FreelancerPro Interview: The Foundations of Freelancing

Looking to get big-name clients? Hear what Briant Grant, the creative director at Anisometric, has to say. Brian took his time to get experience and leveraged that agency experience into a thriving design firm based in London.

Tell us how you got started in the design industry.

I remember being particularly inspired by a new art teacher at my school when I was around 14 years old. His name is Guy Harring and he really was a towering influence on me and showed that there was no limits on what I could achieve in my life. I knew that I wanted to do something related in some way to art when I left school. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do I explored many facets of the art and design world. I studied technical illustration, silk screen printing, fashion design, history of art, fine art, photography, typography, graphic design, animation, and interactive graphic user interface design.

All in all I studied for over six years after leaving school and that culminated in gaining my degree at the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication which at the time was the leading course in the country for visual communication and interactive media design. My second and third choices were the famous schools Central St Martins and the London College of Printing which housed many luminaries of creative design including Tomato, Neville Brody, Nick Bell, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Charles Saatchi, and Rankin etc.

However Ravensbourne was definitely the right choice for me and although it is notoriously difficult to get into to it was an amazing experience. What ultimately swung me towards Ravensbourne was the abiding commitment to real structured graphic and typographic design based on solid design principles from designers such as: Josef Muller Brockmann, Wim Crouwel, Jan Tschichold, Emil Ruder, and other pioneers that laid the foundations for graphic design.

My first job after Ravensbourne was for a small creatively led outfit called GMS Creative. It was a dream job! We worked predominantly with clients in the film, entertainment, and music industries such as: UIP, Sega, Hasbro, Pathe, Intermedia Film etc. My first project was to design the official website for an unknown film called “American Beauty,” which would go on to win a number of Oscars and it also enhanced my reputation as a very good designer as a number of eminent people in the industry loved the website.

It was an amazing period where we were encouraged to think outside the box and be creative every single day without restrictions. I remember learning so much from Paul Boulding the Creative Director, Scott his younger brother and Conner Moore, who still to this day is the most amazing 3d artist I have ever seen. One day I would be working on computer game cover packaging, another day I would be doing posters and promotion for the Cannes film festival, another day I’d be at advanced previews of films. We worked very closely with UIP so at that time we had an influence on the design for many of the contemporary films at the time including: “Sleepy Hollow,” “Gladiator,” “Stigmata,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “Chicken Run,” and so on.

It was an amazing period of my life which I learnt so much and had so much fun, and it was a shame when Paul Boulding had an altercation with the managing director and took the best clients and left with some key members of the team. I left soon after that.

I joined Head New Media after being inspired by a Creative Review cover that they designed and this was in the year 2000. The mood was incredible and at Head we were working on great projects and I was also working on various projects with other designers. The culture was amazing and although different to GMS taught me more about how bigger companies operated.

That is a great foundation! So how did you begin freelancing?

During the middle of 2001 a number of new media companies went into insolvency due to a combination of the dot-com bubble bursting, hysteria, and poor management; Head New Media was one of those casualties. After that happened I moved to Gothenburg in Sweden to stay with my girlfriend at the time and we lived there for a few months. When I came back to London I started Anisometric and it was just myself at that time working with big and small clients as a freelancer and consultant.

I believe that every failure has the equivalent of success as well if you can see the opportunity in the situation.

Tell us about Anisometric—do you work completely solo?

Anisometric now is a perpetually evolving entity. There is a core team of four and we expand and contract depending on what we are doing at the time. The company has evolved in e-commerce sales so there is a team that handles the website and fulfillment there. Also there is an information consultancy side to the business that will launch imminently. The core of the business is the art- and design-related sides of the business.

Currently, we are building an additional website to reconcile a number of the things that we do including licensing, tutorials, books, reports, consultancy, and so on. This should be ready in early 2010.

A book that personifies our approach to business is called The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. I think that every freelancer should read it regardless of whether they want to remain as a one person organization or have a thousand employees.

In bringing your freelance business up to speed, what was the biggest hurdle and how did you overcome it?

