
- 9to5er
The idea of “personal brand” has to do with thinking of yourself as a unique part of your industry, and marketing your one-of-a-kind skills, style and personality as its own brand — and in my opinion, it is NEVER a waste of time to start growing one! Growing your personal brand through the use of social networking tools is something that can be beneficial in many ways, whether you are a freelancer or 9to5er, here are a few…
1. Just because you’re happy and secure at your 9to5 now does not mean you always will be. In the economy of today, layoffs have been widespread over many industries and if a sudden change in economic climate puts you out of a job, having well-laid foundation with your personal brand could give you a leg up in a competitive job market!
2. Future potential employers will look at your online profiles if you are applying for a staff position! This is the case for many industries nowadays, but especially in web design. Being a web designer, it is so important to be educated about emerging trends and technologies on the web and the only way to really understand these tools is to use them!
3. In addition to using social media tools to grow your personal brand, you will also be benefiting your current employer and current clients by educating yourself more about these tools!
4. If you hope to start a business in your future, make an investment in that future and start making your name known NOW. Building a foundation now will only help you when you do break out on your own. Buy your vanity domain name (yourname.com) and secure your name on as many of the social networks as you can.
5. Blogging and social networking will help you connect with other in your industry, which can come in helpful if you need to relocate to another city, outsource a project, ask questions about software or code, get a design critique or business advice, or just to nerd out about a new font you just bought! Your interactions with those in the design community will aid you in improving your skills at your 9 to 5 and you can make some awesome FRIENDS along the way!
What Do You Think?
These are just a few reasons why I see social networking as valuable to those in the design industry, maybe some of you disagree with me? Leave a comment and give me your thoughts on the matter!
Why I started “Ask A Freelancer.” – From time to time I get emails asking for advice about freelance matters. I hope that by publishing these inquiries and my response I can do a better service to my blog readers than just responding one email at a time. Plus, those of you who may have input on the matter that I didn’t think of can chime in with a comment! If there’s a question you have or a subject you’d like to get an opinion on, please contact me!
Question
Liz,
I’ve been thinking about my business and branding. I plan to begin freelancing and I’m not sure what to choose as a domain name and I’m not sure how to go about designing my logo.
Right now I own a dot com for the company name I came up with, Visual Blade but should I be using my own name instead? You work by yourself and I notice you picked a creative name, what’s your opinion of what I can do to choose the right one?
- Daquan Wright
Business Name or Your Name?
It’s really up to the individual freelancer if they are to use a company name or simply go by their own name. There are fair reasons for both, no real right or wrong answer here – but here is some stuff to think about.
Having a brand name other than your own allows for ease if you plan to expand to a larger operation in the future. If you’re goal is to someday turn your one-person operation into a huge firm with receptionists and account executives and an H.R. Department, a company name might make sense. However it’s not the rule, some of the largest firms in the country are named after their founder.
It can be beneficial to use a company name if you want to define a personal brand, that is separate from your business, should you start up something new or move on to another company. Instead of being known as “Liz Andrade Design,” I am “Liz Andrade from CMD+Shift Design,” the two are strongly linked and people recognize that CMD+Shift is MY brand, but in the future I might be Liz Andrade from some-other-thing-er-rather. Again it’s all just about how you want to be perceived and what you feel more comfortable with.
Now, Some people choose a company name to give the illusion that they are larger operations than they really are. I don’t suggest this. Be honest with your potential clients about who you are and what you offer, trying to trick businesses into hire you will not turn up good for either party!
The decision all rides of how you want to project your brand and your personal preference really. There is no right or wrong. You have a unique name and that may be something that works to your advantage. There is probably not some other web designer under the name Daquan Wright out there, so you may not have to come up with a memorable business name, you already have one!
I made a call out on Twitter and found out some great stories about Freelancers business names and why they chose them!
Where did CMD+Shift Design Come From?
I am a bit of an internet and computer nerd and I like the idea of choosing a business name that was a little nerdy. I used to be a big fan of the old Revision3 cooking show, Ctrl+Alt Chicken and at one time had the wireless in my apartment named Ctrl+Alt Liz (even though I am a Mac user, haha.)
Most designers I know love their keyboard shortcuts, most of us have a favorite keyboard short cut! So when it came time to choose a name and I saw that the domain cmdshiftdesign.com was up for grabs — I took it! It wasn’t until after buying the domain that I started to think about the name further and it’s possible double entendre, “Command Shift” could refer to my ideas that design has the power to change the way we perceive the world and ourselves and the brands around us.
