photo credit: E. Bartholomew
The traditional New Year Resolution: some dread it and some embrace it. Of course, it’s not always easy to sit down and decide what we hope to accomplish over the next year. Below you will find a few ideas that I hope will be helpful in making you a more successful graphic or web designer next year and for the rest of your career. Read the full original article here
Ah yes, the ever so popular “list” of favorite websites bug has struck here at Insomniac Drivel. Everyday I spend at least 2 hours reading and viewing my favorite design websites for inspiration and encouragement. Most every design blog has a few of these lists today, if not, they are seriously lagging behind. (like us!)
So I figured it was time I put one of my lists together, some may have already seen these sites, or they may be new to you. Hopefully you can find something within this list that helps or inspires you along your design journey.
If you like any of these sites, be sure to comment and let us know!
Just Creative Design – A very popular design blog covering many topics of design and business relations ran by Jacob Cass
Outlaw Design Blog – Design blog with many resource file downloads and a great interface ran by Danny Outlaw
Graphic Design Blender – Great blog ran by Preston Lee, covering many topics of graphic & web design.
Digital Telepathy – Blog covering mainly web design and CSS topics.
Free vectors – Quality, free vectors for personal use.
Vecteezy – Free vectors from some of the best designers.
And of course last but not least, my favorite:
Deviant Art – Online community to showcase work and receive feedback. Also a great resource for PSD and Illustrator files.
deviantart.com You can find me at Deviant Art here.
Thanks for viewing my list, if you found anything helpful, please comment!
As a freelancer, managing your time and business is mandatory if you want to get some time for designing. All the softares and websites introduced in this article can save you some precious time and money.
A great tool for the freelancer starting out. Enter some informations about your fees, expenses, working hours and expected incomes, you’ll get the hourly rates you should be billing.
Once you know what your hourly rate is, you can start using it to give estimate to people asking you for quotes.
Send, track and collect payments quickly. Great for teams, freelancers and service providers.
A simple and straightforward invoicing solution that also integrates with PayPal and Google Checkout.
Awesome online backup tool, user friendly and quite cheap if you go for a paid plan. Syncing folders can be a bit tricky though.
Mozy is another popular online backup tool, you can try Mozy for free!
OpenSource antivirus for both PC and Mac, have a more secured computer is better right?
Surf anonymously, Tor helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy. Its use is made much easier for browsing with Tor Button (for Firefox).
Open source network intrusion prevention and detection system for Mac.
Mac software for storing all your passwords, website logins, serial numbers, etc. encrypted and password-protected. With built-in password generator.
Take your tasks anywhere with this feature-packed application. See tasks located nearby, add and complete tasks on the go, organize upcoming tasks, and sync it all seamlessly with Remember The Milk.
The ultimate online contact manager. Highrise prepares you for your next call, next meeting, next pitch, next follow-up, and next sale.
Task management Mac application with tons of great and innovative features.
Note Taking made simple. Save everything you like or need, and access it on any device.
Application launcher for Mac and much more, a real time-saver (for Windows users, see Launchy).
Organize online visual meetings with anyone, anwhere and at anytime. Try it for free.
Simple real-time sharing, collaboration, and presentation.
Online mind-mapping.
The leading web-based project collaboration tool. Share files, meet deadlines, assign tasks, centralize feedback,…
An Air App that allows you to keep track of time spent on projects by client.
Ora allows you to track expenses, keep a list of your tasks, run a timer on your tasks and more.
A website for designers to get their work reviewed and critiqued by other designers.
Free Feedback for Marketers and Designers, a good way to test your concepts before going live.
A simple online usability test that helps you identify the most prominent elements of your user interfaces.
Creates Lasting Customer Relationships with email marketing, AWeber is one of the leaders of this industry and is used by many popular bloggers and internet marketers.
Easily create, send, and track email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders.
Ping.fm is a simple and free service that makes updating your social networks a snap!
Kind of like Ping.fm for images. Upload your photos and videos to your chosen online communities from Facebook to YouTube, Twitter to Flickr and many more.
A good way to stay in touch with your professionnal contacts or to build some new working relationships.
Website Optimizer is Google’s easy-to-use tool for testing site content that delivers actionable results. It’s a great tool to listen to your visitors and increase your conversions.
