Re: Is Web Design recession-proof?

Nothing is recession-proof. People (businesses especially) cut back on their 
spending and web sites are no different. I was writing web sites leading up 
to 2001, mostly for large businesses. When it hit, everyone cut back. 
Businesses that would have updated their site four times a year and 
completely redo it once or twice a year went to making small tweaks and 
changes. Instead of writing a new site with a new approach for them, it was 
"can we make changes to these two pages?" Other businesses that had
fancy, 
fun, interesting sites cut back to no-fun, no-frills, business-oriented 
sites. In fact, this is when so much of the fun went out of business web 
sites and everyone decided it had to make good dollars and cents sense and 
there was no room for fun or creativity.

The business will still be there, but be prepared for people wanting to pay 
less for the same thing or at the least, just wanting smaller, cheaper 
sites.

MD


Paevo Kelley wrote:
> As an independent designer, I was wondering how recession-proof web
> design is... Maybe 2001, 2002 should bring back some memories of toil
> and strife?... 

P@tty Ayers ~ACE wrote:
> "Mad Dog" <md@maddogproductions-remove.com> wrote in
message
> news:ftlibv$d8k$1@forums.macromedia.com...
>
>> The business will still be there, but be prepared for people wanting
>> to pay less for the same thing or at the least, just wanting
>> smaller, cheaper sites.
>
> Or to create the site themselves, or have a nephew do it..  <sigh>.

...and then call you to fix up the mess they made and wind up paying as much 
or more than they would have had they gotten you to do it in the first 
place.....(:})

P@tty Ayers ~ACE wrote:
> "Mad Dog" <md@maddogproductions-remove.com> wrote in
message
> news:ftlj85$e81$1@forums.macromedia.com...
>> P@tty Ayers ~ACE wrote:
>>> "Mad Dog" <md@maddogproductions-remove.com> wrote
in message
>>> news:ftlibv$d8k$1@forums.macromedia.com...
>>>
>>>> The business will still be there, but be prepared for people
>>>> wanting to pay less for the same thing or at the least, just
>>>> wanting smaller, cheaper sites.
>>>
>>> Or to create the site themselves, or have a nephew do it.. 
<sigh>.
>>
>> ...and then call you to fix up the mess they made and wind up paying
>> as much or more than they would have had they gotten you to do it in
>> the first place.....(:})
>
> ..And then find another relative or intern to do it, and leave you
> writing time-consuming proposals for 3 or 4 web sites a month, but
> not getting nearly enough of the contracts because they're all just
> shopping and taking advantage of you, so that you get tired of the
> whole thing and leave the country for a while to do volunteer work,
> and then come back and start up doing web design again, but with a
> different business model.. oh, sorry, was I actually writing that? :-)
>

Actually you were pretty much describing what happened in 2001....I went to 
Bali for 8 months and when I got back most of the corporate website writing 
had vanished and I got more into the web design part of  it. I wonder what 
I'll shift to this time around!

> As an independent designer, I was wondering how recession-proof web design

> is... Maybe 2001, 2002 should bring back some memories of toil and 
> strife?...

Is ANYTHING truly recession proof?

-Darrel 

i think a lot of it also depends on your industry. for example, i work 
for a real estate company, and it's no secret how that market's going 
right now (though it is getting better now). but my job is secure 
because they absolutely must have a website, and it needs to be updated 
regularly if they want to compete. no matter how bad things get, i will 
have a job (unless the whole company folds, of course) because the 
website is the most important lead generator the company has and it must 
be maintained. i'm sure that's the case with many other 
industries/companies as well.


Paevo Kelley wrote:
> As an independent designer, I was wondering how recession-proof web design
is... Maybe 2001, 2002 should bring back some memories of toil and strife?...