Has the bubble burst?
Chit Chat, Uncategorized
I have recently come to the end of a six month contract and although the offer of a renewal was on the table, I swiftly declined for numerous reasons of which I wont go into.
For the past 4 days I have been looking for a more permanent role, as I need a bit more stability and would like to be part of something long term and build my reputation within a studio environment. With over 10 years of commercial experience you would think it would be a doddle, but this year has seen many of our own picking up less money than in previous years on permanent contracts.
I was bemused when one agency called me today asking my persmission to send my cv to a reputable company for a design and development role who needed and I quote ‘an outstanding individual with 5+ years in photoshop, illustrator, dreamweaver, ASP, .net, PHP, javascript, java, visual basic, ajax, coldfusion and excellent hand coding skills, only the best will do for our company so if you think you have what it takes, send us your cv and links to relevent work’, ‘Great’ I replied ‘how much is the starting salary?’… ‘£18,000′. Yes that is a 1 before the 8, I did state that 18,000 is the same money a school leaver would recieve and less than half of what I earn now, ‘but that is the going rate for designers and developers now’ she replied.
I declined the offer but did thank her for her time (with my tongue in my cheek). Anyway to my point, is it just me or has our trade become a strained one? Let me know your thoughts.
New project
Uncategorized
Had an email this morning from my boss asking for a quick single page designed and uploaded, I hate these projects simply because I hate doing things quickly. Inspiration is not light switch like! But I was happy with the result, took me just over an hour.
Blueprintcss
Uncategorized
Blueprintcss is a css framework that does exactly what it says on the label. Every designer has come to the point in their career where they reuse old css code for new projects, and when you are producing 3-5 websites a month like myself it pays to have a framework to cut production time.
I have used a few frameworks in my time and blueprintcss is definately the most flexible, it is also being developed constantly with an IE png fix and fluid layouts planned for the next release.
Designers block
Design
Every designer gets it at some time, but what can you do to help get the creative juices running again? Most designers will give you a different answer so I have jotted a few valuable methods either myself or colleagues use…
5 of the best
Design5 of the best designs I havce come across from the last few days, a real showcase of how to blend design with simplicity and usability.
Jenna Law has created a superb site which showcases her work in a user friendly single page. I also like the way strong borders are used to draw attention to certain areas without being obtrusive.
Well crafted site using a very well designed javascript navigation system that ensures you are never lost even after a few clicks.
A nicely designed blog using a good colour scheme, I liked this site because of the idea behind it more than anything else, but it is also good to see non-profit organisations designing great looking sites. If you write a blog or know somebody that does, please take a moment to visit the site.
Typographic designs at its best, a brilliantly simple site that does more than enough to grab a users attention with as few images as possible, also very nice unobtrusive navigation.
Loved the idea, loved the orange. I have always been to scared to use orange in all aspects of my life and job so I am happy to see it work so well in this site.
Web 2.0
Chit Chat
For my first post I would like to give an unbiased opinion on the web 2.0 from a designer and developer. Most people (if not everyone) has heared this term being thrown around as of late but many still are confused as to what it really means.