andrewheins
Joined 17 years ago
Karma
276
Submissions
59
Member since
Sep 3
Recent submissions
Comment · 11 years ago
Comment · 13 years ago
This article was doomed the moment it was conceived. You cannot recreate art or art assets based on an oral description.
Of course the markup looks awful, you can't describe the Mona Lisa over the phone to your editor as "a portrait of a woman with long brown hair, sort of smiling" and capture anything worth telling. Nor can you describe the new iOS7 icons as "kinda the same, with duller colours and flat design".
Don't waste your time.
Comment · 14 years ago
I think we've all recognized the lack of context this actually provides. Something for a scientist's history books could mean jack to the general public.
Comment · 14 years ago
This kind of thing happens often, where you've got "news", but can't disclose until it's final.
In these situations it can be helpful to use some kind of scale or domain reference.
"We've got some pretty exciting news coming up, and we think it could change the world"
vs
"We've got some pretty exciting news coming up, that should really fire up geologists"
vs
"We've got some pretty exciting news coming up, that gets us closer to understanding the history of Mars"
Set a level of expectation.
Comment · 14 years ago
Nice. I created this exact same calculator in the spreadsheet I'm using for my freelancing. It's kind of amusing how few knobs there are to twiddle for freelancing.
Comment · 14 years ago
Wow, they tried to jack everything about The Oatmeal's style, but did a poor job of it.
Love feedburner, but you have to wonder why they couldn't be themselves.
Comment · 14 years ago
Actually, I have opposite preferences, so I can't really help, but I don't enjoy drinking water that isn't cold. I wind up having four or five water bottles that I cycle through refrigerating/drinking/refilling. It's kind of annoying.
Comment · 14 years ago
Instead of conjecture, here's how I got started as a freelance dev, starting 6 months ago.
You need a decent portfolio site
Design and build in in WordPress or something similar. Prove your design chops here by having a well-design, functional, and more importantly clear message to potential customers. You want to let your customers have confidence. It doesn't have to be amazing. Mine certainly isn't. http://andrewheins.ca/
Your first job might be among your social circle
Mine was the Tae Kwon Do dojo I attended. They were paying WAY too much for hosting, so they let me make a site and change their hosting. They now pay 1/10th the hosting costs. Demo that site on your portfolio.
Next, you start bidding for work
FreelanceSwitch.com was the place that landed me the most work, but Craigslist and the bevy of other sites work well too. The ability to communicate clearly with your potential clients and bid within a reasonable range are key here.
Build your portfolio on low-end jobs
You will low-ball at first. That's ok. Raise your rates after each job. Quote by project, not by hour.
Find other freelancers with complementary skills
Being a dev, I latched on to a few designers who didn't want to have to code all their work. They can offer full solutions, I get paid. It's a great relationship.
Comment · 14 years ago
Disclosure: Helped work on the new Classic site. (http://cantilever.co/)