Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : Designers, Developers, Programmers and "hey, free hosting"

[Tranz]

My oberservation has been that designers, the good ones are ALL WANTED, yet people are unwilling or unable to pay for them.

They offer up 2, 3 and 6 months worth of hosting in return for what the client wants is some awsome design.

So! I'm not trying to be mean but dont some of you think that actualy paying for a designers services is right?

Some designers can add up all the free hosting they have and it would amount to a data center in itself. Yet, there is always the "you can resell" the space." SO, this takes to much time and effort and thus turns the designer into "Hey, I'll give you free hosting....."

Do some of you think we are a dime a dozen? Do you think that that countless hours sitting infront of our boxes working in Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator means nothing? Do you think that what we provide is as cheap, or has such little value that a few months to years of hosting is going to make up for it.

Think about it, a desinger makes you a design, You use it to propell your business along. Lets say you starting doing well, the designer gets nothing further, yet you continue to profit.

This happens in the real world yes I know, but the designer was compensated from the get go.

I know I probaly sound pissed but I'm not. I just think that a good designer should be respected and not just thouht of as someone that can be used. We make your ideas come to life, we make them attract clients. We give your idea or business concept direction.

Without the support of a good designer, and someone that knows about how to run business then the business concept will eventualy fail. (I'm not saying that a designer is the only person in a business either.)

Just respect what we do, offer us up some REAL $$$. This helps all of us and the industry as a whole.

Paying the mortage company with "Hey, I'll give you 4 months of free hosting, HUH doesnt work.." Get my point...?

[Walter]

Mostly agreed. But it's the same whining some hosting companies do, IMHO it's not the customers fault to ask for a low price, he would be a fool if he doesn't. It's webhosts/designers giving away things for too cheap that are the fools.
Be assured, I have paid for every web design, only once I couldn't resist to offer hosting.

[Tranz]

Walter,

Yeah, that is another thing. Designers giving their work away. I mean why bother then?

I have had over 15 years in design and the last 10 in the web. I think I design good and have gained a certin degree of knowledge that comes with those years.

I should get paid for what I bring to the table and what I can do. if your a newbie designer I can see how you cant charge a little higher for a project, but come on.

Some of the work I have seen designers here and I mean SOME not ALL people. Has been scary and yet they do either two things give it away or charge a rate that makes you say huh?

I mean I just picked up a potential gig today just by talking to a guy at the dog park. He mentioned that he had gottne quotes from other designers but wanted someone with a track record. I was able to answer his questions, and just by the conversation he felt comfotable for me to swing by on Tue. The total cost of the gig is $80k.

This is not to brag it is just to show that a newbie might have given it away and the client potentialy would have gotten back an inferior product.

The client set the price I didnt by the way. He stated he is buying my expertise in the field not my design capabilities. But, I charge a fair price for it.

I hope this didn't sound like a brag post. It's not meant to. If it did sorry..

[akashik]

I haven't been without paid work to be done in four years designing so in all honesty I haven't seen this 'free hosting' issue as a problem. Some people really just do it as a hobby, or are just starting out so are trying to build a portfolio so it's sometimes more than they're actually looking for.

Having said that, there are still a lot of people willing to pay for quality services. I PM'd a guy on this forum a while back when he put in a request, talked to him for 10 minutes on ICQ and landed the job at the price I asked. Simple enough.

About the only 'crime' I see is some of the designers offering their work for nothing are really very good. They could be charging a premium for their work and making a serious career out of it. Having that extra time to work on the design (instead of rushing through between their real job) would serve to enhance their talent again. I'm sure many other designers will look at this free work and recognize some of the 'shortcuts' these guys do at times to push out a design faster... little mistakes etc.

Free work will always happen. I just hope these guys do move on to paid work eventually as it's a pretty good gig.

Greg Moore