Do You Need a Degree to be a Designer? (and more!)

In this week's Question Time video post I give some rambling answers about taking on client projects, finding more freelance clients, whether a degree is important to be a designer and show off my fluent Spanish.

This week's questions:
How do you deal with a client's needs vs your technical skills - Do you charge less for a job where you have to learn new skills because it might take longer to complete?
How did you create the outro at the end of your video clips?
How much time do you spend each week divided between client work and blog stuff?
Can we have Spanish subtitles please?
How important is a degree in web design when compared to a well developed portfolio? Is it about showing your grades, or your skill?
I want to go into freelancing but really don't know how to start or how to get more clients, I have 4 clients now, do you have some magical recipes how to get more?

Links mentioned in this week's news:
.NET Magazine Awards - http://www.thenetawards.com/
Design Rhythmic Motion Typography in After Effects - http://is.gd/eR51g
28 HTML5 Features, Tips, and Techniques you Must Know - http://is.gd/eR53I

Thanks to everyone who submitted their kind comments and questions on the last video. I only pick out a hand full to answer to keep the videos short, so if I didn't pick yours this time, feel free to submit it again and I'll hopefully provide a good answer in an upcoming episode.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• design
• freelance
• clients
• degree
• web design
• blogging
• graphic design
• chris spooner
• html5

[spoongraphics]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It definitely sounds like I messed up the audio this time! It sounded OK when I 'proof listened', but I'll make a few changes for the next one, including quieter or no background music ;-)

By the way, are there any real Spanish speakers out there who'd like to post up a translation of the Spanish clip? We can then play guess the movie it's stolen from

[starboy55]

Love the video posts, but the music in this one is distracting.

[timothywhalin]

Hey man, couldn't focus on your voice and listening to it to hear the whole thing through. As others said, the music is distracting and the quality of the audio of your voice seems poor. If you redo this, please let me know! :)

[Jeronimosdc]

the background music is ridiculous, theres no point in putting background music in these type of videos

[ecuenvivo]

What is the song please?

[krizss1]

@timothywhalin + 1

[designnow51]

I believe your weekly videos are very smart and helpful, thanks.

I agree with the music, its a bit distracting.

Question Time !

What are some significant problems you've encountered in your career ?

What is something your very happy you learned , either in web design or life etc

Do you have a favourite project ? What was the most exciting project you did ?

^ besides your blog of course.

Do you have a designer you admire or like enjoy to see their work ?

Hopefully you'll answer at least one.

[JuicyDBASE]

Thanks Chris for making this video. You inspire me to be a better and more proactive designer. I agree with others, it is sort of hard to hear with the music.

Love the vids!

[neehaaw]

Ive just finished my final year of uni in multimedia which i had to go away to uni to complete and hated it, the course was shocking to be honest and i failed my final project, which has resulted in me having to retake it.

I wish i hadn't bothered going and just got my foundation degree and went straight into the industry. Uni is years behind in the industry, and the teachers only really like projects whereby its they're own personal interest.

[leangsta]

Is there anyway you can improve on the audio? I can barely hear you. I believe its the hissing static noise that is interrupting your speech and the background noise level is higher that your voice, so it makes it really hard for some of us to hear.

[cruxfilm]

Cool video but loose the music. It annoys the shit out of everyone.^^