Jun 17 2009
Web Design Is A Lowly Job?
I was called in by a company to attend a meeting together with their outsource web designer. My job was to give advice on their server hosting requirements. But as I followed their conversation, I found something that may indicate how some people perceive web designers.
The customer saw web design as a lowly job. It seems they considered a web designer nothing more than someone who get paid to simply put up their company photos online and finish her job.
They insisted a whole Flash-only web site to be done up for less than RM1,000. But I think the market rate is at least RM5,000 if not more!
But what surprised me most was that, the pitiful freelance part-time web designer, though obviously being looked down on, accepted the job at such dirt-cheap rate! I don’t know what quality of work she is going to deliver.
Are the web designers out there doing work just to “cari makan” (earn a little money here and there to feed stomach)? Good and passionate web designers like Danny Foo will be the first to disagree. Nowadays web designers are not just designers. They are artists, engineers, strategists, marketeers and business consultants! The good designers are in for long-term business.
Unfortunately how the market perceive web designers may not be so noble. This maybe something for web designers to ponder on. Why such a bad reputation?
For me I don’t see web design as a lowly job. I know web design in general, though it’s not my choice for business. I know the time and effort a dedicated web designer put in to show up a quality work, though not well recognized and appreciated by others.
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Hmmm…I wasn’t aware of the market price of a full fledged Flash webpage to be around that price. Flash is more on animation and it’s not an easy job at all to deal with the time lines and sometimes self-drawing is needed to avoid copyright issues, definitely not a lowly job but like other profession that needs time, creativity, innovation, carefulness and passions
!
Perhaps this young lady tried to gain into market access first by offering an attractive entry price to the customers? If well done, the customer will refer other customer to her
?