HOW Design Conference

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HOW Magazine is sponsoring their annual design conference in Boston May 18-21. The conference offers dozens of workshops and presentations. They are primarily aimed at graphic designers, but there appear to be a lot of topics that could easily apply to illustrators, web designers, and others in the various fields of commercial art.

I’ve never attended a HOW design conference but am considering attending this year. Besides the opportunity to network with lots of potential clients, there are a some presentations and events I think I’d get a lot out of. Here’s a few that really interest me. (Whenever you see the word “designer”, insert your profession, i.e. “illustrator”, since most of the content will still apply to any creative field.):

Financial Planning for Solo Designers (i.e. freelancers). Shel Perkins will help you get a handle on your overall financial situation, as well as manage every day growing pains—from capital needs and financial projections to banking relationships and cash flow.

Get Your Network to Work for You. Tim Pederson will share the proven formula for successful networking, with tips on building a relationship in five questions, using “the million-dollar question,” and networking at a mixer.

The Design Enterpreneur. Charles S. Anderson will take you on his journey from designer to design entrepreneur—creating, manufacturing and licensing digital and tangible design products for distribution throughout the world. (Think dinnerware, gift wrap, note cards, books and apparel.)

Applying Color (The ABCs, HSVs , RGBs and CMYKs of Color). Join color expert and author Jim Krause for a session that’s 20% color theory and 75% practical palette-building techniques that you can directly apply to your own design and illustration projects. You’ll leave with an understanding of color that is both simplified and expanded; a greater awareness of the qualities and effects of color; and practical strategies and formulas for choosing and combining colors

Creating the Perfect Pitch: Tools to Help Express Your Vision. You may have an awesome vision for your client, but if you can’t express it in a way that resonates with them, you’re sunk. Learn the tools available to you for creating a visually stunning presentation. In addition, we’ll show some of the tips for choosing colors and design elements that help you stay true to your pitch during the design process. Knowing best practices can make technology a design asset, freeing you to express your vision flawlessly.

Inside Red Nose Studio: The Creative Process of Illustrator Chris Sickels. Chris Sickels will walk you through his creative process, from early concepts to model making to drawing the final images—even some animation. You’ll learn how to take full advantage of whatever you have at hand, how to experiment and push the limits of creativity, and the real value of original commissioned illustrations.

Email by Design: The Art of Creating Effective Email Communications. Discover simple tips for improving your email response rates and results, and review creative samples that work—and some that don’t—so you can be sure you’re creating email newsletters and campaigns that look great and work even harder. You’ll learn simple tips for improving the quality and results of your email communications; easy ways to create more timely, targeted and personal customer and member emails; how to design for different email programs and make sure your masterpieces look great no matter where they’re being seen

You can view the full list of presentations and register at the HOW Design Conference website.

Have you ever attended a HOW Design Conference? What did you think? Was it worth it? Leave a comment below and give us the inside scoop.

Being A Dream Freelancer

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Yesterday I talked about the qualities of a dream client. Most client projects are a two-way street, so now I’m going to focus on all you freelancers out there. Here’s a few suggestions for how to make sure every project goes as smoothly as possible. Following these guidelines will also help you gain a great reputation, get good referrals and earn repeat business.

1. It’s not about you, it’s about the client. This should be obvious but its easily forgotten. The client isn’t there for you, you are there for the client. Everything you do needs to be focused on the client’s needs and how you can best serve them. You can’t always please everyone, but you should sure bend over backwards to try. Your goal should be to make the client look good for hiring you.

2. Ask questions and listen carefully. Gather as much information as you can about the project and about the client’s expectations. If you are unsure about something, ask. As the project moves along, keep asking questions. Listen carefully to the answers. Take notes. If you aren’t sure about something, repeat back what you think the client is trying to say so that they can correct any misunderstandings. The more you learn about the client’s needs and expectations, the easier it will be for you to help them.Read More

Being A Dream Client

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As a freelance character designer I’ve worked with a lot of clients over the years: big ones, small ones, established companies and young startups. Most have been terrific and I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of really great people. Still, despite the best of intentions not every project runs as smoothly as it could. Even after eleven years of freelancing I still occasionally work on projects that get bogged down by miscommunication, misunderstanding, and avoidable delays.

