The best way to begin analysis is to look at the nature and perceived value of different communication methods:

Email

• Can be trashed, unread or even lost. Make a note to respond and backup your emails.
• Can be misinterpreted or misquoted though does have the advantage of allowing media attachments and being a written records of discussion
• Recommended use: When familiar with those being sent the message eg track record of previous contact and non-essential, day-to-day discussion. Initial contact with potential clients could appear impersonal and spamming for business is not acceptable / illegal

Telephone

• Direct conversation allows for greater communication accuracy than email through tone of voice and emotion but is more convenient and less time consuming than a face to face meeting
• Communicates sincerity, trustworthiness more effectively than email but not as well as a face-to-face meeting
• Recommended use: For initial contact, discussing detailed complex issues where immediate feedback will drive a conversation or to finalise email discussion with clients

Meeting

• Communication through speech, body language and visual media can also include senses such as taste, touch etc for product evaluation
• Does require note taking where serious issues or matters that may be refered to later are discussed – can be difficult to do both at the same time so usually a secretarial role or dedicated notation tool is required
• Recommended use: When intensive discussion is required, for example, the start of a project or the completion of a phase of the project. Useful for providing a focus or pressure to ensure certain tasks are complete as it will be necessary to present them

Net Meeting

[Use of webcam and / or mic to communicate visually and audibly]

• This is a slight improvement on just using the phone but with broadband speeds occassionally dropping and limited scope of what can be achieved in front of the camera it does not make it much better than a telephone conversation
• Has certain visual benefits in terms of being able to share screens give demonstrations or present a lo-res version of the person at the other end of the line but not much more.
• Screensharing is a major benefit of a net meeting and online software such as Skype or www.acrobat.com does a good job of allowing others to view and control a remote computer.

So, lets say you’re working on a project, you have used email and phone methods for communicating and now there are team members and management personel brought together for a face-to-face meeting and assessment of progress. You need to focus on a variety of issues to ensure the smooth running of the meeting [or even just participation] and your own peace-of-mind when preparing

Goals

What is the ultimate outcome of the meeting? Usually if a meeting is called to look at a subject like the promotion of a product or service, as often occurs for clients I work with, there is a need to focus any preparation such as the creation of a document or sequence of slides – all of which should provide information that will always lead the viewer to an answer to the original reason for meeting. This could be described as FOCUSING on the objectives.

Participants

Who is involved in the meeting? Which staff will be making a contribution to the meeting. This is important for working out the sort of questions you will be asked and preparing answers for those. It is never possible to anticipate every question you may be asked but the intelligent approach is to ensure you cover yourself by preparing for the most likely and the most difficult questions. For example, you are a designer preparing for a meeting and there is a programmer present – he or she will always want to know the fine detail related to their part of the work and providing a suitable level of detail to give them enough confidence to back your idea as feasible is crucial. You are not trying to become a programmer, you are showing that you appreciate to a reasonable degree what is involved with their part of the work and get them on-board with your idea.

If the MD is present, then the questions will be different – what will the cost be? What is the timescale? Why is this idea, product or direction good for the company? Once one or two people are convinced that your idea is good then this builds momentum and can ultimately lead to an acknowledgment that you are able to command respect and lead innovation in one form or another.

Location

Where will the meeting be held? Environmental issues can help or hinder the progress of a meeting. If held in a designated meeting room then there is less likelihood of interruptions and the mentality of those involved with the meeting may encourage them to reduce the number of interruption by signifying time in their schedule, switching off their phone and dealing with important business before they attend. If you hold a meeting in a place where there is a thoroughfare or in a public place such as a cafe then your meeting focus may be distracted by unforeseen circumstances.  Location and environmental factors associated with this can make or break a focus and ultimately reduce progress.

Management

How will you conduct the meeting as a leader or participant? Will you take the lead or are you expecting another to lead the meeting. If so, are they aware of their responsibility. Are you prepared enough to take the lead should the meeting stall because of a lack of contribution from others? Have you got relevant, direct and appropriate questions in mind that will assist you to make progress with your part of the work? Are these questions appropriate and positive in nature? Being prepared is the key and management of a meeting can confidently be executed by being aware of the potential wide range of agendas and experience in the group meeting and ensuring that concerns related to these can be sufficiently tackled.

Negativity

How will you deal with negative comments from participants or people who are unhappy with the direction taken or the methods used for making decisions? My approach would be to ensure that all the positive reasons are available for discussion in detail and any anticipated negative comments are received with careful consideration and never taken personally whether they are intended as such or not.

