Matt Inman - 0at.org - Marketing & Design

I know a ton of people in the online marketing industry. If someone were to ask me to refer them to a reputable SEO, PPC, or linkbait firm, I'd have no trouble finding someone I could send them to. When it comes to web designers, however, I'm kind of stuck on a drop-shadowed-gradient-filled desert island.

A sad panda, drawn just for this blog entry

I get quite a few requests for web design work, and I always feel bad turning someone down without having someone to refer them to. There are plenty of designers out there that I admire, but I've never actually done work with any of them so I can't vouch for their reputation. Also, a lot of the designers I admire probably wouldn't be too interested in taking on freelance stuff anyway (Dan Cederholm, for example).

Working at SEOmoz, we took on way more SEO clients than design jobs. When we did take on design work, I always did it myself. If we outsourced anything it was usually either link-building, paid search stuff, or back-end web development, so my connections in the design industry are pretty much non-existent.

Referrals aside, I also want to absorb the cleverness of other designers. I've soaked up a ton of knowledge from folks in the online marketing industry, now it's time to learn more from the design industry. I want to steal their brain-meats, basically.

I'm going to SXSW this year and I'm hoping to meet some more designers and developers. Maybe I'll wear a giant shirt that says "talk to me, I draw vectors." If that fails I'll fall back on plan B: Slipping roofies into the SXSW punch bowl and then stuffing business cards into the mouths of unconscious designers.

Seriously though, if you see me at SXSW make sure and say hi. I talk fast and if you're lucky we might even get to chat about vector-drawn panda bears. Pretty sweet deal, eh?

Comments

• Paul writes on 19/2/08
  I am currently a web designer. I got a late start because i didn't figure this out until my second year at college. I basically want to be where your at. I know its not easy but what advice could you give someone like me? If any.
• Matthew Inman writes on 19/2/08
  The best advice I can give you is to pursue design as both a hobby and a career. If you can get to a point where you sincerely enjoy what you're doing, you'll become more inclined to get a lot better at it.
  Also, a lot of people start out by doing freelance, and although this is certainly a great way to get your foot in the door, ultimately you're either going to want to work for yourself or another website. Freelance as a full-time job is a nightmare, in my opinion.
• Paul writes on 19/2/08
  Thanks I appreciate the advice. I feel like my college fell down in a lot of areas, but that isn't to say that learning and figuring things out on your own isn't self fulfilling. It can at times be a pain. How did you gather all your knowledge? Was it picking peoples brains, reading books, or were you able to figure most of it out on your own?
• Matthew Inman writes on 19/2/08
  Mostly it was just by figuring things out on my own. There's a wealth of free information on the web: tutorials, howtos, and documentation. I learn best visually, so I spent a lot of time reading docs and tinkering on my own projects.
• Paul writes on 19/2/08
  Thanks a bunch for the help, your work is inspirational to me and I am sure to others as well.
  
• Lawrence writes on 19/2/08
  Sweet, I'll see you @SXSW. You been there before? This is my first time, company is sending me. Any suggestions for the new guy?
• Matthew Inman writes on 20/2/08
  It's my first time going to sxsw, too. I normally go to search marketing conferences, so this is a new thing for me.
• Brad Mahaffey writes on 21/2/08
  Strike one down :)
  Good meeting you today. Lovin the blog now that I have more of a chance to browse through it. Nice work.
• Tim Bowyer writes on 19/3/08
  Your killer five-year-olds site has the ruthlessness of genius. Suppose you're not interested in helping me make a French-English dictionary to plug into www.howjsay.com by any chance?
• Anson Gessel writes on 19/3/08
  I know the feeling. I'm a wedding and portrait photographer in Seattle and out of roughly 97 photographers I'm the only one (that I know of) that shoots with medium format film. It really brings out my creativity, and the look/feel is unmatched.
  We should get together and chat sometime about art, business, or whatever.
  Keep up the good work!
  -One artist to another...