Interview with Denis Kulish

Denis Kulish , designer, founder of the “ Good Design ” studio, author of the “ His Business ” project.


Denis tells how to create a design studio and put it on its feet, shares the attitude to outsourcing, investing and partnership. And also answers questions about the process of creating the site.
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Private bussiness

I started my career with the submission of one good friend, we then “turned” the computers together in the service. It was necessary to quickly make a corporate page. Actually, I took it, I remember a month, I redid it five times :).

Now I’m still drawing sites, watching the overall quality of work, besides that I’m the main chronicler in the studio :) and of course I’m part of boring administrative work.

Interests are not limited to web-based graphics. From the nearest plans, try yourself in the design of packaging and more actively promote the commercial illustration.

Interview

For those who did not observe the beginning of their own business project in LiveJournal, can you briefly describe how it all began, how the initial capital issue was resolved, how did the first partners and colleagues join you?

Until the last moment, even in my wildest dreams, I never thought about my own studio. So in my case, it was the circumstances that played the decisive role.

Before making the first blog entry, I and a partner have been successfully creating another company for a year and a half, at some point it became clear that our interests are diametrically opposed. I will omit the details, I will say that at the time of my departure the situation was quite critical. Until the new year 2007 there was a little more than two weeks left, I had neither work, nor any assets ..., and quite a decent debt.

Rescued my friend Alex, who said: "Do not worry, open your office.". ... and kindly offered his temporarily unused office. Then he made a list of the main tasks and began to consistently solve them.

After just a couple of days, Murad called (our manager), said that he was leaving, and would be happy to join me, so I had my first colleague. In the evening of the same day, the idea appeared to start a diary and honestly record in it about all our achievements and failures. In the morning he told Murad, he replied that the idea was excellent, it had to be done. So actually appeared the first entry in our blog. The only thing I will add is that at that moment we did not count on the blog as a means of promotion, and decided on it more because it needed elementary moral support.

“Own Business” is the first such project in Russia?

I did not do special research, the first entry in our blog appeared on December 13, 2006. At that moment there was definitely nothing like this in LJ, I don’t know about Runet, it’s quite possible that we are really the first.

How much did the project help develop and get on your feet? Would you recommend this way to those who want to create their own business?

The effect exceeded even the most daring expectations. We were offered development projects, money with a 100% down payment, furniture, consultations, hosting, domains, free layout services, programming, text correction, and even used computers.

It is clear that at that moment we lacked the most money, plus it was not the best time to start (new year, Christmas). But, thanks to the blog at the end of February, we distributed almost all the debts. It is interesting that only recently, we came close to the amount we earned in the first month of the company’s existence as a legal entity.

As for the recommendations, I would simply advise to be at least a little more open and people will definitely reach out for you :). And it doesn't matter at all what form it takes: a blog, a podcast or something else ...

Didn't you want to quit at a certain moment and return to work at another company?

Not. I'm already too "spoiled" :). And somehow there was no reason for such thoughts.

Were there attempts to find an investor, and how did such a search take place?

We have never looked for investments for the development of the studio, and from the very first day we decided to do it on our own.

The well-known difficulty of those who start without large capital is the provision of a wage fund. Faced with such a problem and how to solve it? Were there any situations when by the end of the month it turned out that orders did not cover salary costs for the next period?

Yes, there is such a problem, but from the very beginning we tried to minimize risks and expenses. People were taken only after a kind of salary reserve appeared in the form of constant monthly payments. One serious crisis did exist , though only Murad and I felt it.

Our turnover of 70-80 % consists of payments for current projects, so it is very difficult to completely avoid such risks.

What can you say about partnership and the desire of people to work together? How often did you receive proposals to make a certain share in the project by becoming a co-owner, what is your attitude to this?

Work together very well).

They did not offer a share, but there were various proposals for partial or full absorption from other studios. I admit the possibility of serious investors participating in some of our projects. But the studio, our main asset, is not planning to divide it.

Is there a problem of enthusiasm among employees and a desire to give all their strength, despite the difficulties and the period of the studio's formation?

It is probably better to ask the staff. It seems to me that there is, besides, I am for work without unhealthy fanaticism, I try to cultivate the same thing for everyone who works with me.

How long did you develop the company's path and line of business, or was it immediately obvious? How was the choice determined and what did it come from? Maybe there was a desire to specialize in a particular service?

There was not any special planning, I don’t know, we immediately, from day one, were confident of success. First, they did what worked best ..., then with the advent of new people, the list of services expanded. The main goal: to make good quality sites, still remains only partially solved.

Is the search for orders the main problem in creating a studio or are there more serious and significant difficulties?