There are so many hurdles to overcome, however I think that the biggest and most salient is:
1.) You get paid
2.) You get paid on time.

I would always recommend using signed agreements and contracts, with a caveat. A contract is only as good as the parties that sign it. What that means is that you are dealing with a rogue who is determined to rip you off, then they will sign anything and say anything with the intention of breaking their word. We call them fly-by-nights…

One way is to stagger payments. A typical agreement for a website could be 25 percent payment after visuals shown, 50 percent payment after approved design, or 75 percent payment with build on our server. Or 100% payment and simultaneous transfer to clients domain. This way you get paid and the client also sees demonstrable evidence that the project is being completed, so all parties benefit..

Getting prices and payment terms agreed before you start any work is always a start. And especially if it is somebody that you know. Many good friendships have been ruined over such a small amount of money and simple misunderstandings.

How would you sum up your approach to design?

My approach to design is not actually grounded in design but in the peripheries of the aesthetic world. What that means is that my design work is inspired by things such as packaging, architecture, cars, fashion, music, philosophy, nature, food, art, and so on. I get inspired by all forms of creativity and especially things that are not necessarily perceived as artistic or creative. Then I bring them back into the designs when appropriate and then there is something new and familiar only in a different context within the designs.

I remember one client called saw some doodles in my sketchbook once of some manga-style characters I drew and wanted them to be used on her promotion for her events.

I collect so many things in various sketchbooks from receipts, labels, sweet wrappers, packaging, and so on. Yet I see them as design inspiration rather than a piece of rubbish.

So, in essence, what really makes a good design, in your opinion?

If I could sum up good design in word now it would be pertinence. The design must be appropriate and relevant to the brief and target audience regardless of anything else. I have studied all forms of design from product, through fashion and all forms of graphic and digital and this principle adheres to all forms of design. in fact I would even call it a law.

To give a brief example if you had a kettle and yet there was no provision to put water into the kettle then that would not be good design regardless of the look of the object.

Another example would be an e-commerce website that did not have any payment buttons visible on the website. That would defeat the purpose of having an e-commerce website if the primary function was made redundant. However once the pertinent functions are in place then I believe that it should be the responsibility of the design to make things as attractive as possible.

So good design can be both functional and beautiful. It does not have to be a choice between them but a synergistic combination of both beauty and functionality.

How do you handle it when you adore a design and a client doesn’t? What are some tips you have for other freelancers on this type of scenario?

I am slightly ashamed to say that I used to be a very arrogant designer when I was younger at an early age as I worked with some of the biggest clients in the world and had a reputation as one of the top designers in London. So I was very egotistical in my approach. So it was usually a case of doing designs and having clients put up with what I did because I was an “authority” and had a client list of bigger clients that loved my work.

Now I see design as a service business. We are there to guide our clients through the process with our help. And we should always have their best interests at heart and not our ego. The goal should be a win–win solution for everyone; we should want the same outcomes for our clients for their sake as well as our sake. We can both get what we want by being firm on one hand and flexible on the other hand.

Listen to their concerns respectfully. This is a very important step and one that will benefit the relationship. The key is to listen with empathy so that you see things from your client’s point of view rather than just your own.

Transformational vocabulary: This is a very powerful tool when dealing with clients. The ability to add or lower intensity with words and phrases is vitally important in communication. An example would be to notice the difference between saying ‘I hate that suggestion’ or ‘that sounds interesting, tell me more’. Now it is obvious that the latter phrase would build more rapport with a client even though you could have been speaking about the same thing as the first suggestion.

Also using verbal softeners are great to build and maintain rapport. Using phrases like: “I wonder if,” “I am thinking of,” “Would you prefer,” and so on. Be very careful about using words like “but,” “never” and generally negative types of words.

Ultimately the most essential thing to remember is that you should always tie in your solutions to what the client ultimately wants. Also develop a thick skin. Many clients in big companies do not have much sensory acuity when it comes to being, blunt and curt with their feedback. You should not take things personally. Many times when a client is negative, it is not actually about you, but in fact their own ‘emotional baggage’ that they are bringing from somewhere else.

