HIMclub.com: Web Design Companies - HIMclub.com

So, I'm going to try my hand at starting an independent web and graphic design company. This is something that's been in the works for quite a long time, but it's always stayed on the backburner for a couple of reasons, partly because I was preparing to move overseas from Australia (which happened 3 months ago), and more so because I really had no idea of how to go about it.

I was a Multimedia student at TAFE for a year before I dropped out in favour of my overseas jaunt, and while that one year really didn't teach me anything I didn't already know in terms of skills, it actually gave me the tiniest bit of insight to the industry needed to give me a lead on where to go.

Thus far, I've got three basic goals in this endeavor, two of which I'm working on very slowly. Firstly, a company of course needs a name and an identity. For now, I'm just using my name but I intend to change that (I don't want to look like I'm up myself). Secondly, a portfolio is needed to show off what I'm capable of. Ironically enough, before I started trying to assemble said portfolio I realised I really wasn't capable of a whole lot, and in fact since I started trying to create pieces to include in it, I've been learning as I go.

This actually shows quite a lot in the folio itself; the first four (!) major revisions thus far were absolutely terrible in comparison to the one being built now, which itself I'll probably end up tearing down and starting again.

To illustrate:



This is one of the later versions, which I was happy with from a layout viewpoint (following the 'Holy Grail' of web layouts), but when I showed it to a friend he was quick to point out that he's not into 'websites for goths'. Lesson learned: Don't forget you have a target audience, and you are not it.

Since then the entire thing has been given a more 'light' makeover, and another mistake I made that I'll be remedying is that my layout was table based, and no CSS was used at all: For casual internet people that probably means nothing, but it's extremely bad practice and it does affect everyone; layouts that are table-based and devoid of CSS are high in bloat and content that has to be repeated, which means a more sluggish and unpleasant experience for both designer and user.

It's only recently that I've learned to use CSS in an effort to keep the page's content and the page's presentation as seperate from each other as possible, which is really something that any designer should keep in mind.

My third goal is, once the folio is finished, simple advertising. I've no idea really how established web authors go about getting their names known, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Hopefully this post has been somewhat insightful. :|