Analyze the competition by getting some of their statistics and keywords.
The free do-it-all Analytics tools by Google, let’s you set goals and trace them.
I don’t do any consulting, but that doesn’t stop people from asking me questions. The most common question people ask me when they want a new website is, “If you were in charge of this, who are the 2 or 3 people you’d want to be sure to talk to – to help think through the issues, help us figure out who should do the work, etc.?”
The second most common question people ask me, “In addition to Apple’s site, are there 2 or 3 that you think are really appealing and work well for their business?”
I think these are perhaps the tenth and eleventh questions you should ask, not the first two. Here’s my list of difficult and important questions you have to answer before you spend a nickel:
And finally,
“What problems do graphic designers solve?” That was a recent question that I got from a reader in response to an article here on Graphic Design Blender. He continues his question by adding, “If you’re at an airport will you be more likely to find your terminal if the signs are designed with Helvetica, than if they were designed with Papyrus? Isn’t the only difference that one looks nicer than the other?” This post answers the above questions.
In short, my answer be a resounding “YES!” I would like to examine a very popular example in which graphic design solved a big problem.
As early as the year 2004, the Federal Highway Administration allowed for individual states to start using a font named Clearview in place of its predecessor Highway Gothic in order to (according to the researchers and designers behind the new font) “increas[e] the legibility and recognition of road sign[s]“.
The new font has now been accepted nationwide as the standard for highway signs due to legibility tests and faster reaction times proven in studies that have been conducted. You can read all about the new Clearview typeface, the research behind it and its implementation at Clearviewhwy.com. You might also enjoy reading an article written in the New York Times about the change in typeface.
Overall, the change in typeface helped in the following ways: (statistics taken from clearviewhwy.com)
There are many examples where graphic design solves a problem or makes the user experience better. While, the above scenario was a very specific situation, there are thousands upon thousands of everyday problem-solving experiences that graphic designers face. Below are some examples of problems designers may need to solve:
There are thousands of visual, experiential, and informational problems to be solved every day as a graphic designer. I would like to know what you think: Does graphic design really solve problems? Or, as the reader here on GDB put it, ” Isn’t the only difference that one [design] looks nicer than the other?”
If you work in a creative field, chances are you have a personal blog. So what makes the difference between your blog and your grandmother’s? You actually have content that you need to share with the world. Similarities?…Unfortunately no one reads either blogs. So what can you do to finally get traffic to your blog? Try some of the suggestions below:
1. Make it attractive.
Get a personal URL, learn a little code, and set up a nice professional site. I prefer wordpress blogging platform over any other as do most designers. Creating a neat, professional look is the first step in setting yourself apart from a good majority of the blogs out there. This shouldn’t be a hurried process. Sit down, even in multiple sessions, and crank out a site that you can be proud of and others will want to visit.
2. Provide Quality Content.
Okay, maybe no one but your girlfriend reads your blog right now, but the goal is to one day have an entire following. Provide high-quality, well thought-out content on your blog. Find ways to make your writing unique. There are millions of articles about how to design a logo, but each logo design process you go through is unique. Post an article describing how you went about concepting and creating a logo for a client. The post should be complete with high quality images and links.
3. Publicize.
Once you have high quality, unique content for your audience to read, it’s time to call people to your site. Advertising can be expensive and less rewarding than hoped. There are many great ways to publicize your blog, but be careful that you don’t cross the dreaded lines of “annoying blogger” or “spammer”. Visit high-traffic blogs that deal with similar content to your own. Leave meaningful comments and contact the site administrator to get on the site’s blogroll or even write a guest article. Any free advertising for your blog is exactly what you are looking for. Be creative.
4. Rejoice and Reap benefits.
Getting a blog up and running is hard. Generating interest and creating an audience is even harder. If you aren’t there yet, and feel like you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, don’t give up! If you are finally starting to see progress, rejoice! There is a lot of gratification to be found in being a part of the creative community. If you feel it would be successful, you can even try advertising on your blog to help subsidize expenses or even generate revenue.
Whatever you do, remember that blogging is as much for your own personal experience as it is for others. Write not only for your audience but for your own learning and growth as well.
What other steps have you taken to make your personal blog successful?
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