WANTED: Web Designer

[Gary Beckwith]

I'm looking for someone on the spectrum that is a talented web designer and would like to be part of creating an autism-related website with me. I have little money but a big idea that could lead to long-term employment opportunities. Contact me if you want to discuss.

 

Gary

[LancsLad]

Gary if you feel comfortable doing so please offer a bit more information about yourself and the project you envisage. Can see you have had a number of profile views but no reply yet, that might tell you something and that is people are a bit cautious which could be expected. Is this at all possible?

 

Thanks.

[Gary Beckwith]

Thank you Snowdon - as you can see, I'm a complete novice.

 

I am a qualified Quality Professional (Chartered Quality Institute) and have been working for The National Autistic Society since 1996. I am leaving my full-time post in September so that I can be the main carer for my four children. I will continue to work part-time.

 

My short-term need is a bespoke website to sell my services as a freelance Quality Professional; with a [autism-focused] service design background. This element of the website I have put some money aside for.

 

I am equally cautious in putting my full concept out there but if I can't share it here then where else...?! My reason for a wanting a bespoke website, initially, is that it can provide the building blocks for a more complex, user-led, site over time. The long-term concept is to create a forum-style site that is very specific to service quality e.g. capturing end-user experiences in a range of different service interactions. End-users could be individuals on the spectrum and/ or parents.

 

There is an increasing focus on 'top-down' standards that define what quality services for people on the spectrum should look like. This definition could, arguably, be described as 'professional-driven' with an unrepresentative voice of people on the receiving end.

 

I feel that the Autism Act 2009, NICE Standards, and autism charities/ services all have a significant role to play in improving service provision. However, I also believe that there is scope to create a fully inclusive and concise breakdown of what matters most to people - that could be practically read, understood and applied by the services that want/ need to adapt.

 

I'm passionate about researching this further and don't want to raise money to pay a regular web-design company to just get something out there. Mainly because a project such as this must not solely be led by a neuro-typical-autism-related-professional: as this contradicts everything that I have stated previously!

 

Money is also an issue. I'm not a web-designer and am just not technical. I do, however, have many other skills and need to build a team up to help this concept grow naturally through effective market research, and ultimately building and maintaining the site.

 

My overall aim is that the site becomes income-generating and that the site employs individuals on the spectrum in a range of roles (which is a whole different post).

 

Although I'm based in Northamptonshire, I'm looking in to using Second Life for office space :-)

 

So, there you have it. My intention is to set up as a sole trader but, dependent on the response, level of dedication to the idea, and skills on offer within the autism community I'd be more than happy to set up a Limited Company or similar. That said, any solicitors, accountants, HR professionals reading this please offer your input too.

 

I think I've gone from being way too brief with my explanation to a little over the top. Either way, I'll be glad for some interest as I'm not sure where to go next. On a personal note, I have a very strong set of values including honesty and respect. I'd expect the same from others that make contact and I'm happy to provide references to anyone wanting to explore this with me. I'm also on LinkedIn for those that want more info on me.

 

Thank you for reading this post. Any advice on using this forum more effectively would be most welcome.

 

Best wishes

 

Gary

[Gary Beckwith]

Sorry for referring to you as Snowdon, LancsLad.

 

I'm getting the hang of this, honest.

[LancsLad]

I am by the way not offering my services Gary as Web design is not my specialist area but I have been in the position of developing a web site for a personal bussiness project in the past, as such here are some thoughts.

 

I think from experience there are a few ways to go. The first is to find someone who does this as a job who can do everythinbg for you and work for the right financial rate, that is between you and them. I wish you luck in that.

 

The next option is to develop the site a long way by yourself and pay for the professional services you might need to bring in, by neccessity some of these services may fall to people outside of the autistic spectrum which is unfortunate given your ethical stance on the matter which I admire. In my experience there are four main areas to the web design process.

 

1. Developing the structure.

 

There are some pretty hard fast rules I have come across in the web design community about making a site work and there are simple things such as you should be never more that 3 clicks away from any piece of information. This structure can easily be developed on pieces of paper as simple flow charts showing how links will work. This is not difficult but it is time consuming and something which needs to be worked on first as ideas about what you might want to include are bound to come into your head as you move through the process. If I had some advice it would be to look at a range of sites which might have a structural feel for what you are going for and deconstruct them on paper. For example this is an input box I am on at present which has a link above the input window to my profile graphic and below that window are button conections to other links twitter, then facebook etc.... Once you have deconstructed a few sites I am confident you will find it easier to build up a structure of your own. Without this structure you would rack up time with a web development company especially if your idea does not fit a standard web design template.

 

2. Web Site look and feel.

 

This is all about the graphical appearance of a site the layout of its pages, the fonts used and size, colour templates, banner designs, photographs and the form/proportions of graphics. In reality the skills set here is very similar to designing a poster. In the same way you might be involved in the interior design of your house you could do yourself a few favours by collecting images of things which appeal to you and compiling them onto a mood board as a collage for example. You will see here if things work together or not. A lot of graphic design work involves simply settling onto these basic concepts to establish a feel. A client again with little idea will rack up time with any designer far better you come to the party with some strong ideas. It may be the case that your desk top publishing skills are not too bad and you can go to the next stage of putting together a few concept sheets showing what the pages may look like on the proposed site.

