http://www.songofsolomon.com/junedevo.htm
It’s simplified, less clutter.
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Category: Design
In an effort to improve the effectiveness of our Monthly SOS Newsletter I have updated it with more content.I’m trying to figure out how to create dividers to make it look more compartmentalized, but so far all of my attempts have only made it feel more cluttered. I’m also thinking about redoing the header image in something more fantastic…
It is now chock full of useful information and a free digital download of Romans Vol. II session 1 by Tommy Nelson.
You can checkout the Newsletter here.
Also, if you want to subscribe to the Newsletter then go to http://www.songofsolomon.com
(The Subscription option is on the left hand side of the screen.)
I’m not sure if I posted on here about trying e-Harmony again in December of last year, but I did. Surprisingly I was matched with very few women and the ones I was matched with weren’t a match at all.
What is it about online dating services that makes me feel like I am bargain basement shopping? It’s like I have this selection of women served up before me that are last year’s models or returned items that someone else didn’t want. I know what you are thinking: Harsh Much! But it’s true.
I’ve been trying Match.com for a month now and it seems that everyone they are matching me with is divorced. When did people start getting divorced in their twenties?
I’m probably being too judgmental or even unrealistic cause I know there are some amazing divorced women out there, but I sort of want to be my wife’s first husband. When someone has already been married then I feel like “Hey, you already had your turn, let some the rest of us have a shot!”
Match.com gives me 5 new matches a day and most of the time I can look at their profile and tell if we would actually be a good match. I have talked to a couple of girls through email and I can’t help but be bored.
One girl said, “It’s torture for me to get to know someone through email.” And I wanted to respond back, “If that is the case, then you should give me a good reason to want to meet you in person. Be interesting. Be funny. Be witty. Charming. SOMETHING!” Snore.
I have a tendency to quickly write out a long email that gives insights into who I am and what I am looking for without coming right out and saying it. I ask important questions up front like, “Were you ever a dude?” and “Are you a Wiccan?” It’s important to get these questions out of the way at the beginning instead of finding out on the third or fourth date and you’ve already french kissed on the front steps of her lair.
I promise that I am not hardened or set in my ways, but the last 4-6 relationships, the girls I took out from e-Harmony, Wilbur Smith novels and the 33 years I have lived on this Earth have wizened me and enhanced my bullcraptometer. Online dating services allow people to put their best foot forward on an online profile but I think it also attracts people that fall into these categories:
- Desperate
- Shallow
- Married
- Divorced
- Perverts
- Crazies
- Hopeless Romantics
- Gold Diggers
I’m sure that makes me sound jaded, but I’m just drawing a conclusion based on my own personal experience and observation. But I also believe that in every field full of weeds you can find a beautiful wild flower… Somewhere in this great wide world there is a woman who will understand my heart and see me for who I am – flawed, but awesome. She’s out there somewhere and I plan to find her.
I sent out an email that I created for SOS that went out to 50,000 people.
http://www.songofsolomon.com/maydevo09.htm
I am quite proud of this even though it is just the beginning. I created all of those graphics, the header and footer even and this work is keeping me quite busy and I love it.
1. Take the time to create a detailed plan
When I meet with clients you need to be sure and convey how much time it actually takes to do web design or anything technical. Even when you have been doing IT work for 10 years, a job done well is going to take some time.
2. Gather Requirements
I’ve been freelancing for years now and only recently have I started becoming truly profitable. Often times I would spend so many hours on a project that my rate of pay was below minimum wage. As a Business Analyst for Texas Instruments I learned that it is important to spend a little bit of time gathering exactly what the clients requirements are. You have to come in with a handful of probing questions and you don’t just ask the questions once, you ask them repeatedly in varying ways and then you repeat them back to your client. “So what you just said to me is that you want a blue website with florescent green font and a red logo?”
3. Don’t Lower Your Standards
I had a client ask me to build them a website around an ugly logo. The logo as so bad that it was like asking me to take a turd and to bake a cake with it. I informed the client that they needed to update their logo and that it would be really hard for me to build something nice and visually pleasing around it. I actually attempted to make the site in three different layouts, but the font on their logo with the ugly background colors and clashing blue and green Times New Roman Font continued to limit my creativity. I finally told the client that it wasn’t possible for me to work with this logo. I have to be able to do work that I am proud of in order to do an amazing job for my clients.
4. Get the Money Up Front!
Whatever you do, do not start a project unless you get some money up front. Clients should be willing to pay 25 to 50 percent down and the rest of the money upon completion of the site. When you don’t get money up front then the client has the ability to draw out the project indefinitely. Instead, create a contract with simple terms stating the agreement, the expectations and when the site will be done. Hold up your end of the bargain and make sure they hold up theirs.
5. The client is rarely right
I’ve found that most of my clients do not even have the faintest idea about design or IT work and how much time it takes to make simple graphics look good in multiple browsers. If it looks great in IE it might not look good in Firefox or Mozilla. Also, when it comes to design they often want to pair colors and images that clash or they want the logo bigger or something animated. Beautiful web design doesn’t have to be gimmicky and a good designer knows how to highlight your product without coming across as desperate.
I don’t know everything yet and I’ve found some great sites to help me learn. One of them is smashingmagazine.com and the other is wakeuplater.com
Okay, I gotta get back to work!