It is never possible to please everyone but it is possible to ensure you deal with others with honesty, integrity and respect. I usually find that if I am ensuring I put the needs of a team first and aim to work effectively to ensure that a project is successful irrespective of personal agendas then  it is usually a difference of opinion on direction and philosophy that creates the more intensive discussion rather than anything personal. Also, when  I am asked to manage a project and provide instructions for others to follow, I tend to find I get more respect from people who I ask to do certain tasks when I have already completed the background work for them with appropriate detail and accuracy.

Equipment

Are you aware of what equipment is available – for example, if you needed to use a projector or have examples to pass around the room are these booked or prepared. What if the power supply fails? Have you got some printed notes to work from? All of these sort of things provide confidence that you have got circumstances covered adequately – it can certainly save you some embarrassment and allow your presentation to continue, what ever other factors may disrupt it.

Output

Are you going to record the meeting via a set of notes or even an audio recording or is it an informal discussion? By making a record of the meeting then it is possible to hold people to account and timescales can be applied to the notes made for delivery to all participants. This encourages a level of accountability.

Related posts:

1. Writing Skills for Designers Do graphic designers need good writing skills? This article looks...
2. Design Process: Part 1 The first of three articles looking at the some of...
3. Design Process: Part 3 We have looked at the brief, collected relevant facts, experienced...

Loughborough Design School Experience

The students were asked to highlight elements of the Loughborough Design School education that they found particularly beneficial and describe why students considering a course of study in design should choose Loughborough.

Example Projects at New Designers

Here are some of the products Loughborough students have created for their final year projects that have been taken to the Business Design Centre to display to other students, potential employers and other Universities. It is a great opportunity to see the very latest and best design talent leaving education establishments in the UK.

Photographs from New Designers

Find out more about Loughborough Design School

Related posts:

1. Theory and Practice Part 1 Learning the theory behind great design and professional practice is...
2. Finepix W3 3D Review Review of the FujiFilm Finepix W3 3D Digital Camera -...
3. A Brief Introduction to Design-Design "You need to tell the client what he wants and...

Initial Questions

When considering setting up a business start by asking these questions:

What skills and experience can I offer a potential client?

Personally I can offer a variety of skills and abilities to a potential client – these include web design, print design, photography, creative brainstorming and ideas development as well as video and audio production. Each of these skills is honed in a way that allows me to offer competitive products and rates without trying to become an expert at everything – see wide but focused skill-sets for further explanation.

What is the market like for my area of expertise?

It is often quite difficult to know how many people will offer you work unless you have been building up a list of contacts who are talking money and offering you paid work. However, the trick in many cases is to find guaranteed work that will bring in a guaranteed income whilst you experiment with your network and cast your net out for new jobs. This may be in the form of temporary work in a call centre, coffee shop or just simply asking the boss if you can go part time. With the last option – I always find it best to be honest about your position in that, an explanation to the boss of your intentions is fair to the employer and sets a precedent of open, honest deal-making even in difficult situations.

To a degree your research for understanding the market will come from an evaluation of the following:

- How many companies perform similar tasks in your area? Search Google and type in your company’s activity and the name of your city for examples of local companies. Expand your search as appropriate.
- What are their clients like? similar to your your desired clients?
- Do you think you can compete with similar companies in quality and price? Could they be a business partner?
- Can you identify companies you would like to target? Are they open to you discussing freelance work with them? [ie some companies may have in-house skills and never look externally]

Are you able to pitch an idea to a potential client?

The ability to network or pitch ideas to potential clients is one of the most crucial things as person starting a company -especially in the field of freelance design. An understanding of the industry, the motivation of clients and methods for negotiating and dealing with costs confidently will make or break a deal. Clients want a clear understanding of two things – benefits and cost.

Organise and Manage

One of the key skills for someone starting a company is to be able to organise and manage time. Sounds obvious but there are several factors to consider all at once when you are running a business day to day:

