Why So Serious?
Picture the following conversation, taken from the comments at Web Worker Daily:
Them: What do you do?
Me: I am a web designer.
Them: Oh! My dentist also does web design. He/She is really good with Frontpage and stuff. He/She even has their own website. It has something to do with geocities…
Me: Yeah. I do dental work on the side, too. I even have my own drill and chair.
Them: Huh?
I don’t know about any of you other freelancers out there, but this about hits the nail on the head for me. Anytime someone asks me, “So what do you do?” I’m wondering whether I should tell them I build websites or just leave it at “I work with computers. You?”
Because the idea exists that “computers do the work for you”, folks everywhere who commute to an 8-to-5′er assume that us so-called “web designers” basically sit around surfing the web all day. Part of it’s laughable, and part of it’s somewhat angering, because we’re looked at as though we don’t have a “real job”. How many of you reading this got into the field because it was so darned easy? I didn’t think so. Building websites isn’t done in a pinch, and yet a large portion of the general public tend to see it that way.
I figure the only way to really get folks to take us seriously is to change the way we portray ourselves. Like telling someone what we accomplished with a certain project. Instead of saying “I design websites”, tell them “We had a client that was spending $500.00 a month on paper applications. By moving them online, we saved them 75% of that cost.”
Another good way is to jump the gun a bit and directly describe how you could help whatever company they work for. Get the name and description of their company and create your own solutions on the fly.
Them: What do you do?
Me: Well, who do you work for?
Them: XYZ Company. We build lamps.
Me: My company helps XYZ get to where they can sell lamps online and education the public about lamps. We also make it easier for Google to find them and get more folks to buy their lamps from XYZ.
Of course, these are just a couple of ways that we could change the face of freelancing in a way that leaves them thinking, “I’ve got to hire them!” Instead of “Pbbth. Slacker.” I’d love to hear some of yours. How can we make the public see what we’re really about?
Roberto Blake:
This does hit the nail on the head for me as a web/graphics designer. Everyone who has a copy of Photoshop or Paintshop Pro or eve The GIMP claims to be a graphics designer, and everyone who has ever taken a class on HTML believes they are a web designer now a days.
This wouldn’t be so bad if business owners and potential clients didn’t actually buy into it. I have been looking at magazines and websites with a critical eye lately wondering how and why companies (even larger companies) are paying for below average to outright horrible design work.
The reality is as a web designer I know HTML/XHTML, Actionscript 2&3, Javascript, PHP, and MySQL, and have worked with frameworks as well as CMS systems to include: Wordpress, Smarty, and Joomla. And in the one class I took that even touched HTML my professor handed the other students off to me to get through the 2 weeks we spent on it.
Web Design and or Graphics Design takes years of experience to be proficient and to understand as an industry, and there is a common misconception that anyone who knows at least a little about it will do, simply because so many people know NOTHING, about it.
<—End of Rant
schuessler:
nice article!
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