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great article…every one can make a website, but a few can build a good website (design, usability, programming, etc).

Excellent points! You have so brilliantly summed-up what’s in my head.

Great article. I think everyone should read this. Im so sick of people expecting you to be a great designer and an even better programmer. Also people are getting cheap and not wanting to pay for good work. They think all we do is press a button and BAM! your website is done! My favorite is when they ask to have me teach them in a day how I did it so they can update their website themselves. As if it was that easy. I don’t go to my mechanic and say “OK now you have to teach me how you fixed my car so I can do it myself if it breaks down again”.

As someone who went from freelance to working in a web firm/ad agency I can attest to the benefits of working with other great talents and having the learning resources available. It has changed my entire workflow and really let me focus on being the best designer I can be.

I am the “son” that knows how to build websites.While I agree that most large sites are beyond the scope of what the average “son” can build,I’d also have to say that the prices most dev teams charge to build these things are beyond the scope of what the average customer is willing to pay.I mean after all,this stuff is not “theoretical mathematics”.And with things like Drupal,it’s becoming easier and easier for the average joe to do these things.I mean,download some modules,tweak a theme to the customers liking.

The people who have the money,are not going to use “some guys” son to build a website,they’re gonna know where to look.It’s only the cheapskates that will seek out this of service.And thats fine by me,they scratch my back,I’ll scratch theres.That said,most of the sites I’ve been ask to build are one off,simple communities.For the local Saddle Club or static pages and a gallery for the T-shirt store.

Ninety percent of the time the people who hire me just want something simple that works and does not cost them an arm and a leg.Lastly the people who work for web design firms are the sons and daughters of ppl who know how to build web sites.And we all talk,whether it’s in forums chatrooms or twitter.My “team” is that network,the only thing the “son” lacks is manpower,and that can usually be replaced by time..Anyways great article,got me thinkin..haha

I can do my taxes, but hire an accountant. I can build a deck, but prefer to hire a carpenter. I can fix my car, but prefer to take it to an auto mechanic.

It’s 2008 - why do we still think that web development is different?

D.

I completely agree, this industry is moving at breakneck speeds and trying to keep up even with one specialty is getting tougher as the years go by. Trying to do it all will only make a person a “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Even freelancing as a team of two, a programmer and a designer, is much better than trying to do it all yourself.

I think the main (if not only) reason there’s so many people out there that try to do it all is so they don’t have to share the rewards, be it money or appreciation. I was like that for years myself and it worked OK up until everyone started wanting more complex designs running on complex CMS engines. One person can’t turn around a reasonably large project on their own in a good amount of time if they expect it to turn out well.

Now I’m happily a programmer that sometimes dabbles in design for friends-of-friends and my own sites.

Very well put. As a website designer for about 10 years now I have witnessed all these things. Its a very interesting industry to be in. There are so many sub-specialties.

With no barriers to entry in this industry, anyone can pose as a “website designer/developer”. I think this makes it especially hard for buyers to pick who they want to work with. I have almost never advertised for my services and have always been full with work due to referrals and I know many others who succeed the same way. I think this is because the individuals who know what we’re doing instill trust and confidence.

Thank you for putting that out there. Times have changed and the specific skill-sets necessary to design, develop and successfully market a modern website has multiplied.

Furthermore, the team required to plan, orchestrate and strategize how a modern website should change the way a company does business and markets itself is often overlooked. The weakest link in the whole process is understanding the audience and building the site for them, not for the companies management team. This requires research, analysis, architecture and content.

Bottom line, if a website doesn’t feel like it was crafted for each individual visitor of importance and resonate with them, the site has failed to be nothing more than noise.

The individual specialist with one platform and a team of specialists with different platform is a key difference for a web project.

Thank you for this article,

enjoy

The saving money was one of my favorite part of this article. I make these little lunch time comics now and again. Here’s one that seems to fit ok http://www.cafecomics.biz/forumcafe2/viewtopic.php?t=50

btw they are all troo!

I couldn’t agree more. Experience is really the key. Learning what questions to ask your client turns out to be the most valuable thing a firm can provide.

You don’t know those questions if you haven’t been in the game for a while.

I am a designer. I am 16 years old and I know XHTML, CSS, PHP, SQL, and Javasript, I started working with Adobe Photoshop 5 years ago, and I have owned a firm for two years. I really think that there are too many people out there that “make websites”, however I think that age has absolutely nothing to do with experience. And those without experience aren’t anything to worry about anyway.

It takes a special breed of person to pull off being a jack of all trades. I disagree to a point, it’s totally possible, but you are usually looking at someone who started in the business world and got experience then has branched off for at least 5 years doing his/her own thing. This, however, usually means they are off the market to hire.

If someone is really looking for the best value & development for their website, I strongly suggest hiring an expert consultant to plan the work and then outsource the actual elbow grease. This way you get (semi)professionals doing what they do best and you end up paying big money to the person that means the most … the planner. The rest of the workis a dime a dozen.

[…] reading articles from my usual spots when I can across this interesting little piece posted at graphics.net.  It is an interesting read as it breaks down how things used to be and how things are today in […]

@ Brett… sometimes great expert consultant (the planner) works at a studio or firm so you get the best of both worlds. I do agree with you though, the planner/producer plays a huge role.

Speaking as a graphic designer with many years experience (OK, in broadcast design) I have to agree. I’m designing websites too right now it’s true - and although I’d like to think that I’m pretty handy when it comes to the (non-design) nitty gritty, I’m still finding that the design-coding split is turning out to be about 20:80. Which can’t be right…

[…] taken from: I have a friend who knows a guy whose son does websites. […]

Sometimes I am ‘that guy’. What’s bad is that, although I now work for a professional design agency and have a Computer Science degree, people expect a whole site for a couple of hundred quid!

Great, great post.

Got to say I completely agree with this article. As an ex freelancer I know that the work I used to put my name to was okay but nothing fantastic and the pay was poor because I was competing with the average Joe who was John Doe’s somebody or others brother etc.. Now that I’m working with a creative agency we all chip in a bit a create truly beautiful solutions which can only ever be done by a team!

Great article…….designers are a dime a dozen…….the good ones are rare !