网页设计中不能妥协的六件事编辑本段回目录
I was pretty proud when I netted my first clients as a freelancer. Wow! Someone is actually willing to give me their money and have me design their site? I was ecstatic that someone had picked me out of all the talented designers out there.
当我第一次以一个自由职业者的身份接到第一单生意的时候，我感到无比骄傲。“哇！真的有人愿意付钱给我，让我帮他们设计网站吗？”当时的我实在兴奋得不能自已——要知道，世上有那么多有才华的网页设计师，可是客户偏偏选中了我诶！
But my joy didn’t last very long.
可惜，我的高兴劲儿没能持续多久。
The projects were underfunded and the clients always asked for more, so I ended up designing and coding entire sites for about half the cost of what I currently make.
当时我接到的项目总是“预算不足”却“要求多多”，于是我一个人又设计又编程地做完一整套网站，拿到的钱却只有现在的一半。
The logos were a mess, but I couldn’t change them because my clients liked them or already built an (unremarkable) brand around them.
又因为我的客户很喜欢他们自己的LOGO，又或者他们已经根据这个LOGO做了一系列的品牌设计，所以即使有些客户的LOGO很丑，我也不能在网站上对它们作出修改。
And the products themselves were fairly boring and not innovative in any way. But it paid the bills (barely) at the time, and I didn’t have much experience in these things.
有些产品根本就没有吸引力，有些产品没有一点新意——但是客户（很少）按时为这个网站付了钱，而当时的我对于宣传也没有太多经验。
Don’t get me wrong, being flexible, open-minded, and being a "team player" is great.
请别认为这就是我的为人！其实对我来说，灵活性、开放性、团队性都是非常重要的。
But in retrospect, I wish I had taken a stand at some of the things I decided to tolerate. Here are 6 things I pledge not to accept anymore.
在我反思自己从业经历的时候，我是多么的希望自己以前能对一些事情表明态度，而不仅仅是向客户妥协啊！以下是我发誓不再妥协的六件事情。
1. Client-Centered Design
1、以客为本的设计（Client-Centered Design，CCD）
User-centered design (UCD) means putting the user at the center of the design process (who would’ve guessed!) and designing the site around them.
以人为本的设计（User-centered design, UCD）是指将用户放在设计的首要地位，并且围绕用户的需求来设计整个网站。
But for some reason, a lot of clients seem to prefer what I call "client-centered design": designing the site around their own needs and preferences, and assume their users will like it just fine, thank you.
但出于某些原因，很多的客户在网站设计中都选择了我所说的“以客为本的设计（client-centered design）”——按照客户自己的喜好和需要来设计网站，并且认为用户（也就是他们的顾客）会像他们一样喜欢这个网站。
Warning signs of this attitude include arbitrary judgments ("I don’t like blue, please use fuschia for the background"), no basic market research (asking around on forums is the least you could do), no metrics-tracking (you should know who clicks on what), and no user feedback (a simple contact form can go a long way).
当以下几个信号出现的时候，你就要注意自己是否已陷入这个怪圈了：
专横的判断：“我不喜欢蓝色，你用桃红色来做背景吧”；
没有经过基本的市场调查：你至少可以到自己常去的论坛上调查一下吧？
没有量化的跟踪：你至少应该知道有哪些人点击了哪些地方；
没有用户反馈：一张简单的联系表就可以解决这个问题了。
If you’re a good designer, fulfilling the users’ needs is probably pretty high on your list (just behind "using that cool new font I found"). This ultimately means that you’ll constantly clash with a "CCD"-type client, and it won’t make for a pleasant relationship.
如果你是一个“好的设计师”，那么在你的工作清单上，“满足用户（而不是客户）的需求”的排名应该是非常靠前的（仅仅比“用一下我刚找到的酷酷字体吧！”的排名要低那么一点点。:P）。如果你坚持这样做，而你的客户又不巧是“以客为本（CCD）”型的，那么请做好心理准备：你们的合作过程肯定会有摩擦，还有可能会闹僵。
2. Cheapskate Clients
2、吝啬的客户
I used to think there was nothing wrong with clients being cheap or asking for discounts. After all, we all love bargains. But when you ask for a discount on a car or a house, the seller usually keeps a nice margin. And no matter how good a discount you get, there’s very little chance that they’re taking a loss on the sale.
