Just Creative Design

Great Business Tips for New Designers

This is a guest article written by Nicole White*. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Stepping out of college and into the world of design can be a big change for many with little real-world experience in the field. Learning how to deal with clients, manage projects, and find work can be challenge for the rookie designer, especially with freelance work. These basic business tips can help prevent major disasters and set the stage for future success in the field.

1. Always get a contract.

It isn’t uncommon to get hooked up with a friend of a family member and in these cases you may not feel it’s necessary to ask for or get a contract, after all, you know the person. This is where trouble can start. Always lay out what the expectations for the client are and your fees ahead of time so there can be no question later as to what the agreement was.

• 12 points to incude in your design contract
  
• Graphic design contracts & agreement forms
• How to write a killer contract
• How much to charge for design work?

2. Ask for a down payment.

Inevitably you will have clients who are reluctant to shell out for the work that you’ve done for them, offering a myriad of excuses. Getting half the money up front will ensure you’re not left penniless while trying to get what you’re owed and that the client won’t leave you hanging partway through. 25-50% is a fair amount.

3. Limit revisions.

As with any creative project, there are a limitless amount of revisions that can be made. Some clients will be very picky and involved in the process and want to see numerous revisions of an idea. While there’s not necessarily anything wrong with wanting the best, make sure you’re getting compensated for it by placing a limit on the number of revisions or charging if they go over a certain number.

4. Get organized.

It will be incredibly difficult to manage one project, let alone multiples, and your life to boot if you don’t get organized now. Set up places to file important paper, organize your email inbox and make sure you’ve got plenty of room to store all your client work.

• 35 Online Tools That Make Your Freelance Career Easier

5. Work your network.

Finding work can sometimes be the hardest part of working freelance. When you’re first starting out, try using your personal connections to find yourself some work. Ask family, friends, classmates and associates if they know anyone who could benefit from your services. Most of the time, this will turn up at least one lead and get you started working.

There is no guarantee of entrepreneurial success in any venture, but taking steps to plan for the future and better manage work today certainly won’t hurt even the most experienced designers and can be a great way to start a career for newbies. Start to market yourself.

Recommended Reading

• One Year Out Of Design School: 10 Valuable Lessons
• 16 Designer Job Descriptions
• 10 Things They Don’t Tell You In Design School
• Advice For Design Students
• How To Get Your First Job
• How Much Does A Graphic Designer Earn?
• 15 Signs You’re A Bad Graphic Designer
• Top 10 Design Questions from Students
• A First Hand Guide On How To Start Freelancing

Have you got any other great business tips to share?

*Nicole White can be found on her website Web Design Schools Guide where she writes about online web design degrees.

Inspiring Intimidation

I announced a few days ago that I was attending the two day Australian design conference, Semi Permanent… well this article is a semi review of it.

Inspiring Intimidation

Yes the conference was inspirational - very much so - yet it was also quite intimidating, which I suppose is just natural. For 6 hours each day, one listened to leading industry professionals talk about their design process, work, awards and in some cases, their income.

After hearing all of these leaders speak about their achievements there really was no other choice but to feel some form of intimidation which ironically, is quite uninspiring… It makes you think to yourself “am I actually any good?” which obviously can take a toll on your self confidence & motivation.

Anyway, here are some things to remember:

• Everyone was a beginner at some stage
• You improve over time
• Luck can come your way at any time
• With knowledge comes power
• …but with power comes responsibility
• Be comfortable of where you are at but know where you want to go
• Explore, experiment and practice
• Take risks but be aware of your limitations
• Don’t compare yourself to others
• Be aware of ‘fakers’

Intimidating Logo Design

To put this into perspective, I will put this into a scenario that I am most familiar with. Many of you may know that I specialise in logo and identity design however this was not always the case.

Before I was specialising in logo design, I was always fascinated by other professional logo designs and designers such as the many talented ones found over at LogoPond. Little did I know that many of these logo designs were actually fictional.

