Preparing a freelance website for launch, need some advice.
jgdesigns (197 pencils) | Fri, 2011-06-03 16:43So I've done a lot of research on freelance websites, and what helps them and what kills them. Personality seems to be a key factor and me and my partners are definitely demonstrating that in the build we're developing. However I'm having an issue (which I'm also having with my own personal website)
How much work to display? There are 3 of us, all very talented young designers, and while we have client work to display, some is not up to par graphically (Sometimes clients want ugly things) so it's being edited out. So that leaves us with about 65% student / independent work and 45% client work (mainly logos)
Right now our portfolio is broken into 5 categories.
Corporate Identity
Corporate Packages (Full circle identity, letterheads, business cards, envolopes, flyer promo etc.)
Poster Design
Promotional Design (Flyers, Posters, Post cards, stickers, bumper stickers etc.)
Music & Entertainment (CDs, DVDS, and all the promotions that come along with them)
Now I know I have mentioned some things that overlap, but we are displaying out work as full-circle projects rather than individual pieces. So instead of simply having a CD, we have promotions such as posters, and flyers, as well as apparel displayed along with the CD in a nice "magazine-esk" layout.
Each section is broken up under the portfolio, so you can find what your looking to have done in terms of design quick and effectively.
Our current breakdown per section is (remember this isn't just my work, it's the work of my two partners as well)
10 Posters
10 Logos
3 Corporate Identity Packages
3 Promotional Packages
4 Music & Entertainment Packages.
That's a total of 30 pieces of work. Is that too much considering that its representing the 3 of us, and it's sectioned off?
I want to display variety, and versatility, not just in the projects, but the services we can provide, and how we can execute full-circle marketing.
This is my first attempt at a joint effort between designers, and my first time launching an official freelance website, so I know theres a lot to learn, but if this can be settled before launch that would be great.
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Well, as far as identity is concerned I'm more of the opinion that it should be grouped together under the same category. ie. name your link 'Identity Design' or whichever suits your needs and include both your identity work of singular logos and sort of "case study" like examples of your packages where you get to go more in depth. This way clients browsing your site see a few deep examples of your capabilities, but aren't bombarded with a flood of them. From my understanding* they're logos with extra promotional/ company pieces you've completed so they'll still fit nicely with your other identity design. Just have them at the forefront of your page. Same could go for your posters/ promotional packages.
Testimonials will help for the work you can be proud to display from customers. I'm sure they won't mind and it helps add validity to your site and inspire confidence in future customers.
The amount of work, since you've broken it down doesn't seem terrible* but if you have wireframes drawn up of your website and say 1-2 pieces aren't fitting in x category and the layout, clip them.
Sounds very well thought out on paper - I'd like to see it. The only thing I'd question is the 10 posters - seems like too many for an item that is somewhat rare when it comes to actual work. In my experience, people want to see logos - that's the one thing everyone understands when it comes to graphic design. So my portfolio usually contains about 7-10 logos and around 2 or 3 of everything else - brochures, posters, ads, whatever and I try to keep it close to 20 items total.
Yeah we've been in the drafting stage of this website for about 4-6 weeks now, planning it out, doing the site mapping, creating out look and feel, each part of the website has really been thought over. Now I'm reaching the end, coding the last few pages and should be launching in a week or so.
Testimonials are a great thing, and I'll try to get some specifically for the work, as of now we all have individual testimonials from clients praising us individually, but haven't done anything under our name "Huemor designs"
Visit me at Huemor Designs
www.huemordesigns.com
Visit me at JGDesigns
www.jeffreygapinski.com
I wouldn't say disclosing names of the designers is a terrible thing at all, you're a group of artists, it doesn't mean you just have your company name carved into a server and no one else works within it except that entity. People like to read the names of people, it even helps if you guys have pictures of the group or your clients- it validates everything even more so to see faces and names behind the companies.
If it makes you more comfortable, just email your clients you have testimonials from and ask if it would be right if you included John Smith from WebsiteName provided blah blah blah :)
The thing is not so much that I don't feel comfortable including names, as it is I don't feel that addressing testimonials to us individually would be as effective as having testimonials to us as "Huemor Designs". Since we haven't done a project under our design groups name yet (we have a job lined up already) I don't feel like listing testimonials would be right.
Visit me at Huemor Designs
www.huemordesigns.com
Visit me at JGDesigns
www.jeffreygapinski.com
Thank you so much for your post.
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Most clients don't care if there's one or three or 50 of you - it's all one company to them. The hardest part I would think is putting aside egos. You don't need all of you represented equally or in each section, just to honestly pare it down to your absolute best work even if one of you is neglected a little.
+100
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Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it - my advice (from hard-won personal experience) is start simple.
Work out the basic most important thing that the website needs to achieve, or the most important way it will be used and build a version to achieve that. From there you can actually see what works - from the enquiries you get or don't get, from feedback (solicited or unsolicited) and from stats (never underestimate google analytics).
You'll also often find that as soon as you have one simple version up and running it puts pressure on you to get version two up and running to fix bugs and improve on the original. It also often changes your thinking about why the site is there in the first place.
Key questions are:
How will your audience use the site? - will you refer them to it to back up what you've pitched to them or will they find it organically (google, bing searches, etc)?
What will they do when they are there? - will they browse some specific work or get a feel for the whole lot? are they more interested in your style(s) or the areas of your expertise?
What action will they take? - what do you want them to do if they like what they see (this may differ depending on how/why they got there).
The answers to those questions will not only help you build the site, but will help you solve the 'which work do we put up?' problem.
First I want to say thank you, you propose some great questions. I agree with you about the whole "Just a website up and running" mentality. However, when I launch this I want something I'm proud of, that can compete with other design companies in look and scope. I think we are achieving that currently, but only launch will be able to tell us for sure.
How will your audience use the site? - will you refer them to it to back up what you've pitched to them or will they find it organically (google, bing searches, etc)?
Both, actually. I plan on marketing from both angles. I've already discussed with my team the importance of virtual and traditional marketing, and we plan on doing both. We will have ads up on various websites (by various I mean websites that support web ads won't be pulling a printcanada and shove my website down you throat) as well as making sure the means for organic searching are available.
What will they do when they are there? - will they browse some specific work or get a feel for the whole lot? are they more interested in your style(s) or the areas of your expertise?
We're advertising ourselves as a well rounded group. Pretty much anything you can throw at us in terms of print media we can do; and do well. We're covering all the major points of design: branding, corporate packages (business cards, letter heads, envelopes), poster, promotional packages (flyers, post cards, stickers), and music and entertainment (packaging, promotions, apparel). With those 5 categories and sub categories covered we pretty much are displaying what we claim. We do it all. Thats why we have a large deal of work up there, but it's all devised. We're not displaying it on 1 giant page, we have 5 pages breaking up the work so a user who might only be interested in one category can go straight there.
What action will they take? - what do you want them to do if they like what they see (this may differ depending on how/why they got there).
While it's the dream of every design group to get paired with large companies involving extensive projects we know that's not going to be handed to us. We're looking to help people of various backgrounds; from individuals looking for revised resumes and new business cards, to large corps looking for a full re-branding. What I would like them to do is contact us, and ask us to solve their graphic needs.
But like I stated earlier, when this website is up and functional I'll be passing it along the forum for some critique, I hope you'll be impressed with what a couple of 22 and 23 year olds with only 2-3 years in the industry can produce. I know we have a long way to go but each one of us posses an attitude in which we're not afraid of failure, and we will go above and beyond to make it in the industry.
;D
Visit me at Huemor Designs
www.huemordesigns.com
Visit me at JGDesigns
www.jeffreygapinski.com