Another article on red flags to watch out for with clients? I know what you’re thinking: man, she must really hate clients. But that’s not true. At all. Most of my clients I truly enjoy working with, and we have great relationships. Some I even meet for drinks! But the reason I do love the vast majority of my clients is because I try to be selective about whom I work with. Unfortunately, there are…
Unfortunately for me and my fellow designers, graphic design just happens to be one of those things that are starting to be considered a commodity. Which would be fine, but of course, it isn’t actually a commodity.
The first question most people have when they start to think about images for a project they’re working on is, “Where will I find good images to use?” To answer that question we’ll start by looking at the four options for getting images, and what the pros and cons of each are. (I’ll give you a big hint: stock photos are one of them!) Option 1: Take your own photographs You can take your…
Like most intelligent, amazing people out there, I was rooting for the Seahawks this year (did I just lose half of you? Good ;). Hey, I’m from Seattle, so I have to root for them. Anyway, I’m sure you all are well aware of that last, horrific, play fail. The Seahawks were four points down, but it was their ball. They were like, 3 millimeters from the line with two whole minutes to go. I,…
Everyone is going digital. There’s nothing earth-shattering about that. This makes being somewhat social media savvy is necessary to attracting new business from these potential clients. I know, I know, it was only a few months ago I was griping about the evils of jumping on the social media bandwagon. While I still think social media is not necessary for everyone, it still has its place in a healthy business’ overall marketing strategy. Through the…
A couple weeks ago, we were talking about how your designer is not an order taker. I made a pretty convincing case as to why, as the client, you should refrain from telling your graphic designer how to do their job. But of course we’re now all wondering, when and how should you offer feedback? If at all? Rest assured, I think it’s perfectly fine and healthy for a client to provide constructive feedback in…
“Would you like fries with that?” Sadly, I think the vast majority of graphic designers are simply that: order takers. And it’s to the detriment of their clients, and their clients’ businesses.
I know I’m not the only one to come up with this oh-so-clever headline. But I think it’s true. Social media is dead—at least for small businesses. Whoa, what? But not without a caveat…social media is alive and well. I’ll explain in a minute. I finally found some evidence of what I’ve long suspected…that marketing budgets spent on social media is a waste.
A lot of people always wonder if they should rebrand. Some companies who have had the same brand, colors, and typography since the 80’s (and it shows) probably could use a facelift; other companies seem to churn out new identities every few years. Obviously there is a balance somewhere in between, but how do you tell? I’ll give you six easy ways to know whether or not a company rebrand should be in your immediate…
I’m going to share something with you that I don’t tell very many people. I have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, otherwise known as SLE, or simply, Lupus. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease, which basically means my body is attacking itself and I’m pretty much stuck with it. The reason why I want to share this with you is because I’ve been gleaning some valuable insights about running a small business with a chronic illness. Surprisingly,…
