Voluntary web design opportunities - improve your portfolio

[Nick]

Let me say from the outset that I am not offering any payment for the
following work.

I am the editor of a television news and reviews website. The site is
currently based on critical reviews, previews and analysis of the
television industry. Our contributors are all voluntary and I make no
money from the website.

We are now expanding into providing detailed static information about
new series. The pages concerned are built almost entirely from
publicity packages which include text and high-resolution publicity
pictures. Typically these are released three to four weeks before
transmission date. In order for them to be indexed by search engines
we aim to have the static pages online one to two weeks before
transmission.

We are looking for web designers to turn the raw publicity pictures
and subsite structure into an attractive layout for the index page, as
well as 'furniture' graphics for menus, index pages, and so on.

For each programme the end result is a sub-site with its own design,
colour scheme and stylesheet - with a small number of graphics
inherited from the main website to avoid confusion and provide a path
back to the main index.

I am a competent designer of 'practical' graphics and layouts - menus,
headers, etc, but I do not have the design flair needed to do create
these subsites as well as I wish. Hence this invitation.

This would be an opportunity for any designers who wish to add to
their portfolios, to do so. It also offers an chance to practice
working with specifications and deadlines. I have done this sort of
design work before and found it greatly beneficial.

Our website is a UK website and concerns itself with the British
television industry but as you will not be asked to write or edit
copy, no knowledge of British television is necessary.

If anyone is interested in receiving details of commissions as and
when they crop up (at most once per week and you can reject/accept
them as they come), please email me, with examples of your previous
work if you have any.

I have left the url of the website out of this post to avoid
accusations of advertising, but I'm obviously happy to send it to
interested individuals along with specifications and any further
details you might need.

My address is: (e-mail address removed)

Thanks.

 

[brucie]

Let me say from the outset that I am not offering any payment for the
following work.

of course not, that would mean web development would be like any other
business.

if anyone is interested in building a house for me for free let me know.

 

[Nick]

of course not, that would mean web development would be like any other
business.

if anyone is interested in building a house for me for free let me know.

Content on the site I am referring to is entirely written by voluntary
contributors because they enjoy doing it. They don't work for me, they work
with me. I pay for the hosting out of my own pocket. Advertising covers
basic hosting costs but if I want to increase my profile by running
exclusive stories it costs me extra bandwidth.

So I'm sorry that I can't pay anyone for their work. Maybe in the future.

My point is this: I have made several appeals in the past for voluntary
contributions to my website - in the past for editorial contributors and
now, for the first time, for web designers. I have always received a
pleasing response to these messages.

But I have also had to put up with sarcastic, cynical, disheartening
comments like yours. They are disheartening because they make me wonder how
many more people might have responded to the message if the sarky riposte
hadn't been posted.

Maybe in a couple of years I'll be able to pay my journalists and critics
and web designers but I can't right now. In the mean time, perhaps people
like you could make life a little easier for those of us who are actually
trying to innovate and add original content to the web by not stamping so
hard on our attempts to grow and flourish.

And before anyone jumps in and flames me, I'm not a newbie, I've posted here
before under a different name and lurked for ages. I am aware of Brucie's
humour and also his experience. He's helped me out a few times. But
sometimes this is unhelpful and irritating and he should know better.

Nick

 

[brucie]

Maybe in a couple of years I'll be able to pay my journalists and critics
and web designers but I can't right now.

i'm also looking for someone to fix some hail damage on my truck for
free. the before and after photos will look great in a portfolio.

 

[Nick]

i'm also looking for someone to fix some hail damage on my truck for
free. the before and after photos will look great in a portfolio.

Well, yeah, Brucie, they probably would. Your point?

Nick

 

[Mark Parnell]

Well, yeah, Brucie, they probably would. Your point?

Exactly. From your original post:

"This would be an opportunity for any designers who wish to add to
their portfolios, to do so."

Well, yeah, it probably would. Your point?

 

[Duende]

While sitting in a puddle Nick scribbled in the mud:

Let me say from the outset that I am not offering any payment for the
following work.

I am the editor of a television news and reviews website.

So let the rick television creatures pay for you website.

 

[Robert Linkhorn]

Let me say from the outset that I am not offering any payment for the
following work.

Did anyone else stop reading at this point?

 

[JustAnotherGuy]

Exactly. From your original post:

"This would be an opportunity for any designers who wish to add to
their portfolios, to do so."

Well, yeah, it probably would. Your point?

Did you miss that people are willing to create intellectual property for
no monetory compensation? It's true, you know.

 

[Big Bill]

Let me say from the outset that I am not offering any payment for the
following work.

I am the editor of a television news and reviews website. The site is
currently based on critical reviews, previews and analysis of the
television industry. Our contributors are all voluntary and I make no
money from the website.

We are now expanding into providing detailed static information about
new series. The pages concerned are built almost entirely from
publicity packages which include text and high-resolution publicity
pictures.

You'll need to have the resolutions lowered to, if I recall, 72 dpi.

Typically these are released three to four weeks before
transmission date. In order for them to be indexed by search engines
we aim to have the static pages online one to two weeks before
transmission.

Er, you need to have them submitted to the engines at least some weeks
before transmission if you wish them to be available by transmission
date. You'll also need to spring for paid inclusion.

We are looking for web designers to turn the raw publicity pictures
and subsite structure into an attractive layout for the index page, as
well as 'furniture' graphics for menus, index pages, and so on.

For each programme the end result is a sub-site with its own design,
colour scheme and stylesheet - with a small number of graphics
inherited from the main website to avoid confusion and provide a path
back to the main index.