Choosing A Domain Name
In this day and age it is very important that you have the website address to match your business name, it is good that you have visual-blade.com, but if you choose to use Visual Blade as your brand name, keep trying to get visualblade.com as well! In print, like on business cards, that hyphen is nice because it serves to separate the words to make it more clear what the name is, however in spoken form you will have a better chance at people understanding when you say “visual blade dot com” as appose to “visual hyphen blade dot com.” Also people may find about you via word of mouth and going off the business name itself, the first domain they are likely to try would of course not include the hyphen.
Whether you sell your company under your name or not, you SHOULD (everyone should) own yourname.com if you can get it! Being that you’re blessed with a unique name, it looks as though daquanwright.com is available, go register it!
Of course, it’s always best if you can snag a dot com instead of a dot net or other extension, depending on your plans for the future you may want to invest in a dot tv as well, or if you’re living outside of the United States, the extension associated with your region.
Be careful, domain names can be addictive. How many of you have an arsenal of names that aren’t even being used or are all redirecting to your hub site?
Register Your Trade Name
Once you’ve settled on a name you will be doing business as, it is time to register that name! You can find the forms for this through your local Chamber of Commerce.
Creating Your Logo
As designers, you’d think this part would be easy – but it’s hard to design for yourself. I’ve seen designers who strugle with being satisfied and who are constantly changing their logos, (which makes growing brand recognition near impossible!) If logo design is not your expertise, talk with someone who is more versed in this and get their input. You may find that investing some money into bringing in an outside designer may make you more happy with the final result!
I am reminded of the design blog that Brian Hoff writes, The Design Cubicle. He has a great article on there about creating the logo for his site, and what made me think of this – even though the article is nearly a year old is because Brian opened up his process to the design community. I recall during his sketching and refinement phases he would tweet out drafts and ask for feedback from other designers! This is a great way to learn more about design and how to accept criticism! Plus you may get connected with some new people in the community!
What’s your advice?
Am I missing something? What is your advise for Daquan? Why do you use the business name that you do? Leave a comment and tell us about it!
From time to time I get emails asking for advice about freelance matters. I hope that by publishing these inquiries and my response I can do a better service to my blog readers than just responding one email at a time. Plus, those of you who may have input on the matter that I didn’t think of can chime in with a comment! If there’s a question you have or a subject you’d like to get an opinion on, please contact me!
Question
Hi Liz !
I am a 17 year old high school student who has just started my Senior Year. I think I may be interested in becoming a freelance web designer after graduation, but I’m not sure what is required. Would it be better to study computer science or programming in college or should I go to design school? Should I skip college and just learn from online tutorials? Will it be easier to start out as a freelancer or to get a job somewhere? Lastly, is your market competitive?
Sorry for so many questions! Thanks for any help you can offer!
- Future Freelancer?
Answer
Would it be better to study computer science or programming in college or should I go to design school?
There is always the option for a double-major, if you are able to bite off that cost and workload, do it. Getting an in depth education of both might reveal to you that you are more interested in one than the other (and you may be surprised at which one that is!)
Of course, a double-major is a whole lot to bite off — so if this suggestion has you nodding your head, understandable. I’m interested to hear other readers thoughts, but I think learning to design is something that is best learned in a classroom environment where you have the ability to feed off other ideas and work, collaborate, and critique. Once you get into the design world so much of the job is being able to work with others be it other designers, developer, writers, marketers, or clients – so getting used to being creative within this atmosphere is really valuable.
Should I skip college and just learn from online tutorials?
Of course, there are a lot of practicing web designers who did not go to college and are completely self taught. I double majored in Fine Art with a focus on Painting and Graphic Design. It wasn’t until after graduation that I really started to indulge my passion for web design and learning more about development.
Unlike something like becoming a lawyer or doctor there is no exact path you have to take to become qualified to charge people money or your web design services.
Now, in my eyes, I say – if you have the opportunity to do college, you should take it! It’s going the only time you will have to completely immerse yourself in focusing on learning, you’ll learn a lot about what interests you and you’ll be able to have some guidance in your academic journey that you won’t get by learning from online tutorials and books.
Will it be easier to start out as a freelancer or to get a job somewhere?
Just as I believe learning design within an academic community is valuable to prepare you for a job in the real world. I would also say that having a job at a design firm is going to prepare you to be successful at freelancing.
What will be easier? To be successful at either, you’re gonna have to work HARD. having experience in both environments I wouldn’t say that either is easy, but when getting started working for someone else is a lot simpler! Remember that freelancing is not JUST the design and development part of the job – you’re also running a business!
Is the design field competitive?
YES. VERY.
What’s your advice?
Am I missing something? Do you have a different perspective on this matter that you would like to share? Do you disagree with any of my thoughts? Leave a comment and tell us about it!