Don't just do a website that acts like an online brochure. Web is much more than that. Think about interacting with customers/potential customers.

Like what the previous posters said, provide solutions and let your design be part of that solution.



That's where a Content Management System(CMS) will come in handy, bro. And having a database that can churn out info in excel sheets will be very cool indeed too.

IMHO, content is king. Design should always be the carrier to make content more attractive. Having a fancy pants website that's not been constantly updated or have interesting content won't encourage regular visitors.

Just to add some extra two cents into this thread that I'd like to share:

1. Website accessibility means a lot nowadays. No point having a 5-star web design but only your PC can see it. The difference between an inexperienced graphic designer creating a website and a multimedia designer building up a site is normally apparent here. Poor graphic optimization, poor file/folder organization, poor css usage, poor image slicing/planning...

2. Learn a bit of web programming. This will give you a good idea of what to expect when you are tasked to create a larger website, which will probably be in jsp, asp or php. Have some basic javascripting skill is pretty good too. I suggest trying out javascript and php. Having programming skills gives you extra options and opens up new possibilities.

3. Flash intro is VERY old school liao.

4. How about providing a webpage that can be accessed from a smartphone hmm? Can be done. Not as difficult as you think.

This post has been edited by SweetPuff: Sep 24 2007, 11:20 AM

Buzzwords and jargon will remain as just that. Words.

That's why to me, a presentation is very important, not just about explaining about your cool ideas, but also help the potential client understand why he needs to fork out X amount of money to get this or that.

Because design is subjective, which is why there is no real standards being set on the costs.

A simple example would be logos. Some companies are willing to pay millions and of course there are companies that won't even part with rm100 for a logo.

BP (that petrol company) paid a very large sum of money to change their old logo to the sunburst 3D shape logo not that long ago. Then they paid another large sum to change it to its present logo.