Tag: design

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“Could you please do a test bit of work for free before we hire you?” – my thoughts on this scenario as a freelancer

(disclosure – may contain swears – we are adults so I hope you don’t mind!).

Often in design, and I realise in other areas of the media especially, such as copywriting, potential clients ask freelancers to do test pieces of work for free. It could be the front page of a brochure, some social media graphics or a blog piece if you’re a writer.  

Here is a design I pitched for a potential client who were kind enough to feed back on my work – unfortunately I chose an image they’d used a lot already so bad luck on my behalf, but perhaps they could have sent across some images to use so all freelancers were on a level playing field rather us than playing a guessing game? Luckily it didn’t take long, so there wasn’t much time left and as they got back to me I was pleased, even if the feedback wasn’t what I wanted!

Do we, as freelancers mind doing this?

It depends on a few things, but generally no.

If there is a lot to be gained from the work – ie several days work / month or weeks / year then it could be worth the investment. For a day or 2 or if you aren’t clear on how much work you would get out of it, it rarely is.

Why do people want us, as freelancers, to do a test pieces for free?

I honestly don’t know! I would never dream of asking my plumber, electrician, mechanic, solicitor etc to do a test piece then hire them. I always pay them, and if I don’t like their work, I hire someone else – simple! I suspect, it’s often so they can compare styles of work and sometimes, people do actually just want some work for free, and have no intention of hiring you for the work at all. It can be an exercise they have to go through – for example, show they’ve got quotes and work from 3 different individuals / companies, but always intended to hire their usual person.

Can you imagine this scenario:

“Hey plumber, I have a leaky tap and loo – if you can just mend those for me for free, then I’ll hire you for future work and it’s ok, in return I’ll tell all my friends about you”.

What do you think they’d say to me – I suspect there would be some well chosen 4 letter words headed my way!

I have done free pieces of work for companies and not even had an email back to thank me for my time! Now this is just plain rude!

Time is as precious as money and should be treated that way.

So now I do not do work for free, or do test pieces of work unless they’re paid for. I also don’t do work in exchange for ‘part of the business’ (another bug bearer of mine) or ‘exposure’.

Sod off – if you really believe in your business put your money where your mouth is!


If you would like to hire me for design work please contact me at lucy@transparentdesign.co.uk and take a look at my portfolio www.lucyrigley.co.uk

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Top tips when contacting freelance web designers for a web design quote

Are you looking for a new website and wanting some quotes from freelance web designers? Lucy, our freelance senior designer has a few tips which she hopes you’ll find useful.

Do a little bit of research beforehand – I love it when someone comes to me and says ‘I want a website with (list of pages they want), something along the lines of (a similar sized website)’. This will mean looking at what your competitors, or similar businesses offer – yes I’m asking you to Google!

Have a budget in mind – I know it’s hard but there is a huge difference between what you can get for £500 and £5000. I always say it’s a bit like a house – think of the rooms as the content and the more rooms, the more content / pages there are. I can always work to a budget and can tell you what you’d get for it, and also tell you if your budget is more than what I’d normally charge. I like to be honest.

Mention where you found out about the designer – was it through LinkedIn? A recommendation? Google? This is so useful for us – we need to know how people find our websites and work and if our SEO is working.

It’s nice to know why you’ve contacted us – what drew you to getting a quote from us – was it a particular piece of work, a personal recommendation or location? I often get people contacting me close to York as I live in York and people want an initial meeting face to face, or like to think they’re keeping their money locally.

Have a think about your content – you may want some professional photography, or maybe you’re on a budget so stock images will be fine, you will need some copy – images will be fine. You will need some words – and a copywriter who specialises in SEO and websites could be worth their weight in gold. However, SEO friendly copy isn’t as necessary if your website is somewhere you point people to, rather than want people to find.

If you already have a website think about what you want to change. What isn’t working well and what is working well? What is missing or which sections don’t you use? For example maybe you have a blog but never update it or maybe you want a social media feed. Is the lack of a CMS annoying you and you want to update the site yourself?

The more information we get as freelancers, the easier it is to quote! This list isn’t exhaustive – I will definitely want more information for you, but it makes my life so much easier if you’ve done a bit of research and work beforehand and I’m also not bombarding you with lots of questions which can sometimes be a big daunting!

Don’t ghost us! We get that you don’t always choose us for your new website – that is fine but a quick email to say ‘thanks for your time but we’ve decided to go with someone else’ really helps. Often quotes take a few hours so it’s just nice to awknowledge that!

If you’d like to know more about how I can help you with your website needs please get in touch at lucy@transparentdesign.co.uk. Please also take a look at Lucy’s freelance design portfolio website at lucyrigley.co.uk and her linked in linkedin.com/in/lucyharding.

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Who are Transparent Design?

Transparent Design are a York based Web Desgn and Development agency based just outside of York. We are Digital Designer Lucy and Digital Developer Mike and we work with other lovely people such as copyrighters to create websites and other digitial media such as apps, touchscreens, print work, games, animations and more.
Because we are small, we are cheaper than a lot of other agencies but with the same experience as we have fewer overheads. We both graduated with first class degrees in Interactive Design in 2000 and have worked ever since. Lucy loves Photoshop and Mike loves creating easy to use things that last.

We work with all sorts of people – from sole traders who want a helping hand to get a logo, website and business cards, to huge multinationals who want an interactive touchscreen or app for their latest product.