Website Critique.

[MrPixel]

Ill give you some feedback on that site, the colour scheme looks much better than your own site but its lacking any graphical elements, such as a good logo.

You’ve got to remember, any design agency will have a few individuals all performing their own tasks to complete a site. So you’ll have a project manager, a graphic designer, a programmer, a marketing person etc. Each have their own niche. When you freelance, you need to be able to perform each task yourself to complete a site. Myself, i started out in graphics and front end development (css, html). I now know JQuery pretty well, am totally accomplished in SEO and marketing and feel comfortable in PHP, having learned enough to code and build pretty much any site. If there is something i dont know i can call on my programmer. But primarily im a front end developer, its what i practice most and more importantly its what i actually enjoy doing. Theres no point struggling with graphics if you dont enjoy it. If you do enjoy it but lack creative thought, then you need to practice Photoshop until you understand what the program can do. You should be able to learn all you need to learn off the web to start with which will stand you in good stead before you start your course in September.

My advice would be to find the environment you feel most comfortable in and learn that first. If you feel creative thought and design is not your thing, you might struggle being a freelance web designer. Thats not to say you cant outsource any graphical work to someone else and concentrate on the coding side if you feel thats what your better at. Its a hard industry to compete in, there are so many people that think they can build sites but when it comes down to it they dont understand the bones about the industry and just offer any old tosh and move on to the next client. I cant work like that, every site i build has to be an extension of my own business and be pixel perfect, then you get the plaudits, the recommendations, the repeat business, the SEO, the hosting etc and you can make some serious money.

Dont let any of this put you off, get stuck into Photoshop and learn all the tools and practice mock ups. Remember to be pixel perfect, so use guides and measurements so everything lines up. Then code it out into an actual site. You’ll find it rewarding once you master it all.

[chrisburton]

I just want to mention that Photoshop should not be your only tool for design. Illustrator can be more helpful in a lot of situations.

I notice that a lot of people that end up on the forums have the idea that they are required to be both, a developer and designer. At one point I had that assumption as well until I realized that’s just not the case. Not everyone is great at design and the same goes for development. I think it’s important to find your strong spot and pursue it.

[MrPixel]

^^ Agreed.

I use all three, Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks depending on what i need. Once you understand one, the tools and the layout is similar in all three tools.

[MrPixel]

Ive got 13 years experience, 10 years freelancing, 2 years in an agency and in the last year i’ve set up a company with my programmer friend. Im 32 going on 18 :)

As for the tools, each does different things. Vector (scalable) and Bitmap (pixel). Fireworks does both. Fireworks is superb for working mockups and vector graphics, Photoshop for image manipulation, and any other web graphics and Illustrator for print, unique shapes, logos etc. If you have all three, you’ll see tools from each one in each other program, and there are also tools unique to each program. Once you have all three, you will understand the limitation of each program and can choose whatever program best suits your needs. For example, any logos i do i use Illustrator for the text and shapes, and then move it into Photoshop for any shadowing, touching up etc.

[Author]

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