jayeff

A larger operation does X amount of work, most of it will go as planned and make the regular profits and some a bit extra, so they can afford to absorb the cost of those jobs which for whatever reason, over-run. Similarly they may have pencilled a particular person in for a job, but if that person gets tied up, they are able to switch the job to someone else.

In the long run, the solo designer could do the same thing as regards absorbing costs, but if he is unlucky enough to get several tricky jobs, one after another, that will mess with his head and his finances. And of course, since he is on his own, everyone in the queue gets stuck. More pressure.

Given that his appeal is often low price, which in turn may mean he is inexperienced both in his work and with handling customers (together with the type of customer he is most likely to attract), it is more likely some of his jobs will go bad. He may not have the nerve to want payment up front, so he is going to get stiffed regularly. Etc. Etc. None of which is an excuse, I'm just saying why the situations we hear about are pretty much inevitable.

My biggest issue with "adult" designers is their sameness. It isn't only that at a given time, many are producing very similar work (currently split into two camps, toon and non-toon), but that when you look at their portfolios, by and large you see the stamp of the designer and little evidence of something tailored to their clients. Much of the work doesn't reflect good usability or marketing practises. A lot is so heavy, you had better hope your visitors are impressed by the design, because they will barely notice your content.

But again all that has to come down to the price we are willing to pay and the way in which we expect to conduct business. In the past when I have worked with mainstream agencies, I usually waited a couple of days for an appointment to sit down and discuss my project: some webmasters expect the job to be finished or well on its way within that timescale. Depending on what I wanted, that first meeting could involve from one to half-a-dozen people. I might see and talk to others before the job was done: I recall having a logo made once and I was given four suggestions, all of them mocked up at different sizes, ranging from business cards to the side of a truck and the agency had tested recognizability, readability, etc., before I was shown a thing and I got a written report analyzing their results.

What I particularly appreciated was that I needn't have a clue, except in the broadest terms, what I wanted them to produce. They would ask lots of questions and produce something effective (most of the time) and unique. Needless to say, the billing went past the prices charged in this business, before anyone ever sat down to work on the finished product. But why do we try so hard to skimp on the very thing on which we depend so much to produce our income?

It seems to me that our obsession with cost when it comes to designers, suggests that we are planning for failure (how much will I lose if it doesn't work?), rather than for success (is this a reasonable investment if it helps me earn $$$?).