Is there room for design groups with the freelance world

[Tom]

Over past year or so i’ve seen many design groups come and go or just not get any work and i’m wondering the reasons for this. A lot of people think getting together a couple of good designers and coders into one group or “company” will work out as they’ll effectively be able to provide lots of services under one roof. So surely if you have two good designers and an xhtml/css and php coder your pretty set to go on any project that might arise, so whats the big problem and why don’t these design groups succeed and do good business.


I think the problem with these design groups is in fact the members themselves, not dedicating enough time to the group and always being busy with their clients when the team has some work going on. Also the ‘leader’ of the group either gets too much power or exploits its members by asking for freebies to be done in exchange for design or coding work later which never materializes into anything. So one theory is that the members are to blame for the downfall of these design groups and it is not simply due to the lack of work they are receiving.


Now assuming all the members within this design group are dedicated to it and no one is taking advantage of each other there should be no problem in getting work and running a successful design group. From this stage forward in the development of the design group they’re only a few factors which may lead to it downfall.


- No work. This can be a killer for any design group and will potentially mean that members of the group will go off and seek work of their own. This can be due to the design group not having the skill set to cover jobs coming in or the quality of their work is simply lacking.
- Not pushing to get or take the jobs that come in. Many of those in the design group will not take on the little jobs as they think that as a design group they are above these jobs and should only take on the big jobs. This is completely wrong as design groups should start doing the small jobs and getting known in the community before taking on the big jobs that will bring in more cash.


So to conclude. I believe there is room for a few very good design groups with skilled members to take their rightful place within the community. But i think it is important for the members of the design group to stay dedicated and believe in the design group as the only major way in which i design group can fail lays with the members mentality and whether they are determined enough to take the design group up to being one of the best.

This article was also published on my blog Belvos.com - Personal Blog Of Tom Howell

[JaysGirl]

Very well written, and very true in parts. Some people begin to stray away from their main focus, and if within a group - they break the network and it falls to pieces.

I have never worked within a group before [never been in a situation where I have needed to be] but it seems like you need a lot of trust and a lot of give to make things work. Some times it just doesnt seem worth the effort.

I enjoyed reading that

[Crazymik3]

This is a very good read and a good point.

I, myself, am in a design/media group and have been trying to keep all three of us under the same roof. It seems to be working out great, and we've all agreed to accept our own clients under our group.

We've also created a new custom client system which allows us to take whatever type of client and keep them within our media group.

With all of this we hope to get far, and have already had a large sum of clients!

Upon release of version 2 of the site, i'll give you guys a link

[Tom]

Thanks subscribe to the RSS feed there's more stuff to come. I'll also post a few more articles on TBF when i get the time.

[Encore]

Payment is one of the things that breaks a design group - how, when and how much should each designer be paid? That's a big question.

I've worked in media groups, but I've been way more successful working on my one, because I find it easier to manage and keep on track.

I think if each member is taleted and competent, especially the leader, a media group can do very well.

Originally Posted by Encore

Payment is one of the things that breaks a design group - how, when and how much should each designer be paid? That's a big question.

I've worked in media groups, but I've been way more successful working on my one, because I find it easier to manage and keep on track.

I think if each member is talented and competent, especially the leader, a media group can do very well.

Yep, some people get irritated due to the fact that they think they are not getting paid for the right amount of money for their work.

[JaysGirl]

Originally Posted by Tom

Thanks subscribe to the RSS feed there's more stuff to come. I'll also post a few more articles on TBF when i get the time.

I will do just that

[Tom]

Originally Posted by JaysGirl

I will do just that

Thanks Jaysgirl.

[klaja26]

I have had to work in groups before on websites. Had to work in a group of 5 to pass a course i did. Worst thing ever. I have never used the same group of people for more then 1 job. I much prefer to outsource. Its cheap, easy and it gets the job done most of the time.

Nice article.

I think the main problem between design groups, is organization. It may look good to have a design group at first, but giving out tasks to people can be hazardous. The work may be hard to design and you get paid every little, or vice-versa which makes at least one person in the group complain about something.