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Article by iManda
Learn
to storyboard.
If by some chance you do have a detailed
contract, and your client actually knows what he wants (not just what he doesn't
want), you might think you're ready to go. But you can save yourself and your
client a lot of time and trouble by storyboarding your project. It'll keep you
organized, and save you a lot of work. Your client will need to see how his ideas
will actually play out, and he may decide after seeing it that it's not quite
what he had envisioned. So instead of wasting time on that full-blown comp right
at the outset, try some sketches that can be altered and worked with before you
set them in stone.
Beware subcontracting.
While
subcontracting can be a good way to find work when there aren't any clients around,
it can also be a massive tangle of miscommunication and disappointment. In most
cases, you might not even get to meet with the client; that's the job of the firm
you'll be working with. So, you have a middle man thrown into the equation, and
you have to please both the middle man and the faceless client (whose tastes will
probably differ greatly from those of the firm).
This is obviously
not a task for the faint of heart. Your position, and what is expected of you,
will vary greatly from firm to firm. Some will consider you a fully participating
member of their firm, and thus expect you to have inherent knowledge of their
lines of communication and general hierarchy within the project. Others may treat
you as if you are the hapless temp that is probably stealing staples from the
supply closet. So before you embark on your journey as a third-party solution,
learn who you should be reporting to, ask as many questions as possible to feel
out what will be expected of you, and communicate absolutely everything to absolutely
everyone. If you blow your nose, make sure they all know about it. Internal power
struggles are the hallmark of subcontracting projects, and if you don't cover
absolutely all of your bases, you'll be the one at the bottom of the pileup. The
foreign entity is always the easiest to blame.
Web design isn't
all fun, but it isn't terrible either; you'll have difficult clients, and dream
clients too. For all the sacrifices, there are certainly rewards (like finding
out that you've increased your client's sales tremendously), and every misstep
actually brings you closer to success. Anyone who has the courage, skill, and
passion to venture into the field certainly should, and a combination of design
skills, business skills, and sales skills will help you build a rewarding career.
So if you already have a good handle on the issues I've mentioned above, I'd encourage
you to go ahead and test the waters. As a true professional, you'll not only be
gaining valuable experience, but you'll be helping to make the web a much more
pleasant place to be.
