Blog

Dreams

Dreams without Goals Remain Dreams – Denzel Washington

How you can develop confidence and believe in your design work

This is one major thing that I always tend to say to myself. Because at times we can forget how far of a journey we have traveled to get to where we are currently. Another thing is to not change who we are as a person. When we remember where we came from the journey is worth it.

The other various things are to keep the fear of failing to avoid going back to where you were from. This is something that I constantly do with myself. Because I am not going to pretend as if I came from nothing because my father and step mother provided a great life for me. I just think in terms of if the city I lived in would allow me to achieve the things that I want to achieve.

I mean I know its possible but some people look at things differently. Also I wanted to have a challenge with succeeding. This could be looked at getting out of ones comfort zone. Because lets be honest if you are living in the same town you grew up in and not wanting more your just limiting yourself. But this could not be the case for you.

The main thing is that I am saying is to not pretend to be something or someone you are not. if you are a southerner no need to pretend you are not one. I used to hesitate with telling people where I am from when I moved south florida. But honestly why would it matter if I was from a place or not.

As this is said I want to tie this into your design work. You may be at the point where you are not confident at all. You may think ugh another crappy piece of design work. Well that’s ok to experience such a thing. Being a graphic designer you should want to constantly improve your work.

This is in relation to stepping out of your comfort zone. I for one was super comfortable working in illustrator compared to working in photoshop. When I freelanced at the ad agency for the time I did all we did was work in photoshop. Another thing was my current job we tend to use photoshop a lot.

In regards to all of this it helped me become a better and more confident designer and a more confident person. As well as trusting my design decisions. Because you will not have time to sit and sketch out ideas like you would in different situations. Which there is nothing wrong with sketching ideas out. Sketching is critical. But for some creative jobs that is not an option it just requires your creativity.

Remember to never forget where you came from and enjoy the journey. If you don’t believe in yourself who will?

Why motivation will not help you be a more creative Graphic Designer

We as humans like to experience many things that make us feel good. I for one know the power of how motivational material can change ones life. But the thing about motivational material is it can brainwash us to a certain aspect.

By brainwash I mean it can cloud our reality in front of us. Which can either be detrimental or beneficial. But I cannot see how it would benefit anyone in any way. I am not saying its a bad thing but you want to be honest with yourself.

Motivation or motivational material had me listening constantly to it but not taking action. So recently I was even more honest with myself and said ” You listen to so much motivational material and what did Gary vaynerchuk say? you are most likely not taking action you’re just listening.

Just listening think about that for a second. How many times do you read a book or hear a speech and just listen but you never act. If you are in a rut or down about being a graphic designer there is no one that can truly save you but yourself. There’s people who can motivate you and give you a boost. But none of that matters if you are not willing to take the first step.

You have to take action and stop wishful thinking and being afraid to work hard. The fear of why work that hard why do this, why do that. My thoughts are why not work hard? Why not give it my all. Why not go a little further with work for a client or whomever to see what I can do. But this type of motivation comes from within.

The only thing listening to motivational audio tapes, videos and etc will do is just give you a good feeling. You know the same as drinking at a bar or at home. The feeling is  good temporarily but in the morning you’ll think why did I drink so much and not control myself. I want you to realize that the wonderful lasting feeling is to take action and believe in yourself.

I will give you steps next week on how to began to believe in your work as a graphic designer it will be a three part series.

Thank you for reading and have a great weekend.

How to hire a freelance Graphic Designer

When it comes to hiring a graphic designer it can be a brand new thing for many. You may have not idea how to even go about doing it. Also you may not know what to look for in a graphic designer. Well I will show you how to do it the proper way.

At first you are just searching freelance graphic designers in your area on google. Also you could even search Freelance graphic design and LinkedIn is another option for finding freelance graphic designers.

There is quite a bit of graphic designers on various social media. But you also have to be careful of the imposters. By that I mean of the people who pretend to be designers. The people such as whom will have amazing designs and seem amazing and so skilled but the work is not theirs. So do your research and even do a google image search of their work.

