Christian Ross

CleverAndy

I’ve never been a huge beta-tester but I do enjoy picking up an invite every now and again to sites that are on the brink of opening the doors. I was an early adopter of Gmail when you still had to be invited; I received, registered, and quickly found no use of Pownce from an invite; and have even set up a small invitation to learn more about a yet-to-be-realized project we so like to refer to as BragBaby.

I think the whole process builds anticipation. Anticipation for day one is good for any business.

Thus, I recently signed up for a site called CleverAndy. Their splash page made no mention of who they were, what they did or what they were planning to do. And it peaked my interest.

CleverAndy went live today. Not sure if Andy is actually a he or a they, but Andy seems to be in the same field that I am in. Designing for the web.

Most of my work is client-based. While I wait for my dreams to come to fruition I suppose it will stay that way. Most of my clients have a certain desire on what they want to see. Not always do my vision and their vision line up the first time. (Note to self: Write post titled ‘Why Everyone Thinks They Are A Designer’)

When our visions don’t line up, designs get tossed aside. Very few of them actually ever see the light of day again. Most of them end up in the same folder on my computer that is the equivalent of the trash can and I just can’t bring myself to actually sending them there permanently.

CleverAndy must have had the same problem. Seeing how clever Andy really is, he has decided to solicit the trash can designs from designers all over. I never made mention to whether or not my cast off designs were any good or not. A quick look through my folder shows they’re probably about 1:1 ratio of good to bad. Some due to time passed since first created, some due to fitting a certain client specs, some more industry related, and some are just plain ugly.

Andy wants my leftovers. Not exactly the bad ones, but good ones that just missed the cut. His goal is then to take them out, program them up, and find the right buyer for the site. When he finds the right client for the website, he tailors it for them, fills it full of content, and then writes me a little check for my service.

Very clever, Andy. You can have my leftovers. I’ll do my best to keep my ‘proud parent’ eye out of the picture when sending designs over in hopes that they will be good enough for your clients. And I’ll also do my best to beat back my ego and put on my happy face in case you come calling with the bad news that my little one was just a little too ugly for the pageant.