Website graphics - what should I be looking for?

[Lucan Unlordly]

Briefly, I run several websites and using Corel Draw am capable of producing the graphics required - eg., photograph from supplier catalogue, blank out retail prices, re-size accordingly and save. I struggle with the quantity, particularly so in January and when developing new sites. I don't particularly want to use Fiverr and the like and local web developers/graphic designers don't seem to want small simple jobs.
With this in mind, is there a term I can use to better describe what I need - online graphics developer, Image creative etc.,?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Is this a job for AI?

 

[fisicx]

Batch image editing

There are loads of freelancers offering this sort of service.

 

[HFE Signs]

Photoshop is much better for batch edits

 

[fisicx]

And Gimp

 

[antropy]

I don't particularly want to use Fiverr and the like and local web developers/graphic designers don't seem to want small simple jobs.

So you don't want to do it yourself but you don't want to get a freelancer to do it?

What exactly are you after?

Paul.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Is this a job for AI?

No, it's more hands on....

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

So you don't want to do it yourself but you don't want to get a freelancer to do it?

What exactly are you after?

Paul.

I didn't say I don't want a freelancer to do it, I said I don't particularly want to use Fiverr.

If I had somebody next door I'd hand them half a dozen supplier catalogues (and associated online image links), identify the products that need to be extracted with notes to say eg., remove the smaller size from the group of 4, set in a 75mm x 50mm frame, overlay an appropriate label with product name and size, duplicate same and adjust frame size to xyz to suit social media....... x 50!

 

[antropy]

I didn't say I don't want a freelancer to do it, I said I don't particularly want to use Fiverr.

What about the other freelancer sites like UpWork, PeoplePerHour etc.?

And if not those, why not?

Paul.

 

[matlob]

I could take a look if you want to dm an example over of how it would be supplied

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

What about the other freelancer sites like UpWork, PeoplePerHour etc.?

And if not those, why not?

Paul.

From my opening post........ I don't particularly want to use Fiverr and the like...

My post was for seeking direction as to the terminology used for those employed within website development companies so that I can target any advertising accordingly. I see it as a fill in job for a freelancer with scope to expand their use on other projects. All I'm getting so far is companies who want to take over management of the entire web site or designers who are specialising in certain areas. In essence I'm looking for somebody from Fiverr etc., who lives nearby!

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I could take a look if you want to dm an example over of how it would be supplied

Thanks, but I'm looking for somebody who I don't need to send stuff too until confident they can do what's required.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Why not ask the supplier for images, thake them from the web or shoot them yourself?

 

[YasmeenLondon]

Batch image editing

There are loads of freelancers offering this sort of service.

This.

Batch (sometimes bulk) photo (sometimes image) editing is the correct terminology.

 

[martin_shl]

However you do it, ensure that you have permission to reuse the images on your website, whether edited or not. Your supplier website may well have terms that prohibit the reuse of the images.

Why not ask the supplier for images, take them from the web or shoot them yourself?

Asking supplier or taking pictures yourself ensures that you have permission.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Why not ask the supplier for images, thake them from the web or shoot them yourself?

Some supplier images show a range of 5 sizes, we only want to sell 3 of them. Some show an angled shot, we photograph them face on. So it's add some text to show size, crop accordingly and stick in a frame job. Not difficult but somebody with better skills in Corel etc., will get these sorted a lot quicker than I can.

PS: Supplier images can be presented in different ways, a starburst at the back, etc., so a bit of thought needs to go into smoothing out the differences.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

However you do it, ensure that you have permission to reuse the images on your website, whether edited or not. Your supplier website may well have terms that prohibit the reuse of the images.


Asking supplier or taking pictures yourself ensures that you have permission.

That's not an issue here. See post above...........

 

[martin_shl]

That's not an issue here. See post above...........

I misunderstood as the text suggested that you were taking their images and didn't take pictures yourself

photograph from supplier catalogue, blank out retail prices, re-size accordingly and save.

For this part:

So it's add some text to show size, crop accordingly and stick in a frame job

If a product looked the same regardless of size, your web developer should be able to overlay the size, provide crop and a frame using CSS

 

[antropy]

In essence I'm looking for somebody from Fiverr etc., who lives nearby!

What about:
"Freelance graphic designer {your town}"?

