Now that Bloomberg Businessweek is one magazine, it seems like the print went the safe route. Overall, the new magazine seems more edgy and contemporary, but Helvetica? Helvetica? Hmm I think I already know the future of this magazine. Here are some snapshots:
;)
;)
;)
It's been only few months since the birth of an iPad. It's little hard to find a nice accessory for such industrial looking device. I hate covering up the beautiful design, so I often just buy cases in which my devices travel. There are plenty of very nice covers, cases, and accessories in the wild for iPad. I've found some that I wanted to share; the ones that stood out. Here's a list:
Belkin iPad Cases | BOOK for iPad | Byrd&Belle Cases | Case-Mate Cases |
PORTEL for iPad | INCIPIO Cases | MARWARE
Sony took this into some heavy thinking and with the modern technological possibilities have designed an addition to your living space that doesn't add clutter or bulky plastics. Bravia NX800 Series are a masterpiece of televisions. This is Bang & Olufsen of TVs.
This is trully minimal design... that can fit in anyone's living room and become a piece of art.
;)
;)
;)
Cargo is a service I just got and will experiment with, but straight from the beginning I am surprised to see how quick it got out there. I feel like more and more of such engines will come up later, but for now I am pretty happy with Cargo. Best part is the price and ability to have a custom URL.
;)
I will be making a small gallery of my art and writing work there. It will be my virtual gallery, when ready.
Here are few example galleries: Joe Bauldoff Braue Mau Design & Dylan Reyes
Every freelancer has a story, but here is mine. I hope it will be useful, and you will share your thoughts in the comments.
1. Undercharging
Most of us suffer from this. Money is a difficult subject for many people. While it is easier for me to talk about money than before, I still think it is not quite a convenient theme. While talking about is not easy, it is extremely important.
You have the right to receive fair payment for your artwork. How do I know that you have decreased your price?
If you are doing a good job, and there are an endless stream of customers, the prices are too low.
Be careful when measuring the value of your work by hours, when it is not necessary. If you charge by hours, when work is done faster than expected, you are actually punishing yourself. Some jobs require considerable experience and expertise with little time to implement. Like one old carpenter explained, when his client had complained about the price for the repair of his squeaky floors:
There is $1 per nail, and $500 for knowing where to nail it.
2. Overexploited
No customer has a right to dispose of your time, even if it's well paid. When a customer pay to occupy your time, he/she becomes your owner or boss, which is unacceptable in a freelance job. Remember that in addition to already existing work, you need time out to offer your services on the market and cooperate with clients in order to obtain work in the future. Permitting the client to tell me the amount of time I had to work on the project was worst of the mistakes I've made, because when the project was done I had obsoletely nothing else to do. Ideally, it is good to have four or five parallel projects, plus time for some break. It doesn't worth letting one project force you to get behind life.
3. Inability To Sell
I think that for freelancers, the next in importance after the financial issue is the positioning and selling your services. The fact that in most cases the client will know that he needs your help, but will not know what he wants. Sell does not mean cheating people. If you really can help someone, offer your services in a way so that it is easier to accept than to refuse. Learn everything about the client: their needs, problems and goals. And analyze what you can give him. Most importantly:
listen more than talk
4. Always say "yes"
Fear can make us do a lot of nonsense. It took a lot before I started to decline. Some requests have been easier to reject than others. Requests to work for free still come, but I have succeeded in refusing them also. It is pretty difficult, but I can do it now. You must remember that a bad deal or a bad client can hurt you much more than the loss of a single project. Be prepared not to accept everything that comes your way, and know that you can be pleasant and friendly without agreeing to everything!
5. Lack of follow-up
Former satisfied customer can become your biggest source of new orders — both through hiring you again, and by providing you with good testimonial. Therefore, always ask for at least a little feedback, when the customer is satisfied with the result. It is better if you can get recommended to someone else through his/her good worlds. And don't worry, you not gonna get hurt just by asking. It may also be useful to send former customers birthday greeting, holiday cards and just simple "hello." You never know, maybe they were thinking of a new project.
]]>Like most of us, I still have much to learn in freelance, but I get pleasure from doing this, making mistakes, and learning along the way.
A century later, and it seems like graphic artists are still obsessed with something unnatural and machine-like. But after all, human technology is just as natural as honey bee's creations. And who else is better to give an example of our obsession with shapes than Simon Page, a self-taught graphic designer from the UK.
;)
;)
Check out his great portfolio and his print shop as well.
]]>
You’ll be surprised how many huge corporations with huge marketing budgets don’t research or have a proper logo. A great example would be Microsoft’s latest failed attempt: Bing. Name itself has a great sound to it and would worked great with a simple shape. But, it looks like Microsoft was not thinking of the image, users, audience or the philosophy behind the brand. It was strictly profit. Microsoft had to fight Google. And for Microsoft, to compete is to imitate. Just as Google’s bland logo, Bing had to reflect that. Just like Google’s blend User Interface, Bing had to go the same way. Microsoft claimed that they spend $80Million on Bing’s marketing campaign. Really?
To end the post on a positive note I’ve found some amazing examples of swiss style logos by helvetic brands. There ARE great identity designers after all, and you don’t have to spend millions to find one. Just Google them.
There are many free fonts out there. For young graphic designers coming right out of school it can be difficult to buy anything, especially fonts. After browsing the web and looking through my font library I though to highlight the ones that I think are very useful and can fool people into thinking that you have an original, expensive font.
Having an original, non-web typeface will make your new website look more interesting. And, it looks like slab typefaces are getting in style this year.
League Gothic
Calluna
Sansation
Simbo
Sketchetica
Sovba
Vegur
His work is only half of the story. Another genius idea that he came up with struck me by surprise: Personal Annual Report. Just like an Annual Report of a firm, grade card, or quarter GPA, it shows the overall status and an update of how things are going. He simply took interesting statistics and facts about his life from a certain time period and organized it in a very appealing way:
Of cource keeping track of your daily life in such detail can be very hard, but one of the tools that he came up with is DAYTUM. It's a really simple and minimalistic tool that can store any kind of personal data. You think of the data and DAYTUM will store it and show you progression or charts.
