providing graphic design, branding, photography and marketing expertise to denver and the world

Quote of the Week:

Why it's Awesome to be a freelancer

While I agree with many of the points Andy makes in 10 Reasons It Sucks to Be a Freelancer, I think (if you are a good fit for the job) it's a great thing to be. With Notchcode going into its tenth (!) year, and with me going at it full-time since 2002, here's my perspective on why being a freelancer rocks:

1. You are your own boss.

This is the excellent part everyone who strikes out on their own sees when they pull the trigger and start working for themselves. Now, by "boss", I mean "someone who sets the agenda, schedule, and priorities in your life". Your REAL boss is your clientele, but that's true whether you're working for yourself or for someone else, so we'll set that part of things aside. What I'm talking about here is the day-to-day aspects of having a job. Don't like working in the morning? Fine: No eight AM meetings, ever again. Like to go for a bike ride before work (as I do)? Go for it. Need to pick up the kids and mind them from three PM till dinnertime? No prob. You set the schedule.
(CAVEAT): This also means you need to be responsible enough to work time into your schedule to actually get the work done, meet with your clients, do your bookkeeping, and so on, at other times during the day. Being your own boss doesn't mean being a slacker--it just means being the master of your schedule.

2. You get more work in a recession.

A cartographer I know is insanely busy this summer. I am busier now than this time last year. Why? A lot of in-house creative staff has been let go. And while I definitely shed a tear for my peeps (I was once one of them, too), it's also an opportunity to get more work. Just because there's a recession doesn't mean businesses and organizations need less creative work. Often, they need more: ad rates are cheaper in a recession, and you can build your brand on less budget--but only if you have the creative content and marketing work in place to take advantage of it. While small shops and freelancers have to pay more FICA, deal with their own health insurance, etc., our overhead in the short term is probably lower than an in-house asset (although losing the in-house body of experience and knowledge is a mighty hurdle to overcome with outside talent). I won't say that a lot of my larger clients are giving me huge projects (because they aren't), I will say that small entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the marketing vacuum right now to launch new projects (which need marketing and development) and larger organizations are doing a lot of smaller, strategic projects with the budgets they have on-hand. And small shops/freelancers are perfect for that.

3. Pick your clients.

Granted: When you're starting out, it's really hard to pick and choose whom you're working for. Nevertheless, one thing I've learned is it pays to be picky. If you sense a prospective client is going to be too high-maintenance, isn't a good fit for your capabilities or style, or doesn't have the budget for what you think the project needs, sack them before you get going (nicely. No need to be impolite). You'll find that as you build your clientele with groups you enjoy working with, they refer other good groups your way (mostly). It's a positive feedback loop that makes both you and your clients happy. If you like to do work for hot air balloonists, you'll probably find a lot of other hot air balloonists calling you after you do a great job for your first one.

4. You can work from anywhere, with anyone, in any location.

I work out of my home, my favorite independent coffee shop, my car, a park--anywhere I want. It allows me to put myself in the best place to get work done and to be creative. If I find things too distracting in one location, I pick up the laptop and the client folder and head somewhere else. Some companies enable this with a more open attitude, but not many. You can also find yourself working with a wide variety of organizations in lots of different locations. From my home base in Denver, I've done work for clients in Oregon, California, Washington, D.C., Iowa, and across Colorado. I've worked with vendors from all over the place, as well, which is another cool thing, if you like to see how people in other places do the same thing your usual vendors do. There is the time zone difference to consider, but it's never been a deal-breaker for me.

5. Set your price, your standards, and your scope.

We all know that the market has a say in how much you get paid (on average, anyhow); but there's a lot of latitude. If you are an expert with years of experience in a specific area of graphic design, or web development, for example, you can command a higher rate. You can also be more flexible than a larger firm can (less overhead for you to consider) when it comes to striking a deal with a client you really want to work with. And you have the satisfaction of being the person who sets a monetary value on your worth. You also don't have to do something you don't want to do. You don't have to settle for less, which your boss may want you to do if you're running over on time, for example. And you can define your practice to fit the specific scope of work you enjoy doing--and are awesome at. If you only like doing user experience work, just do user experience work. Refer your clients to someone else for the rest of the project (or better yet, bid on the job together and get a package deal).

Those are just five reasons why it's great to be a freelancer. There's lots more. I started being my own boss, exclusively, in the last recession, and haven't looked back, and am loving it. If you find yourself spending your coffee breaks, day after day, considering going solo: do the research, make a plan, and go for it!