But if you notice they actually show process of their work then you can tell they are honest and who they say they are. So you are looking over their portfolio and seeing their skill-set. Which there should be no reason for you to do a quote on quote test project for a designer who you want hire.

When you give the ultimatum of doing a test project it gives the designer an impression of you are not sure if you want to hire them or not. Do you think you could go to a lawyer and say I have a situation and I want you to represent me in court and I will pay you depending on how it turns out. Or you would not go a doctor and say I need surgery but I want to test you out and see how you do. Stop with this nonsense and be serious with the goal you are trying to accomplish and have a designer solve.

Now communication is key with working efficiently with a designer. You want to always be in tune with whats going on and how the process is working. I personally tend to keep the client whom I am working with up to date with how the process is going. The reason for doing this is to let the client know they are getting their money’s worth and I am actually doing the work for them.If you’re designer is not an effective communicator this is something to be a wary of. Keep this as a main priority.

Paying your designer should not even be a question. You should be willing to pay the rate whatever the designer charges. There should be no negotiation and duel to milk the designer for a cheaper rate. Now when you negotiate the rate for a designer paying at least half up front as an initial deposit of what the entire project would cost. If the Graphic designer, web designer’s rates are too high for you then you will have to find someone who you can afford. Let the designer know if you cannot and the graphic designer or web designer may be willing to negotiate.

Contracts should be signed and in agreement with the project that is being completed. You want to protect yourself if there is any problems. The contracts are normally supplied from the graphic designer. But this would depend on the project and etc.

You do not want to try and take shortcuts on hiring a graphic designer,web designer, developer or basically any creative individual. Because you will not get the value you deserve. You do not want to get a copy of a copy. More or less you want something that is created specifically for you and not something throw into a bin and have people fight over what they could come up with to win the competition. Do yourself and avoid elance, 99designs, and the other run of the mill websites out there.

People run to these websites who do not want to invest in hiring creatives for their work. When honestly there are ton’s of graphic designers who are wanting to work with clients and will be willing to be a benefit to you and your organization.

Why hiring a cheap graphic designer hurts your brand

When you hire someone to do creative work for you and you want to pay them cheaply there is no benefits for you. Well it may be a financial benefit and that is short lived. Because you want to understand the value that Graphic designers can offer. I would immediately be suspect of someone who does not have a portfolio.

Since the day and age we live in now there are many people who pretend to be something they are not. Which is understandable because of the opportunities to make a quick buck. Sites such as 99designs, fiveer are just run of the mill websites with little respect of the client.

You honestly think that if you were to go to a doctors or lawyers office and had them all line up and told them you’re problem, then asked how much do they all charge you most likely will go with the most expensive one or the one who is near your spending limit.

See this is where society tends to fall short in regards to hiring designers whether its freelance or for a permanent position. This is repeated time and time again. The Graphic designer you hire for 25 and 50 dollar flyers or logos is something produced of poor quality. If you do not believe me just do a quick google search of cheap logos.

Honestly do you think the fortune 500 companies hire cheap designers. The answer would be no they hire people with experience and they understand the value of good design. Then you have your local restaurant or business whom they have one person who designs everything and it looks mediocre.

When you try to cut corners and not hire a designer and pay what they are worth your business will be looked at differently. For example if you have a menu with misspellings on it or pictures you’ve taken from google you should’ve or you need to have a designer.

One of the many risks you take when you hire a cheap graphic designer is getting a copy of a copy. You may want your logo to look like a certain type of logo. Well do you know if the font they have is widely available and do you have to get the rights to use it? Are the images you are using on your website royalty free? You see these are a few questions that you may have not taken into consideration.

Because honestly who would care? Well you should care for legal reasons. These two questions can do great harm to your business. I know there’s companies who take these matters very serious in regards to companies who want to not pay for items they are using.

