Mr Burns

I'm based in London. Is the weekly rate the daily rate x 7?

I'm based in London. Is the weekly rate the daily rate x 7?

I've been offered a freelance web design position and i've been asked for a daily rate/weekly rate? Can i have a rough estimate of good rate to tell them?

I've been a freelance web designer for a month. I signed up as self employed with HMRC. So far i have earned £300 and expecting another £300. When it comes to paying tax and national insurance contributions, i know i pay taxes with a tax return form. How do i pay national insurance contributions? Honestly, this is all confusing. Can a fellow web designer walk me through this process?; i don't want to get in trouble not paying at the right time. I've already filled in the self assessment form at the HMRC website, i'm expecting them to send me a Unique Taxpayer Reference number. I have many other projects coming up and i want to be up to date on the business side of things. Any help greatly appreciated. If i don't have any work for a month do i still pay Class 2 national insurance contributions for that month?

What do you use to track how long you take on a project? Sometimes i work nonchalant, i get the project done before the deadline but tweak the website all throughout the day. So what are ways you determine how long you take on the project? I just signed a contract with an agency and i have to give them the hours i take to complete a project. For example the deadline is next week and i get the project finished in 6 hours sporadically, how do i time myself with the way i work? Do i take longer to get payed more? How do they determine if i took too long. Srry if this sounds stupid.

No, i haven't used grids. I use smart guides in Photoshop to line up elements but I'm going to use grids now.

Here is my attempt at flat design. I just feel i went wrong somewhere. I'm self taught, so i haven't taken any classes on design theory. What is wrong with this design? Typography? Colour scheme? Negative Space? Any flat design tips, greatly appreciated.

I'm starting out as a freelance web designer, so far i've only done volunteer work. Any tips on how to get your first clients? Are these online websites like elance and odesk worth it?

what do you mean by competitive? cheap?

I'm trying to see if i'm in the wrong here. I'm a starting out freelance web designer and the client wants me to create a three page website. I said £180 for 3 pages, also i would implement WordPress. When i told that to the client he seemed shocked. I don't know if he thought i was too cheap or too expensive but he asked for a link to my portfolio, which i gave. There is no way he'd be looking to spend over £180 for a three page website. I've seen the old website, it is a HTML/CSS website with a frontpage(slideshow) page, activities page and contact form page. So am i in the wrong here, should i have gone cheaper?

When designing websites in Photoshop, i get stuck when it comes to border colour and fill colour of layers in comparison to the background. For example here. I've added 2 white layers. If the layers had a border colour, should it be darker than the background? Shall the fill colour be darker than the border? here is an example of how my designs usually turn out. This doesn't seem very professional to me. Can anyone point out the flaws in my design in regards to spacing, border colors & fill colors? I just need to get a foundation on how to do layouts with colours. Thanks in advance.

Here is an updated version. I'm having trouble making the text look "professional" in the content area. What am i missing? Character spacing?

I'm having trouble designing the content area of websites in Photoshop. Here is an example.. Yes, i know this is terrible . I created those red rectangles from my wireframe. How do i determine the correct padding and spacing to use? Is there a default padding and spacing between elements that all designers use? Also any tips on the colors to use compared to the background? For example those red squares look terrible on that light background. Thanks

I've been designing web layouts on paper and then going straight to CSS. This isn't professional and is probably the reason i'm never concrete on designs. So i'm now trying to do Photoshop web designs, the professional way. I know how to use Photoshop but i need help on design techniques. Do you use a mouse or a laptop touchpad? When using a grid, do you occasionally hide the grid? I'm currently using a grid like this... With the grid there it seems like a cluster and very difficult to determine the correct color schemes for fonts etc. Do you have the grid permanently there or do you hide occasionally when working on a fonts or a header background for example? It seems layout and sizing are the main problems i'm having when designing in Photoshop. Any design techniques you use that can help?