• Energetic, vibrant and creative application of your skills and abilities to stand out from the crowd of other companies who want the same business
• Keeping up to date with the latest information, technology and activity within your sector to ensure your knowledge and understanding of the sector is up to date. Finding quality sources for this information is vital as there is pressure on your time to maximise understanding with minimal effort.
• Sourcing new work is an ongoing effort for the freelance designer or other sole trader. Every event attended, simple conversation on the train or most importantly, your last piece of work, is a stepping stone to a potentially new and exciting project or lead which must be exploited in a careful and considered manner. There is nothing more off-putting to a new lead than conversation with an entirely selfish “I need more work and money” agenda – business is a two way thing – the benefits you the client and the benefits to you or your company.
• In amongst all this intensive activity you need to be developing your skills and maintaining your edge to ensure that you are able to deliver what is expected.
• Ability to remain calm and professional under pressure is vital. There are many pressures on a company including client expectations, non-payment of fees, staffing issues and projects not going according to plan that all require patience and the ability to separate the personal from the professional
• Finally, but not least – a healthy balance of work and inspiring play is vital to anyone running a business and in fact, it can aid in your creative, dynamic edge in any sector. Whether you are a sports enthusiast, arts fan or musician – giving yourself time to indulge in a way that compliments your business can reduce the possibility of burn out or a lack of enthusiasm for your direction.

The Business of Business

To use a classic line of business-speak – “the business of business is business” which essentially refers to the fact that the world revolves [ideally] through the fair exchange of skills, abilities and money. In the world of business we are constantly looking to produce quality work and be paid for this. Simple as that.

It is possible to be friends with your clients but the primary connection with a person should never mix with the friendship side – they are expected to pay you and you are expected to return that agreement with the best work you can produce. However, I personally work with some great people with whom I can have direct business conversations with but then as a separate issue I can have a good chat with about business, life and the world in general….I just need to remember our initial agreement at all times and enjoy the business relationship with that in mind.

Wide But Focused Skill-set

As a designer I am always keen to make myself available for as much work in the design industry as possible. Targeting a narrow area of web design in your daily activity can render some highly paid specialised jobs but it may be that your specialism is only sold to a client 3 or 4 times a year and unless your fame spreads far and wide there is a chance that you may exhaust your leads very quickly. On the other end of the scale is the ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ where skills are so thinly spread that there is little opportunity to refine your offering to industry and therefore clients lose interest because there are more capable companies or individuals. This is where a ‘wide but focused’ skill-set comes into play:

• I focus on producing websites using the highly capable WordPress platform which enables me to produce a reasonably wide variety of website types without needing to learn HTML, PHP or CSS in very fine detail [I do need to understand it to a reasonable level] whilst maintaining industry standards.
• I focus on design for print for manufacturing companies, businesses requiring information design and banners for exhibitions. By understanding the typical needs of these sort of clients I can offer a quality service and reach effective design decisions swiftly.
• My video is focused upon documentary making in relation to projects or business activity and uses a very similar series of probing questions to really maximise the benefits of including an interview as part of a presentation DVD, website link or other application.
• I do offer Flash design on a limited basis but have a reduced rate for this service as I have less experience in this area of design and production. This allows me to develop Flash skills whilst producing the quality of projects a client would expect for the money spent.

Should I Ever Turn Work Down?

What happens if you are asked to complete a project outside of your usual skills base or do not feel the usual level of confidence in the specification? There are two options.

1. Make a judgment on the complexity of the project in relation to your previous experience and if it is a calculated risk that will push your skills then it is worth pursuing for the benefits to both you and your client. The end result has the potential to be a compliment and asset to your progression as a company or freelancer.
2. If the project is reasonably far displaced from your usual line of work then it maybe unfair to the client, yourself and your companies reputation to undertake the job.

In the second instance, all is not lost – a client will respect you for explaining where your skills are focused and if you make a recommendation to another company or freelancer then it may be that you will get a phone call from the same potential client when they have a project that is within your ability to complete professionally.

Do I Need To Buy The Latest Equipment?

As a designer I need to own a suitable computer system, internet connection, mobile phone and other means to complete my work – see Designer Top 5 Tips for an overview of my own personal priorities on equipment and other resources for designers.

My personal opinion is that when the hardware is appropriate for the type and style of work you are doing then an upgrade should only really be occurring every 3 years on average. For example, upgrading Adobe Software costs me around £700.00 each time, a suitable desktop – around £800 for the base unit and a laptop is £1000.00. On a year by year basis this is unnecessary to complete quality design work but the purchase of new equipment can open up some new channels of design and production and increase efficiency…..so there is a balance to be had.

How Much Should I Charge?

This is a tricky one but I would suggest that the formula for setting your pricing would involve three factors:

• Regional and national cost comparison eg what do others charge?
• Evaluation of your skills / experience
• Overheads and outlay for equipment, transportation and materials

Should I Ever Work For Free?

The old chestnut of speculative projects or competitions has been covered by Design-Design previously in the article Speculative Design and You where the topic is explored in all its cynical glory. This is a tricky area which applies to many areas of industry and whilst they should not be completely discounted, should be approached very cautiously.

