Page 1 of 1
The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 4:33 pm
by volomike
I recently picked up a salesman in Brooklyn to help me get sales leads for freelancing, giving him 10% commission on leads that pan out. One of his criticisms was that my portfolio wasn't attractive enough. But by attractive, he meant design, and I'm not really a designer. I had to remind him of this.
As a freelance developer, I struggle with
my portfolio because I'm really more of a
developer, not a
designer. I mean, I work with designers and they get the credit on the design, and rightly so deserve that credit.
I mean, I tell you what -- you could name any hotshot site out there, I could take a bitmap of it, and within about 4 to 6 hours (depending on how complex), I could chop the bitmap up and create an optimized XHTML/CSS template from it that works across browsers, in record time. Moreover, within another 4 to 6 hours, I could build it into a WordPress custom theme if it were laid out in such a way. Moreover, I could combine the look of like 4 different sites in Inkscape and create some interesting designs as PSD, PNG, or TIFF images. But if you were to ask me to spontaneously come up with something off the top of my head with no reference point except a list of requirements, or do serious artwork -- I'm not suited to this. This is a designer's job, not a developer's job. My skills are in chopping (XHTML/CSS conversion from bitmaps), jQuery/AJAX, PHP, PayPal, and MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. On design, I am an
attempter, not the best guy for the job.
Tell me a designer who can build a mobile phone website in XHTML-MP, connected to an SMS gateway as well? Tell me a designer who can get IPN connections going through PayPal. Tell me a designer who can retheme a forum system like FluxBB so that it looks like the main site to some reasonable degree, or so that people can use their Facebook ID over OpenID to login to it. Tell me a designer who can make an online resume and job posting website with relevant keyword searches. The designer won't get this kind of criticism because people know he's a designer. But the developer -- we get the inverse of this criticism where our portfolio talks more about the code we do, rather than our flashy designs.
I think that's frustrating -- why I might not catch the gigs even though I get the sales leads. It's because some clients just don't understand the difference between a designer and a developer. Can I sub out work to designers? Yes, and I do. Or, I can subcontract myself to the designer who caught the gig instead. But as for looking into my portfolio and seeing great design, I just haven't had that kind of luck.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:09 pm
by Eran
You're missing out on the basics of marketing. In order for your site to present you as a professional, it needs to look professional too. That's basic human psychology, something that looks neat and organized and adheres to basic design guidelines (which are more than about looking good) looks much more professional and inviting than something that has no aesthetic appeal (which sadly includes most everything designed by developers).
First impression means a lot, and the first impression people will have of you from the site will depend on how it looks. Don't expect them to stick around and read about your technical skills (which wouldn't mean a lot to them anyway) if you're site is not well designed.
I remember when I was just starting out, I was doing also portfolio site for designers. Sure, they could have thrown together a lame flash site, but they chose to pay me since they understood that the presentation format is important as well as the design. It surprises me that developers often don't have the same approach regarding design - ie, they would not care to spend a dime to have a professionally designed site for themselves.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:26 pm
by John Cartwright
I think you guys have summed the this issue with clients up pretty well, so I won't repeat the points, but..
volomike wrote:It's because some clients just don't understand the difference between a designer and a developer.
you have already identified the issue, and your options are simple.
1) Create a few great design and feature them on your portfolio. Some people will include all of their work (recent or otherwise). However, I believe it is important to only put a few sites are that are the most appealing to the type of customer you are marketing to. Quality over quantity++
1) Educate the clients (this was a joke).
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:21 am
by pickle
If you only want jobs from people who know they want a developer and not a designer, then build that type of portfolio. If you want jobs from people who want a developer but think they want a designer, you'll have to build your portfolio to pander to them.
Also, I know you weren't really asking for reviews, but a couple opinions. Do with them what you wish.
- Decrease the header size. At 1024 x 768 the header's almost 1/3 the page.
- Increase the line-spacing a little. Usually between 1.3 & 1.5em
- Are the icons the same size & from the same set?
- Pretty good design overall.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:50 pm
by volomike
Ah -- the header was oversized as kind of my attempt at being
artful. Some people
get it. Some do not. I do intend on changing this.
On my next portfolio site, I was thinking of basing it on the kind of site I might build for a client mom and pop small business, but with a flair of Web 2.0 styling. For instance:
http://www.postbox-inc.com/
http://www.beetil.com/tour
http://www.newsgroupdirect.com/
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:16 pm
by iankent
I have to say, I thought your site looked quite professional as it is, including the oversized header (artful, I agree!)
