coffeebubble

So, I decided to give my portfolio a little make-over.. Its out dated by 4 years.. Im looking at freelancing.. However I have 2 people who want to do it along side me.. We all have portfolios to a point. Im happy to keep my portfolio running as ive also got a learning timeline structure on there, some tutorials and other bits.. (might need to change it from being a portfolio,) Its my: lastnamedesigns.com Well, Im debating do I keep my domain I have as my portfolio or do I create another domain and have a portfolio there? Do you get alot of business from having a more business name instead of a personal one? Is something like creative-design.co.uk more likely to get more clients compared to lastnamedesign.co.uk I am currently employed, and I asked my employer once "how come we charge £1500 for a website a freelancer would do for £600, yet we still get business?" and his reply was "People would rather go with a company than some kid sat at home in his bedroom, you get more reassurance as a client if its a company in an office building... Thats why we make out our team is also bigger than it is" So Im curious, should I go more business like or personal? Either way my portfolio lastnamedesigns.com would still exist, but maybe more as a Skills/CV record. ---- Design... Fun, colorful ,creative vs corporate professional business? example : http://ndesign-studio.com/ http://www.netdreams.co.uk/ Thanks for reading

Hmmm, I was just thinking of the few $$$ turning up once in a while... But yes I would not appreciate people destroying my work... As for free support... I might as well stay where I am now if im working for free lol

So, Chatting to my sister today. She suggested "why not design website templates and sell them?" I do love design, but in all honesty I do get bored on big projects... Does anyone make some small time income designing and selling themes, Plugins, scripts, templates etc? Im trying to find where I can meet my wants in the middle. Im working in the sector yes, but I hate the company (as explained in my last topic with great reason to hate my employer). Im thinking, Working part-time somewhere, Freelancing once in a while and selling templates/themes as I make them.

Im employed as you know. Though Im looking at freelancing anytime soon. I think to the best thing about being employed is the guaranteed wage packet (If you have a decent employer) Knowing when your working and knowing you get paid holiday and sick pay is also good. Being a mother is especially suited for me. The thing that attracts me to freelancing is being able to pick and choose what I do. I have no real interest at this moment in doing Corp sites. I like smaller ones like Dog Groomers, Small Shops (I did a shed shop a few months ago, I learnt alot about sheds lol) and etc.

I always try to make my coding well commented. Else I get confused myself let alone anyone else. Im not strong with PHP yet.. Mainly CSS which is all like this /***** Main Menu ****/ /***** second level ****/ /*****Third level ****/ etc etc I like my coding to be in order top to bottom of the page, Typography has its own section which is also noted at points and so on I wont hand anything over unless Im 100% happy with it. of course i've had the odd thing here and there where someone has said "can you make that more left" or "change this color" or "Can you re-do that hover effect" I do not for one minute my design is excellent. Im still developing skills and I dont think ill ever stop learning. I have plenty of room for improvement still and Im also someone who loves criticism. Its the best way to learn I feel. ---- Edit: I do know some PHP, Like I know how to update databases, Fetch from databases, Make clocks, timed Alerts, Simple forums and profiles, newsfeeds (like cutenews) Ive done basic admin areas where members of admin depending on level could see certain pages etc .Basic stuff. I only know what ive had to learn for past projects. I can do a few shortcodes for Wordpress too. But I have a long way to go with php yet. --- Second edit: I could probably do with the odd project here and there to learn new skills. I will definitely look into this actually. I am making a self learning blog at the moment (un-released) of what i'm learning and sharing how ive learnt it. Just my own personal record of my self teaching and something I can always look back on or show potential employers

Thank you

I think he saw someone with no commercial experience to be honest. Yes I on average I can do website template in 2 days (if plan on how it should look is there) or up to 10 days if I have to design and develop from scratch (I get creative blocks alot lol so I design and redesign for days first) and a wordpress site (going off a theme so all needed backend is there, I will basically redesign all css templates and edit some shortcode css) will take me about 1-5 days depending what needs to be done. I dont know If im quick or not. In the whole time Ive been with my current employer Ive not seen him do any development. Hes done research and installed wordpress plugins, Found someone on odesk to do a 2d story board and he's added a few products to an ecommerce site. Other than that Ive only seen him chat on skype, watch the news and run around his wives business which is a restaurant.

