My first move once I decided to open a design site was to offer free designs to build not only my portfolio, but also my experience. And a client base.
I designed over 80 completely free designs that time and, as tiring as working on all of them felt some days, it was great. It was great to develop my style and I’m happy to say that I still remember most of those designs and until this day I kept designing for many of the people from that first batch.
Now, I also recognize that offering 80 free designs might be a bit too much. Maybe I should’ve made less, I don’t know if I’d do it again today. But I’m also seeing a lot of new (and some old) design sites that are so obviously about making money, not caring about design quality, and not caring the least bit about building a relationship with the “client” (I have to admit here, I hate the word client, I wish I could find a better one).
I started Sweet Revelation as a way to make money. I was unemployed at the time, and thought it would be a good idea. But all throughout this almost 4 years, my main goal, by far, was offering people a design they were happy with, a design they were proud to feature on their site. I can’t say everyone was 100% happy, many probably weren’t. But I did all I could and offered them to make all the changes needed (if you’ve ordered from me, you are probably familiar with my “Let me know if you’d like changes and I’ll work on them until you’re happy with the design” or some version of it lol).
That’s what I think design should be about. Making people happy. If the design is good, if you really put your heart in it, the client will be happy. And when you receive that e-mail saying “You’ve got a payment”, you’ll be happy too. And you’ll be proud that you did a great job.
One last note. Do not beg people for work. Do not beg people for money. Build your experience every day, try new things even if just every now and then. Show confidence in your talent, and work your ass off. People will come. Money will too.
I’m off the soapbox. Have a great Sunday!
(* this is a rant, these are just thoughts coming out, unfiltered. I hope it’s useful for someone, and I hope no one feels offended. Not my intention.)
Source:
http://sweet-revelation.net/notes-from-the-soapbox