以前，我也认为客户要捡便宜、要折扣是再正常不过的事——因为人都喜欢讨价还价嘛。当你买车或买房子的时候要求折扣，卖家通常都会给你一个让你非常高兴的价钱。同时，不管卖家给了你一个多么好的折扣，他们都不会折本。
But it’s different for us. The complex nature of web design work means that pushy clients will always find a way to fit in more work in your agreement. And you run the very real risk of not making any profit on the project, or worse, not even breaking even and actually losing money while you work.
但是对我们网页设计师来说，情形就完全不同了。网页设计本身的复杂性，使得客户总是有机会将更多的工作附加到合同中。因此，我们经常冒着做折本生意的风险。
The only safe way to give out a discount, to me, is agreeing on a lower hourly rate that you’re able to renegotiate if needed. But never accept starting a project for less than usual, because the types of clients who ask for discounts are very often the same types who ask for more work than agreed upon, too.
对我来说，避免做折本生意而又要给客户折扣的唯一方法就是：可以将价钱降低到一个你以后还有机会重新谈判的价位，但坚决不能接比你常规要价低很多的单——因为在我的经历中，“喜欢砍价的客户”和“要求多多的客户”通常都是同一帮人。
3. Terrible Logos
3、可怕的LOGO
In this era of cheap 99Designs.com logos, it can be hard to make people realize just how important a good professionally-designed logo is. The logo is their identity, and a bad logo will make the whole site look awful no matter how many hours you, as a web designer, put into it.
在 99Designs.com 运作初期，我们很难令客户相信一个经过专业设计的LOGO是多么的重要。LOGO就是他们的形象，一个不好的LOGO会令整个网站都变得丑起来——不管你在网站设计上投入了多少的时间和精力，都无法扭转这个悲惨的结果。
I’m guessing the rationale for neglecting logos is that if they provide a good service with a great user interface, people will use it anyway. But consumers are constantly being targeted by brands that shove their own logos in their face, and as a result, they’ve unconsciously learned to recognize what constitutes a good logo. And a prospective client’s logo better pass the test.
我猜他们不重视LOGO的理由是：反正我已经向顾客提供了那么好的服务，还外加一个很棒的网站，那么不管我的LOGO长成什么样子，顾客都会使用了。但是，现在的消费者由于每天不断地接触各式各样的产品LOGO，他们已经潜移默化地学会区分“很棒的LOGO”和“差劲的LOGO”。所以，你最好确保你潜在客户的LOGO能通过消费者的法眼。
My rule of thumb is this: If I could’ve done a better job myself, the logo has to go.
我的经验之谈：如果连我都能做出一个比它更好的LOGO，那么这个LOGO就必须下台了。
And something else to consider: A site’s logo also often ends up being the most visible thing when you crop thumbnails for your portfolio.
此外，你还必须意识到：当你翻开自己的作品集时，你会发现网站LOGO通常是截图中最显眼的元素。
4. Bad Names
4、差劲的域名
I used to think that site names were a subjective matter — until I started getting request for proposals to work on sites and projects that have names such as GreatPremiumWordpressThemes4Free.com. No matter how you cut it — that name sucks.
我也曾经认为域名是萝卜青菜各有所爱。直到我要为一些诸如“免费提供漂亮而优秀的博客主题.com”（GreatPremiumWordpressThemes4Free.com）的网站写建议书的时候，我才意识到这是一个严重的问题——不管你怎样排列组合，这个网站名还是惨不忍睹。
Sure, it might be great for SEO, but on your portfolio, it will look like you designed one of those placeholder sites filled with spam links. A bad name is indicative of the type of people you will be working with.
当然，这样的名字对搜索引擎优化工作来说是好事。但当它出现你的作品集时，看起来就像你替客户设计了一个充满广告链接的预留网站（placeholder site）。一个差劲的域名充分预示了你可能会和一帮什么样的客户合作。
Another bad sign is unpronounceable names like kxospkti.com; it sounds like someone rolled their head around their keyboard to come up with the domain name. Just because it’s short, doesn’t mean it’s good, and it’s hard telling future employers what you worked on if you can’t even say the name out loud.
另外一种差劲的域名是像kxospkti.com这样读不出的域名。这种域名看上去就像某人将自己的脸在键盘上揉了一圈，这样揉出来的字符就成了他们的域名。要知道短域名不等于好域名，它既不能让你的未来员工了解到你们公司是干什么的，又不能让他们很自豪、很畅顺地将公司域名告诉其他人。
5. Bad (Or No) Business Strategy
5、很差劲的（或根本没有）商业策略
This is different from a weak idea. You can work with a weak idea if it’s brilliantly executed. And it can be very hard to judge the value of an idea if it’s not part of your own knowledge domain.
