Jamaica Design Association

The following was written by Kevin Jackson and published in the Jamaica Observer newspaper for the Jamaica Design Association:

AGES ago I wrote an article about the fair price for a website, to which there was no hard conclusion. The fact is the price varies as widely as the ideas you have for your website.

What you think is simple might be complex and expensive. At the same time what you think is complex could be really easy in this day and age and affordable too.

The best bet is to get a few quotations to compare and become familiar with some of the questions you need to ask to satisfy yourself that you are getting value for your money.

While there is a responsibility for the person commissioning a web designer to do their due diligence, there is equal responsibility for the web designer to break things down in terms the client can understand. The web designer needs to ask enough questions to pull information out of the client. We have to remember that people seeking web design services may not have a clue what it costs or what web designing entails. Read more here…

The following was written by Kevin Jackson and published in the Jamaica Observer newspaper for the Jamaica Design Association:

I have long wanted to comment on the Jamaica Observer article titled Students urged to pursue subjects in the arts published on Friday May 29, 2015, for several reasons. I graduated from the University of the West Indies with a BSc in computer science, and in my 30s began pursuing my long-lost love for the arts.

While the announcement from the Ministry of Education’s permanent secretary, Elaine Foster-Allen, is welcomed and long overdue, I would like to highlight a few things which I am sure may have crossed their minds, but I wanted it to be out in the open.

For us artists, this is extremely good news, because as children, we were not encouraged to do the arts in high school. It was discouraged by parents and teachers. The reasoning was the stereo-type of the starving artist. Everyone was encouraged to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer. I would love to say that much has changed since 20 years ago, but it really hasn’t. Read more here…

The following was written by Kevin Jackson and published in the Jamaica Observer newspaper for the Jamaica Design Association:

WHAT is a fair price for a website? This question seems very reasonable from the onset. You want a website and you want to know what kind of money you need to budget. After all, you do not build websites for a living, so you do not have the first clue how much these things cost. Sometimes we even get annoyed when the web designer asks what your budget is. You honestly don’t know. Let me take you on a journey to the other side for a bit.

When a web designer asks what is your budget he is simply trying to ascertain what you had in mind to spend and what level of website you can afford. If you went to a car dealer and asked “How much for a car?” he would ask you your budget and present you with cars within that range, or he would ask you to specify what you’re looking for in a car.

Just like a car, a website’s price varies, and can range from $50,000 (or less) to $18 Million dollars. Ask the White House. With such a wide disparity, how do you know if you are getting a fair price? A website is not just a page with some information on the internet. A website is your virtual presence and your real reputation online. You should trust your company’s reputation to the hands of a good web designer. Read more here…