Paul.

 

[matlob]

Thanks, but I'm looking for somebody who I don't need to send stuff too until confident they can do what's required.

I can do it, but not sure how someones going to convince you they can do something without seeing how it's supplied

 

[antropy]

photograph from supplier catalogue

Sounds like scanning a printed catalogue?

Paul.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I misunderstood as the text suggested that you were taking their images and didn't take pictures yourself

The suppliers provide all of the images, used to on a CD, now downloadable. We photograph hybrids made from various parts.

What about:
"Freelance graphic designer {your town}"?

They present themselves as masters of corporate design and the one's I've contacted thus far only want to work on websites they create themselves.

Sounds like scanning a printed catalogue?

It's not...

 

[fisicx]

Then it’s back to my suggestion:

“Batch (or bulk) image editing”

Also consider “ clipping path” where they remove backgrounds.

 

[martin_shl]

Another suggestion for finding someone who would be willing (and able) to do this work. My son (17) does some freelance work every couple of months adding content to a website. You could ask a local sixth form college that does graphic design courses if any of the students are interested in some part time freelance work doing batch editing of images.

 

[fisicx]

Students get bored very quickly. They may start out all keen but will soon give up this sort of repetitive work.

@Lucan Unlordly will want someone they can rely on to do the job every x months or so.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Students get bored very quickly. They may start out all keen but will soon give up this sort of repetitive work.

@Lucan Unlordly will want someone they can rely on to do the job every x months or so.

Been there done that...........
A while back I interviewed a jumped up youngster from the local college who'd done a 12 week placement in a London advertising agency. After 10 minutes of him telling me what I should be doing his 'extensive experience' meant he couldn't possibly work for less than £50 an hour.

Anyway, I think I may have found somebody. Works for a printer, PC literate, understands Corel Draw etc., and local.

 

[antropy]

The suppliers provide all of the images, used to on a CD, now downloadable. We photograph hybrids made from various parts.

They present themselves as masters of corporate design and the one's I've contacted thus far only want to work on websites they create themselves.

It's not...

So why do you want someone local

Sounds like you're being difficult and unreasonable for absolutely no reason.

Paul.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

So why do you want someone local

Sounds like you're being difficult and unreasonable for absolutely no reason.

Paul.

So why do you want someone local

Sounds like you're being difficult and unreasonable for absolutely no reason.

Paul.

Please re-read my opening post, where I requested some guidance regarding the terminology used to identify the person/s that would carry out a simple function and whilst I'm grateful for all replies, I cannot for the life of me see why you would want to know why I want to use somebody local? But I'll tell you anyway! It will be easier for me to relay my requirements face to face. Easier to demonstrate what I need, easier for me to mark up a physical catalogue so that they are not second guessing everything.

I also have other work that they may, dependent on their skillset, be able to help with. Work that I wouldn't throw to somebody on a computer on the other side of the world.

 

[antropy]

Easier to demonstrate what I need, easier for me to mark up a physical catalogue so that they are not second guessing everything.

So you ARE talking about working with physical catalogues when I specifically asked about that you said you weren't

I also have other work that they may, dependent on their skillset, be able to help with. Work that I wouldn't throw to somebody on a computer on the other side of the world.

So you're connected to a high percentage of the world's 8 billion people but you want someone from a tiny area around you - talk about making life difficult for yourself.

The name for someone who does this work is just a junior graphic designer.

I've got news for you though, no one wants to have endless meetings with you for a few quid, (when presumably you won't pay extra for all these meetings - only time doing the actual work), when you don't want to pay market rates and you aren't prepared to put things neatly in an email.

Paul.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

So you ARE talking about working with physical catalogues when I specifically asked about that you said you weren't

You actually said 'sounds like scanning a physical catalogue' for images and choose to ignore my reference to them being downloadable.

I've got news for you though, no one wants to have endless meetings with you for a few quid, (when presumably you won't pay extra for all these meetings - only time doing the actual work), when you don't want to pay market rates and you aren't prepared to put things neatly in an email.

Thankyou for your unqualified misunderstanding of what meetings are necessary, bitter and twisted reference to my ability to recognise the contribution of whoever I choose to employ and totally irrelevant and unfounded insinuation that I am unwilling or unable to pay. Have a nice day

 

[antropy]

You actually said 'sounds like scanning a physical catalogue' for images and choose to ignore my reference to them being downloadable.

