Is there such a thing as the perfect home office? From my personal opinion, I’d say that your own office is the perfect one. Then again, this all depends on what we have, what we use and if we’re pleased with it. I’m not even close to satisfied with my office yet, but I’m working on it.

For all of you who has your office setup already, but could still use some inspiration or suggestions on how to improve it, or if you haven’t setup your office just yet (like me), this small round-up will definitely get you inspired. Continue Reading

100 Years Of Propaganda: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Propaganda is most well known in the form of war posters. But at its core, it is a mode of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Although propaganda is often used to manipulate human emotions by displaying facts selectively, it can also be very effective at conveying messages and hence can be used in web design, too.

Notice that propaganda uses loaded messages to change the attitude toward the subject in the target audience. When applied to web design, you may experiment with techniques used in propaganda posters and use them creatively to achieve a unique and memorable design.

Information Architecture: Enhancing the User Experience

Defined as ‘the structural design of shared information environments’, information architecture focuses on bringing the principles of architectural design to the online world.

Just like the blueprints of a dream home or the outline of a well-written article, good website structure organizes information in a way that enhances the user experience and delivers pertinent information as quickly as possible. Continue Reading

A quote can help you get through the day, maybe even bring you inspiration in it´s own way. But what is it that makes a great quote? Is it that a famous person once said it? Or maybe it´s just something you came up with while taking a shower? In my own honest opinion, I´d say that:

“All quotes are great in their own way, the hardest part is to understand them.”

You have any favourite quotes? Share them with the rest of us, if it´s good enough – I might feature it next friday. Continue Reading

Inspiration is something that occasionally runs out for everyone, but there are ways to get it back in a snap. When I run out, I usually visit a lot of different sites – but occasionally I also take a walk in the wilderness. To level with you, I get inspiration from taking a shower, driving my car or even when I sit with my coffee in hand reading a magazine.

I guess we´re all aware of the many places to get it from, but my question to you is – Where do you go for an inspirational refill?

Share your perfect places to get inspiration from by leaving a comment, we all wait anxiously for your tip! Continue Reading

Web based applications are overflowing the internet these days, but to short down the humongous list of several thousands – I thought it would be best to showcase 10 of the Best Web Based applications a freelancer needs. These are all great apps, some might work for you, some might not. It all depends on who you ask; I have found these to be the best for what I need. I suggest you try these out before making up your mind on which ones are great and which ones are bad. It´s all in the “Eye of the Beholder” after all. Continue Reading

With Father’s Day closing in faster each day, maybe its time to get him that special something for his very own day. If you´re a father of your own, tell your son or daughter what it is you want as a gift. Whether the dad in question works from an office or freelances, if you or your father owns a suit – this is the perfect gift. Stay productive at the same time as you look dashing! What could be any better?

Silver USB Cufflinks from ThinkGeek

You have any cool creative ideas for Father’s Day? Please share them with the rest of us, I for one are getting the cufflinks for my dad. Continue Reading

Staying productive is one of the hardest parts of being a freelancer, we all run into some small road bumbs once at a while. So to keep you all on track, help you out a bit and to give you all some tips – here they are, the three best productivity articles from WorkAwesome, our sister site dedicated to productivity and work tips.

• 5 Efficient Ways to Share Files by Mike Vardy. Ever had the trouble of sending large files within e-mails? Read this magnificent post on 5 Efficient Ways to Share Files online with your clients, friends, family or maybe you just need a little storage for your own. Either way, enjoy!
• 5 Incredibly Useful Gmail Features by Susan Johnston. Ever sent an e-mail you wish you wouldn´t have sent? Or maybe you just forgot to attach the file you were supposed to send? Either way, this post might help you a great deal and make you even more productive.
• 8 Ways to Kick Distractions Out Of Your Office by David Pierce. Ever get distracted when working? Get some tips on how you could kick out some of the most annoying distractions from your office. I for one found this post very useful, and it has helped me a great deal to becoming more productive. Maybe it can serve you as well?

Be sure to check out WorkAwesome for more daily tips and tricks for an awesome work day! What do you do to stay productive? Have any suggestions or tips to share? Send us a comment and share your tips & tricks.

4 Reasons You Should Avoid Social Media

Can ANY company or organization afford NOT to be involved in social media? It’s a fair question and one may argue that it’s a CRITICAL question!

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Buzz, Foursquare, and others that have just joined the game—and the list goes on and on ad nauseam!

How to Design Your Business Card

As web designers and developers, we often overlook printed marketing materials.

But on occasion, they can come in very handy: at conferences, when we meet face-to-face with clients, or when we happen to run into someone we might want to do business with. Having business cards is a great way to promote yourself in the physical world. Continue Reading

CSS Three — Connecting The Dots

As a web community, we’ve made a lot of exciting progress in regards to CSS3. We’ve put properties like text-shadow & border-radius to good use while stepping into background-clip and visual effects like transitions and animations. We’ve also spent a great deal of time debating how and when to implement these properties. Just because a property isn’t widely supported by browsers or fully documented at the moment, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be working with it. In fact, I’d argue the opposite.

Redesign vs. Realign

It’s been nearly five years now since the redesign vs. realign debate began.

Many designers are still approaching website changes as redesigns, with little thought to whether they should be redesigning or realigning the site for their clients. Continue Reading

CSS Three — Connecting The Dots

As a web community, we’ve made a lot of exciting progress in regards to CSS3. We’ve put properties like text-shadow & border-radius to good use while stepping into background-clip and visual effects like transitions and animations.

We’ve also spent a great deal of time debating how and when to implement these properties. Just because a property isn’t widely supported by browsers or fully documented at the moment, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be working with it. In fact, I’d argue the opposite.

The Art of Branding Yourself and Your Freelancing Business

Just as it is for big corporations, successful branding is essential to the success of a freelancing business and to just one self-employed web worker.

It is often times overlooked, most likely because many don’t realize the large benefits that can come from it.

Continue Reading

A good collaboration is like a good marriage. You want someone you feel that you can trust, and you especially want someone who compliments your style. When a client picks you, they pick you for your style, techniques, portfolio, and value. Likewise, you want someone that can match the clients requests as well as your own. You want a professional to work with, and you can’t afford to mix different styles for a client. You might end up re-doing the entire design or even lose the client completely. So how do you pick out your freelance back-up, your designing duo….and not a dud? Continue Reading