*long yawn* after readinq this borinq thread

at least you read it

What is boring? lol i didn't read, i glance thru and u guyz are talkative! kia na wa! . . .run away with headace!

Actually dude, were u invited? if you were a designer anyway, u would have at least appreciated it a bit.

Dude i'm a designer but not a talkative type! ok brief me what's going on here!

Guy's

Seriously, you still need a demo, but you are going about it wrongly. Simply acquire a server where you can host all your clients demo, call it demo server, give your client password access to the demo, then you wont have to worry about someone taking your money and run. Cos your clients will be able to view their demo, but you still have 100% control of it

@smartsoft, Call me names but I prefer not to transact BUSINESS with churches. My mode of operation, which i have used to run our company has worked tremendously for us and we can swear by it.

Good one shawonlese, but plz shed more light.

This thread really is a good one for this month. It has kind of brought up summaries of how we have ran our business through the years and until now. Not bad at all. The contributions so far has brought into view what we experience in the course of our career. @smartsoft, thanks for this thread. It's really a good one.

More thing I'll be saying here is, do we really understand what "copyright" is? Pals, you should not let anything stop you from transacting your business the way you like and want it. Or do you think there is a static rule as at what should go or not go? At least this thread has show from her contributing web developers/designers and all category of posters, that there stand no rules. Do it the best way you profit the most.

If we begin now to make use of our legal rights, man, there is not much to worry about your work(s). Can any of you boost of taking a picture of a well artist, say from a paid database, having copyright rules governing it, freely, use the image for any of your concept, in one way or the other, the owners come across it, you are not queried by them? Soji and Smartsoft, you fully understand what I'm saying here as you are into graphics very much. All that company you bridged their copyright law needs to do is simply to serve you papers from the court and fine you. Is Diamond bank not facing something like that now or was it a rumour Check around you for cases like this and you will understand they are existing.

2008 is at dawn. 2009 is almost ripe enough to drop in. Add a new face to your services. "HAVE LEGAL BACKING" for your business. Just try and implement this and see what happens. Even if your portfolio can speak better for you, wait until you get a good deal as in to do a country's website and like N1 Million naira is waiting in front of you virtually then you'll tell me if you'll not even want to do half the job just to make sure that dough doesn't pass you by. Personality differs quite alright but sometimes we might be pushed depending on circumstances to change our modus operandus. At this point, our copyrights should now govern us. Make it very vivid and binding both in demo and proposal. Highlight this point. If they bridge it, cheap money for you.

Summarily, there is no need including those footers on websites saying "copyright (c) blah blah blah" if we don't implement them. If you feel it doesn't work, fall into the hands of those serious about theirs and see how well they'll be happy to welcome you  .

@Smartsoft, hope I made a point here at least with this kinda long write up  ?

smartsoft:

Okay heheheh soji you have pushed me to hit the nail on the head  well is a church thing and i was hooked to them since i go to same church with MR. A who introduce me to the boss but he works with the production house at the HQ this is how it all happened.

Let says you are Mr A, i did a site for your production Company and when you asked who design the site,  they told you i was the one  MR. S(smartsoft) now you and i which is MR A and S attends a well known church  and MR A is involve in the Church Production House too in nigeria  Now you production Boss  asked you " Mr. A do you know we need a website designer/ Motion Graphic designer to work on a project? please if you know someone that does that, kindly let me know " then MR A called  on phone Mr. D, headquater needs a website designer/motion graphic designer to work on a project for them just come and show them want you've done before okay i will be expecting you in the church tomorrow  he puts a call accross to the boss and the boss said i should meet her next morning.

Okay Mr. S(smartsoft) was at the church, the boss was there, P.A and  including Mr A was there too they were all there  i showed them portfolios and immediately MR. A said don't worry this and that,  he will design a mock-up for us

Boss : "Okay Mr S do a mock-up for us lets see,  and bring it on tuesday [b]"2nd Dec 2008"

Mr. S was there at the church and put a call to the P.A

P.A : Mr. S wait a min, i will be with you shortly.

P.A :  Mr,  S sorry for keeping you waiting,  can i have look at the demo?

Mr. S : brought out my Laptop and show her

P.A :   hummm but you will have to change this change that  and my boss is in the meeting wait let me see if she can make it out.

P.A : she went away

P.A : came back 5mins after "she can't make it out  but send it to her email : blahblah@yahoo.com and she will reply you when she sees it.

Mr. S : Okay i will do just that

P.A : Thank you Mr. S

Mr. s : Your most welcome[/b]

I zoomed oofffffffff

So forget the individual thing because when they finally set is a coporate thing not individual.

even at that, i will say DO NOT PREPARE EVEN A MOCKUP, when they ask, show them your past works thats related if you have

I started the journey by preparing functional demo for clients
You know what, i can record close to 7 functional demos and none of those gave me the job,

and till date, whenever they request for demos, i refer them to some of those 7 demo that may be related to what they are asking for, if still not satisfied
good day.

i have done a 600K project that requested not even a mockup. The truth is, serious clients will judge you by your folio

That reminds me, it is over a year now and one of those sites i did a demo for is yet to go live

Not really!, they are live but just that they have their logo, and under it, it says, under construction
Just waiting anxiously to see them use my template, then i will be ready to pay a lawyer.

i feel you there webdezzi

Wow! Nice thread

Wetin person eye don see as web designer/developer for naija no be small thing.

I've learnt to make use of mock ups and last last if the person insists on HTML,

I go just do the thing for my lappy show am then carry my lappy go house

No long thing!