Designers create ‘exceptional’ logo designs, based on made up names / themes (ie. no real client) which are then blended to create a seemingly ‘perfect’ logo. Although this has been pointed out before, it can be extremely intimidating… you think to yourself “I could have never come up with a design like that”.

This relates back to the design conference where such mind blowing work was being shown off…  you compare the awesome work to the skills you believe you currently have which then results in a sense of awe and in some cases, intimidation.

The point I am trying to make here is that while on the surface something may seem great and all inspiring, there is much more than to it that - much more. Don’t be uninspired by intimidating inspiration, just get out there and do your best, you’re time will come.

Advice For Design Students

Having an online presence in the design world has left me quite a position to fill, in fact, I get about one or two emails every day from design students requesting advice or an interview.

Most of the time I do try to reply however, many times I seem to be repeating myself…. the question that comes up guaranteed, every time is:

What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to a designer just starting out?

I usually respond with the same paragraph each time (it is saved in my Gmail drafts folder) and my advice goes something like this:

The biggest piece of advice that I would give an upcoming designer comes in a ‘package’ based from the little things that I have learned over my short career as a designer. These would be perfect for someone just starting out… Don’t undervalue your work. Seek criticism, not praise. Always keep learning & don’t be a static learner… do this by reading books, magazines, blogs and by practising. Collect & share things. Teach others. Never give up. Keep practising. Again, keep practising.

Advice From Other Professionals

Every week I interview a professional designer here on Just Creative Design (the section is called Designer In The Spotlight) and in every interview I have asked this exact same question - what is your biggest piece of advice for a designer just starting out?

Below are the responses from the designers who I have interviewed so far.

Lady Omega - Never give up. Generate as much happiness as possible. The main thing is to start, not speculate, but just start doing.

Elliot Jay Stocks - Work for ‘the man’ before going freelance straight out of university or college.

Colin Wright - Stick to your guns. If you like your style, and other people like your style, who cares if other other people don’t like your style?

Be knowledgeable. About anything and everything. This will allow you to relate to more and make you a more effective communicator.

Don’t be above anything. Sometimes the small jobs can lead to big ones (though don’t take a job just because a larger one was dangled in front of you).

Kai Chan Vong - Don’t give up. But don’t expect it to be easy. If you want to be half decent, you should expect to work really hard and try to learn from others as much as possible. The Internet has made it so that if you want to be a great designer - you need to learn from others on a day to day basis. Whether that’s from friends, co-workers or other designers… you need to constantly have your mind open. Good luck! You can do it!

Mike Smith - Never quit. No matter what gets in your way, or what hurdle you have to jump over, just keep going. I don’t care if you read zero websites and network with no one, just keep going. Push yourself and never give up. People will run their mouth and sometimes you might hit a dry spell in clients, but keep going. Use that time to design your own work or build something useful for other people. Progress every day. If you don’t take a step, you never move forward. Why sit still if you’re not happy in your current situation?

Prescott Perez-Fox - Make friends with everyone. Make sure you have people, upon people, upon people who you can call to collaborate with to make a job referral, or even just to chat and blow off steam. Don’t be that mad-scientist type who stays locked up all day… get out and make friends.

Drew Dunlap - Work your butt off! If you don’t try your best and give it your all, the customer will know… not only because of the way that they’re treated but also just by looking at their artwork.

Treat everyone you work with with respect and be kind. Customers talk about good designers but they talk way more about bad designers. Be respectful on blogs, contests and anything web related. Being distasteful not only reflects bad on you personally but also for your business. Don’t use slang or internet terms when talking with customers, be professional.

Think of grade-school… treat them as you’d like to be treated!

Chris Spooner - Strive to keep yourself updated with changes in the industry, this particularly relates to web design which seems to move at a pretty fast pace!

Jennifer Farley - Use a contract and get at least 25% upfront when doing design work.

Doug Cloud - Don’t give up. No matter how much you want to. No one is going to succeed if they give up. And besides, why would you want to?

Emily Lewis - Read, read, read what is out there, even if you don’t understand it all. Eventually, it will start to “click.”