Quoting

Quoting is one of those time consuming business facts-of-life that may or may not lead to business but really has to be done as part of the process. For those in business and generating quotes they will know that quotes are expensive to produce if you consider time as money. The only advice I can give is that quotations should respect the client in quoting fairly and accurately by stating any reservations or limitations of the project to ensure a happy outcome.

The other side to this is that if you ask for a quote from a supplier or project partner then you should respect the use of their time and limit the efforts they need to go to by stating clearly what you are requesting and giving them an estimated percentage chance of the quote being used. There are many people who have asked for quotations or meetings in my own history who have no respect for your time, expense or effort you put into just getting to see them and prepare for them – this in a way is an interview regarding their attitude and whether you respect them professionally. In my opinion, those who a careful with you and your business are the clients to seek and those others – well, they set the rules in their approach to you shall we say.

The Mac vs PC Thing

People often make the statement that ‘designers should use Macs’. Not necessarily true – the software is identical on both platforms and performs equally well. The issue is mainly about price and preference differences, though it has to be said that the quality of Windows driven PC machines vary considerably more. Macs are on average about 30% more expensive than the equivalent PCs, though salespersons and Mac fans will always qualify the difference in speed and efficiency. They may be right to a certain degree but not to the extent that they do believe in their own hype……and to be fair, the speed of design style and creativity is independent of the Mac / PC platform .

Some Practicalities

Down to the basics. On a practical level, here are a few bits of advice related to the physical aspects of your company:

• Have you decided whether you will work from home? If so, is there a suitable location where you feel comfortable working? What will happen when you need to get away from the potential isolation – can you work in other locations?
• If you require a building for machinery or offices, have you investigated the cost of doing this considering the business rates, rental costs and cleaning of the building?
• Are you looking to recruit staff? Have you considered the appropriate employment law surrounding employment? Have you considered how you will select your candidates and how you will ensure that a fair and efficient process is applied to managing staff and the respective expectations of working conditions?
• Do you know how you will resolve disputes with clients or staff? Have you got a process for recovering payment from late payers? Are you aware of the legal implications of your actions related to clients and staff?
• Do you have a list of terms and conditions for your products or services? See Business Links example terms and conditions.
• Have you got a suitable bank account? For example, HSBC will provide ‘Free’ business accounts for those with limited cheques or payments each month which is perfect for many freelancers.
• Are you aware of pension schemes for you and your staff? If you are not part of a scheme, have you got a savings strategy appropriate for both now and the future.
• Do you require indemnity insurance to cover legal costs in the event of liability?

Alot of these issues are covered on the Business Link website which provides a useful starting point when considering the legal and management side of you business. If you’re interested in the latest business and technology news then online sources such as Mashable and BBC Click. My suggestion is that you use Google Reader to build a collection of RSS Feeds that you can briefly glance through each day to check for new and relevant information.

Related posts:

1. Design Bubble Assessing your ability as a designer is one of the...
2. Writing Skills for Designers Do graphic designers need good writing skills? This article looks...
3. Speculative Design and You Whether a designer, business owner or academic, you may have...

Designer’s Playtime, Artist’s Fulltime

If you are reading this and you are a designer, multimedia producer or quite frankly anyone who has to make ends meet, it is quite possible that you won’t have to look too hard in your local town or city to find examples of publicly funded arts projects that make you question whether the artist or group of artists have any knowledge or skill in the areas they are effectively ‘dabbling’ in and whether there is any insight, message, concept or idea beyond your own understanding to be gained. There are simply too many arts projects that end up as amateurish explorations of technology or inadequately developed ideas.

The current individual artist funding structure does make allowance for artists to dabble with technology and present this as a concept or series of ideas with a level of justification widely open to interpretation whereas other sectors must prove themselves to a much greater level both technically and financially. My opinion is that this method of funding individual artists is not only unfair to the tax payer but should not be allowed to continue, especially, to coin an annoying phrase, ‘in a time of austerity’ where public funding is tight.

You could argue that there are very limited examples in the following paragraphs compared to the wealth of arts activities across the country, but do remember that this is more about individual artists than organisations. Regarding the significant proportion of poor arts projects examples around it would be fairly easy to find someone in the area of interest such as design, fashion or multimedia who has done something similar – but technically and artistically stronger without direct funding for that specific activity.

