Unfinished Business

This week on Unfinished Business , I’m joined by James Young to talk about his recent, first conference presensations and why confidence in front of people is as important as a designer’s skills with Photoshop. We discuss his knives business and how a side business can improve the work we do on the web and give us more varied content to talk and write about. Thanks to our sponsor this week GatherC...

On this week’s Unfinished Business , regular co-host Laura Kalbag and I talked candidly about hosting workshops and whether they make commercial sense and how we make money from them. Laura asked me about choosing Stuff and Nonsense for our business name and we talked about how people can make the best, first impression when you write to us. (Sorry for Laura’s audio quality. We’ll try to do better...

This week on Unfinished Business , I’m joined by CSS hero Harry Roberts to talk about being typecast (literally,) going Keynote commando and Harry’s first week on the dole. We talk about how people can improve the way they think about sending and dealing with email and why we’re both obsessed with the backends of vans. This episode is sponsored by the new Device Lab from Vanamco and by Smashing Ma...

This week, I’m joined by fabulous designer Veerle Pieters to talk about whether cycling or eating toasties is the best exercise, when working on retainer for long-term projects makes sense and the right questions to ask in our customer enquiry questionnaires. This episode is sponsored by our friends at Perch , the little content management system for projects where you don’t want a big, complex CM...

Designer and author of A Pocket Guide to CSS Animations Val Head joins me this week to talk about practical uses for CSS animations, how small publishers have made publishing books more accessible to first time authors and, of course, The Sooty Show. Thanks to our sponsor this week GatherContent — helping people who build websites work with their clients to plan, organise and collaborate on web co...

This week , illustrator Josh Cleland joins me to talk about how far we can go using a movie or TV character’s likeness, the differences between an illustrator’s and a web designer’s contract and Josh’s 100% satisfaction guarantee. Thanks to our sponsor, Blush — beautiful letterpress printing of cards, stationery and more for designers and artists.

In this week’s show, Alex’s friend Brad Frost , who having survived his trip to Brighton, returns to talk to Andrew about designing ‘in the open’ and what the benefits for you and the people and organisations you’re working for can be. Thanks to our sponsor, Ghostlab — Synchronized cross-browser and mobile testing taken to the next level. Get 30% off at checkout with the offer code UNFINISHEDBUSIN...

In this week’s episode, designer and co-host of ‘ that other podcast ’ Liz Elcoate joins Andrew to talk about the difficulties of working alone for long periods, the difficulties of keeping your portfolio full of new work when you work under non-disclosure agreements and why we should never apologise for working with small businesses with smaller budgets. This episode’s sponsored by our friends Pe...

Special guest Dan Cederholm joins Andrew Clarke this week to talk about making money by making things, how making great schwag makes a great impression and what happened to Foamee. They discuss why on Dribbble it’s important for business to not get in the way of a great service and with Dan’s new book coming up, they talk about the process of writing and whether second editions are worth it. Thank...

Designer, icon artist , author and possibly Doctor Who’s next companion Jon Hicks joins host Andrew Clarke this week. They discuss differences in the ways that Jon approaches different types of clients, how publishing his day rate and availability on his web site has improved the ‘quality’ of his enquiries and who ultimately owns the work that they do. As you might expect they couldn’t spend an ho...

In the latest episode of your favourite soap ‘apera,’ Anna and Andy go off on a tangent (no really) about the winner of their ‘Daft Proposal Of The Week Award.’ They talk about how to respond to proposals and whether it’s ever appropriate to not respond at all.

Back from his holidays, all tanned and gorgeous (obviously,) Andy rejoins Anna to talk about Laura Kalbag’s ‘Good Designers, Good Clients’ article on A List Apart. They discuss how Andy was inspired by Seth Godin to start speaking again and the best bits from the last three episodes including our ‘double our day rate Fridays,’ Sarah’s approach to handling low budget enquiries and the problem of do...

Sarah Parmenter co-hosts the show in place of Andrew. This week's topic is money related – Sarah and Anna talk about fair pricing, taking payment before site launch, and educating clients with unreasonably low budgets. Anna also asks Sarah about her exciting new venture and what drove her to start a completely different business. They discuss the importance of honesty, and how working on side proj...