And then, practice, practice, practice. Make your own site/portfolio/blog and implement the “cool” things you read about, even if it take hours to get it to work. You’ll never forget something you had to pull your hair out to get working.

Andi Creffield - If you’re in it for the money, you’re in the wrong business.

Kate McInnes - Don’t give up, don’t copy other peoples stuff and don’t forget to have fun!

Fabio Sasso - I think the most important thing is to love the whole design process, from the beginning to the end. That really helps when you have to start something from the scratch or review some steps. Also practice and share your experience with the others, it’s a nice way to recycle your thoughts and get more point of views.

Albert Lo - I’ve learned a lot by making mistakes along the way and to this day I’m still learning. My biggest piece of advice I would give someone starting out is to persevere trying to find your first design job, don’t get disheartened and be confident in what you design. Take your mind off things by coming up with personal projects or take a part time job, your first design job to get your foot through the door will come out of the blue when you least expect it.

Brian Yerkes - Never stop adding to your skill set, and always make sure that when you look back over your previous year, you have come a long way baby!

Further Advice For Design Students

• 1000 Words Of Advice For Design Students
• Top 10 Design Questions From Students
• 70+ Graphic Design Tips
• 24 Creatives Share Their Best Career Advice

What would is the best piece of advice you could give a design student?

70+ Graphic Design Tips

Below are some graphic design tips that were submitted by JCD readers earlier this week as part of our 5000+ subscribers celebration. Read more »

6 Photoshop Tips and Tricks That You Probably Don’t Know About

Here are 6 Adobe Photoshop tips and tricks that you probably don’t know about (I bet you don’t know at least one). This post comes after hearing the reactions from some of my fellow students in class when they found out about some of the options available that they never knew about.

NB: This post is for Photoshop beginners.

1. Refining a selection

After you make a selection in Photoshop you can easily edit the selection using refine edge in the top toolbar. You must try this out, it is very useful!

2. Hidden Options Behind Arrows

I am amazed by how many people do not know about these tiny little arrows that hold so many more options! These tiny arrows are pretty much on every tool bar across the whole Adobe Suite. I assure these arrows will open you up to a whole new world.

3. Blending Options

If you right click on a layer in the layers toolbar, and then click blending options this will bring you to a whole vast array of effects that will keep you busy for hours. Use these options very sparingly.

4. Resist The Urge to use the filter gallery, especially the lens flare.

Not so much of a ‘tip’ but more ‘helpful advice’… but yes you heard me, do not use the filter gallery (unless you know how to well or for a effect that you need). Design is not filter effects and it never will be. Also please resist adding lens flare to your work, as well as rainbow gradients, embossed type and drop shadow unless you know how to use it well. You may want to check out 15 Signs Your a Bad Graphic Designer. NB. Rules can be broken.

5. Layer Blending Modes

Once you master the blending modes in Photoshop you can pretty much ‘own’ photoshop. Open up the layers palette, select a layer and click the downwards arrow where it says Normal. Try experimenting with different blending modes on different layers, put layers above or below other layers, change the opacity and so fourth and you will be amazed!

6. The best tip of all…

Practice. You can do this by doing tutorials or watching videos or experimenting on your own. Practice, practice, practice!

In my own personal experience I have found that if I find a design piece or style that I really like, I search the net and magazines for tutorials on how to recreate that effect and try to adapt it to my own personal project and style… I find this a great way to learn. Also if you ever need help, check out Adobes Help function in the programs and also write questions on forums (or blogs)… people will be more than happy to help you out!

How many of these did you know about?

Want to know how to design? Learn The Basics.

Want to know how to design? Then you should learn the basics of design. The basic elements of design include colour, line, shape, scale, space, texture and value and these are the fundamental pieces that make up any piece of work. If you ever start a design course this will be the very first thing that you are taught, guaranteed.

But what if you’re not a student? What if you’re not self-taught? What if you are a looking for ways to enhance your design skills? Then this is the guide for you.

Note from Jacob Cass: This is a guest article written by Lauren Marie who is a graphic designer in corporate America during the day and a blogger via night.