Importance of Individual Expression

Let’s be clear here – individual expression is very important and is what makes us human. Everyone has the right to expression and should actively be encouraged to be expressive. I just want to see the artist’s agenda to be part of a project but kept in check. When I say ‘kept in check’ I am refering to ensuring more strictly that creative content is balanced with appropriate planning, management and delivery of an idea. Value for the funder, and for society, must be further ensured by careful control of the scope and quality of the creative exploration than it currently is.

Community and Competition

As a designer I must develop and play with new design tools and technology to present ideas, develop new talents and simply play in my own ‘playtime’. Personally my own creative pursuits include drawing, painting, experimenting with colours, video, using social networks and photography. I love this aspect of the work I do and it directly improves my commercial output. For many other creative individuals they must also fund their own ‘play’ and communities such as Deviant Art amongst others stand out as examples of designers in differing disciplines experimenting and coming together to inspire each other as well as show off! For me, my artistic exploration of other audio and visual media in my own projects are designed to add credibility to me as an ‘artist’ as well as inspire clients and provide points for discussion.

Fairness

Design success is measured both financially and through criticism with personal expression kept in check by a client led agenda. I strongly believe that a ‘client led agenda’ should be part of funding individuals in the arts to reduce the amount of poor decisions made by poor judgment on the part of funders, weak applicants, inexperience on the part of practitioners or just poor artistic literacy generally. Individual artists will point to the Arts Council website guidelines [9.2.5 of the latest edition in particular] which do try protect the public against poor project results but in my experience there are many projects that fall way short of these demands. Too much so-called art practice is amateurish exploration of a field where far greater superiority already exists – particularly technical superiority. This is wasteful and undermines art practice.

Typical Offenders

Examples that really stand out in my mind would be:

A poorly executed 3D animation from an ‘artist’ based in the East Midlands that was his own exploration of the media but communicated relatively little – yet had a grand opening in London, which required public money to enable it to be free. The designer would experiment with 3D software in this way just to prove a point to a client that they could produce finely crafted ideas in this medium and the standard would need to be high to compete. In a way, if the artist provided funding for a competent 3D artist to create the work then this would make sense from a public purse perspective – local talent is being paid to do a first class job based upon the concept provided by the artist.

VJing and other video based projects, usually relatively low budget in nature, due to the lack of technical competency in execution, become crimes against the tax payer when an artist should seek out those digital craftsmen and women who can produce quality. Of course, this means the artist is very like to have to find other income streams which makes this a hard option for anyone and one that the artist does not have to commit to. The examples I have seen in and around a popular arts cinema in Nottingham as a particular example are mostly nothing more than people would experiment with on their own home computers or people put together for fun on YouTube. It is important to remember that the most typical examples are on the lower end of the budget scale and maybe this is part of the problem – this money is not seen as ‘serious’ and so does not get treated seriously. It adds up to serious waste.

Squeezing the Concept

If artists have got this far in the article without closing the browser then they would probably be quite annoyed at my suggestion that they should use a similar model of keeping the agenda in check. Entitlement is a word that no-one in the arts would dare to use but many project a sense of entitlement – that they have the right to fulfill their own creative desires through the projects they are given and who are we to question them. We would all like to do this but creatives outside of arts funding circles must employ intense creativity and a sense of responsibility to the client. Please note that, for those designers with a ‘know-it-all’ attitude [I'm sure you know at least one] – this is often their downfall as people won’t tolerate this as readily as they will in the arts. Its all about responsibility to those paying the bill and I m calling for artists to share this responsibility so we can improve upon the dross we experience more and more in local galleries and exhibitions.

Related posts:

1. Designers Forum Designers forum is a Meetup.com group based in Chester. Created...
2. Biden Faux Pas and Others Faux pas and shock tactics can be the making of...
3. Design Tips for Success Recommendations on a variety of design related activities including use...

I started my own design business under the name Simcoemedia in early 2002 and so as of writing I am about to begin my tenth year of business in February. This is a good sign that things are going in the right direction and whilst its not all plain sailing, many SME’s such as Torse Ltd or Greenbarnes ltd and some large organisations such as Loughborough University or Via Mat International based in Zurich have placed trust in Simcoemedia to produce a high quality and appropriate solution to their design problems.

Design Bubble

When judging the quality of your design work it is easy to forget that, once you have established yourself with a few clients and your business relationship goes from strength to strength, you can become trapped in what I would describe as the “Design Bubble”. This occurs when you remain within your comfort zone and please your clients with some great designs but do not develop or enhance your skills, experiences or client base through other design related activity. One factor that fuels the “Design Bubble” is that, in the early months and years of establishing a freelance business there is a huge amount of energy that goes into working out your business strategy and principles as well as the learning that is necessary for survival – this reduces the time and energy that can be put into popping the Bubble.

