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Esbee · 05-23-2004, 04:33 PM

Part of the problem is economics.

When I started looking at designing for adult, I figured designing galleries would make a good start. Decent enough area to build up a portfolio, almost impossible to put yourself way over your head, chance to develop copywriting skills in Adult, etc.

Looking around the (rather saturated) market, looked like the high end I might be able to pull would be $50/gallery. Assuming I was ready to work at a depressed $20/hour to break into the market, translates to 2.5 hours per gallery. So in that timespan I'd need to:

1. Review the client site and figure out what makes the site marketable (many, many paysite designs make that a difficult task in and of itself)
2. Sit down and write my copy.
3. Come up with a basic layout.
4. Drop my text copy into the layout.
5. Place the imagery and decor around the layout and text.
6. Retouch it, Wacom it, etc.
7. Splice.
8. Tweak and optimize Imageready'd output into more legitimage page.
9. Replace placeholder images with thumbs, link to full size pics/movies, etc.
10. Fix the intangible problems that arise with every project.

I have 8+ years experience marketing and advertising in the travel industry (not an exact fit, but a stronger background than I suspect many enter the industry with). There's not much of anything in Photoshop I don't know - I'm more efficient with some tools than others, but can do most anything. In short, I'm in a pretty good position experience-wise to do these fairly quick.

Yet it quickly became obvious there was no fucking way I could do the above in 2.5 hours. I'd be lucky to open Photoshop in the first 2.5 hours. The above is more like a 5 hour task. So that left three options:

a) Charge $100/gallery. Too far above market rates for that to work.
b) Skimp on the design angle, use PS Styles as a quick crutch. Course now you can only charge $25-$30 gallery.
c) Nearly wipe out steps 1 and 2. Focus solely on design.

None of these options look good to me so I haven't gone any route, but I have the luxury of a full-time job and can translate what I learn researching adult into my other job. Not many have that lxuury.

Of the three, option b) is probably the best. Problem is you get painted as a quick-and-dirty designer and once labeled, it's hard to extend beyond that.

I also see plenty of option c)'s out there - beautiful PS work but the sales message is obscurred. Ironically this might be the faster means to move to the more lucrative paysite designs.

Already established designers are, of course, exempt from the above restrictions. But for the newbie designers around here, it's pretty rough to produce high-end design with marketable features, at the pricing the current market dictates.

Mind you, I'm not crying here. I didn't expect an easy and open armed transition into adult designing. But I am sympathetic to other designers fending their way just as I am. That said, publicly blasting a designer's work seems far out of line, particularly when your solution is hiring eastern European graphic designers. Somehow I can't see non-native English speaking graphic designers writing great sales copy geared towards (mostly) U.S. consumers.

05-23-2004, 04:33 PM
Esbee Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Northern CA Posts: 109	Part of the problem is economics. When I started looking at designing for adult, I figured designing galleries would make a good start. Decent enough area to build up a portfolio, almost impossible to put yourself way over your head, chance to develop copywriting skills in Adult, etc. Looking around the (rather saturated) market, looked like the high end I might be able to pull would be $50/gallery. Assuming I was ready to work at a depressed $20/hour to break into the market, translates to 2.5 hours per gallery. So in that timespan I'd need to: 1. Review the client site and figure out what makes the site marketable (many, many paysite designs make that a difficult task in and of itself) 2. Sit down and write my copy. 3. Come up with a basic layout. 4. Drop my text copy into the layout. 5. Place the imagery and decor around the layout and text. 6. Retouch it, Wacom it, etc. 7. Splice. 8. Tweak and optimize Imageready'd output into more legitimage page. 9. Replace placeholder images with thumbs, link to full size pics/movies, etc. 10. Fix the intangible problems that arise with every project. I have 8+ years experience marketing and advertising in the travel industry (not an exact fit, but a stronger background than I suspect many enter the industry with). There's not much of anything in Photoshop I don't know - I'm more efficient with some tools than others, but can do most anything. In short, I'm in a pretty good position experience-wise to do these fairly quick. Yet it quickly became obvious there was no fucking way I could do the above in 2.5 hours. I'd be lucky to open Photoshop in the first 2.5 hours. The above is more like a 5 hour task. So that left three options: a) Charge $100/gallery. Too far above market rates for that to work. b) Skimp on the design angle, use PS Styles as a quick crutch. Course now you can only charge $25-$30 gallery. c) Nearly wipe out steps 1 and 2. Focus solely on design. None of these options look good to me so I haven't gone any route, but I have the luxury of a full-time job and can translate what I learn researching adult into my other job. Not many have that lxuury. Of the three, option b) is probably the best. Problem is you get painted as a quick-and-dirty designer and once labeled, it's hard to extend beyond that. I also see plenty of option c)'s out there - beautiful PS work but the sales message is obscurred. Ironically this might be the faster means to move to the more lucrative paysite designs. Already established designers are, of course, exempt from the above restrictions. But for the newbie designers around here, it's pretty rough to produce high-end design with marketable features, at the pricing the current market dictates. Mind you, I'm not crying here. I didn't expect an easy and open armed transition into adult designing. But I am sympathetic to other designers fending their way just as I am. That said, publicly blasting a designer's work seems far out of line, particularly when your solution is hiring eastern European graphic designers. Somehow I can't see non-native English speaking graphic designers writing great sales copy geared towards (mostly) U.S. consumers.