I’m a graphic designer and a photographer. Permit me to share an ethical dilemma that happened earlier this month. I’ve been working on enhancing my portfolio site, and I needed a photo for the top header. And lookie-lookie! I found one! A desert scene I shot while visiting Phoenix, Arizona. Nothing says I’m an Arizona designer and photographer like that, right?

Well, not so fast. In order for this photo to work with my logo, I had to Photoshop several saguaro cactii out of it. This being Arizona, where many of my clients come from, someone is bound to say, “Hey, Martha, that scene is from the Desert Botanical Garden. I know that spot. Where did the saguaros go?”

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Business cards are so important when it comes to networking. They provide prospects with our contact info and, more importantly, a lasting impression. My rule of thumb good business card design is if people are no longer “oohing” and “ahhing” over my cards, it’s time to make a change.

The following is a sampling of business card designs from Creattica.com. If you’re thinking of redesigning your cards, looking for a little inspiration or just need a little eye-candy over your coffee break, take a peek at the eye-catching pieces below.

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Your college professor may have placed a lot of importance on type and hierarchy. Your client may be telling you to make specific words “larger” so they’ll stand out more. No matter who it’s coming from, it’s clear that graphic design is a lot more than just colors and layout; it relies heavily on typography as well.

It’s no lie that type treatments can make or break a design — have you ever seen a logo where the font does not at all match the actual service or product it stands for? Or maybe the text in a magazine is a mess and difficult to read. I’ve broken down two examples that I feel reflect the importance of quality typography in a design.

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There are times when creating a logo can seem overwhelming. But in an industry where efficiency is key, I’ve learned a few tricks that help me to create logos that are effective, meet my clients’ objectives, and are portfolio pieces that I feel proud of.

Today I’m going to walk you through my logo design creation process, and what better way to walk you through it than by using a client case study?

Meet The Modern Woman’s Divorce Guide, a web-based divorce how-to that also empowers women.

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Photo by HAMED MASOUMI

It’s 11:30 pm. My wife has already gone to bed. I was cramming to get an ad
done for the paper the next morning. The phone rings. It’s the client’s assistant.

“So? Is it okay?” I ask.

“She hates it,” she replies.

“Did she say why?”

“No.”

Frustrated silence. After a fruitless exchange of profanity and exasperation
we get off the phone. My wife is exhausted and livid at this ungodly hour.
So I turn off the ringer and go to bed, knowing full well that the assistant
is still furiously trying to get through to me and leaving messages on my voice
mail. I have a choice here between my wife and my client. I choose my wife.

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Photo by laverrue.

As everyone is preparing for Halloween this evening, we thought we’d share some interesting reading for those freelancer’s with their porch lights off trying to avoid the trick-or-treaters. On a dark and scary night, who wouldn’t want to read about design and small business tips. Consider it virtual candy!

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Photo by creo que soy yo.

As you probably know freelance workers do much more tasks than just designing, writing or whatever it is you do to pay your bills.

So why spend time and energy sharing your knowledge?

These days altruism is not very common. We’re so stressed with our work that there’s little free time left, and we want to spend it on anything else.

But moreover, sharing what you know is risky. Someone could steal your ideas or your techniques. It’s even a little unfair! Why share what you learned by yourself, with so much effort and without help from anyone else? And what do you get in exchange? Isn’t it a risk for your business? Is it worth the effort?

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Freelance designers have a number of different methods for finding work. In many cases, simply getting your profile and your work exposed to more people can lead to an increase in work. There are a number of sites that provide excellent opportunities for designers to show-off their work and send visitors back to their own portfolio site.

Some of the sites on this list require more of an ongoing effort in order to truly produce results. I don’t suggest trying to use all of these sites. For the best results, choose a few that you think will work best for you, and become an active user.

1. Behance Network

Behance Network is a huge, “free platform for the world’s leading creative professionals.” You can set up a profile, share some of your work, network with other designers and professionals, and even look for work.

2. Flickr

While flickr is primarily a place for users to store their personal photos, it’s also used by a growing number of designers to display and share their work. Users can set up their own accounts and profiles, and they can also join groups, such as the PSDTUTS group.

3. Virb

A good percentage of Virb users are in the music industry, but it is a home to all things creative, and many designers are setting up profiles. The pages can be completely customized to show off your creativity if you’re ambitious. Continue Reading

The quality of design sites around has just been escalating and escalating. Last year we published two articles on finding design inspiration – 34 Places to Get Design Inspiration On and Off and the follow up 60 More Places to Get Design Inspiration. Since then I’ve been collecting new sites that didn’t make those two lists, and today I’m happy to deliver 33 New Places to Get Design Inspiration! Without further ado:

1. Depthcore

Visit Site

2. Rasterized

Visit Site

3. DesignFlavr

Visit Site

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Yesterday here on FreelanceSwitch we put up a post about Jonathan Field’s Book Cover Competition. Lots of comments ensued and since then Jonathan has cancelled the contest. This morning when I woke up to read about the design contest, I thought I’d chime in with my own opinion, as a designer. While Jonathan’s competition is no longer running, the issue is an interesting one to discuss.

But first allow me to clarify one thing. FreelanceSwitch has always been a multi-author and multi-opinion blog. We’re proud to publish many different voices on many different topics. We welcome discussion and have even posted follow up posts presenting opposing cases in the past. We don’t censor any of our writers and we see everyone’s opinion as worthwhile. And that’s why I’m about to give you mine

Personally I think that most often Design Contests are bad news. And in this post I’m going to tell you why…

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Image by Jeff Kubina.

I’ve scoured the web to find nine portfolio designs that are, dare I say it, probably better than yours, mine and just about everyone else’s.

I’m sharing them because they’re fun, inspiring, creative and ultimately, works of art.

I’ll be up-front about one thing before we start, though. Unless you’re a Flash genius or have lots of dosh to spend on things like that (doing work for Nike and Microsoft helps), you’ll probably never have an online portfolio like one of these.

The main question they might encourage you to ask, though, is this: is your online portfolio reaching its full potential, or are you settling for ‘good enough’? Continue Reading

Each week I get two or three requests for design work. They come sometimes from contacts, but more often than not they come from random people. Sometimes they even come from web-famous people or well-known companies. What is interesting about this though is that I no longer freelance, advertise for work or even have a portfolio.

Actually it can be pretty hard to contact me, though I did finally put up a little website for myself two weeks ago.

Although these days I turn away all this work, for some years I did in fact work as a freelance designer and happily always had more work than I could do – despite being inclined to overwork.

So how do you get web design jobs? Or any other type of job? Here are some things that have worked for me. Continue Reading