Labels: advice, b2b, freedom, process, work

posted at 6:00 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

5.18.2009

Wet-plate photography from my alma mater, SCAD

Check out this series of wet-plate images made by Ellen Susan over at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Professor Craig Stevens (pictured) was my mentor there, and he has a long love of historical techniques. If things keep going the way they have been in the photographic industry, pretty soon any of us who like using film will end up making our own negatives...because at some point companies will stop mass-producing them.

Labels: photography, process, SCAD

posted at 1:33 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

4.28.2009

Initial design sketches of our future studio, and musings about "home-working"

Alex over at the Shedworking blog has posted a link to some initial sketches I did when we started thinking about building a separate studio space for Notchcode. He's tracking the progress of our work, which I'll admit motivates us even more to keep things rolling forward.

I wanted to mention that for graphic designers working from your home (or in our case, from just behind it) makes a lot of sense; any creative professional needs to craft a space for working that suits their creative process and methodology. Every creative is different, and is motivated differently; it's hard to get that same vibe in any kind of a structured office, no matter how creative-friendly the organization is (although I've seen it done well at some agencies and in-house divisions). That being said, Alex's blog is a great resource for people looking to relocate their work (creative or otherwise) closer to home. I'd also recommend the Unclutterer blog as a nice companion read to Shedworking, too.

Labels: advice, architecture, creativity, process, productivity, small business

posted at 11:19 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

4.06.2009

What's in a good design proposal

I've been writing a heck of a lot of proposals this month, and probably have written hundreds over the last ten years. Regardless of the scope of work, the type of project, or the size of the client or client's budget, there are some key things that you should look for in any design proposal, and they're all based on setting expectations--on both sides of the table.

What are you doing?

Spell out broadly, then specifically, then in excruciating detail, exactly what you're doing for the client.

How are you going to do it?

Discuss the process; how are you going to get from step one to step three?

When will it get done?

List a specific schedule for each step, including things the client is responsible for. Make sure they know they are an important part of the process by including them in the planning process for a schedule.

How much will it cost?

I'm of the opinion that the client likes to see the project fees broken down in some way, whether it's by job function (design/production/copywriting/etc.) or by project phase (research/conceptualization/layout/revisions/etc.). This helps them--and those above them who have to approve budgets, perhaps--to get a handle on where all the money (read:effort and time) is going.

Of course, this method is value-based vs. hourly-rate agnostic; you can place the full value of your concept work in the "Concept" row, or you can simply list a number based on your hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours you plan on spending on that task. I won't go nto detail here, as I've posted about it before, but design is a value-adding process, and I would advocate charging based on the value the client will get out of a certain function of your work, as opposed to merely the hourly rate you value your time at.

What will the client get?

List explicitly what the client will receive at the end of the project. In my case, it's the right to use a certain design for a certain application for a certain amount of time, for example. That, and the physical or electronic deliverables they receive comprise the total deliverable package they pay for.

Terms

Make sure you use a good, vetted set of terms. The AIGA and the Graphic Artists' Guild are good places to start; your lawyer is a good place to end.

Sign on the dotted line

Make sure you and your client sign the agreement. It is a contract, after all.


Photo via flickr by A National Acrobat

Labels: advice, b2b, graphic design, process, small business, work

posted at 5:21 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

3.04.2009

How designers charge

I've been asked by a number of new clients and friends how graphic designers charge for their services. Here's how I do it:

I prefer to charge on a per-project basis, estimating a fee that accurately reflects the value that the client will get out of both the intellectual property I create, and the physical/virtual expressions of that property. For example, if asked to create a direct mail brochure for a nonprofit client's annual giving campaign, the intellectual property includes:

• the research and investigation into their audience, marketplace (competition), and goals,


• the concept of the piece, including marketing direction and consultation,


• copywriting and visual hooks or elements unique to the piece, which integrate their branding and overall marketing strategy,

There's more, but those are the basics.

The expressions, of course, would be:

• the graphic design based on the approved concept,


• revisions to the design based on feedback from the client, focus groups, stakeholders, etc (although most of this feedback should be handled in the conceptual phase, it sometimes leaks over into the design phase),


• production of the approved design layout for printing, coding for e-mail or web, etc.


• overseeing fulfillment with vendors (printers, web hosts, programmers, etc.)

