FWA trends noticed
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- mrbee28280
I know I haven't spent time on a Flash portfolio in about 4 years. Gabe said it straight up... I played, now I get paid.
I've had 2 kids and have a life now. I don't need bells and whistles to get the work, I have experience. I'm planning on doing a massive Flash update soon because I'm going freelance but it's purely to create more buzz. Once I step off the corporate pay check best believe I won't have time for that mess.
to be honest.. my 1 pager gets me work without having to even contact people. Thank God for spiders...
- monNom0
As for different definitions of talent, That may well be the case.
But I find it hard to believe that everyone just started sucking.To clarify: it's certainly hard to fill a vacancy with talent right now, but I think that's more a product of a robust job market than a lack of talent in the industry as a whole.
- ********0
ill offer up an explanation gabe about why there is not much talent out there.
It is as simple as .. the teachers teaching the new generation are screwing everybody up. Colleges Teach design under graphic design witch is fine, but when they teach web design, they pretty much tell them to learn code. The bridge between print and web design is never accomplished.
I blame the schools big time..
The ones that do come out good are the ones that learn on their own. Which is actually the best skill you can have in our line of work. The good ones do side projects, they emulate the good stuff out there... they are just hungry and pretty much do everythign on their own.
As for FWA. I have seen some stuff slip through the cracks there lately. I think they are getting paid off big time. I have seen awesome websites go un noticed, then a few sites a week that they put up are big company big name pieces of crap.
- ********0
couldnt agree more same! As a recent graduate i totally know what you mean...at my school, I switched my major from Graphic Design to Digital Design halfway through...The foundation drawing and design courses really helped...But yeah, overall I felt i really had to do work on my own or push projects down different roads then they were assigned to...although, i think kids often dont take advantage of open or free projects...I looked at what I was lacking in my folio and tried to fill in those gaps with the freebie projects...
- ridiculous0
"to a previous poster, what's wrong with AS3 and why would it drive so many people away from flash?"
I didn't say anything was necessarily wrong with it, it's just a pretty big jump, along the same lines of going from Flash 4 to 5. I think that it's just a pretty big commitment and quite a few folks out there today aren't going to jump in for the long haul.
- nicklewi0
"so who is really going to pay for their own portfolio to be featured when they know it will be featured in the NTB, K10K, etc. for free if it's any good."
ronaldo
(Feb 12 07, 17:16)One of our client sites was featured a while ago at FWA and we received almost 40000 hits from FWA alone in the first couple of weeks. getting linked at k10k and nt does send some traffic but only around 500-1000 so in those terms nothing really compares to a listing on FWA
- craigeli0
15 pounds for massive exposure and industry recognition possible job offers and the chance to hang your wares with the best of them. I think its a pretty good deal.
The FWA is a powerful peek into what is going on in the world of flash, it is a gauge on the industry and a way to stay informed on what trends are being payed for.
Dont underestimate the power of the FWA.
Its also become less of a cult site and more front and center. Rob now contributes to Adobe's newsletter and industry honchos go there to see whats up.
Success for 15 pounds... hmmm
plus you can read my articles...
seriously... its no joke FWA is the first place a lot of us go in the morning.
- jpea0
when i mentioned the submittal price, i didn't think it was deterring good work from being submitted. i do think it plays a role in who submits though. it just knocks off the bottom of the barrel. no doubt that the FWA is bringing talent to the forefront, but in all honesty, who outside of the web design world knows what an FWA is. it sounds hokey and wouldn't carry a stitch of weight with a client. a cannes lion or a clio will let you throw some weight with a client.
- craigeli0
you'd be surprised, FWA is gaining more and more prominence and lots of industry insiders do look at it...
- jpea0
i'm sure industry insiders look at it, but if you're going straight to client and telling them you won an fwa, it's like telling them you have a tonka truck in your playpen.
- jpea0
sorry... i'm coming off as an ass. i personally go to the site a lot and I like a lot of the featured sites. i'm just not sold on how big of a deal it is, that's all.
- craigeli0
having your server shut down because of all the traffic is a huge deal... it also depends on the clients... Joes Pizza doesn't give a shit, Toyota does. Jacks Hardware doesn't give a shit, Diesel does...
- ********0
how can you be sure that the FWA is very reputable and indeed chooses the best of the web everyday? It seems like sometimes crap sites slip in there...
- ToxicDesign0
So, why don't you all just use DesignCharts them? 'ahem...
:)
- craigeli0
what you fail to see is that it is not only the slickest design that get through but what they do is focus on trends, on the details, things that may represent a certain functionality, video, transitions, the site itself may indeed be crap but it has something else to offer.
Also its a pretty big panel of some serious people who judge on the sites, not one dude who chooses what he personally likes.
You need to look past the shallow stuff and take a look inside each site and see why it won. and yea sometimes crap comes through, and even those are there to teach us what NOT TO DO.
- gabe0
i think someone wants to write another article for FWA ;)
(kidding)
- craigeli0
i think i just did...
- ToxicDesign0
For the record.
The REAL issue is how much POWER The FWA -- and other Design Community Award Sites (D.C.A.S) give to those that are smart enough to recognize this simple FACT.
I have received an FWA SOTD -- the traffic gave my client $$$$ in new business.
I only got $ thou :)
The point is that it has a direct effect of awarding GREAT DESIGN in real terms for the Design itself -- thus giving Designers value, which is what we are all try to get across.
The other point (regarding the type of sites currently awarded) would have to be due to FWA charging (GOD FORBID!) for Site Submissions.
The smart brands/agencies get it -- the silly little individual designers don't, I guess...
It's as simple as that.
Oh, and Rob is good guy.
/End.
- smielke0
Winning an FWA means huge amounts of traffic and exposure. Plain and simple.
It's not the judging or FWA which is posting up sites which some people find questionable. It's just that no one is producing cool kick ass portfolio sites anymore (see other thread). It's RARE for me to see a sick site posted somewhere and not on FWA. Is that FWA's fault? No it means there isn't crap out there and they're posting the best of what is getting submitted to them.
As far as the $$$ goes, imagine having to sift thru hundreds of submissions a day. I did it a few years in a row ( a week out of the year) for some stupid Ad Awards and it drove me mental each night.. It's hard to go thru each link and give the site the time it deserves. If you've ever had to do that, you can quickly see why the panel at FWA is charging money. That along with the fact that you're paying for them to grow with new features and things in the future.
I agree with Toxic that Rob is a GREAT guy.
- gabe0
not sure who sidetracked the thread with the debate about FWA's credibility or it's recognition factor, but that's a total tanget and not really what we were talking about...
also, i don't believe every site is a paid submission, meaning if they come across a killer portfolio site for instance, the site may be nominated for an FWA without the creator actually paying to submit their site.
i would think this levels the playing field and opens up the site of the day slot for those non-corporate-beheamoths or agency-folk to win a few here and there...