1. How can you make time for marketing?
2. Should you have an e-mail newsletter?
3. Are proposals best presented in person?

These are just a few of the pressing questions that will be answered by creative business experts at the Creative Freelancer Conference
in Chicago, August 27-29, hosted by HOW Magazine and Marketing Mentor. Read the rest of this entry »

By Justin Ahrens

Illustration by Justin Ahrens

I recently had the opportunity to do something I’ve always hoped to do – visit Africa. I visited for several reasons, but I think my biggest motivation was my belief that firms need to do work outside their “normal client” environment, especially when that work helps organizations that so desperately need it. At Rule29, we do a mix of work for little or no fees. This makes my advisors nervous sometimes, but it’s this work that really makes us feel like we’re making a difference in the world. It’s a feeling that monetary compensation can’t create. Some of you may also do this type of work and hopefully you know the feeling – the feeling of helping the greater good. But like everything else, you need to make sure you keep it balanced. There have been times we’ve taken on so much complimentary work that it has hurt the productivity of our mainstream work. And that’s when you just need to back off. You can’t do any good for anyone if you run yourself into the ground. Read the rest of this entry »

By Ilise Benun

At Marketing-Mentor.com, we see too many creative freelancers working their butts off for small potatoes clients who don’t appreciate or value their work — being paid peanuts for it to boot! And all because you haven’t learned the basic business skills you need to get the projects you want, from the clients you want, at the price you want, just so you can live the life you want.

That’s why we pitched an idea for a business conference for freelancers to the folks over at HOW Magazine. Turns out, they had already been thinking along similar lines. So we put our resources together and, voila, the first ever Creative Freelancer Conference to be held August 27-29 in at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »

By Justin Ahrens

Illustration by Justin Ahrens

Last post, I talked about creating a designer “farm system” that works for everyone involved. Of course, that doesn’t matter much if you don’t have the work. So, how do you “shake the marketing tree”? First, you need to know that there’s no magic bullet here – and I’m sure you’re aware of the many volumes dedicated to this subject. But, what I’d like to do is share what we have done, and see if it might work for you. Read the rest of this entry »

By Bryn Mooth

I often find that designers, whether they’re new to the field or have been at it for a few years, are a bit muddy on their career options. Should I go the in-house route? Is a design firm for me? What kind of business know-how do I need? What about opening my own shop?

I suppose it’s not unlike other careers: You don’t get career development guidance in school, so you learn it along the way, from mentors or contacts in your network, or maybe by instinct. Read the rest of this entry »

By Justin Ahrens

Illustration by Justin Ahrens

This past June, I had the privilege of going back to speak at the HOW conference. My talk was entitled “Designer Sobriety: Life is crazy, so how do you balance life, joy, and great work?” My point was to share my thoughts on running your firm as life throws its inevitable ups and downs at you. I was excited about this topic because it’s on my mind daily, and it’s more fitting than ever for me right now. I’m running my second design firm, which is in its eighth year, soon to be nine. My studio is home to anywhere from seven to nine wonderful people, depending on how busy we are, and I’m also a dad of four. Our firm is now at the point where I can count on a certain amount of work flow, but recently some of my clients have slowed down significantly. Now, that little alarm is going off in my head signaling that I need to speed up the new-business horse a bit. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been asked this question on several occasions: “Where is the best place to work: at an ad agency or an in-house design department?” So, I though it might be helpful to give a breakdown of what are generally considered benefits and drawbacks of both. For the sake of a broad comparison, I include design studios along with “Agency” because they have many similarities. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a question as old as freelancing itself. How much do I charge my potential client? Too much and you risk not getting the job. Too little and you risk a lot of things: looking low-end, not getting enough to cover your time and costs, dooming future jobs to similar low rates…

There’s no hard and fast formula to graphic design rates, but it can be really helpful to know what other designers charge. HOW magazine recently published a survey on designers’ hourly rates that sheds a lot of light on this subject.

One particularly interesting point in the survey is that, no matter where you are in the country, the average hourly rate is $68-74. I don’t have any older stats on designers’ rates, but I think this survey goes to show that location is no longer an issue when choosing your rates. Perhaps if you live in New York on California you would charge more because of your higher cost of living, but your clients can simply seek designers from the Midwest instead. Consistent rates nationwide, I believe, represent the Internet’s influence on design job selection.

