The best advice I’ve ever received came from a resource room teacher in middle school. I don’t remember his name. Faced with a number of challenges, I found myself working hard. Harder than any other student. The teacher said to me, “You just keep plugging away. Don’t let up, just keep plugging away and you’ll get there”. NEVER GIVING UP Working in advertising and marketing can be frustrating. We quantify and analyze everything to the smallest detail and we’re never really sure if we are successful. I was reminded of his advice after a recent failure. I wanted to walk away from it all; But I keep at it to this very day because of his advice to keep plugging... 

My recent website CreativeInternships.com has sparked some great conversations along the subject of whether they really are a good experience. As a student I was required to do three full-time internships for an entire semester each. In my situation I can say that each of the positions offered me something that positively influenced my career. I definitely learned aspects of the design industry and printing that I would have otherwise never learned in the classroom. On top of the things I learned, the experience gained was one of the largest factors that set me apart from other applicants when I ultimately went looking for a job after school. HOW WERE YOUR INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES? I... 

When I moved to Portland, Oregon in 1980 to begin my design career I thought I was pretty hot stuff. However, in economic times much like today, there were no jobs to be had. In fact, the week I arrived, several ad agencies and design firms closed their doors. Companies all over the city were laying off designers. That’s when I decided to become a “sponge” and soak up as much information, or knowledge, as possible from others in the professions of advertising and design. Instead of asking if firms had available jobs, I basically begged people to talk with me about their jobs and career history through informational interview appointments. SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED... 

One thing that I truly love about Mad Men season 1 has been the amount of focus given towards pitching clients and maintaining good working relationships. The character Don Draper is portrayed as an insanely creative copywriter but it is in front of clients where he really shines. His no bullshit take it or leave it mentality (see the embedded clip below around 37 seconds in) towards Sterling Cooper’s work is so inspiring that I too want to dismiss clients who are “non-believers.” If still you don’t know what I am talking about I highly suggest you quickly rent the first season, and check out this article on design observer for reference. Power trips aside, the reason... 

The holidays have really had me thinking about technology lately. If you have read over the items I would like for Christmas most of them are undeniably techy in nature. The funny thing about technology is how a ton of it only exists to replace non technical items that are actually much simpler and arguably more efficient. I have also noticed that this same mentality is applied to marketing as well. SEARCHING FOR NEW In the search for new methods of reaching potential customers, clients want to use the newest technologies. With the normal limitations of time and budget some older proven methods are overlooked or forgotten. For example, direct mail has been taking a back seat... 

I recently got into an interesting discussion with some other designers when the topic of print vendors was raised. More specifically we were discussing whether they share their print vendors with their clients or keep these services “blind.” I personally have always handled the fulfillment of print services on the behalf of my client unless they had a standing relationship with a printer that was discussed prior to the beginning of the job. However I am finding that some designers have no problem sharing their vendors with their clients, something I do not agree with. There a number of reasons why a designer would keep the source of their vendors to themselves. For one,... 

Chances are that if you do web design in a smaller company or as a freelancer that you have had a project that required outside help in order to fulfill the client’s needs. Web design is an interesting field. Projects can range from mostly aesthetic to almost entirely mathematical. This wide range of demands that a project can take on means that being an expert in all facets of web design is impossible and you will eventually have to look outside your direct resources for expertise other than your own. This is where outsourcing naturally comes in, but at what cost? THE BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING For one, outsourcing allows your company to take on more work and expand your... 

Today we find ourselves at post number seven in my Sources of Inspiration Series. I have rounded up another batch of great portfolios that are both inspirational and stylish. Be sure to check out the other inspirational portfolios via the related articles section below. Note: This is not a series about the websites themselves. That said, enjoy the amazing design work located within the portfolios below. Working Empire http://www.workingempire.com/ Work for Food http://www.workforfood.nu/ Sroown http://www.sroown.com/ Element 5.0 Design http://www.element5design.com/ EQUUS http://www.equus-design.com/ Matt Keers http://www.mattkeers.co.uk/ PMKFA http://www.pmkfa.com/ The... 

The best advice I ever received was from a client lost. Allow me to explain the circumstances. When I first began freelancing many years ago, I was desperate to earn money because I was a single mom that received no child support. I would take jobs many others turned down because of the short, sometimes even impossible, deadlines. One particular illustration called for me to work all weekend to create an airbrushed background for the center spread of a magazine (this was before computers and Photoshop, of course). DON’T TAKE A JOB YOU CAN’T DELIVER The Art Director of a downtown Chicago agency, for whom I’ve worked with before, needed the 18x20” artwork by 8 a.m.... 

Today I was watching CNN’s Green Warriors program when they did a feature on an interesting piece of software called GreenPrint. The idea behind the software is that it can help reduce the waste caused by typical office or home printing, by automatically identifying pages with little or no text on them and flagging them not to be printed. The software conserves both ink and paper by allowing the user to select exactly what makes it to the printer. However what really caught my attention and had me thinking was the online demo of the software. PRINTING FROM THE WEB In the online demo, the GreenPrint software shows how a user can save toner by turning off the images on the...