That’s a lot to digest! So tell us about your favorite design project.

That is a very tough call as it keeps changing. I did really love the Sony Ericsson posters. Sony Ericsson had just moved over to the new style and I had the chance to work with them in really establishing the new style across the country. The specific project was to do with soccer and the new sponsorship of the Champions League tournament of Europe’s best teams. The brief was simply to make gorgeous posters that would appeal to soccer fans. It is funny because it was a printed project and I guess that as 75 percent of work is digital it was a nice break to work on that.

You have landed some big-name clients. How did you acquire them?

It really helped gaining my degree from Ravensbourne, so when many people saw my CV that would instantly be an advantage. Another reason was that I made a conscious effort to work with the kind of clients that I enjoy working with. I turned down many opportunities to work with companies that I did not feel 100 percent comfortable working with.

Also I am very assiduous at gaining clients although there is no real secret. I have literally send hundreds of proposals to prospective clients, made thousands of phone calls, got up early with a portfolio under my arm, and literally knocked on doors until I spoke to the right people in the right agencies. Another way is to get PR and exposure. I did a number of expert tutorials and gained exposure in magazines like Creative Review, Design Week, Advanced Photoshop, Digital Arts, PSD magazine and so on.

Being totally professional is the best thing to get more clients because if someone is really impressed with you then they will give you a glowing referral to other clients.

I would also recommend getting a good agent, especially if you are not particularly outgoing charismatic type. Agents usually will take a cut of your price but it can work out very well if they bring in work that you would never had anyway.

And in the early days I often did things for free or heavily discounted the price. Just to show that I was capable of doing the work and if the client was pleased then they would always come back on a repeat basis.

What is your best method for getting new clients?

Without question the best method is word of mouth. Clients are much more sophisticated now and are wiser to the tricks of advertising, PR, guerilla marketing, etc. However if someone that you like and respect tells you about a hot new designer or design company, then you will at least give them a fair hearing.

In a word it would simply be persistence. Know your outcome and pursue it ferociously and do not let the inevitable setbacks knock you off-kilter.

Also I would recommend using other avenues.

• Endorsements from previous satisfied clients
• Online marketing such as PPC in major search engines
• Targeted direct response advertising
• Brand awareness advertising
• Banner exchanges
• Events and parties

You sell products featuring your designs on your website–tell us how that revenue stream came to be and how the response has been.

Many people used to ask me where they could buy my artwork or designs from and as I did not have a store at the time I enabled people to buy them online. Also I joined up with a number of venues in the early days such as hair salons, bars, galleries and so on to sell my art pieces. I would give them 25 to 50 percent off of sales and it worked really well and cultivated some profitable partnerships for a long time. Now things will be sold through the website and a few selected outlets. The website will also sell books reports and tutorials.

And you’re an author on top of everything else. Tell us about your book!
I am especially proud of the book on success I wrote last year. That has been extremely well received and it is an a result of working with some of the biggest companies on the planet such as: Coca Cola, Microsoft, Sony, Orange, Vodafone, BMG, Sony Playstation, Adidas, FHM, Aston Martin, Sky, Polydor, Virgin, Ogilvy, Jay Walter Thompson, TBWA, Sapient, and many more.

As a result of consultancy at these and other companies I noticed certain patterns of success that successful companies and individuals cultivated, and certain patterns of failure that unsuccessful companies and individuals had. I distilled them all into 10 categories and wrote a book on them and how to use them.

The book is entitled The 10 Secrets of Success and it may shock some but the book is not just about making money and is not limited to designers or creative types. The tutorials are step-by-step guides on how someone at a beginner or advanced level can create a specific type of effect using Photoshop. They are broken down into easy steps with illustrations and explanatory text.

The response for everything has been great and we already have incredible advertisers lined up for when the new website launches next year.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I do believe in the philosophy of Kaizen. That is the Japanese work for constant and never ending improvement. The Anisometric mission is ‘To always strive for perfection in everything we do’. and while perfection may never be reached we will always keep striving to achieve it and enjoy the journey.