When I was convinced that I had mastered the nuances of Photoshop in 7th grade, with bevels and gradients across my site, I wanted to spread that knowledge to others. I could wrangle a table-based layout out of thin air and into your browser. Surprisingly, I considered this, at that point, to be the peak of my online career. Then, CSS hit me in the face like a pound of bricks (or a gaggle of petrified emus, should my former simile not suffice). Accessibility? What the hell is that? Semantic code? Most likely a communist plot to hijack my website and use it as a building block for online five-year-plans to cultivate the economy of the internet.
But then, I was very stupid.
Wisen up, young padawan, said a conspicuously familiar voice in my head (perhaps the one that so recently convinced me to repaint my dollhouse in normal colors instead of bright pink and turquoise), wisen up and get with the god-damn program.
Instead of creating an entirely new Grottoworks site (nepotism prime), I shoved into a blank space in my navigation, eliminating my sitemap (there's really no purpose for this when my site is ridiculously small). So now, you can hire me for very low prices. I have two options so far: design packages and customized design. Design packages condense prices and make things ridiculously simple. Want some branding work done? Sure thing, it's $15/hr. What about a personal site layout? $20/hr for everything. For those of us who dislike random numbers, this should provide much needed relief.
Let me say this before you ask about my custom designs. I am still learning. If you like what you see now, and know how my style evolves, and foresee yourself in my portfolio someday, don't hesitate to ask! I will give you what you ask for; all I need is the chance to show you I can do it. This is not a plea of any sort. This is merely a warning to not judge a book exclusively by its cover.
If you're interested, hire me!
Read 14 comments (Leave a comment?)
Kilian Valkhof said:
Congrats, Ranjani :) One tip though, get 1 hourly tarif, instead of “this much for so an so, and this much for the other”.
That, and giving indications (“a design? about 8 hours”) will help you get customers more easy. of course, giving indications is very hard when you just start, but try to ask what you’re worth, and people will come :)
Again, congrats ^_^
Posted on February 8, 2007 1:00 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thanks, Kil! I’m still new at this, so the pointers really help! After crystallizing my services, of course, it’s all advertising :D
Posted on February 8, 2007 5:21 PM; Permalink
v9 said:
I was just searching “trap17”-related sites, for an unrelated reason. Just strolled across your site, and saw you were 16. Great design/artwork(that purple/yellow dragon banner in particular) for a normal age, let alone 16…keep it up, I like seeing people excel at a young age, makes me wonder how good they’ll be in the future. Anyways, just figured i’d compliment, who doesn’t like that?
Posted on February 8, 2007 7:40 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thank you so much! Of course, the age demographic of the Internet is significantly more condensed, with several users around my age already very well off. For example, 16-year-old Andrew Clemente runs Devlounge, and the teen blogging network Randomshapes boasts talented teenagers of all age. If anything, we follow standards set by Internet Illuminati, so I can’t take full credit for my work, but I appreciate your compliment very much! boasts talented teenagers of all age. If anything, we follow standards set by Internet Illuminati, so I can’t take full credit for my work, but I appreciate your compliment very much!
Posted on February 8, 2007 9:41 PM; Permalink
Andrew Christensen said:
I recently opened up my own business, www.prodigydesignworks.com, and let me tell you.. it is very hard to just get into. you have to know people, and you have to be able to know what people want and do it for them. also, for potential clients, they always like to know how much it’ll be.. give an estimate, even if it’s not right, it’s just an estimate, try for that goal, but if you can’t hit it, usually it’s no big deal and you can just write a change order or keep working and the client won’t mind. all depends on who you are doing work for. good luck with finding clients.. if we get some work we’re not interested, i’ll keep you in mind.
Posted on February 9, 2007 12:59 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thanks, Andrew! I’ll list estimates on my design page once I think about it a little more. Like I said though, I need to advertise, and until then, I still have time to learn and observe :)
Posted on February 9, 2007 4:43 PM; Permalink
Luke L said:
Hey Ranjani, love the site, very grunge yet sophisticated looking. Glad to hear you’re going into business, I myself have just started properly designing (I’m 17), and so far it hasn’t been easy, but it’s great fun getting paid to do what I enjoy most. Good luck with the business, hope it takes off for you.
Posted on February 10, 2007 1:15 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thanks Luke! I hope it takes off too! Of course, I still need to work out a few kinks :D
Posted on February 10, 2007 1:18 PM; Permalink
Rohit said:
Don’t forget that you are only 16 … lot’s to learn If you keep improving then you could be great someday … but for that you gotta stay level headed and keep yer feet on the ground.
And mmm…best of luck with the business :D
Posted on February 11, 2007 5:40 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Definitely. I don’t plan for anything big. It’s an experiment to shore up my skills :)
Thanks!
Posted on February 11, 2007 12:49 PM; Permalink
Thilak said:
Hi Ranjani, I landed at this place through a comment left on my blog. Your blog has an awesome design. Shocked to hear that you are just 16! (Well, I ain’t no adult)
Actually I wanted to send a mail, but the contact form didn’t have contact form and I was lazy to type, so i took the other way. I hope you won’t mind.
Posted on February 11, 2007 2:08 PM; Permalink
Thilak said:
Such a cool looking blog, Why don’t you get yourself a domain name and host it somewhere ?
Posted on February 11, 2007 2:10 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thanks! It’s a work in progress, really. I’m ready to move out of Trap17 (just waiting for a server to be set up), and I’ll have my domain name…by my birthday? Gosh, I’m going to hate not being 16 :(
No worries; that’s my fault entirely. I plan to fix up the contact page today. I did some work yesterday that I’m not too happy with. Thanks for reminding me!
Take care :D
Posted on February 11, 2007 2:27 PM; Permalink
stabani said:
Best of luck in your ventures… though I have been in and out of this so many times its nauseating.. if only I had decent net connection to test out my designs…
Posted on February 16, 2007 7:02 AM; Permalink