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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Philadelphia, PA
    Posts
    70

    Writing a proposal (how detailed?)

    I have been maintaining a site for a couple years now... nothing major, just periodic updates. A few months ago, I was told that my position was going to be replaced with three unpaid high school students (interns) who would be completely redesigning the site. I was told that it wasn't because of who could do make a better design, but because the place I worked for was setting up an internship program in various parts of the organization with a local high school. Naturally, I was quite pissed and had little faith in the decision. I was told that I could stay onboard until they finished and I stayed because it was easy money that came every month.

    Recently, the person who I worked for called me up and told me she was not happy with what the students had been doing and that she was thinking about cutting them loose. She said that they were going to be submitting a redesign proposal and so was her stepson and she asked me to submit one as well. I didn't have any problem with this until I saw what she wanted. This is an excerpt from the email I recieved:
    What I need in your proposal is:
    1. Your suggested outline of the website structure (based on my
    content draft and the responses from the committee/staff, but incorporating
    your own judgements also) and the rationale for your suggestions.
    2. Web tools that you recommend to make the redesigned site more user-friendly and an explanation of what they would do or why they are important.
    3. The type fonts and background/other colors you recommend for easy readibility, including when material from the website is printed out in either color or black/white.
    4. A sample page would be useful to provide a sense of the "look" that you recommend -- how about doing the homepage?
    5. The timeline.
    6. A budget.
    This place has a history of doing anything it takes to cut costs (as you can see with what they previously did to me). They have had graphic designers come in and give them huge proposals and spend weeks putting them together only to hand their ideas to someone else to do for a lower price.

    I am not sure if I should write this proposal or not. What they are asking for is a complete blueprint of the site with extremely technical details (Fonts? I mean come on!). I don't see what's preventing them from handing it to the interns to do for free or finding another designer to do it for a lower price.

    So, my question is: What should I do?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    540
    I would say, Thank you for your interest. You are familiar with my work as we have worked together for XX amount of time. If you would like to retain my services, you can pay me XX amount and I would be happy to do the site for you. All of this information would be ironed out in step 1 of the design process.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Pflugerville, TX
    Posts
    11,231
    You know the client best. If they are not worth your time, then politely decline. Even better, refer them to another designer. Here's why:

    1. They might find that the other designer suits their needs well, then everyone is happy. The designer gets some work, they client is happy with the new designer and you, and you don't have to deal with them being a pain in the ***.

    2. Building ties in the Web development community is vastly important. I had two WHT members contact me about doing some design work for them. I already accepted a couple of new clients from here, and I simply wasn't in a position to take on any more projects. So I sent them to a very reputable design firm right down the street from me.

    Now, the owner is taking me out to lunch next week, and they want to subcontract components of larger projects out to me. I mean, isn't that about as win/win as you can get?

    So, there's an idea for you. Let us know how it goes - dealing with problem clients is always an industry hazard and it's interesting to see how people handle these very individual and delicate situations.

    Paul H
    Studio1337___̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.__Web Design

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Castle Pines, CO
    Posts
    7,189
    It sounds like she is trying to get your expertise & then possibly get her stepson to do it.

    If you wanted to submit the proposal, charge her for it (say $100). And then tell her if you are hired for the job (say $2,000), you willl discount the job by the proposal charge - (so the total would be $1,900).

    That way you get paid at least for your ideas.

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