How to read a maker’s page

A maker's page here is not a portfolio in the usual sense. A portfolio shows what someone was allowed to show, arranged to flatter. This shows what exists, with the evidence attached, and the difference is most of what you need.

The two states, and what each one proves

In production means a live link. The thing is published, running, on sale or in an app store, and you can open it right now in its natural habitat. This is the strongest evidence there is, because it survived contact with the real world: someone signed it off, it shipped, and it is still standing.

Built means the images. Finished work that was never released, was retired, or lives behind a client's login. This is honest evidence, not weak evidence — a great deal of excellent work never becomes public, and a maker who labels it accurately is telling you something useful about themselves.

What you should read into the mix: a page of nothing but built may mean an unlucky run of cancelled projects, or it may mean nothing has ever quite crossed the line. It is worth one question, not a rejection.

What the availability line actually says

You will see something like Active this week. That is not a response-time guarantee and it is not a rating. Because contact happens off the platform, we cannot see replies, so we only claim what we can observe: how recently the maker confirmed their price and availability are still true.

• Active this week — confirmed in the last eight days.
• Active this month — within thirty.
• Active in the last few months — within ninety.
• Nothing at all — over ninety days. We stop showing their price rather than show you a stale one.

Treat a blank one as a warning, not a verdict. Plenty of good makers go quiet for a season. It just means the numbers on the card have not been vouched for recently.

The starting price is a floor, not an estimate

“From €900” means they will not take work below that, and nothing more. It exists so you can rule people out quickly in both directions, which is a kindness to everyone. It is not what your project will cost, and treating it as a quote is the fastest way to start a relationship badly.

Three things worth checking before you write

1. Open one in-production link and use it. Not the screenshot — the thing. Ten seconds tells you more about their standard than any case study.
2. Look for a piece near your problem, not near your industry. Someone who has built a complicated onboarding flow for a bank can build one for you. Someone who has built a brochure site for a company in your sector cannot.
3. Read the piece descriptions. Vague ones (“a modern, engaging experience”) and specific ones (“three legs from one sheet, no hardware”) tell you how the person thinks. Precision in a caption predicts precision in a delivery.

What the page cannot tell you

It cannot tell you whether they are pleasant to work with, whether they answer email, or whether they will still be around in six weeks. Evidence of past work is evidence of capability, and capability is only half of delivery.

It also cannot, by itself, tell you the work is theirs. Anyone can upload anyone's portfolio, and the people who do it are after your deposit. That check is short and it matters more than everything else here, so it comes next: how to be sure you’re hiring the person who made the work →