Of course, you need to start with this, but over time, the main problem may be a slow Internet channel, lack of a telephone, lack of qualified personnel, etc. In other words, you solve one problem, another one appears no less significant ... and this is probably normal. any actively developing company.

How many people work in the studio now?

Besides me, there are eight more people: two managers, a technical designer, an illustrator, two programmers, a content manager and an accountant.

Is this a necessary minimum or are there expansion plans?

No, we continue to form a team now is very necessary: ​​a web-technologist and a talented flasher.

The studio is located in Rostov- on-Don , how difficult is it to look for suitable people and how do you look at working with remote employees?

It is unlikely that this problem, somehow very much depends on the territorial situation. I think finding a responsible talented employee is equally difficult both in Rostov and in Moscow.

It makes no difference to me whether an employee works in an office or at home, as long as the quality, attitude and timing are not affected. Another thing, if the project requires close interaction of several people, of course, it is much more convenient when everyone is sitting in the same room.

What is the development benchmark of the studio: increasing the budget a certain number of times, offering new services or something else? At the expense of what is the development - due to an increase in the quality of services and prices, or due to the volume done?

I will not discover America if I say that a web design studio is not a very profitable business, especially in the early years of its existence. Excitement, adrenaline - plenty, money is scarce. The only way to make money is to become a well-known (in a good sense of the word) design studio, get into the top niche, and strive for it.

The goal determines the direction. All efforts are focused on improving the quality, we try to bring to the absolute, every aspect of its activities. We will definitely not have a “design factory”; rather, we will produce as many projects at a higher price.

Do you see a modern design studio without your own projects that generate a certain income?

Now, there is some kind of hysteria about their own projects. Many really hope to solve their financial problems this way. But, on the other hand, if you failed to make a profitable studio, why would your studio project become profitable?

Are there any plans to release your own projects in the Good Design studio?

Of course there are plans. But most likely, the next year or two we will focus on our first and most important startup, the “Good Design” studio.

Does the studio outsource one way or the other? How close is this work process to you and how interesting is it?

It so happened that at the beginning of our activity we drew a lot for other studios. Outsourcing allows us to quickly solve current financial problems, but in the long run, it does not give anything. Efforts are required at times more, the cost is often underestimated, work can not be laid out in the portfolio, there is no possibility to further develop the client. Therefore, now we have almost completely curtailed this activity in favor of direct orders.

What makes it possible today to compete with other design studios, given that prices and quality are gradually leveled off from studios in certain niches?

Quality and prices, indeed many have tightened. It seems to me that those who can fill a beautiful form with common sense will be ahead.

Who in the studio participates in the creation of the site from the moment of receiving the order to release?

Standard bundle: manager, designer, tech designer , technologist sometimes programmer and content manager.

Are you able to keep the deadlines for the execution of the order and the compliance of the final result with what was intended?

Not always. We really lack credibility, so quite often the work in our portfolio is very different from real sites. There are projects that are generally embarrassing to show.

Do you have your own approaches to website design and interaction with customers, allowing you to do the work without disruption and problems? Or is it increasingly dependent on the adequacy of the client?

Any project, and it does not matter much whether the site, the logo or something else is the result of collaboration between the customer and the studio representatives, so the partners' attitude to the matter plays a great role in the result. For us, this is the main occupation, and for the customer, one of the huge list - hence the attitude. It is difficult to deal with this somehow ... the actual success of the project in direct proportion to what priority the customer has set for it.

On the pages of the project “My Business” you expressed the idea that boxed site management systems (CMS) are “pure marketing bluff”. Do you have a principled position that each studio should have its own CMS and support for this system?

Not really, of course it would be foolish to force each design studio to write its own engine, perhaps for someone it would be more expedient to use a boxed or free-of-charge system, that's not the point ...

I wrote that for the client there is no fundamental difference, boxed is a product or studio development. All the advantages of boxed solutions - a bubble, than they are no better! You need to choose a system with “closed eyes and ears”, guided primarily by the usability and technical requirements of your project.
If you choose a car for yourself, you are not the first to throw a car under the hood, what brand of engine to watch. You are more interested in how comfortable the car is, its dynamic characteristics, the presence of additional options, etc. And this, quite naturally ... With sites, the same garbage ...

How to be in this case, the client who in the future wants to change the developer?

As I understand it, this is one of the most popular theses: “boxed CMS is your independence from the developer”. Today, almost any SMS is PHP, a template language plus a database. If we are talking about some simple things, everyone who is less or less familiar with these technologies will be able to realize them. If you need to do something complicated, you still have to search among professional programmers. So what is independence then?