Colour

Colour has a huge impact on the mood of the design. A predominantly red colour usually represents strong emotions—love, anger, passion—while blue can make the design feel calm, cool and peaceful. Color contributes to the unity of a series of flyers, emphasizes important information and leads the eye through a design.

Select articles on color:

• Using Colour: Real World Examples
• The Colour Wheel and Color Theory
• Pantone Swatches on Squidoo
• Colour: Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology on Squidoo
• The Best Colour Tools Online

Line

Are your lines straight and slim, or thick and squiggly? The quality of the line (hand drawn to precise) can say a lot about the mood you are setting with your design. Hand drawn or thick lines tend towards juvenile themes, where as straight and thin lines are more refined, corporate or intelligent.

How lines interact with each other is important, too. If they are straight, thin lines, but are colliding at all sorts of crazy angles, that is going to be chaotic. If they have a hand drawn quality to them but are more or less straight and orderly, this can give a much needed personal appeal to a design.

Select articles on line:

• Using Line: Real World Examples
• Artist’s Toolkit: Line
• Introduction to the Elements of Design: Point and Line

Shape

Did you know that shapes can convey a mood just like any other element of design? Angular shapes like squares and triangles tend to indicate masculinity, while smooth and curving shapes like circles are more feminine. Squares are very familiar to us (think of your monitor, a piece of paper or the TV screen), so they are secure, trustworthy and stable. Circles very pleasing to the eye and are organic, whole, peaceful and exude unity.

Select articles on shape:

Using Shape: Real World Examples

About.com Shapes in Design

Scale and Size

Bring balance, proportion and contrast to your designs with scale and size. Just for reference, size is the actual dimensions of an element on the page, scale is the element’s relation to its original (like putting a person on a billboard—it’s going to be “larger than life”) and proportion is the relation of all the elements on the page in terms of size and scale. Use scale and proportion to indicate the actual size of an object or to emphasize the difference in the sizes of two objects (a child’s hand against its mother’s is a common use of size).

Select articles on scale/size:

Using Scale: Real World Examples

Space

Space is often referred to as white space, and gives the design some breathing room and the eye a place to rest. An ill use of space (or perhaps a very well planned out use) can make the design feel crowded and claustrophobic. Too much space, however, and the design can seem unfinished, like it’s missing something. Once you know the rules (for any of these elements, really), you can also experiment with breaking them in order to push a different emotional response.

Select articles on space:

Using Space: Real World Examples

A List Apart: Whitespace

Texture

Texture is a fun element to experiment with and use to bring realism to your designs. It can be effectively used to add visual interest and it really helps make a design unique. Textures are not just applied in the computer; you can take into consideration the materials used in the final printed pieces, too.

Select articles on line:

Using Texture: Real World Examples

Value

Value can really add unity to your designs if you pay attention to this neglected element. It is also a great way to create a focal point and guide the viewer’s eye through the layout. This little element can bring together parts of the design to make them balanced; using elements similar in a high intensity value (light, towards the white end of the spectrum) can create a subdued tone, where values lower in intensity (darker, towards black) can be ominous and foreboding. Using values on either extreme of the spectrum has a very dramatic effect.

Select articles on value:

ArtLex: Value

The Purpose of Graphic Design

The purpose of graphic design is communication. As you go through each stage of your design process, ask yourself how you are using each of these elements of design to enhance the delivery of the message, affect the mood of the piece and relate the product or message to the target audience. Remember that these elements apply to everything in the layout, from composition, to photos, to typography.

How & Where To Get Paid Freelance Work While You’re Still A Design Student

As some of you may know I am a third year graphic design student and an active freelancer so I am going to share my tips on how and where to get freelance design jobs while you are still a graphic design student.

For most 1st, 2nd or 3rd year students, finding a part time or even casual job in the design industry is quite frustrating and nearly impossible and most resort to working at their local store, however, there is hope - I am living proof that a design student can get a job in design while still studying, here are my tips… Read more »