Signs you’re in the bubble

1. You are unaware of design trends in web, print or video production
2. You do not have any updated sources of reference in terms of design or associated technology
3. You are comfortable that your business is doing well and don’t feel the need to explore other avenues of investigation related to your work
4. You do not have a long term strategy for your work direction or processes
5. You are intimidated when people question your techniques or processes
6. You are not looking for opportunities to diversify in related design areas

Why pop the Bubble?

1. Preservation. Maintaining your business and income. Knowledge of design trends, techniques and technology should enable development of design skills, aquisition of useful technology and innovative discussion with clients
2. Respectability. Your clients will admire and respect your knowledge – they will put more trust in you and your business as they feel that your finger is on the pulse and that using you will put them ahead of their competitors.
3. Contribution. Remaining competitive and pushing your skills allows you to contribute to the ongoing design discussion through forums, simple competitions [though watch the Speculative Design trap].
4. Inspiration. Discovering new and exciting things about design can be inspirational. Writing for this Design-Design blog has helped me put many of my discoveries into words for future reference.
5. Satisfaction. You have pushed yourself and your design capability to the limit and this shows in your portfolio as it goes from strength to strength.

How do you know if you are improving?

1. Your designs begin to look competitive with some of the inspirational sources you have used.
2. Techniques you were experimenting with become commonplace in your workflow.
3. You begin to identify and mentally disseminate more and more complex designs.
4. You identify more clearly information that is of value and that which is useless.
5. You are able to communicate more confidently with clients and other design related staff.

Sources of Inspiration

1. www.bbc.co.uk/click/
2. www.mashable.com
3. www.quickonlinetips.com
4. www.computerarts.co.uk
5. www.designfloat.com

Related posts:

1. A Brief Introduction to Design-Design "You need to tell the client what he wants and...
2. Writing Skills for Designers Do graphic designers need good writing skills? This article looks...
3. Setting Up A Business Setting up a design or other business can be daunting....

Please Note

To a degree this list could look like it is just stating the obvious – “yes, we know we generally need a PC or Apple Mac to create design work in this modern digital age”. In addition to the obvious, the listings should also be viewed as a set of priorities or levels of importance – the first on the list being the items that the freelance designer should consider as most important and a bench mark for functioning as a business. I hope that this provides some guidance or inspiration if you are currently designing or thinking of starting your own freelance design business.

TOP 5 BASIC ITEMS FOR FREELANCE DESIGNERS

1. Laptop PC or Mac [and desktop if possible] with broadband access
2. Mobile phone with email capability – Smartphone, iPhone, Blackberry
3. Website with portfolio examples + webspace + custom email + good domain
4. Contact list + maintained address book eg Outlook
5. Office space at home + favourite cafe or social space

TOP 5 COMMUNICATION TOOLS

1. Mobile and desk phone with inclusive minutes – make sure you can contact clients anytime
2. Email account personalised to company name eg design@simcoe.co.uk
3. Screenshare + voice capability from www.skype.com to collaborate with other remote users
4. www.yousendit.com account for sending large files [up to 1Gb]
5. www.adobe.com account for using communities, Kuler and other services

TOP 5 RESEARCH WEBSITES FOR DESIGNERS

1. www.mashable.com
2. www.designfloat.com
3. www.quickonlinetips.com
4. www.computerarts.co.uk
5. www.bbc.co.uk/click/

TOP 5 DISTRACTIONS

1. Non-work related emails or websites
2. Administrative activities such as new equipment
3. Television such as film / news / daytime terrible TV
4. Poorly managed projects and unhappy clients
5. Telephone calls

TOP 5 WAYS TO IMPRESS

1. Immediately responde to queries, errors, problems or corrections with plans
2. Show persistance and an understanding of how both parties may benefit from the work
3. Show respect to the hierachy of a company as well as the boss
4. Contact a company / organisation / client after its all finish and paid
5. Show creativity in conjunction with the ability to deliver + discuss pitfalls

TOP 5 WAYS TO DEPRESS

1. Do not respond to emails in an acceptable timescale eg within 2-5 hours in most cases
2. Show a lack of understanding / inflated sense of your importance in relation to the client
3. Assume that you know better than others and make unreasonable demands
4. Do not make the project advantages and limitations clear to the client
5. Allow a project to spin out of control either in time or functionality

