Redbook cover of Faith Hill; image via Jezebel

In case you’ve ever wondered what’s in a day’s work for professional photo retouchers, the folks at fashion blog Jezebel.com have something they’d like you to see. In an effort to debunk fashion editorial mags’ unrealistic standards of feminine beauty, they offered a $10,000.00 reward for the person who could submit the most egregious example of Photoshop-generated perfection used on a magazine cover. The winner was an astonishing, but totally typical, Redbook magazine cover featuring country singing star Faith Hill. The 39 year-old mother of three is genetically blessed to begin with, but in order to be considered cover-ready, a photo retouching whiz had quite a project of it. (more…)

If you don’t subscribe to this principle stop reading now, as this post probably isn’t for you.

So let’s say that a client approaches you and needs 10 pieces, which are all variations of the same campaign in different formats. Try as you might to understand the objectives and differences between all of these pieces, you just can’t figure it out. In fact, some of them don’t even make sense to your client. He or she is just producing them because they were asked to, or because that is what they have “done in the past.” If the objectives don’t make sense to you, they aren’t going to make sense to the audience. Chances are they know even less about the client/brand/product than you do. (more…)

Surprisingly this principle is often overlooked in design curriculums. Graphic design is ultimately your interpretation of information, and in order to design something you must understand it. In most cases the target audience knows as much or even less about the brand than you do. How can you communicate to this audience if you don’t know what you are communicating? (more…)

Is the Master Collection Right for You?

Big box, big value?

We all know that earlier this year Adobe released most of its Creative Suite 3 products (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc), but it wasn’t until this month that certain pieces of the CS3 lineup finally were released as well. This includes ever-popular After Effects and Premiere, as well as new family members Soundbooth and Encore.

All those final pieces of the puzzle make up the Master Collection: all of the major Adobe products (and a bunch of minor ones too) in one bundle for your print design, web design, and audio/video production needs. If you actually use the majority of these apps, buying the Master Collection can be quite a value over the other available collections. But do you really know what they all do and if you actually need them? Let’s look at each main piece, and you can decide if you really need this monster… I mean master… collection: (more…)

Do you cringe whenever you see a billboard covered in Comic Sans? Or a logo designed with Arial? Do you notice every kerning misstep or poor leading choice? Sounds like you might be a type snob.

Don’t worry, there are many like you out there, and it’s not necessarily a bad quality for a designer to have. Take, for instance, the folks at Ban Comic Sans, who have made it their mission to get people to stop using this casual font in inappropriate places. (more…)

Designers love to show off. We’re creative, we seek heaps of attention and we absolutely crave the limelight. So, it seems only natural that when trying to win a job, a designer would want to show off their creativity by presenting as many design solutions as possible. 10 concepts, 20 concepts, heck–I’ve been at creative pitches where we’ve shown over 60 concepts! With all of those creative options, you’d think the client would be so impressed that the job would be in the bag, right? Truth is we fell victim to the same trap that many designers fall into. We lost that job because we ignored “The Rule of 3.”

What’s “The Rule of 3” you ask? It’s the rule that says you should never present more than 3 creative concepts to a client. Ever. Now I know what you’re thinking: “What if they are expecting more? What if my three concepts aren’t good enough? What if I have other really good ideas?” These are all valid questions, but they are ultimately traps. Clients hire designers to get their best creative solutions for the job at hand. They expect you to show your best, not a parade of so-so designs followed by a few really good ones. Odds are if you’re showing 10 concepts in a pitch, 7-9 of them are mediocre at best—and you know it. So why waste your time and the clients as well—or worse, (more…)

The great American architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright, founded a school of architecture in the 1930’s that featured a holistic approach toward design education. The mantra was and still is “Learn by Doing”. Wright believed that an architect couldn’t truly design a structure unless they understood the steps needed to actually build it. That seems to be a reasonably logical assertion. He also felt that a broad understanding of the various allied arts helped create a well-rounded designer—also a logical philosophy. These ideas are appropriate to all design disciplines, whether it be architecture, print, web, product, interior or fashion. Let’s examine one particular area as an example, print design.

As a design student, I was thrilled with every opportunity to tackle a project. I’d let the creativity flow and attempt to create designs that pushed the boundaries. However, something that always kept me grounded were the experiences I had in my dad’s print shop typesetting on an old Macintosh IIsi. The function of what each customer needed always informed what was being designed. It wasn’t glamorous, but I learned that there is a practical side to design that needs to be considered. What can actually be printed, trimmed and bound? What inks can be used and what stocks are available? What is the customer’s budget? (more…)

One of the things they don’t teach in design school is how to promote your services. (That’s why I have been teaching it for the past 20 years, through my business, Marketing Mentor.)

Whether you plan to get a job or start (or already own) a design firm, it is essential that you know the basics of self promotion. If you don’t, you’ll be at the mercy of whatever measly jobs come along.

I know. You don’t like self-promotion. Many designers don’t. For some,
it’s because their mother taught them not to brag. Others claim to be
uncomfortable talking about themselves. Some just wish their work would
speak for itself – but of course it doesn’t.

Here’s the type of thing you need to know: (more…)

Oftentimes a client isn’t particularly savvy in the technicalities of what you do and may not really understand what they are looking at. Therefore it is important that when you present your work that you explain what is what and why you have done things a certain way.

Don’t get too technical; try to relate things back to them, their business and their customers. Explain your work in terms of benefits for their market and the client will respond positively.

If this is a skill you have not developed yet, practice on a friend or family member who doesn’t know much about your field of work and walk them through some projects. Ask for feedback at every stage on how you could improve your presentation.

I know this title may sound quite cynical-especially as my first post as a guest blogger, but I heard many little white lies as a fresh-faced freelancer that most designers seem to encounter during their careers. I fell for many of them too. Maybe you won’t have to.

Little White Lie #1: Give me a cheap price on this project and I’ll have lots more work for you in the future.

Hmm, lots more work. That sounds great. However, ask yourself, lots more work at what price — at this cut-rate? Can I sustain that pricing past the initial project? Do I want to? And will those future projects ever come to fruition? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Price your work so that it is fair for you. If you offer a lower rate than your usual fee, negotiate for something in return. If you design a poster for an event, get extra tickets to it. Designed a brochure for a hot new product? Get a box of that hot product. Giving away something for nothing is usually what it’s valued at…nothing.

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