Partially, there is an hourly rate component embedded in here. As any small business owner knows, you have a certain hourly wage your workers (including yourself) must generate in order to make the business profitable. $x per hour for y man-hours a year minus expenses (including salaries, taxes, etc.) roughly equals your profitability. So you can't not have an hourly rate as some portion of the equation, at least from a pragmatic standpoint. Hourly rates are also an important part of out-of-scope work elements (say, you decide to add a micro-website on top of the previously-negotiated brochure project). Those rates can serve the practical function of covering your firm's time, while also acting as a bit of a warning to clients to try and get all the work covered in the original project, so as to avoid extra charges.

The hourly rate isn't the only factor in a project's cost, of course, because we are talking about the value that the finished work has to the client. If a client is only using this piece for a one-year campaign, it's not as valuable as something they will use over and over (like, say, a brand identity). Therefore, it will cost less than a more long-lived product, even if the work takes the same amount of time and effort to produce. Many of the books on the subject show a percentage calculation for this sort of value (or other values, such as turning over all the source files, or re-using a design that was only licensed for one-time use). The value is really the important thing to stress, both for designers and their clients, because it frames the product of a designer's work in the right way. Like architects, lawyers, scientists, and other professionals who generate intellectual property which is then applied in the "real world" around us, the value in a designer's output isn't in the mechanics of creation; it lies instead in the application of creative and analytical thinking to a particular problem, which results in a practical solution.

So with this overarching concept of charging based on value, it's important to note exactly what the client gets, in-hand, at the end of the process. Contrary to what most people assume, it's not the actual product of all that work; rather, it's the right to use that intellectual property in a certain way. It's a license.

That license may be limited by time or quantity, or geography (one year, 5,000 brochures, only in North America); or it may be completely unlimited. In the design world, it's usually an exclusive license, as a designer is making something that's "purpose-built"--made for a very specific application such as a capital campaign, or fundraiser, or season ticket brochure. A programmer may specify the license is non-exclusive, since more than one person may be using, say, their video game.

By specifying the scope of a license, the value can accurately be assessed, and the client doesn't pay more than the worth of the designer's work for the use the client needs. Why buy the bridge, when you just want to walk over it once?

This aspect--licensing--can flummox even business professionals who otherwise comprehend much more complex concepts. Many people assume that design work is more like carpentry: they ask you to build it, and take possession of it. This is a concept known as "work for hire", and many others (illustrators, photographers, graphic designers) have detailed why it's a bad idea, so I won't go into it here. Suffice to say that work for hire practices ultimately stifle creativity and can generate unwelcome issues for both the creator and the party commissioning the work. Both leading professional graphic arts organizations, the Graphic Artists' Guild explicitly opposes work for hire, and the AIGA also seems to concur (albeit without the vitriol or explicitness of the GAG).

So who sets prices? Ultimately, the market does. There's a reason multinational corporations pay millions of dollars for a brand identity: it's worth it. Likewise, there's a reason local businesses pay a certain amount for a new website: it's worth it. The great thing for businesses is they aren't forced to pay a certain amount for a service. Someone shopping the design market for, say, a website, will find a range of fees offered from different firms for the same thing. They would also see a range of capabilities, creative outlooks, and strategies for production and implementation from these firms. But there will be a range, and that range is determined by what those firms have independently determined a given project, with certain specifications, is worth to that type of client at that time. While there are guidelines (based on surveys made nationwide), they don't determine a given firm's rate for a project any more than market pressures in their area do.

It's also important to note that as I alluded to above, price is just one variable to consider when shopping a project around for a designer. Businesses and designers need to have compatible viewpoints on strategy, approach, attitude, working methods, and other things, to really have a successful outcome. I've found that if an organization is shopping exclusively on price, they will get what they pay for, and not get what they really want, or really need.

I should also note that the basic principles I mention here are used by most of the reputable professionals in the field. People just starting out, students looking for a little extra money for tuition--they may charge differently. I'm certainly not saying everyone should apply these principles, but I am saying lots of us do, which is why I've outlined them here.

Hopefully this has been informative. I'd love to answer your specific questions about the pricing process, (and bid on a project, if you have one in mind!). Just e-mail me or leave your questions in the comments.

Labels: advice, b2b, b2c, graphic design, licensing, process, work, work for hire

posted at 11:39 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

12.10.2008

Six marketing ideas for a recession

Now that the recession is "official", why not use it as an excuse to tighten things up?

