Twitter And The Freelancer
June 12, 2009
When I first signed up to Twitter, I wasn’t quite sure what I was signing up for. I’d heard countless mentions of it but nothing that really explained what it does. The Twitter site wasn’t doing a particularly good job of explaining things either. But, I like to think of myself as an early adopter, so I signed up and only over time am I starting to learn what it’s all about.
Twitter and the freelancer seems like a perfect fit. As a freelancer you either move around quite a lot or you end up working at home on your own with little outside contact. (more…)
Workflow | No comment
Five Great Mac Apps For Web Designers
May 21, 2009
I seem to have an addiction to applications. At the time of writing I have 40 apps in my dock and 113 in my applications folder. There’s something very addictive about finding new applications that make your job that little bit easier and hopefully save you some time. And I don’t think I’m alone with this addiction.
I’m going to take a look at 5 lesser known applications on the mac which I think are all extremely useful and a worth a look for any designers out there.
So, in no particular order, here we go… (more…)
Reviews, Workflow | No comment
How To Be A Successful Freelance Designer
April 23, 2009Following on from my post about breaking into web design, I’d like to talk about how to be a successful freelance designer. What qualifies me to talk about this? Well that would depend on what you define as being successful. Success in the freelance world is all about keeping busy, avoiding barren patches and retaining clients - which is something I have thankfully managed to achieve.
Over the past 4 years I have established a method to my work, a set of rules that have formed my working code which have now become habit… (more…)
Design | 2 comments
How Many Design Concepts?
February 8, 2009
I was recently asked by a client to provide multiple different design concepts (3) for the same website, yet this is something I haven’t done in years. I don’t have a problem with it, but in my opinion it’s the wrong way of doing things, and here’s why…
The way I see design, it’s all about educated decisions. From the very start of a project you will make numerous decisions and you will discount certain things based upon a combination of the current brief, your experiences from the past and what you believe is right for the project. Producing multiple varying visuals goes completely against this. (more…)
Design | 3 comments
Do Web Design Trends Even Exist?
January 19, 2009So here we are in 2009 and it’s my first post of the year. The big talking point across most of the popular design blogs and industry magazines seems to be what trends will emerge in 2009? I have to admit, it was initially something I wanted to post about, but having now given it more thought - I’m not even sure that trends exist in the way they are made out to. (more…)
Design | 2 comments
The Deadline Is Your Friend
November 28, 2008
This industry runs in fear of deadlines. Designers cower when the word is spoken and developers - well, ‘it takes as long as it takes’ is the standard response.
Just lately, as I approach probably the busiest I’ve ever been in my career I’ve learned to embrace the deadline and it’s become one of my biggest allies. (more…)
Workflow | 3 comments
Texture in Web Design
November 23, 2008I’m not entirely sure why I wanted to write about texture in web design this week, but for some reason it seemed appropriate - maybe it’s because I associate autumn with texture more than any other season, or maybe it’s just because I’ve been seeing a lot of it as I’ve searched the net lately (probably).
Anyway, here is a round up of 5 sites that I’ve stumbled upon lately that I think for one reason or another really make the best of texture. (more…)
Design | No comment
The Power Of A Keyword Rich Domain
November 15, 2008
Registering a domain is becoming increasingly difficult, the popularity of the internet means it can be very difficult to register a domain that you would actually like because chances are, someone else already registered it. But are we considering the domains we register enough? I don’t think so. (more…)
Development | 2 comments
Beating Design Block
November 4, 2008
Early in my career I would occasionally suffer from design block. It’s like there’s some kind of mental block where nothing seems to work and the longer it goes on the worse it gets. In an industry that is all about deadlines, it’s the last thing you need.
A few years ago I accidentally stumbled on a very simple technique that seems to combat design block and as a result I’ve never suffered from it since. (more…)
Design | 1 comment
A Day In The Life Of A Web Designer
October 23, 2008An insight into life as a web designer. Recorded with the built in camera on my MacBook Pro and edited with iMovie. I have to say a big thank you to my friend Nicola Campbell for her input. Hope you like it!
Design | 8 comments
