5 Questions to Ask for Deciding When to Fire a Client
One of the amazing things about being a freelance designer is the freedom to choose who you are willing to work with. Unlike the nine to five crowd, we freelancers don’t always have bosses or coworkers that we are simply stuck with. If we don’t like working with someone, we fire them and move on.
Though this process sounds dandy in theory, the reality is much more complicated. Like anyone else, we have mortgages, utility bills and an annoyingly expensive need to eat just about every day. If you’ve got a client you can’t stand, run through the questions below to you help decide whether or not you can ditch them successfully (and whether you should).
April 6th, 2010 Posted in Business30+ Gorgeous Typography Based Sites
“No other design discipline requires so much learning and training as fontography, and by no other aspect can amateurs be so easily distinguished from professionals.” – Dmitry Kirsanov
To follow up our recent article, 8 Rules for Creating Effective Typography, this post contains over 30 sites either dedicated to or designed with beautiful typography.
April 4th, 2010 Posted in Inspiration, TypographyWinner Announced: Zeldman’s “Designing With Web Standards”
Congratulations to Roberto Glaviano, you’ve been selected as today’s winner! You’ll be receiving an email shortly with more information. A big thanks to everyone who entered, check back for more competitions soon!
Today’s competition features a book from one of the web design community’s most respected individuals: Jeffrey Zeldman.
Read on to find out how you can win a copy of the the excellent book Designing with Web Standards: Third Edition.
April 2nd, 2010 Posted in Competitions8 Rules for Creating Effective Typography
Today we’re going to discuss something that is both a hot trend and timeless art: typography. The basic rules outlined below will help you become more aware of how you structure and use typography in your designs. Being conscious of these rules can improve nearly everything you create that contains a headline or major typographic element. Let’s get started!
April 1st, 2010 Posted in Graphics, TypographyThe Ins and Outs of Minimalist Design
Minimalism is a trend that will never die.
No matter how many times we are left in awe by impressively intricate designs, there will always be something about simplicity that leaves us just as captured. Today we’ll look at some of the key aspects of minimalism in web design along with some examples from designers who got it right.
March 30th, 2010 Posted in Graphics, Inspiration, Layouts7 Reasons to Attend Design Conferences
If you’ve never been to a big design conference, you’re missing out. Aside from being a blast, they’re a great way to boost you out of professional stagnation or a design rut. Below we’ll take a look at seven reasons you should attend the occasional design conference. Along the way I’ll post a few images and links for upcoming conferences that you might find interesting.
March 28th, 2010 Posted in Business, InspirationPhotoshop CS5: A Sneak Peek
In the last few days there has been a lot of online buzz about the upcoming launch of Adobe’s next Creative Suite (aka CS5) in April 2010. Today I want to briefly run down some of the new features we’ll be seeing in the most beloved of the applications in the suite: Photoshop.
March 26th, 2010 Posted in Software25 Websites With Irresistible Illustrations
All designers were not created equal.
Some possess illustrative abilities that put simple page layout to shame. Today we’ll honor these artists and take a look at 25 beautiful sites from all over the world that feature incredibly creative illustrations.
March 24th, 2010 Posted in Graphics, InspirationQuick Tips for Creating a Mobile Optimized Site
Last year mobile web usage increased 148% worldwide. In the near future as smarthpones become more and more ubiquitous this number will continue to shoot up. As a developer, the time has arrived for you to seriously consider whether you should begin accommodating your mobile audience.
Today we’ll look at a few quick ways to make your site a little friendlier for mobile devices.
March 23rd, 2010 Posted in CSS, HTML, Layouts10 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your Clients Love You
As a freelancer, your role can often be that of a customer service professional as much as a designer. If you want to keep clients coming back for more, you must create a competitive advantage for yourself through building strong client relationships.
Below you’ll find ten ways to help you make your clients think of you as their absolute best option for design work.
March 21st, 2010 Posted in Business