I am a competent designer of 'practical' graphics and layouts - menus,
headers, etc, but I do not have the design flair needed to do create
these subsites as well as I wish. Hence this invitation.

This would be an opportunity for any designers who wish to add to
their portfolios, to do so.

I should point out that there are plenty of paying opportunities to do
just that.

It also offers an chance to practice
working with specifications and deadlines. I have done this sort of
design work before and found it greatly beneficial.

Our website is a UK website and concerns itself with the British
television industry but as you will not be asked to write or edit
copy, no knowledge of British television is necessary.

If anyone is interested in receiving details of commissions as and
when they crop up (at most once per week and you can reject/accept
them as they come), please email me, with examples of your previous
work if you have any.

I have left the url of the website out of this post to avoid
accusations of advertising, but I'm obviously happy to send it to
interested individuals along with specifications and any further
details you might need.

My address is: (e-mail address removed)

Thanks.

People are going to be making money and benefitting from the
publicity, right? why shouldn't the web designers share in that?

BB

 

[R. Weisbloom]

Seems like he can't even put in a legitimate address to respond to.
Maybe I'll fix his house also.

 

[Alan D-W]

Did anyone else stop reading at this point?

You mean there was more??

 

[Samuël van Laere]

Let me say from the outset that I am not offering any payment for the
following work.

No problem Nick, get me a decent BMW instead ( i prefer the 7 series) and
i'll start the work for ya.


Regards,
Sam

 

[Nick]

No problem Nick, get me a decent BMW instead ( i prefer the 7 series) and
i'll start the work for ya.

Sounds like payment to me. The Inland Revenue would probably make me pay tax
on it as a company car.

 

[Nick]

You'll need to have the resolutions lowered to, if I recall, 72 dpi.

PAPicSelect certainly demands 72 dpi.
BBC Publicity Pictures forbid users from using their pics in the original
'high resolution' format, but they make no specific metric specifications.
Channel 4 don't mention this issue at all.

In any case all images are reduced to 72dpi for the obvious bandwidth
conservation and usability reasons. But graphic designers like to work with
original high-res graphics.

Er, you need to have them submitted to the engines at least some weeks
before transmission if you wish them to be available by transmission
date. You'll also need to spring for paid inclusion.

Well that may be the case for your websites but that's not been my
experience. Google, at least, indexes my new pages fairly quickly -
certainly within a couple of weeks of publication. In any case, with major
TV series spanning weeks or even months, this isn't such an issue. It
certainly gets them on within a month. In any case I'll be linking to the
static pages on the main index page of the site. (nB this is not link
spamming or whatever - we keep critical content separate from feature
editorial and consequently need to link between them.) Google's impression
of this page has rarely been more than a few days out of date. Could be a
benefit of Florida, I'm not sure.

I should point out that there are plenty of paying opportunities to do
just that.

Full employment in the IT sector? No need for work experience? Pull the
other one.

People are going to be making money and benefitting from the
publicity, right? why shouldn't the web designers share in that?

We do but not yet at a level where we can afford to pay staff. Like I've
said, no-one gets paid for their contributions to this website including me.
Advertising revenues go directly into hosting costs and where there is a
shortfall I pay for it.

FFS I'm not running an sweatshop with slaves writing content for me for free
because I force them to. Clearly everyone else in the world is paid
megabucks for their website, and always has been, and I'm the only
enthusiastic unpaid amateur who reads this newsgroup. The concept seems
entirely alien to alt.html.

Nick

 

[Nick]

Seems like he can't even put in a legitimate address to respond to.
Maybe I'll fix his house also.

How do you know the email address is not legitimate? Did you try sending to
an email to it? Did the email you sent bounce?

Nick

 

[brucie]

How do you know the email address is not legitimate? Did you try sending to
an email to it? Did the email you sent bounce?

it may have bounced back saying the address has "permanent fatal errors"
which i just interpret as the server being too busy. happens with AOL a
lot as well. usually on the 2nd - 3rd go the email gets through.

 

[Nick]

it may have bounced back saying the address has "permanent fatal errors"
which i just interpret as the server being too busy. happens with AOL a
lot as well. usually on the 2nd - 3rd go the email gets through.

My suggestion is that he didn't even bother sending a test message because
its a hotmail account. Scuse me for not wanting to pay for spam.

Nick

 

[DU]

Nick wrote:

[snipped]

We do but not yet at a level where we can afford to pay staff. Like I've
said, no-one gets paid for their contributions to this website including me.
Advertising revenues go directly into hosting costs and where there is a
shortfall I pay for it.

FFS I'm not running an sweatshop with slaves writing content for me for free
because I force them to. Clearly everyone else in the world is paid
megabucks for their website, and always has been, and I'm the only
enthusiastic unpaid amateur who reads this newsgroup. The concept seems
entirely alien to alt.html.

Nick

There is a general rule in this world which states you get paid to work
for someone else. Equal pay for an equal work. This concept is entirely
alien to your website/business. Now, I just don't care how much
explaining you can do, how many promises you make, how many commitments
you take, how much reading you do on internet/newsgroup, the point, the
fact and the matter is that you do not pay people who work on your
website. What's so difficult to understand here?
Most of what you wrote is weak: empty promises, pious vows, miserable
financial structure of your website, no full name, just an hotmail
address, everything fizzles down to "Maybe in the future", "opportunity
to add to their portfolios" and "they enjoy doing it".
After posting 7 messages in this thread, you still can not even give the
url of your site. And you expect people just to drop in and work for you
for free. From which planet do you come? The planet of the apes?

DU

 

[Jay]

Sounds like payment to me. The Inland Revenue would probably make me pay tax
on it as a company car.

Sounds like a barter agreement to me.

- J