Random

The Real Reason Why Your Emails for Design Jobs Are Ignored

May 24, 2016SheilaBusiness Tips, Freelancing, Marketing, Random2 college, design, email, etiquette, jobs, portfolio, students, work

Hey design students! Stop sending those lame job-seeking emails They say you’ve built a successful business when you start getting regular spam and solicitation requests. I say it’s when you get inundated with endless emails asking for employment. Around this time of year, right when the design students are putting away their graduation gowns, is when my inbox gets flooded with various cold email requests. (For those of you who don’t know, a cold email…

25 Ways to Tell if You’re a Graphic Designer

November 23, 2015SheilaFreelancing, Random6 bad logos, comic sans, funny, graphic design, jokes, Logo Design, mad max

You know you’re a graphic designer when…

Logo Design to be Featured in Logo Lounge Vol 9

July 7, 2015SheilaCase Studies, Logo Design, Random2 award, construction, design, logo, Logo Design, LogoLounge

Great news, everyone! As many of you know, I don’t often (if ever) toot my own horn, but I thought this required a special tooting!

5 Reasons Why Design Contests Are Bad for Designers

September 22, 2014SheilaFreelancing, Marketing, Random34 AIGA, contests, crowdsourcing, design, designers, logo, spec work

Whether you’re a designer or a client, I’m sure you’ve heard of these things called design contests. Also called crowdsourcing or spec work, websites like 99designs, CrowdSpring, among dozens of others, dot our graphic design landscape. And they’re here to stay, unfortunately. And I’m sure, either as a designer or a client, that they’ve had a certain pull or power over you. Or at the very least, you’ve been curious about them. If you’re a…

Who Owns the Rights to Your Design Work?

August 27, 2014SheilaBusiness Tips, Freelancing, Random69 client, copyright, files, freelancing, graphic design, InDesign, ownership, rights

So you’ve just gotten a killer brochure designed. You can’t wait to print it and start using it. But you’re also thinking long term…what if, in a few months, some of the information needs to be changed? So you decide to ask the designer for the native or source files (i.e. the program that the file was originally built in, and is editable). And they happily say…no. Wait, what??

How Long Does it Take to Design a Logo? A Peek Behind the Process

April 20, 2014SheilaLogo Design, Random24 business, business goals, clients, design, logo, process

Many people, and rightfully so, aren’t aware of the sheer amount of time and effort that goes into creating a strong brand identity—aka, a logo. Understandably, many potential clients are stunned when I tell them my logo design prices (let’s just say a logo should cost you more than a nice dinner.) In fact, most professional designers would agree: a logo takes a lot of time, thought, skill, and effort. All of this amounts to…

What to do When Logos Look Alike

October 16, 2013SheilaBusiness Tips, Logo Design, Random7 branding, business, client, logo, Logo Design, similarities, unique

Panic! Okay, maybe not quite yet. I’ve run into this a couple of times, mostly after I’d designed a new logo for a client. Once or twice they’ve come back to me, worried that their logo looked like another logo floating around out there.

7 Things Game of Thrones Taught Me About Branding and Marketing

August 23, 2013SheilaBranding, Geeky Stuff, Marketing, Random8 branding, client, customer, Game of Thrones, graphic design, logo, loyalty, marketing, reputation, spoiler, tagline

As a graphic designer who dabbles in marketing and branding, I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration. I never thought I’d find it watching GoT, but the more I studied the plot and characters, the more I realized that it had more in common with solid marketing principles than I had previously thought. *spoiler alert The following assumes you are a fan of Game of Thrones, and have at least watched through Season…

Next Time You Need to Focus, Try This Silly Trick!

August 5, 2013SheilaBusiness Tips, Geeky Stuff, Randombrain, concentration, deadline, distraction, exercise, focus, hemispheres

Do you ever sit down at your desk, with a ton of work to do, but can’t seem to concentrate? I get that all the time. And it always seems to happen right when a deadline’s looming.

Why I Renamed My Design Business

July 25, 2013SheilaBusiness Tips, Freelancing, Random6 business, freelance, graphic design, professional, rename

Introducing…Apex Creative Hi all! To my loyal followers and fans, thank you for all of your continued support, and for your interest in what I’ve been up to. As you may be wondering, why the heck would I change my business name now? Especially as my brand equity has grown and organic search results are up. All I can say it, it’s been a long time coming. Ever since I started freelancing, I’ve struggled with…

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