What about a Skills guide? I always think about doing a personal skills guide. Basically just a load of tutorials about everything I know/Most common things others get stuck on that I know away around.. example: Sticky headers and footers.. I get asked alot for help because people cant get their footer to stay at the absolute bottom of the page. Plus its a good way for me to see how far i've come, what im still to learn and also a good way of sharing and demonstrating your knowledge. ---- Or something your passionate about? Hobbies? Dummies guide to football? Techniques of painting? How to train your dog?

I dont think I have this confidence in myself yet. Ive only ever done it as a hobby and this job is my first time paid. I cant help but feel my skills arent that great else I wouldnt paid so little. Hopefully one day ill be like you guys

Wow, Thank you. Regarding my current situation you have pointed out alot to me. Thankfully I spoke to HMRC and DWP and gave them all my employment details. I speak regularly with them checking if any changes have happened. I spoke to them Tuesday last week and they said "they had now passed it onto to investigations". I believe ive done right for myself by informing them as soon as I found out. I actually dont get payslips, I request this every month. Thanks to all above posts. I have taken what everyone as said into consideration. I am actively seeking work else where right now and applied to some call centres this morning. As long as I make enough for bills & food right now. Thats the main thing. I will be safely out of my current employment. As for Web development. I will register as sole trader, and just do it as a paid hobby for now. Ill put myself out there for clients within my local city but Im not going to kill myself from working. Like I said its more a hobby. I think my most important is to fix my current situation instead of juggling lots at once. I started web dev as a hobby because I love it. So thats what ill keep doing, If I make some pennies from it from time to time then great! That'll pay for the holidays and days out with my daughter. Im just going to build up some experience and then ill maybe apply for other web agencies. This IS an opportunity you guys are right! I will learn from this

Hey! Pop-up looks better What if you was to category it all' so the page wasnt so long? Like Greetings - Hello, How are you, are you ok etc etc You could have Him, Her, She, He, They, them, Their, Move on more indepth from there. I would probly look at theming it more minimalistic and educational. Have a header, Clean background (maybe a small pattern like what WDF have?) the make the wrapper white, and the footer. Have an informative front page and then let the site go more in-depth from there. Pick a color scheme, Color scheme is everything in my opinion.http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/CCCCCC my favorite site. or stick with what you have and make your page shorter? It might look better with any side scrolls if you could make it like that?

Hi, thanks for replying Honestly I dont know if I would want to work for myself (having my own company) Id prefer to just be sole trader and be contracted in by companies etc. Though its still not guaranteed work. Im just fed up of getting screwed. Ive been working on my profile today Finally getting somewhere in the design after days of designing and scrapping. So hopefully once Ive got the site going, some branding done, and got myself out there in the social media world. I can start seeking out clients. Im going to get some business cards done too. I guess what im really hoping for is a Job which I can turn up and do what I love and just not be screwed over for. Im too nice! lol

Hi, My biggest rule of Typography is consistency. Opensans isn't a bad font face in my opinion What if you was to put either English or Chinese in bold text, try give a feel of separation between the two? Honestly I personally would possibly go for a more minimalistic theme for the site. Maybe play about with opacity for the main background? What age/skill range are you looking at approaching? Personally I feel you should work on the usability a bit more. I looked on a smaller screen and you have a scroll on the pop, however I cant get to that scroll due to when I come off the hover the box goes too... What about an on click pop up box or something like that?

me too where are you based? I had a small web design company once! it was really stressful. but it would be nice to see if i can get some extra money, i have a lot of e-commerce experience.... Sorry, Been offline a few days. Spending time away Im in Peterborough. yourself? my Skype: Bubblychaz

This sucks so bad! Why do people to do this to people. I bend over backwards to help the guy. All for minimum wage! Think I should get some legal advise. Question is.. Do I really want to go to court with him? Ive been doing my portfolio for days now, Each time I get a design Im scrapping it and starting again. lol Why is it, any other site I can do a breeze.. Just not my own lol Might just make it basic for now.