Not tighten your belt, necessarily, but tighten up the way you use your marketing? What serves you well in a recession will serve you well when times are good, too. So, to that end, I bring you:

Six marketing ideas for use in a recession (and when things bounce back):

The amuse-bouche.

Give your clients a little something extra, that you enjoy doing and also benefits them.

Nontraditional uses of traditional marketing pathways

Forget about the coupon in direct mail. What about a "secret word" that brings your customers a discount or access to special services...that only "select" people receive via your permission-based email blasts...or getting your clients involved in an online dialog that benefits all of them (on your site, of course)...none of these suggestions are groundbreaking, but think about how much they cost, compared to traditional direct mail, etc....

Redefine what "essential" is, in relation to marketing and brand expressions

What's more important: meeting someone face-to-face, or sending ten people a direct mail piece talking about your services? Getting new clients, or strengthening ties with existing ones? Or both? Having that nice rounded die-cut corner on your letterhead, or spending that extra $250 on overhead for an informational seminar for your clients?

Now is the time to think hard about what you really need, and why you are using the marketing strategy you currently employ.

Less is more, and now's your chance to prove it

Do you really need a fax machine? Need a fax number on your business card? When was the last time you actually sent a fax versus an e-mail? Use cost-trimming as an excuse to streamline your communication pathways, clearing out the chaff of old technology and ways of thinking and replacing them with methods and channels that are relevant to your audience.

An opportunity to enter new markets or new marketing channels

How about an iPhone app that pushes relevant info to your target market? Outdoor advertising to get someone's attention focused on your issue? Permission-based e-mail campaigns to build brand impressions? If you haven't thought about these options, now is a good time to do so. Why? Because approaching people from another angle allows you to catch them off guard, and hopefully even give them information or motivation that they really need in order to get your company in their life.

Redefine your brand

Why not? If things are really going down the tubes, take a hard look at your existing brand. Is it reflective of your organization, your product, and your culture? Does it address the relationship between your organization and the public at this moment? What about in five years? Time and money spent refining your brand right now, when things are down, will get paid back in spades down the road, as other organizations play catch-up.

What are some ideas you have? Let's hear about them in the comments!

photo by jtloweryphotography

Labels: advertising, advice, b2b, b2c, branding, clients, creativity, design, graphic design, marketing, nonprofits, process, productivity, small business, web design

posted at 11:27 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

12.08.2008

Great Graphic Design makes everything better

One thing I remind people about all the time: everything anyone has ever made has been designed by someone. Great graphic design makes products, companies, and ideas more accessible by more people. Bad graphic design just makes products, companies, and ideas more opaque.

What differentiates the good from the bad? Lots of things. Focus. Brand integration. Accessibility. Grokability.

Paying someone $150, or $400, to design a logo will almost always result in bad design. Does that mean the designer who made it is not a good designer? Not necessarily. What it does mean is they aren't taking the time to find out what the essence of that brand should be. The same thing goes for paying a similar amount to design a website. Or a brochure. Even if you think about that money in terms of an hourly rate, rather than the value the design has for you (which is really how you should look at it), what does $150 translate to, in hours? I'll tell you: very, very little.

Would you trust a lawyer to draft the articles of incorporation for your business for $50? Would you let a $400 doctor operate on your heart?

Labels: advertising, advice, aiga, b2b, b2c, branding, graphic design, illustration, information graphics, interface, licensing, logo, marketing, nonprofits, packaging, process, ROI, seo, typography, visual information, web design, work

posted at 9:48 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

9.08.2008

Stop thinking about your marketing as a binary activity

Innovators work their magic in two ways: either they come up with a product/idea/process that should have been realized years ago, and make it real; or they turn something that already exists on its ear. Here's one literal example:

Three outlets in the space that used to accommodate just two. This is an excellent example of looking at a problem creatively, without letting the bounds of convention define your project. Innovative solutions don't take up any more space (in this case physical, in other cases mental/conceptual/strategic) than other approaches, while giving you and your audience a much more effective way of sharing information .

image via BoingBoing.

Labels: branding, creativity, graphic design, marketing, process

posted at 9:59 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

7.25.2008

If a Corporation had to design the STOP sign

Clients: don't let this be you. Not only will designers hate you, but the result will be pretty much what you see here. Designers: we feel your pain.

via Kottke.

Labels: humor, process

posted at 2:27 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

---

---