TOP 5 USEFUL ACTIVITIES

1. Create a design blog and discuss your experience of designing in helpful articles
2. Experiment with other not-for-profit projects to gain experience and exposure
3. Visit relevant exhibitions and galleries to inspire and understand art and design further
4. Completely change your day with some exercise eg running, sport, music
5. Meet with other people in similar circumstances eg freelance, design, other creative

TOP 5 MOTIVATIONAL GOALS

1. Create excellent design projects that create a sense of professional satisfaction
2. Expose yourself to unique experiences through creative activity eg travel photos
3. Community and connection through the production of successful projects
4. Fund your food and shelter needs by doing something you have chosen and enjoy
5. Help fulfill your own desires and material goals by helping others to achieve theirs

TOP 5 STOCK RESOURCES

1. www.istockphoto.com – great for finding design elements or images for your work
2. www.themeforest.net – great for finding themes for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc
3. www.activeden.net – Adobe Flash and multimedia elements for your websites
4. www.audiojungle.net – low cost audio soundtracks for your videos or podcasting
5. www.shutterstock.com – alternative backup to iStockphoto.com

TOP 5 SOCIAL SITES

1. www.youtube.com – promote your video production or podcasts
2. www.linkedin.com – display your academic and professional achievements
3. www.flickr.com – online photo sharing site with great supporting tools
4. www.twitter.com – create a list of useful links and designerly comments
5. www.facebook.com – establish a brand and connect with your clients




If you like this article please click on the DesignFloat indicator on the right

Related posts:

1. New Simcoemedia website Simcoemedia has created a new website showing off the print,...
2. Writing Skills for Designers Do graphic designers need good writing skills? This article looks...
3. Design Process: Part 3 We have looked at the brief, collected relevant facts, experienced...

Related posts:

1. Design Bubble Assessing your ability as a designer is one of the...
2. Design Tips for Success Recommendations on a variety of design related activities including use...
3. Speculative Design and You Whether a designer, business owner or academic, you may have...

Quality

The quality varied depending upon which product you ordered – the t-shirts were excellent quality with crisp edges and flat, solid colour – even on black t-shirts [though I haven t yet washed them a number of times to see how the colour will handle detergent]. The cups were pretty good considering that they were single custom printed items [though sharp edges were a little more blurred than I expected them to be]. However, the clocks were fairly mediocre to poor due to the cheap plastic used and poor design style [the printed element of the large clock I purchased was bubbled due to heat or moisture.]

Customer Services

The second point to make is that the level of customer service is pretty good. There were two or three products out of the 12 ordered that were either broken [eg cups] or were not to expected standard [I could not access the "bubbled" area of the clock to flatten the raised areas]. When customer services were contacted they readily provided replacement items in the case of the broken mugs or a refund in the case of the clock after I supplied images of the problem.

Wasting Resources

The third and most important point is that the whole process generated a huge amount of packaging and waste which, although the process was alot of fun and the results were pretty good in the case of the cups and the t-shirts, was quite a shock to me and a disappointment. As a designer I need to be aware and concerned by waste and in this case it was something worth thinking about. The problem is that it would be near impossible to provide Cafepress services without the incredible amount of packaging and processing.

Many of the products were created in the Czech Republic then delivered to the UK and the cups, for example, were made in China – which again, takes incredible amounts of energy in terms of shipping transportation.

I was keen to explore alternatives to this process and in certain cases, products may be more efficiently produced in terms of time, packaging and energy waste by purchasing locally. For example, KallKwik in my home town of Chester, create custom designed cups for approximately the same price and the covered area of the cup is larger than Cafepress’s.

Related posts:

1. Why bother calibrating? Calibrating screens to represent the colours you will see at...
2. Finepix Real3D printing With the renewed interest in 3D viewing technology and the...
3. Guide to good print Print designers take their company's cashflow into their own hands...

Please Note:

Due to a lack of interest in the Designers Forum [What? There are no designers in Chester? ], the Meetup.com group has been closed. However, I have left the article on Design-Design as it outlines the ideas and aspirations behind the group.

The aims and objectives of Designers’ Forum are to encourage artists, designers and musicians to meet, share information and potentially collaborate on design projects on a formal or informal basis. My experience of Business Link, On Course Innovation and E-Business Events in the East Midlands [2003 - 2009] were generally positive and it would be great to bring these positive experiences to a group of people in creative industries in and around Chester.

