The other day we got a telephone call from a guy that wanted to “exponentially increase” his Internet performance. He had an existing, custom built CMS and he wanted a complete re-design and re-build. We met with him, and he explained that he would like us to “design everything, ready to program”. He would then send our “detailed plans” to India and let a cheap team program the whole site.

His budget? $1000

Our first suggestion to go with our off the rack solution for small companies didn’t really satisfy him. The naivety of this particular guy — all in all a very nice and polite person by the way — was refreshing, but at the same time it border-lined on insolence: He figured that he could hire an information architect for a thousand bucks to fully sketch out a CMS and eCommerce solution, and then hire a programming team in India to produce it for another $3,000. He figured that all he needed to do is invest $4,000, crack the whip and then see the money roll in.

Wake up, Buddy

Luckily, we don’t need any additional projects right now, and I believe we gave him a nice and polite answer. Here is what we said:

• First of all: If it were that easy to make money on the web, everyone would do it. There is no such thing as a quick buck made out of a small buck. There is only a small buck being lost really quickly.
• For $1,000 you get about 10 hours of work from a professional in our field — that is, if you’re lucky. If you find one that can map out a full eCommerce solution in 10 hours, including wireframes and skinning, who will also agree to all the meetings, communication and administration, then you have found yourself a solid conman or a desperate junkie that will promise you anything for his next heroine shot.
• No disrespect to our fellow programmers, but, guys, all those programming farms in third world countries are one reason why the real value in software development nowadays is in information design.
• There is no “exponential growth”, unless you’re offering free sex.
• If you want something cheap and fast, chances are it wont do what you want.
• Whatever you get for $4000, it’s not going to make you rich.

He’s not alone

This really isn’t about poking fun at an individual – the point we’d like to make is that this kind of proposal is all too common in our field, and that we realize that people willing to pay for good design, or at least, those who recognize the value of it, are few and far between.

What do you think differentiates an iPod from an $8.50 DN-2000, a BMW from a Trabant, a Swan Chair from a Lund Bjov Sofa? The production quality? What is the blue print of production? — Right: Good products are well designed products. And good design costs good money. Online and offline.