Business

Learn how to run your design business, work with clients, manage expectations, and handle your finances.

Fresh Starts: How to Revamp Your Design Process for the New Year

Business / 1 Jan 2025

Fresh Starts: How to Revamp Your Design Process for the New Year

If you’re planning on refreshing your design process this year to become a more efficient and productive designer, this guide is for you.

Here, we share some practical advice on how to fully assess, streamline, and refine your creative workflow to create a much-improved design process that will make this your best year yet!

Before you look for ways to revamp your design process, first you should take a step back and reflect on the past year to learn which areas of your workflow need to change and which need improvement. Let’s start there.

Design Resolutions: 10 Skills to Master in 2025

Business / 31 Dec 2024

Design Resolutions: 10 Skills to Master in 2025

Staying relevant in the ever-changing world of design is always an uphill battle for designers. But it’s a good kind of challenge that makes you better each year.

There will be new design trends, technologies, and concepts to follow and learn about every year. The key to surviving and staying relevant is to always improve your design skills and nurture creative growth.

If you’re looking for inspiration to level up your skills this year, we have a few great suggestions for you. These skills will play an important role this year in helping you land more clients and grow as a designer. Make sure to add a few of these to your new year goals.

10 Skills Every Designer Needs on Their Resume

CV & Resume Templates / 23 Dec 2024

10 Skills Every Designer Needs on Their Resume

Even if you aren’t actively looking for a job, your resume is an important piece of your digital portfolio. From sites such as LinkedIn to personal portfolio pages such as Behance that showcase your work, glimpses into your design career are everywhere.

You want to control that message to ensure that you are putting the right vibe out there about who you are, the work you do and why (quite frankly) you are a rock star designer. And while a stellar portfolio is a great way to start that conversation, your resume is equally important. It should highlight some of the skills that aren’t as apparent from looking at a few marquee pieces.

As a bonus, every example resume here is a template from Envato Elements. Visit and download usable graphic design assets to boost your resume design today!

How to Make a Poster in PowerPoint: 10 Simple Steps

Poster Design / 2 Dec 2024

How to Make a Poster in PowerPoint: 10 Simple Steps

In addition to creating presentations, did you know you can use PowerPoint to design other elements such as posters? Today, we’re walking you through exactly how to make a poster in PowerPoint.

While not everyone thinks about making a poster design in PowerPoint, it’s pretty easy—and is a viable option if you need something quickly, or don’t have other design software available. (Posters made in PowerPoint are frequently used in academic settings for assignments and event promotion on college campuses.) Today, we’re going to take you through the steps of how to make a poster in PowerPoint.

30 Tips to Learn Web Design in 30 Days

Business / 4 Nov 2024

30 Tips to Learn Web Design in 30 Days

Is learning the basics of web design still on your “someday” list? Why haven’t you got started yet? We’ve put together 30 tips and resources to help you start learning web design this month (and maybe even find yourself a new career path!)

Graphic designers, print designers, and creatives looking to learn something new or break into website need to quit procrastinating. Every day that you don’t take that first step leaves you one day further behind everyone else!

Follow these steps to begin learning how to create your first website, industry best practices, and much more—all in 30 days!

How to Understand (+ Improve) Your Website’s Carbon Footprint

Business / 20 Sep 2024

How to Understand (+ Improve) Your Website’s Carbon Footprint

Every time you visit a website, watch a YouTube video, or comment on a Facebook post, you make a contribution to global carbon emissions. This includes your own websites as well.

The Internet and the devices we use contribute 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions. That is the same amount contributed by the airline industry around the world and it’s expected to double in 2025.

Saving the environment and the world starts with you. One of the most important steps you can take to achieve that goal is to reduce your website’s carbon footprint.

In this post, we will walk you through the process of how a website contributes to global carbon emissions and what you can do to improve it.

10 SEO Habits That Will Increase Website Traffic

Business / 13 Sep 2024

10 SEO Habits That Will Increase Website Traffic

Everyone wants more website traffic, right? But are you doing all the little things that help boost search engine ranking with every new image upload or content update?

Creating the right habits from the start will keep your website in tip-top shape and hopefully result in bonus points from the Google algorithm.

The good news is that this list is packed with actionable, everyday tips. Start with a solid website framework and then employ these techniques with every update to get on the path to creating great SEO habits that won’t be tough to maintain.

Pitch Deck Design: 10 Tips to Stand Out

PowerPoint Templates / 12 Sep 2024

Pitch Deck Design: 10 Tips to Stand Out

A good pitch deck is designed for specifically one thing – to help your startup get funding from investors. But how do you stand out from the crowd, and make a memorable impression?

There’s a delicate balance to creating a deck with just enough slides to entice potential funders, without providing so much information that they are overwhelmed.

Most pitch decks contain less than 20 slides. So how do you create a pitch deck design that stands out? Here are our ten tips to help you get started.

How Much Should You Charge for Design Services?

Business / 12 Sep 2024

How Much Should You Charge for Design Services?

It might be one of the most asked questions among freelance designers: what do you charge clients?

There can be so many variables in setting rates that you can stick to, and you have to make a choice between hourly and fixed options. Either way, a good pricing strategy can help you get the clients you want and earn a solid income from freelance work.

After you figure out pricing. Which is a challenge for almost anyone!

10+ Classic Freelance Designer Mistakes to Always Avoid

Business / 6 Sep 2024

10+ Classic Freelance Designer Mistakes to Always Avoid

Freelancing is a lot like managing your own business. With every client, you learn something new, and learning from mistakes is also part of that process.

However, there are some mistakes that you should always avoid at all costs. In this post, we look at some of those classic freelance designer mistakes that even the most experienced freelancers make and how to avoid them.

As they say, learning from mistakes is part of every job. But learning from other people’s mistakes is an even better way to avoid trouble. So, take note and see if you’ve made any of these mistakes in your career.

How to Use AI to Make Money & Grow Your Business

AI Tools / 3 Sep 2024

How to Use AI to Make Money & Grow Your Business

AI is becoming an essential tool for businesses, especially for increasing productivity. But did you know you can also use AI to make money?

AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney are for more than just writing emails and generating funny images. They can also be used to make money. Many freelancers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs are already using AI to make thousands of dollars by implementing AI tools into their workflows.

Generative AI and machine learning were among the top most in-demand skills of 2024 on Upwork and it’s spreading fast into many different industries as well.

In a previous post, we showcased the most useful AI tools for improving your business. We also explained how you can use those tools to grow different aspects of your business.

In this post, we look at some of the ways and methods to use AI to make money and grow your business. Let’s dive in.

What Is a Lookbook? (+ 20 Stunning Examples)

Business / 19 Aug 2024

What Is a Lookbook? (+ 20 Stunning Examples)

Whether you’re a designer wanting to show off work or have a request to create one for a client, a lookbook can be an effective way to showcase a variety of elements in a single design.

A lookbook is a portfolio of sorts and has wide application in a number of fields, including website design, graphic design, and development.

Here’s a guide to what a lookbook is, what to include in one when you start designing it, and some examples that are sure to help you find a little lookbook inspiration.