这可和“一个未完善的构思”有所差别哦。你可以和“一个未完善的构思”工作，只要它能够得到很好的执行。当然，如果这个构思和你的知识领域相去甚远的话，你就很难去衡量它的价值了。
But please stay away from business plans that sound like the South Park Gnomes came up with them.
无论如何，请你远离那些看起来像“南方公园的矮人（South Park Gnomes）”的计划。【译者注：“South Park Gnomes”是动画片 South Park 第30集中的故事，原指只有第一步没有第二步的商业计划，现已引申为“失败”的代名词】
You might think the client’s business plan is not your problem. Who cares if the client ends up broke as long as you get paid, right? Wrong.
你可能会认为客户的商业计划和你没有关系——拿到钱就行了，谁在乎他们是不是会破产呢？如果你这样想，就大错特错了。
First, a project with no clear strategy is very hard to design for. What do you put forward? What’s the main goal of the home page? If the client can’t answer those questions, who else will?
首先，你很难针对一个没有明确商业策略的项目展开设计。你可以推广些什么呢？首页的主体又应该是什么呢？如果客户自己都没办法回答这些问题，还有谁能帮你呢？
Secondly, if the site fails then it won’t be around anymore, and you won’t be able to show it in your portfolio.
其次，如果客户破产了，你的网站也就不存在了。自然，你也没办法将它放到你的作品集里了。
6. Bad Copy
6、差劲的内容
It took me a long time to come to terms with bad copy on a client’s site. English is not my native language, so I wasn’t sure if I even had the authority to question my English-speaking clients’ writing.
一个内容很差劲的网站往往要花我很长时间才能完成。因为英语不是我的母语，所以我也不确定自己是否有权力去质疑那些英语客户的文字。【译者注：作者 Sacha Greif 是法国人】
And I also thought that it just wasn’t my job to care about content. After all, if you start correcting a client’s typos and grammar, where do you stop? Do you also help them close sales and do their taxes?
同样地，我也曾经认为网站文案与我无关。再说，如果你要修改客户的文案格式和语法，你想改到什么时候呢？他们的销售订单和账单你要不要也插上一脚呢？
But the hard truth is that my job as the web designer is not that important. People don’t go to a site to admire the way I use color gradients or the web typography I composed — they go to consume content. If the content is bad, spending time on the design is like putting lipstick on a pig.
然而现实是残酷的，作为一个网页设计师，我的工作并不如想象般重要。人们不会特地到网站上来膜拜我所使用的渐变或文字排版——他们只是来看网站内容的，如此而已。因此，如果网站本身的内容很差劲，你花再多的时间去设计也相当于在给一头猪抹口红。
You’d be surprised how many people ignore even basic copywriting tenets: they use jargon and acronyms, assume people already know what their product does, or drone on about features without mentioning the benefits to the user.
你很难想象有多少人违背了最基本的文案撰写原则——有些人用行话，有些人用缩写，还以为所有顾客都像他们自己一样了解自己的产品；还有些人长篇大论地描写产品特性，却一点也没有提到自己的产品能为顾客带来什么好处。
I now accept the fact that it’s part of my job to call clients out on this.
现在，我充分认识到让客户重视网站内容是我的职责之一。
Further Thoughts
更多思考
Being successful as a web designer is all about creating things you can be proud of and building long-term relationships with clients.
要成为一个成功的网页设计师，你需要：① 创造出能令你自豪的作品；② 要能和客户建立长期的合作关系。
Unfortunately, our eagerness to find work can lead us to make choices that are directly counter-productive to those two goals. We’re particularly vulnerable to these mistakes when starting out, but even with a few years of experience behind me, I still catch myself making them sometimes.
不幸的是，我们对接单的渴望常常带我们远离了这两个目标。我们创业的时候尤其容易受到这种渴望的冲击。即使是已有几年从业经验的我，有时也难免犯这样的错。
You might be thinking that if you follow these guidelines you’ll end up with no clients whatsoever. But I believe it’s our role to produce the best work possible and adhere to sound design principles, even if that means saying "no" and being unpopular sometimes.
你可能会想：如果我遵循了你这六点，还怎么会有客户找我干活呢？但我坚信我们的职责是“坚持完美的设计原则”和“创造出最好的网站”。因此，即使这意味着要向客户说“不”，或意味着你有时会变得不受欢迎，这都是值得的。
So if you’re in this for the long term, pick your clients wisely and don’t tolerate these things.
如果你已经从事网页设计有一段时间了，那么请从现在开始认真挑选你的客户吧。不要再对以上的六点作出妥协了！