So the next time you think paying for a cheap graphic designer is getting a great deal remember you get what you pay for and you could either have a unique custom design or you could just have a copy of a copy.

Damn Good Advice (for people with talent) Review

Recently I finished reading this book from George Lois. I did not know what to expect at first. I thought I would get the standard George lecture of an arrogant accomplished man. But I must say it was not anything like that. The book was very enjoyable and a quick read.

Quiet a few of the advice I really enjoyed such as #90 a creative person without a sense of a humor has a serious problem. Just think as creatives if we do not have a sense of a humor that is a problem. Because what we are creating has to be fun and also we have to find humor while creating it.

Then #84 Sometimes the shocking way to solve a forbidding problem is to simply tell the truth. Throughout the whole book there is examples to go along with the advice. This is not a book that’s just full of words. George realizes that as creatives we are visual. This is not a book just for designers I would say it can work for anyone who is in a creative field.

To start off the book there is four types of people you can identify yourself with

1. Very bright, industrious (you’re perfect)

2. Very bright, lazy (a damn shame)

3. Stupid lazy ( you’ll just sit on your ass, so you’re a wash)

4. Stupid industrious (oh, oh, you’re dangerous)

This is a little test or whatever you want to call it at the beginning. This is will allow you to learn a good bit about yourself. Also you will learn how to think a bit different compared to what you learned so far in your life. This is definitely a book worth picking up and giving a read.

Burning out vs fading away

We all have at some point or another experienced what we call a burn out. Well when this thing happens it can be detrimental to our work ethic. Recently things I have been doing have allowed me to work through what I would call a burn out.

The way that I am able to avoid being burned out is to know when I’ve reached my limits. The discipline of knowing your limits will allow you to take a step back. But at times we are so caught up in our ways that we cannot picture taking time off. Maybe there’s some of us who do not get tired of doing anything.

Then you have those who just crash and burn. By crash and burn I mean you see them constantly in certain places. Then after awhile you see them slowly start to fade away. The cause of this could be multiple things ranging from losing motivation, boredom, not seeing the value in it.

I for one have experienced a burn out and also losing motivation but it was not pertained to designing. I had took it upon myself to record my life for a whole year and upload it to youtube. At first when I started I did not know what to expect.

The thoughts I had in my head was how in the hell do people do this every day. By the way while I was doing this I was in college and working. So you could only imagine what a time constraint I was on at the time.

But anyhow after the first couple of months I was not wanting to do it anymore at all. You know when you start doing something its fun and then after it starts to become a job and un fun. When that happened I made a promise to myself that I was going to make it to the year and then after I would either stop or keep going.

I am referencing my Youtube experience because I got burned out. When you reach the point of “this is not beneficial to me at all” so I think its time to go out at the point I am at.

Now when you see these people who get famous online they are so popular. But overtime you notice they start to fade away. Another thing is people just stop caring about them like they used to. Because they have a gimmick that cannot sustain the notoriety that is strong.

When it comes to your career or passion you do want to know when you have lost passion. But you have to remember there is going to be times when you find it hard to gain motivation and many other things.

Setting goals to meet is a valuable skill to do. Because this will allow you to be more capable to avoid a burn out. Just think of it this way you are working out (exercising) and you are doing cardio by running on the treadmill. You are running and running to the point where you feel your heart beating so hard you can almost throw up.

So you start to slow down and take it slower and slower. Throughout the whole time you were running you did not have a comfortable running pace and you were running without a sense of control and etc. Now setting goals will allow you to be more in control.

You may want to post a picture to instagram at a certain time each day. Well you know what you could do? You could go out for a day and take multiple pictures to your preference and then when the time comes you could upload them to instagram.

There is no need to make things hard on yourself. Especially now with how simple things have gotten for us to use.  Some things even have automation and that is a good thing but sometimes if used improperly can be a very bad thing.

So exert some discipline in your life and have a solid direction of where you want to go and accomplish.