Live data from Hacker News

Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

designfor15bucks.com

11–20 of 188 posts

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#12
post #3

Assuming it takes you at least 1-2 hours per design (and even with mad photoshop skillz it's unlikely it'd be much shorter than that), you're probably better off getting an office job somewhere, or even maybe a burger-flipping job. Given all the additional expenses of running your own business, this is probably not a viable business model (i.e. you will lose money on the whole). The only way this would be justified i…

Or portfolio building.

Please don't build a portfolio based on work you spent 2 hours or less on.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#15
Initial thoughts:

- the linked images have blue borders around them, look ugly

- you could put a couple of samples up if a design costs just $15 worth of your time

- I hope you don't live in North America or Europe, otherwise, you're undercharging.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or portfolio building.

Please don't build a portfolio based on work you spent 2 hours or less on.

Who says he's spending two hours or less? Normally, you'd spend hours on a portfolio for free. Now he's making a small amount.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#17
Nice! Do you want to tell us something about your background? I'm thinking a lot of people will see this as absurd, but if you're not spending too long on each individual design, $10-15 and hour is great money for a student or hobbyist, especially since you're developing a marketable skill at the same time.

Also, the #1 recommendation here is gonna be to put something up under "latest designs", even if you haven't had any clients yet. The first customer is the hardest, and you can help that along by putting a few coins in the proverbial hat yourself. (Although I realize the site itself is an example of your design :)

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't build a portfolio based on work you spent 2 hours or less on.

Who says he's spending two hours or less? Normally, you'd spend hours on a portfolio for free. Now he's making a small amount.

True, but given his advertising and rate I would imagine he'd be busy enough. And yes, you spend hours on a portfolio for free, free from the pressure to do inane, boring corporate work for example. I mean, at the end of the day it's just advice, but I don't imagine there are many designers would agree this is a good thing. Entrepreneurs, maybe; designers, no.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#19
If you're doing the designs yourself you're doing yourself a great disservice by charging so little.

Often times most people assume they have an endless well of creativity in them but in actually its a feast and famine scenario. Assuming you want to do this full-time you will burn out eventually.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't build a portfolio based on work you spent 2 hours or less on.

Who says he's spending two hours or less? Normally, you'd spend hours on a portfolio for free. Now he's making a small amount.

Who says he's spending two hours or less?

If he spends 1-2 hours on a design, that's $7.50-$15 per hour. Any longer and he wouldn't be making enough to be worth his time, even in the Philippines or India. For a true portfolio, you'd want better designs than 1-2 hour quickies

Post reply on HN