Let’s face it: once you’re April Greiman, Edward Tufte or anyone else on the AIGA list of medalists, you can kick back in a (well-appointed, loft-like) cave dug into the side of a mountain and hungry acolytes will hunt you down.

Until then, it’s up to you to draw eyeballs, and I don’t mean the kind Daniel Johnston is partial to (although, hey—it’s worked for him) . So how do you create some kind of presence? How do you bridge the gap between Talented Neophyte Sans Cred and Design Elder?

Promotion, promotion, promotion. (The good kind, not the cringe-inducing sort.) (more…)

Kitchen designers figured this out a long time ago: the better the flow, the more productive output. The famed kitchen work triangle—that connection between sink/stove/fridge—makes it easier for the cook to maneuver without wasted motion.

If you haven’t already, start applying that principle to your own workspace. Don’t worry about the “right” way; you’re looking for your best way to organize things so that you can take care of business. For example:

• Do you have the phone within reach, and a pen/pad of paper near it to take down messages as you get them?

(more…)

One of my favorite communicators, Heidi Miller (aka, The Podcasting Princess) once shared a great tip for getting the most out of a book: instead of trying to get everything the author is saying, see if you can take away one thing from the experience.

At first, it seems nuts: I’m gonna read a whole book to learn one little thing?! Well, no—not exactly. You might learn a whole lot of stuff; you might come back to it later to learn a lot more.

But the “One Thing” rule means you don’t have to come back to it later—it frees you up to be in the moment and absorb what you will while you’re reading it, and also ensures that what you do read won’t completely evaporate once you’ve turned the last page. It gives you a small, manageable task instead of a huge, daunting one. (more…)

One thing that can take you from overwhelmed newbie wandering in the forest to seasoned design traveler is learning to automate (and eventually, delegate) as many tasks as you can. The less you’re bogged down in detail, the more time you’ll have for the big thinking that precedes big earning.

You’re probably well on your way to speeding things up in your favorite design programs; tell me you can’t execute something in Photoshop ten times faster than you could when you first sat down with the Lasso Tool. Try applying a few of these tricks to your communications, and see if you don’t free up some valuable time for cooler stuff, like making art…or money! (more…)

A certain amount of communicating with clients, vendors, and associates has to be handled fresh each time it happens. But a surprising amount can be repurposed and tweaked a bit to apply more exactly to the situation at hand.

Those pesky inquiries you get again and again (or will get—trust me) are great to have a boilerplate ready for. If you spend time creating one really masterful email, then you’ll save time by sending virtually the same thing out again and again. Consider developing a boilerplate for the following: (more…)

You can be a great communicator without being a great designer, but you will never be a great designer unless you are a great communicator.

Or you might, but no one will ever hear of you, much like the famed tree falling in the forest with no audience. Obviously, you’re not going to become a virtuoso overnight, but there are some basics to keep in mind as you begin your journey. (more…)