As it happens, I'm pretty crap at 'design' but do alright with the 'development' bit, but I do occasionally have a flash of inspiration and a design comes into my head lol
If a client has given me a logo and basic branding guidelines (e.g. fonts, colours etc) I can put together a pretty decent design off the top of my head, but to start from zero I really struggle. Usually end up doing about 5 or 10 attempts at a design in Photoshop before coming to a design I like, then probably another 10 or 20 revisions of that before I get something I'd be happy to put into code. And once I start coding it it'll get further refinements.
But to get back on topic lol the others have told you what you need to know, but I think this quote from pickle sums it up nicely:
pickle wrote:If you only want jobs from people who know they want a developer and not a designer, then build that type of portfolio. If you want jobs from people who want a developer but think they want a designer, you'll have to build your portfolio to pander to them.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:00 am
by Jenk
Pay a designer to design your site.
As much as we all agree that the fault truly lies with clients not really knowing the difference between a developer and a designer, the reality is: that will never change, so we must adapt.
He who has the bigger net, catches more fish. So adapt your "net" to "catch" those "fish"!

Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:33 am
by superdezign
I think your salesman is referring to the fact that your portfolio is in an awkward in-between phase. It is like you are trying to be artful, but doing a bad job at it. I don't mean to offend you, though I might. Sorry ahead of time.
The impression I get is that you had a design in mind, tried to do it, and couldn't. It looks like you have experience with Photoshop, but very limited experience. The shine on your link images and the blurred reflection of your logo are both cut off and edges. And then the icon on the side has it's own column, but is so small. It doesn't deserve it's own column.
Either make it more flashy or less flashy. Either go all out and add backgrounds, a common color theme, and follow the style of the blog "designers." Or, go the route of "developer-designers" and make all text into *text* (not images), and instead of making use of a lot of graphics, limit yourself to the power of solid color gifs, positioning colored divs, and the shiny repeating backgrounds of web 2.0.
A good example of simplistic design is
StopDesign. I've also always found that BitTorrent's redesigns are always smooth, Apple's simplicity is always inspiring, and DeviantArt's style reassures us that gradients and anti-aliasing aren't always necessary.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:42 pm
by josh
If you want to pickup more leads, think in terms of *benefits* and not *features*. Period.
Compare
Code: Select all
Created a custom game rotator gadget and an admin system to manage it.
To
Code: Select all
Designed & Implemented a turn-key system allowing the admin to manage a link directory of games, which spawned a community of 100,000 players. Designed marketing module to rotate ads & monetized the traffic.
In the former you are worrying about impressing other programmers, unfortunately clients think in terms of benefits (which is kind of opposite with programmers, unfortunately)
A simple algorithm for a sale is SPIN,
Situation
Problem
Implication
Need-payoff
Situation - "are you in need of an admin panel to manage your link directory"?
Problem - "Does your current system impose on you a time consuming work process"
Implication - "Does this tie up valuable administrative time, driving down the bottom line?"
Need-Payoff - "Hire volomike to redesign your link directory!"
Using this "skeleton" for a sales pitch will get the customer to convince himself. (read up on here if you dont know why thats a good thing
http://changingminds.org/principles/pull.htm).
I recommend this book for only $1.50
http://www.amazon.com/SPIN-Selling-Fiel ... 0070522359
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:23 pm
by volomike
Once again, Josh, you impress me. Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I need to get around to updating my site. If it weren't raining tasks with existing clients, I'd be hopping on it right now.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:41 am
by pickle
volomike wrote:If it weren't raining tasks with existing clients
If this is the case, might I suggest you don't change anything?
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:56 am
by papa
I guess everything has been said already.
I would hire a designer or trade with a designer.
Even though you are a developer, it's the overall impression that leaves the potential customer with his/hers opinion. Even though you had av very impressive resume I would doubt your skills if your site looked like <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span>.
Re: The Design vs. Development Disparity for Portfolios
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 1:49 pm
by volomike
Guys, things are changing fast for me all of a sudden these past two days. Might not need a portfolio site at all? It's all good, I'm still doing PHP and working from home as a freelancer with my own LLC. More details later if you PM. I'm taking this offline.