OrangeWeb.

Web Design can be difficult to estimate the time it will take to complete a project. Your first few projects, no doubt, will go over your budget, it is all a part of the learning progress. When your working freelance this under quoting, (or slow working) affects only yourself, but, when you are working for someone else it tends to be a bit tricky.

The big thing I find, is that the boss, being the non-technical guy who runs the place, does not always understand how dynamic web projects can be. Webteam’s can be given KPI’s and targets within a business directly related to how much money they bring in for the month. This can be very difficult to commit to, and more often than not, the commitments cannot be kept for reasons beyond our control.

I’m am not saying web designers should be free from KPI’s and targets, I am simply saying the targets should be more than just how many dollars they bring in for the month. Not to mention that a month is a very tight deadline. The reason I think that straight dollar targets are unfair is because designers, who are in positions such as mine, do so much more than just work on projects that will bring money in for the month. Personally, I do an amazing amount of work other than revenue, 60% of my time last week was dedicated to non revenue work. Internal web design work, quoting, project managing and working on projects where the revenue belongs to departments other than my own.

Why is this work never accounted for?

Ultimately it comes down to the fact that I do not believe it to be an accurate measure to set monthly targets when it comes to Web Design. Rarely are any projects started on the 1st of the month and finished by the 31st, maybe a web projects profitability should be measured bimonthly?

If I set my team a target of $10,000 or $50,000 of revenue, surely all the in house work needs to be measured as a part of attaining this target. If I get to 3 weeks in the month and I am only sitting on 20% of my goal due to clients missing deadlines or overwhelming internal work, it is almost impossible to make it up. It is not like a sales team where you can go out and push to try and bring in new clients.

Unfortunately though, some people tend to forget that I am not a salesperson, I am a web designer.

During my time as a Website Designer in Melbourne I have learnt many things, both specific to web design and more general and/or business orientated. Once you get thrown in the deep end you quickly learn that Web Design is the kind of field where you will constantly be pushing yourself to develop your skills further, but remember, it’s not always about technical improvements.

A very valuable lesson that everyone designer needs to know is about having everything in writing. On so many occasions I have seen clients attempt to creep the scope of the project and squeeze just that little bit more for their cash.

Who can blame them, I would do the exact same thing.

For this reason it is our responsibility to be firm and reasonable with our clients. By having physical documentation of everything agreed on, if a client asks for something outside scope, you have solid ground to turn it down and the client will hopefully understand. Below is a quick checklist of items I suggest to keep in writing:

1. Agreed Cost of the design/build
2. A breakdown of what is included for that cost
3. What you need from the client and a date you need it by
4. Feedback on designs
5. Client signing off designs

In past experience I have noticed the big lifesaver to be number 5, Client signing off designs. To often do clients approve a final design layout for a page and when you have built it exactly as agreed on, they get a new idea and expect you to take care of it free of charge. By having the design signed off in an email, you will have the ability to mention and show them that they have approved it and signed it off. You can then act accordingly.

One example of such a situation was I had a client, whom we’ll call Raul Julia. I was designing and building a straight HTML website and Raul Julia had approved multiple mock ups over the phone. just as the website entered the final review stage and was almost ready to go live, the client wanted to completely change the look and layout of the main navigation. I mentioned that he had signed it off and it was too big a task for me to tackle free of charge. Long story short, he denied signing it off and I had no proof that he had, so I had to take it as a loss.

Above: The Real Raul Julia

Ultimately, the client will generally want changes and it is at your discretion whether you charge them for it or not, personally if the changes are minor and few I am happy to cover them for the sake of the client – designer relationship. There is a line though and it is the web designers responsibility to draw it.

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