About

One reason I choose to stay small, is so I can retain a personal connection to my clients as well as the work I produce for them. Someone’s gotta be the little guy, and in an increasingly agency-run industry, I love to play this role. My clients usually greatly value the direct interaction and lack of a management layer.

So who do i work with?

I often work with companies that are looking for a visual designer, who can also handle many different other web and design-related functions. While I can, and do work with subcontractors when needed, I prefer to handle most tasks myself, and try to choose projects that allow this level of engagement.

However, with this style of working, choosing only certain projects is unfortunately necessary, as I can handle only so much at once without neglecting other aspects of life.

As a result, the type of work required in a project is an important factor in determining whether I decide to take it on or not.

Examples of projects I tend to work on:

A new company looking to build a web site or application from scratch, requiring web/User Interface design and information architecture, straightforward content management setup, and front-end coding.
An established company with an existing web site or application, looking to improve the look and feel of their User Interface, and needs me to work with a team of programmers to design and coordinate the whole affair.
As a part of a team of Designers and Programmers, organizing the Information Architecture (Sitemaps, Wireframes, etc) and presenting the core concept and idea to everyone.

Examples of projects I rarely take on:

A company that has already produced a set of web templates with another graphic designer, simply looking to convert them to XHTML/CSS.
A project that requires extensive skills outside of my core competencies. (See “What Do I Create?” on the Services page)

There are, of course, no hard and fast rules. Sometimes I make exceptions, if the company that approaches me has a really great product, or really interesting people. There are many factors involved, so don’t take the generalizations above as the last word, but they make for a good general measure.

Why work with me?

I do many things.

Information Architecture, Usability, Web Design, Print Design, Internet Marketing, SEO. My clients tend to need the multi-faceted approach of a larger agencies, in situations where hiring an entire team doesn’t make sense.

I’m small.

Read over there on the left on why I choose not to have any employees.

I don’t need long start-up time or other special care.

My clients are usually looking for a low-maintenance contractor – someone who can hit the ground running and immediately start working a project without spending days in meetings.

I keep my deadlines.

Most web projects are either late or over budget. I’m very good at estimating workload over time, and the deadline or budget of a project I have worked on has never overshot because of my contributions.

jamalnichols.com is a one man design studio run by me, Jamal Nichols. Since 2006, I've been taking on web & application design contracts from around the globe.