 

3. Putting the content together into a structure.

 

From my knowledge depending upon how complex a structure you want to your site the next stage is in putting it together. In my personal experience this is not too difficult if you have a strong ability in the previous two areas. In my own experience because I was familiar with using Adobe software Photoshop, Illutrator, Flash and InDesign in other areas of my life it was possible to take my strructural and graphical content in Adobe Dreamweaver and with a few self help books build my own prototype site. There are a couple of points here. One is I already owned most of the software needed and as a bundle this would come in at about £2,000 as stand alone stuff with a few usefull add on programmes. Secondly I can work on and edit the concept in keeping control of the site. Whilst you might not want to build it you may eventually want to have editing control over it. Again there are time and cost implications Gary and in the long run it might be worth skilling up in this area simply to have editorial control.

 

4. Hosting the site.

 

The last element is who is going to host the site. Whilst it is possible for example for me to host a site off a spare computer in my converted bedroom/office space the limiting factor is connectivity. If this only involves a few people being on the site and lookaing at information that is not a problem given a reasonable location and connection speed. If it comes to larger numbers of anticipated users and importantly downloading and uploading data, the teenage kid next door downloading a video in the Easter holidays can be a real pain in the ######. At this point you will want someone to host the site for you and that will mean fees I am afraid even if like me you are capable of getting more or less that far under your own steam. If this is to be the natural conclusion to the process it should be the starting point as they might very well dictate a lot of things and their costs need to be in any bussiness plan.

 

Gary I am not too sure if I am explaining how to suck eggs to you, but if not I hope this helps a bit. I think it is one of those areas where you need to recognise what you are capable of achieving yourself. Like all areas of design the client who hasn't got a clue can be frustrating for the designer, believe me I know. This is fine if they have a lot of money as you simply produce concepts after concepts or charge them by the hour while they sit alongside you. Whilst you might be able to find someone to work for free this scenario still applies even more so, in many ways my experience of charity work is that it can be a real pain in the ###### because the people often lack the respect for your abilities and fail to value your time as they would if they were the paying client. If you can do a lot of the ground work along this process yourself then I am sure your possibilities of keeping someone in the loop for a short period of time will be so much better if you are unable to pay them the market rate.

 

A final point is sit back and consider what you want the end game to be. I have in the past floated ideas around investors for bussiness start ups but as in any Dragon's Den scenario they want something back in return. It might be the case that a significant weakness in the start up days is in the long run pretty inconsequential. For example you might feel it appropriate to go into a partnership agreement because you need expertise in the areas I have listed and after the initial 6 months the partner can more or less sit back job done, this is a relationship you might not appreciate 2 or 3 years down the line. I am not neccessarily thinking in terms of finance here but in ethical control over a concept something which is close to my own heart in my own specialist area of design. Because of this my own decisions have always been to go it alone as much as I can and this means investing time and finance into the project when you can and try and keep it moving forwards. In the short term this might be frustrating but might pay dividens in the future. The one proviso against such an approach is if you think someone is going to come to market with a similar concept and beat you to being the market leader, in which case in all sectors it is not so much about the idea as having the belief in your convictions and putting your money where your mouth is so to speak.

 

Hope this helps a little.

[Gary Beckwith]

My goodness. Thank you LancsLad for taking time to write your comments and share your valuable experience, which I most certainly appreciate. Much of what you have said is very familiar to me as part of many conflicting thoughts and feelings in recent times. But you have skilfully honed them in to something to help me focus at the very least.

 

I'll be hitting the drawing board again over the coming days...

 

Gary

[LancsLad]

I think Gary it is worth it especially if you feel it is important that your personal qualities are the driving force behind the bussiness concept. Every time we ask someone to do something for us in a professional sense we dilute out this unique selling point. There are so few example in life which can get over this problem. I personally think Virgin for example is a stand out brand that I can relate to. A lot of people mock Richard Branson for many of his publicity adventures but there is a real reason in his madness. In contrast most charities out there come across as simply faceless corporations and totally lack the personal quality needed to engage me.

 

I do not want to put anyones nose out of joint, but when you go to a professional designer you can more or less predict what you will get. Often we think wow that looks professional and our own ego's get inflated for a short time but after that it is simply another slick example out there and there are now millions of them. Sometimes we need to break this cycle and the most amateur of attemps can be the most engaging. My profile piture is a portrait of me drawn by my son when he was two years of age in about 2 seconds flat as an example, as soon as he drew it as part of a family protrait I knew I would keep it for the rest of my life, it is that good from a professional perspective. As a professional we often try very hard to capture this level of quality but it is so difficult, it might be the case that your best chance of encapsulating your ideas Gary is by undertaking as much as you can on an amateur level. I have had this sort of debate with community groups when working on projects with them. Their gut reaction is you do the drawings, design the logo etc... because you are really good we know we have seen your work, they find it hard to understand the fact I am that good is at times the problem. Hope this makes sense as I think it is really important to the future success of your project.

[matzoball]

I'm a web developer. I could go through a proper project brief with you for free, get your site produced to the point where you could change the content yourself - would that be useful?

[Gary Beckwith]

In between mouthfuls of chocolate, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to LancsLad, Matzoball and everyone who has taken time to read this post.

 

Onward and upwards.

[Special_talent123]

i done websites but not HTML. I am using webs.com but im paying for it, its not as much as what VAT went up by on mrsite so using webs.com

[Moby75]

I am a qualified counsellor also doing a psychology degree and have a couple of other qualifications as well. I also have asperges and would be happy to help out with anything.

Moby.

[Gary Beckwith]

Thank you Special_talent123 and Moby75. I'm really grateful for such a positive response.

 

Gary

[A-S warrior]

post a video on youtube advertising yourself, bound to be some reasponse. be careful though, its a tough world over there, make sure your feeling thick skinned and confident if your going to do it.

[Gary Beckwith]

Thanks A-S warrior. No, not used YouTube yet. I think my skin is going to be tested over the coming months though. I might need to become a warrior too