Right but you still want to use a physical catalogue to explain stuff.

Thankyou for your unqualified misunderstanding of what meetings are necessary, bitter and twisted reference to my ability to recognise the contribution of whoever I choose to employ and totally irrelevant and unfounded insinuation that I am unwilling or unable to pay. Have a nice day

Well, seeing as your replies to my initial questions were antagonistic I thought I'd give you some blunt home truths that you should take on board.

Here's your reference to not wanting to pay properly:
"After 10 minutes of him telling me what I should be doing his 'extensive experience' meant he couldn't possibly work for less than £50 an hour."

£50 an hour was the rate I was charging for that kind of work about 20 years ago when I had no experience, so you're way off.

Paul.

 

[campbeji]

Briefly, I run several websites and using Corel Draw am capable of producing the graphics required - eg., photograph from supplier catalogue, blank out retail prices, re-size accordingly and save. I struggle with the quantity, particularly so in January and when developing new sites. I don't particularly want to use Fiverr and the like and local web developers/graphic designers don't seem to want small simple jobs.
With this in mind, is there a term I can use to better describe what I need - online graphics developer, Image creative etc.,?

I see that you have run into the sometimes 'aggressive' advice that is quite often available here

Other people have given you the correct terminology to use, so I won't address that.

I will give you some advice that you haven't asked for, this will be based on my experiences and will totally ignore your situation and experience, cause I don't know what that is.

I have been in your situation, more or less, a lot of work to do but no time to do it properly, but it has to be done. I tried to get a local company to do it for me, but they kept quoting for things I didn't want, this has happened with different projects, PA work, website work, design work. Fairly small jobs but the supplier kept trying to build their part, and the costs were way higher than I had hoped. During a meeting with one of them he said that he wouldn't do the work himself but his team on Freelancer would do it for him. (Freelancer is now upwork) So I thought to myself that if using a local company was going to get it sent to a freelancer anyway why shouldn't I organise it myself, more direct control and less money (a lot less money). Anyway it worked out really well.

So I would advise you to go onto upwork, open an account, and put up a test job for maybe half a dozen images and see what comes of it, it will cost you a few pounds but might save a fortune and a load of time and grief.

Of course the down side is that it might be a disaster and dealing with the initial applications could be a nightmare. I would recommend that you put in some sort of test in the job description to weed out the people who haven't bothered to read the job description. I put a line in it somewhere saying "Put the word 'Balloon' into the first line of your reply", I find that two thirds of people don't do that and get excluded right away.

Most of the people I have dealt with can read/write excellent English and I belive most can speak English pretty well. You can communicate with them via message board, email and if you like by video conferencing (I never used that). You can pay based on an hourly rate or a per item/job rate etc

I feel that it is a really good system, not without issues, but pretty good, and for me easier than trying to do it myself, or sourcing locally.

I will be putting up a job soon where I will direct someone to a website and ask them to extract about 50 odd images and then do a little bit of work on them and send to me. I will be able to organise in under 30 mins and i'd be surprised if it will cost more than £25, but to do it myself would probably be 10plus hours spread out over a week or more.

Anyway, treat this advice like you got it off some guy on the internet.

Good Luck
Jim

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Here's your reference to not wanting to pay properly:
"After 10 minutes of him telling me what I should be doing his 'extensive experience' meant he couldn't possibly work for less than £50 an hour."

£50 an hour was the rate I was charging for that kind of work about 20 years ago when I had no experience, so you're way off.

Keep digging that hole. I didn't mention what the work offered to the student was, nor did I say it was 40 years ago

Right but you still want to use a physical catalogue to explain stuff.

Is it dark down there?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

I see that you have run into the sometimes 'aggressive' advice that is quite often available here

Other people have given you the correct terminology to use, so I won't address that.

I will give you some advice that you haven't asked for, this will be based on my experiences and will totally ignore your situation and experience, cause I don't know what that is.

