A decade is soon ending and musically it has been quite the adventure. Ten years is a long time and the music trends have been evolving (at least changed) quite alot. The past decade has been amazing and there are so many great albums to choose from. It has been hard making this list and I’m sure there are vital albums I probably have forgotten, but these are some of the ones that have had the most impact on me. Many of you will pherhaps not agree with the list, but some of you might even find some bands you never have heard. But that’s kind of the beauty of it. Some will agree, some will find albums they had forgotten, some will even discover music they haven’t heard before. I love music, I am a music junkie (oh how cliché), so here you are; my top 50 albums of the decade.

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Posted in music 1 Comment »

Heavily inspired by the luxury look of Las Vegas, I have put up a unique tutorial on how to achieve a gold text effect that looks luxurious. This tutorial covers layer effects, using gradients on text and stroke effects and how to create a sparkle effect with the use of brushes. Read Tutorial…

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Posted in art + design, Photoshop, tutorials 2 Comments »

Dealing with clients as a freelance designer or a side project for yourself is a very important task that will make a difference between you getting that contract or not. There is no middle ground for it. The first few initial contact with clients and the conversations you have is the most important time of your career as a designer.

1. First contact (e-mail, phone, or in person)

You know that phrase “1st impression is everything?” Well it’s true. Whether you don’t hold true to that belief or not, or whether you are the nice guy/gal that don’t judge people on 1st impression, most human psychology is hard wired to judge and feel the new person they meet the very 1st time. If you do not believe this, you are in absolute denial. This is just the nature of who we are as human beings. With that said, it is very important to reflect professionalism to the fullest the 1st time you get in touch with a client. First off, the most important thing is to greet them with a nice hello. If your contact is over the phone, make sure you are in an environment that is quiet, where you sit and talk by yourself. Do not have music playing in the background, do not have people chatting in the back. If you do happen to pick up your phone in a noisy area, tell them that it is not a good time to talk and you will call them back as soon as possible. DO NOT try to listen to what they say over a noisy environment. If the first contact is over e-mail, be polite and professional over text. ALWAYS use spell check before sending out an e-mail and ALWAYS make sure that your grammar and sentence structure is correct. Read your e-mail response over to make sure of this. If the contact is in person, make sure you greet them with a hand shake. Make sure your hands are free to do this. Make eye contact, hand shake, smile, and start your conversation in a professional manner.

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Posted in art + design, designers resource, psychology No Comments »

This post takes a deeper look into social media, what it is and how to use it. I’m gonna talk about facebook and twitter in this post, but most of these tips does apply to other forms such as blogging. I don’t consider myself an expert in the field, but I jumped on the wagon quite early and have a keen interest in the subject. So the post is based on my own experiences and what I’ve learned from attending a few seminars. Read on for the full post.

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Posted in art + design, designers resource, technology 1 Comment »

Being a freelance designer requires you to wear many hats but there are certain hats you MUST wear in order to protect yourself, who you are, and your image as a designer.

1: Before you do anything, make a contract for you and your clients

No matter who it is for, even if its a friend of a friend, make a contract. Of course it’s a bit dramatic to throw a contract at your relative that wants a website or business card designed for their business, however if you do not know the client requesting your services, you need to have a contract. If you would like to use my contract as a template or an sample, you can download HERE. You can even use mine for yourself (just make sure to change the header or delete it so it doesn’t say my studio name on it).

Now I know as designers we don’t want to write a paper, let alone a legal document, however you spending that one weekend afternoon writing up a contract will last you forever. You only have to write one up once, and you can keep using that over and over with making small adjustments once a while to fit the project. It will be worth it in the long run for these reasons:

1) It protects you, the designer, from a client running off with your work. With this contract, you can take them to small claims court. Either way, it will put your client on a moral decision to run off with your work and disappear or be being summoned by a court to pay up (which would make them look bad.)

2) It protects the client and makes them feel safe to do business with you. It also reflects professionalism on your end. A designer who just jumps on a project without any communication of conduct screams “amateur”, and you don’t want that.

3) It helps you get paid. When they sign that contract, they have fully accepted in how the payment is going to be made. Currently I work at 10% deposit at the beginning of project, another 10% at the final cycle of revisions, and full payment at final content delivery. They have to follow this payment cycle when they sign that contract.

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Posted in art + design, designers resource No Comments »