If you hire freelance artists, or are thinking of hiring one soon, here’s a list of friendly tips on how to help things go smoothly. Of course project delays and difficulties aren’t always the client’s fault. Tomorrow I’ll turn the tables and give some thoughts aimed at all you freelancers out there. For now, here’s some tips on being a “dream client”:

1. Give the freelancer as much information about the project as possible. The more info the better. Who is the target audience? What is the project trying to accomplish? Is there a certain style or tone you are after? How will the art be used? Will it need to be enlarged or reduced? How will it fit into the context of the larger project? A lot of these are questions the freelancer should be asking you, but if he doesn’t you should offer the information anyway. There’s no such thing as too much detail.Read More

Marketing Mentor

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Marketing Mentor is an excellent website and blog for freelancers run by Ilise Benun, a consultant who specializes in helping creative professionals do a better job of marketing themselves. Her blog posts are short, direct, and very helpful. For a sample, check out her recent posts “What does it take to be your own boss?” and “Hourly rates and salaries”.

Last year Benun teamed up with Peleg Top to present four excellent webinars through HOW Magazine (which you can still view online, for a fee). Benun also offers some very helpful resources for sale on her website. Her mp3 entitled Interpersonal Skills for Introverts really helped me do a better job at networking at some recent events, and I’m currently getting a lot out of her book The Art of Self Promotion.

If you are strapped for cash her website also offers plenty of free resources worth checking out and an email newsletter, Quick Tips, that always delivers helpful insights about self-promotion.

I don’t meant to sound like a commercial for Marketing Mentor (no, I’m not getting paid to write this.) I’m just genuinely impressed and I want to help spread the news.

Ask Mr. Artist Guy: Why Have A Blog?

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Designer/illustrator Clay Cantrell writes:

“How important do you feel a blog is as a part of an overall business model for a freelance visual artist? Does it make good business sense, or do you think that only other artists read them, as opposed to potential or current clients?”

This is an excellent question, one I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. My blog has been something of an experiment, and frankly I’m still undecided as to whether or not a blog is a worthwhile way to promote myself and my work.

I started getting serious about my blog in July ’07, posting five times a week and making efforts to publicize my blog on other websites. My readership has steadily grown; I currently average about 700-800 page views every weekday, and I’m very flattered that so many people are interested in what I have to say. I suspect most of my readers are other artists who will never hire me, but I know for a fact that at least a few are art directors or past clients who have a serious interest in me and my work.

Nevertheless, from a purely financial standpoint my blog so far has been a bit of a disappointment. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. But then again, I’ve only been working at it seriously for about eight months. Everything I’ve read about blogging describes it as a very slow and gradual build towards success. Blogging is not for the get-rich-quick crowd. So I’m planning to hang in there a while longer and see what happens.

I’ve read about freelancers who started a blog and before they knew it job offers from readers were pouring in (this is more common among freelance writers than artists, which makes sense). While I’d love to say that I’m one of them, that has not been my experience. I can count on two fingers the number of job offers I’ve received in the last six months as a direct result of my blog. One fell through, the other was actually a writing gig for which I made decent money.Read More

Keeping A Morgue Or “Swipe File”

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As a freelance illustrator I often use reference photos for my work. Not to copy or trace but to study in order to help me understand the subject matter as I draw. My friend and fellow illustrator Tom Richmond recently wrote a good post on the proper role of reference photos when creating a piece of art. He compares it to a writer using a thesaurus, and warns against relying too heavily on reference imagery so that it becomes a crutch.

When I was in art school the internet was brand new and there was no such thing as Google, much less Google Image Search. Back then we were taught to scrounge old magazines from friends, relatives, and recycling centers so that we could pour through them and rip out photos of anything and everything we thought we might be asked to draw someday. We were taught to organize them into what was called a “swipe file” or a “morgue”. Over a period of several years I eventually filled two-and-a-half filing cabinets with photos.

Google has made much of my “morgue” irrelevant, but not all of it.Read More