Meetup.com was chosen as the vehicle for encouraging this activity because it seems to strike the right balance between professional and personal interests, has a large following, is an acceptable price to start your own Meetup.com group and has a reasonably intuitive interface. This is the write up for the Designers’ Forum:

This group is for designers, film makers, graphic artists and animators in the Chester area. The focus is on creating a support network made up of freelancers and company employees who enjoy meeting other people with a similar interest in designerly activity of different sorts.

The next meetup on 12 September at Telfords Warehouse [2pm] is all about how we use the web as professionals and for personal inspiration:

Related posts:

1. What is WordPress? Wordpress was originally designed as a free blogging system for...
2. Writing Skills for Designers Do graphic designers need good writing skills? This article looks...
3. Designer’s Playtime is the Artist’s Full Time The designers playtime is the artists fulltime. Why arts administrators...

A colleague of mine at Loughborough University, Syd Pace, is responsible for co-ordinating the Diploma of Professional Studies for students at Loughborough Design School. He is keen to promote collaboration and partnerships with industry in order to provide third year design students with opportunities to develop professionally relevant skills. Whether you are a student, production manager in a manufacturing company, service provider of some sort or a design consultancy it is worth paying attention to the mutual benefits of getting involved with student placements from somewhere like Loughborough Design School.

1. How did the DPS scheme start and what are its key aims?

As of 2010, the scheme has been running for about 15 years. I introduced it and wrote the regulations based on existing good practice at Loughborough University Engineering Departments. The regulations have evolved over the years, but the aims of the scheme have remained the same. Initially, we invite potential sponsors from industry to create competitive interview opportunities for students during the second year of study. The scheme aims to match student career aspirations to sponsor expectations. We also monitor a student’s progress throughout the year by way of visiting them at their chosen company.

2. What are the benefits to the a) student b) company and c) University?

Benefits to the company are numerous. A student can bring to the workplace the skills of managing projects undertaken in years one and two and an understanding of design processes developed from their academic studies. Also, students bring fresh blood with fresh ideas and new approaches. In some cases Company reputation may be enhanced through working with one of the top universities in the UK.

If you want to look at the benefits to the student – well, the evidence is clear. There is a maturity and a further appreciation of how the theory we have been teaching them is applied in the real world. After being given responsibility, surviving pressure and experiencing the delight of seeing their work being successfully applied by professional designers, engineers and marketing staff they return to Loughborough able to deal with projects on a new level. These are students who have been given a contract, asked to deliver and who have been treated in an equivalent manner to professional members of staff within the organisation.

The University stands to gain from this kind of scheme by being able to demonstrate strong links with some of the big players in industry such as Boots, Triumph, Stanley, Reebok, Bosch and many more prestigious companies. Partnerships help academics to keep in touch with what is really happening inside organisations involved in product design and manufacture and keep Loughborough’s design education at a high standard.

3.What has the general response to the scheme been?

The number of students on placement has grown steadily over the years, we currently place about 70 students despite the so called recession. Some employers have taken a student almost every year since the scheme began and we have a hard core of satisfied sponsors. Other placements are generated entirely from students own initiatives and from the growing body of graduates employed in the design sector. An indication of the success of the scheme is provided by the fact that many students feel that their extra year exposing themselves to an ‘industrial education’ really does add value to the theory and practice they study within the University.

Feedback we have received from employers has been extremely positive. With some of the top companies in the UK willing to take back students on placement each year and when we consider the achievements of the well rounded designers we receive back – we know the scheme is a success.

a useful member of the team – his input has enabled the business to move forward with new processes - Team Leader BAE Systems

an exceptional performer with energy and applied enthusiasm — professional young man with tremendous potential - Head of PFI, E-oN

a constructive and valuable member of the predevelopment team – able to undertake any task the team require of him – dealing with purchasing, marketing and production
– Team Leader Bosch Garden Products

Students also find the scheme valuable:

very beneficial to understanding design for manufacture — a high level of responsibility was good and made me feel a valued member of the company

I have had my own project to run from concept work to talking with manufacturers.

Overall a fantastic year. I never thought I would benefit so much from an industrial year. Having so much responsibility has made me grow up rapidly.

Conclusion

If you or your company would like to be involved with the Diploma of Professional Studies scheme then please contact Mrs Sue Johnson at Loughborough University at the following address:
s.johnson@lboro.ac.uk
01509 228319

Download the Diploma of Professional Studies PDF

Related posts:

1. Design Centre Review 2011 Quick review of Loughborough students work at the New Designers...
2. Writing Skills for Designers Do graphic designers need good writing skills? This article looks...
3. Speculative Design and You Whether a designer, business owner or academic, you may have...