Anna is joined by guest co-host and rockstar, Marcus Lillington, and they talk about estimations, project scheduling and spinning plates. Marcus shares his tips on keeping projects on track while managing maintenance for existing clients. This episode wouldn’t be possible without our sponsor: GatherContent , which helps people who build websites work with their clients to plan, organise and collab...

Harry Roberts steps in as guest co-host while Andy's on holiday. Anna asks him about his sudden decision to leave his full-time job, the events that led up to it, and what he plans to do next. Harry shares his advice for people struggling to balance work and personal projects. They also have a sneaky chat about object oriented CSS at the end even though it's not really business related but somethi...

In the final chapter of the contract episode trilogy, Anna asks Andy about writing a contract for working with agencies, they discuss which browsers and devices they should mention, termination and late payment fees, and who owns the content at the end of the project. Thanks to our sponsor, Ghostlab — Synchronized cross-browser and mobile testing taken to the next level. Get 30% off at checkout wi...

It’s episode 29 and part two in a series about contracts and the Contract Killer . Anna and Andy talk about how a good contract sets the tone and lays the foundations for a mutually good business relationship. They get down to the nitty gritty of the first few Contract Killer clauses including specifying deliverables, price and payment terms. Oh. And Andy mentioned ze Chermans but he thinks he got...

Finally , yes finally , Anna and Andy get around to the first of two, maybe three, episodes about contacts. They talk about the ‘ Contract Killer ,’ why they think it’s important to always use a contract and why some people think otherwise. They discuss the essential elements that should go into every contract and why, on top of any legal benefits, how a good contract says a lot about how you do b...

In this week’s episode, Anna and Andy discuss Motorhead and motorcycles and how Andy’s too much of a ‘wendy’ to lift one. Really. They talk about how Stuff and Nonsense’s pattern of weekly working sometimes doesn’t work and how to deal with competing client demands when you have limited time available. Thanks to our sponsor this week Blush — Blush does beautiful letterpress printing of cards, stat...

In this week’s episode, lycra wearing, tightrope walker* Anna Debenham and moustache twiddling strong man Andy Clarke ask “who would win in a fight? Boba Fett or Batman?” “If the world was ending tomorrow, which endangered species would you eat?” and other important business questions? More importantly they talk about reviews and how they can help improve your business. Thanks to our sponsor, Ghos...

In this, the 25th anniversary episode of Unfinished Business, Anna and Andrew talk about working in a supermarket (a while ago, obviously) and how Andy’s professional level skiving almost lead him to a career in supermarket management. They talk about selling an experience as well as selling design or code and how creative services are as much about putting on a show as they are about doing work....

While Anna’s away, Andy talks to (Alex’s friend) Brad Frost about iOS7, dropping pretzels and chocolate Hobnobs. (Spoiler: Brad had no idea what they are.) In between they talk about speaking and contributing and what you gain by giving away information freely. Thanks to our sponsor, GatherContent . GatherContent helps people who build websites work with their clients to plan, organise and collabo...

In this week’s episode of Unfinished Business, Anna and Andy talk about Andy being robbed in Geneva and the implications, both personal and business of what happened to him. They talk about the importance of ensuring that insurance is up-to-date (spoiler: Andy’s wasn’t) and how to secure your iOS devices and Mac in case of theft. Thanks to our sponsors, Ghostlab — Synchronized cross-browser and mo...

If you’re an ‘everyday’ web designer or developer — instead of one who’s perhaps made of plastic or maybe carved out of soap — we think you’ll love this week’s episode of Unfinished Business. Anna and Andy talk about being nominated for awards and being made into action figures and how that’s made them feel. They discuss whether it’s acceptable to make you or your company look bigger than you real...

Anna and Andy talk about their worst business mistakes and disasters, what went wrong on the worst client projects and what they learned from them. Andy also wants to know why his hotel’s housekeeping steals his soap, plus there are confessions galore about shampoo, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. This week the show’s sponsored by Smashing Magazine’s CSS3 For Responsive Design workshop with Andy C...