Archive for January, 2008

Today I felt the need to go to a local Thai restaurant for lunch. Being that it was my first time in the particular restaurant, I was a little more aware of my surroundings and paying extra attention to detail. After having some really great Pad Thai I was leaving the restaurant when I noticed a poster containing some zen quotes. The one that stuck out to me the most was “Experience is the thing that you don’t need until right after you needed it.”

I think the reason that this particular quote stuck with me is not because of its apparent wit, but its truth. I don’t know how many times I have been in a situation where just a little more experience would have lead to me landing a freelance gig. This is not to say that I was incapable of completing the project or even less suited for the job, I just had less experience in that particular section of design.

What this brings me to is how to gain experience in sections of design that you may not have been involved in before. Many people are under the impression that in order to gain experience, you need to do questionable things like taken on Spec work, and this should never be the case.

I stumbled upon this great photo set on flicker today of 1950’s and 60’s poster designs. The artwork and craft is fantastic while also giving a snapshot into culture as a whole during this time period. Bigdaddyhame, owner of the set, describes their discovery:

For ages, designers have been debating the negative influences of design awards on projects. Arguments about the work being less about the client and more about winning awards have been staples of design discussion. Lately this argument has been applied to web design by the rapidly growing number of design awards galleries that are popping up all over the web. This is not to say that all sites are bad, however I have noticed a couple of trends with these sites that is most likely affecting the industry negatively.

A little more than a year ago, I was rapidly approaching graduation and putting the finishing touches on my print portfolio. However I knew that I would need to get my book online if I was going to compete against the other designers for a great position. After I landed a position and as I began to learn more about the web I soon realized that my portfolio was severely lacking any sort of search engine optimization and I would never land any freelance work through it unless I made a change. Having designed a number of portfolio sites for work, I have learned a couple of tricks that can help optimize any artist or designers portfolio. These tips and guidelines can be used during the design process to help ensure that your site has the greatest opportunity to secure you new freelance leads.