I have been in your situation, more or less, a lot of work to do but no time to do it properly, but it has to be done. I tried to get a local company to do it for me, but they kept quoting for things I didn't want, this has happened with different projects, PA work, website work, design work. Fairly small jobs but the supplier kept trying to build their part, and the costs were way higher than I had hoped. During a meeting with one of them he said that he wouldn't do the work himself but his team on Freelancer would do it for him. (Freelancer is now upwork) So I thought to myself that if using a local company was going to get it sent to a freelancer anyway why shouldn't I organise it myself, more direct control and less money (a lot less money). Anyway it worked out really well.

So I would advise you to go onto upwork, open an account, and put up a test job for maybe half a dozen images and see what comes of it, it will cost you a few pounds but might save a fortune and a load of time and grief.

Of course the down side is that it might be a disaster and dealing with the initial applications could be a nightmare. I would recommend that you put in some sort of test in the job description to weed out the people who haven't bothered to read the job description. I put a line in it somewhere saying "Put the word 'Balloon' into the first line of your reply", I find that two thirds of people don't do that and get excluded right away.

Most of the people I have dealt with can read/write excellent English and I belive most can speak English pretty well. You can communicate with them via message board, email and if you like by video conferencing (I never used that). You can pay based on an hourly rate or a per item/job rate etc

I feel that it is a really good system, not without issues, but pretty good, and for me easier than trying to do it myself, or sourcing locally.

I will be putting up a job soon where I will direct someone to a website and ask them to extract about 50 odd images and then do a little bit of work on them and send to me. I will be able to organise in under 30 mins and i'd be surprised if it will cost more than £25, but to do it myself would probably be 10plus hours spread out over a week or more.

Anyway, treat this advice like you got it off some guy on the internet.

Good Luck
Jim

Thankyou.. great post, very helpful

I'll have a look. I've primarily been looking for somebody local as the right person could most likely help on another project that I'm working on that would require their presence.

 

[campbeji]

Thankyou.. great post, very helpful

I'll have a look. I've primarily been looking for somebody local as the right person could most likely help on another project that I'm working on that would require their presence.

Hi again

Thank you.

In my experience, to paraphrase the old saying, you can have it local, good, or cheap - Pick two.

I do understand that you want a local supplier, probably for several reasons, and it is always good to have local contacts. Another option might be to go to someone who is a local virtual PA, they quite often have great skills when it comes to this type of work, especially if it is fairly 'basic'. I knew a local Virtual PA that did a lot of work around graphic design and websites, she didn't to anything too complex but the basic website creation, in Wordpress etc, and the upkeep of them was good. Mind you she was fairly expensive on an hourly rate, more than I wanted to pay.

Good Luck
Jim

 

[Nudge]

Briefly, I run several websites and using Corel Draw am capable of producing the graphics required - eg., photograph from supplier catalogue, blank out retail prices, re-size accordingly and save. I struggle with the quantity, particularly so in January and when developing new sites. I don't particularly want to use Fiverr and the like and local web developers/graphic designers don't seem to want small simple jobs.
With this in mind, is there a term I can use to better describe what I need - online graphics developer, Image creative etc.,?

Totally get this. Finding someone for small, quick graphic tasks can be weirdly difficult—either it’s too small for local designers to take on, or platforms like Fiverr feel hit-or-miss. In terms of a title, maybe something like ‘on-demand graphic editor’ or ‘digital asset assistant’ would help?

 

[antropy]

Keep digging that hole. I didn't mention what the work offered to the student was, nor did I say it was 40 years ago

Is it dark down there?

Alright well look, to summarise, I think you're being a bit too stringent with your requirements without good reasons, and I think that's limiting your ability to find someone suitable.

Paul.

 

[fisicx]

Alright well look, to summarise, I think you're being a bit too stringent with your requirements without good reasons, and I think that's limiting your ability to find someone suitable.

On Wednesday morning he said:

Anyway, I think I may have found somebody. Works for a printer, PC literate, understands Corel Draw etc., and local.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Totally get this. Finding someone for small, quick graphic tasks can be weirdly difficult—either it’s too small for local designers to take on, or platforms like Fiverr feel hit-or-miss. In terms of a title, maybe something like ‘on-demand graphic editor’ or ‘digital asset assistant’ would help?

True. If I wanted to pay cash in hand I could find somebody a lot quicker.

 

[antropy]

On Wednesday morning he said:

I know, I saw that. Doesn't mean it'll work out.

Paul.