Another thing is desperation. Clients can smell desperation a mile away and that will cause the balance of power to shift more in their favour. Don't appear desperate (even if you are). Believe in what you do and the benefits you can offer your clients - carry yourself with confidence. That way there's less pressure to try to please the cient.

Someone made a good point about being an entity versus an individual. Even if you're an individual that should not stop you from presenting yourself professionally. Do you have a business card? Have you branded all the stationery that a client sees? Do you have an email address that uses your domain name not someone@yahoo.com? If yes, then clients would be more likely to take you seriously as an entity (regardless of how many people work for or with you) and therefore more likely to go with your terms. If not, then they can walk.

Once again, do not give them reason to think that you're desperate for the work!

I never fall for that trick. I have my laptop so whatever demos you need to see will be right there. All transfers will take place when you fulfil the terms of the contract. Why do double work and get nothing for it.

You see, we are really limiting ourselves here.
Smartsoft, imagine if a high school buddy of yours is now the marketing director of a multinational. He wants to swing some business your way and you are asked to do an entire branding for a new product. Will you present it on your laptop?
Showing stuff on your laptop is highly unprofessional if you ask me, especially if you want to do business with corporate bodies.
Another thing is meeting place. If you are not making a proper presentation in your client's office, please do not meet in eateries. That is soo bad.
I say it again, PACKAGING!!!!!!!

The only thing that matters is the quality of your website. Everything else is just overhead and waste.

sojioguns:

You see, we are really limiting ourselves here.
Smartsoft, imagine if a high school buddy of yours is now the marketing director of a multinational. He wants to swing some business your way and you are asked to do an entire branding for a new product. Will you present it on your laptop?
Showing stuff on your laptop is highly unprofessional if you ask me, especially if you want to do business with corporate bodies.
Another thing is meeting place. If you are not making a proper presentation in your client's office, please do not meet in eateries. That is soo bad.
I say it again, PACKAGING!!!!!!!

on that big screen presentation will do justice to that

sojioguns:
Showing stuff on your laptop is highly unprofessional if you ask me, especially if you want to do business with corporate bodies.

What are you talking about bruv. Please don't get me wrong. Stuff on my laptop can be projected on a screen. How else do you carry your work around? Do you carry it on paper instead? When clients invite you for a demo or lecture, how do you take your work along? What about a local copy of the website right there on the laptop?

This thread is just not an easy one. Just as people vary, so is their ideologies too. There are no rules to this. Do you think but smartly, in you own way. Why did I say so? One man's food is another man's poison. Only ideas on how to tackle it depending on circumstances is what we stand to gain here. IMO, that is what I feel.

omni now you know what's on my mind

@Smartsoft

This is an aside though, IM me for something relating to your website.

send me an email omni uc@ucheugo.com

in my opinion, its a little off sayin u wont do a "demo" for a "client" at least to give them an idea of what their ish is gon look like, esp clients like unilever, wamco, govt. etc. they just gotta see sumthin, pass it across a board, get a nod and proceed,

in my experience , the only way u wont get that job is if thers sum1 out there tht totally floors ur design. i.e. does sumn mind blowingly better. cos in the frst place gettin the hookups means u knw the right pple to push ur cause.

besides doin a png/psd wont kill ya, its useful practice (kinda like training) and it rili wont take that much time. layouts that are eventually not taken by certain clients normally tend to be another clients dream layout come true,

so d long and short is this. demo = no big deal, just dont go overboard doin the whole development thingie. a jpg screenshot "normally" does the trick,

even if ur design is "jacked" it sudnt hurt much either. Y? cos ure a creative person! you would eazily do somethin else!

@IBEXY First of all it is not my work, it is our work because we are a company. I am not sure about how you do it in the web design world but in the production world where I work, We are called for pre production meetings and what we discuss is the director's treatment and how we intend to execute the shoot.
@otoidea, You are talking about some serious competition here. A still image of the layout is fine but you still need to separate yourself from the lot by carving a niche.

d look of ur work + ur portfolio would distinguish u from whatever competition

Dude u don[b] real TYR [/b] accordinq to your signature! Wow i'm impressed @ 2shot website it's indeed splendid.

@ztyle
thnx. ud also notice i ddnt complete tht project.
strted it 4 him as a padi and developd to tht level cs it was fun.but time for bar didnt come, so we put it on hold

lol

Yes dude i obeserve that the project is incomplete esp. that of gallery & video page!
anyway it's a nice work _{but na wa oh 2shot no fit pay wella 4 this betta stuff}

Bros i really want to learn from you oh! try add me on YIM make we yarn
add investvze(at)yahoo.com[i]. . always online.[/i]

I second shawonlese.

Get yourself a server which can be used as your demo server to host clients demo.

Always commit the client b4 u commence the job, either through an escrow, or 3rd party, by charging your mobilization fee.
When demo is up, Give the clients passwords, so that the client, can go through the demo site, point out changes to be made etc, on the demo hosted on your server, and not the client's server where u have no access

all demos i do are with biro and paper. we scribble all the static elements on paper. Once the layout is clear. . . i build and upload temporarily to my own server (as omnipotens would have noticed in some of me sites he has seen), i give the client a link he checks it up. Once all payment is complete, i get it hosted. One thing i will never do is give a client my .psd .fla .png .php and .css raw files, lai lai!

I support agreeing with @shawonlese, @cvibe and @Dual Core refer displaying your demo at your own hosting server, not client's hosting server with the login system for client to access to be viewed your demo there.

I rest my case!