Another point in HOW’s survey to consider is that 82% of designers surveyed do not share their hourly rate with their clients. They instead opt for quoting entire job rates. As some participants noted, an hourly rate can scare of a client off. And if that quoted job is fair, you have an incentive to work harder and faster on it because that would mean more profit.

There are some helpful links at the bottom of HOW’s article to other information on charging for your work, and a “Webinar” about the topic.

This is all great for graphic designers, but web design jobs can add an extra layer of complexity to the pricing process.

In addition to charging for the design, you may also need to charge for programming special applications or hiring programming or QA help. In my experience, Read the rest of this entry »

HOW magazine’s In-HOWse Design Awards issue arrived last month and I was excited to see what’s been happening in other corporate design departments. The award competitions initiated by publications such as HOW and GDUSA that specifically showcase in-house work are evidence that there is a growing interest in what this segment of the design community is creating. These awards honor some great design talent that has been traditionally overlooked and even dismissed. They also address the challenges in-house designers face, some of which I would like to examine further.

As a creative director for a national real estate company, I have a responsibility to uphold corporate design standards and consistent branding messaging for consumers throughout the New England region. The national headquarters and its ad agency dictate our brand’s image, but we still have a little room to customize pieces for our regional markets. To some degree, I need to “police” printed materials created by marketing coordinators in several local offices to make sure they conform to the brand…not an easy task. But, just the idea having to conform illustrates my challenge. How do I keep my design staff inspired when we need to primarily stay “in the box”? How do I personally stay in the game?

I keep reminding my staff and myself that we only have one client and the very nature of our job is to support that client and its associates (the company that pays our salary). We have some creative flexibility with a few choice projects like corporate event invitations, logo designs and new development brochures, but our primary responsibilities are to pump out large volumes of pre-designed or template-based marketing materials. Hey, at least we get to design the templates! When we do get a custom design assignment, we usually provide three comps for client approval. I’ll say to the designers “let’s give them two ideas that stick with the formula and one that is just ‘out there’…whatever you want to do”. I try to inspire them to create something crazy that will at least get the client’s attention and maybe help them consider choosing a design that takes some chances. This allows the designers to stretch a little and also helps the client see that the company’s own design staff is capable of much more than just average work. It seems that our best designs are the ones that never get approved, but on several occasions we are able to persuade the client to take a risk and a really cool design actually gets printed. That’s enough to keep us all going.

Another challenge is to convince our “non-designer” colleagues that the department is not just an “arts and crafts” shop where all the fun people hang out. Our design staff was recognized three years in a row by winning in several categories of the GDUSA American Inhouse Awards. These accomplishments did not go unnoticed by our top management, who honored us with national press releases and local recognition. I am very thankful that these types of competitions are growing in popularity because they give in-house designers a chance to compete in their own arena. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve been paying attention to the current US presidential campaigns, you’ve probably aware that “47 million Americans are living without health insurance.” If you’re a freelance designer, you may very well be one of those people.

I know lots of freelancers who take their chances and go without health insurance. One of them now owes $30,000 in hospital bills due to some unexpected surgery. Now in all likelihood, that won’t happen to you, but perhaps you’re feeling some pain in your wrist, or maybe you’re just don’t want to get too close to that friend with strep throat.

Many freelance designers forgo health insurance because most individual plans are incredibly expensive. It’s a valid decision, especially if you’ve been waiting months for a client to pay for that big logo job.

Still, you may be surprised at how many health insurance options, including discount plans, are available to the self-employed. If you’re thinking about getting some coverage, these are the places where you’ll find the best deals.

Your local chamber of commerce. If you provide design services to local businesses, you should already be a member of the chamber of commerce. It’s a great networking opportunity, and members of most chambers are eligible for group health insurance that comes at steep discounts.

Professional groups. If you belong to any professional associations for small business owners, designers, or freelancers, you should ask about group health insurance. Many of these organizations have direct access to discounted plans or partnerships with other entities that do. For example, the Graphic Artists Guild offers group rates in 28 states.

Your accountant. If your accountant works mostly with freelancers, he or she may have some recommendations. Read the rest of this entry »