Filed under Abstract, adobe illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, design tutorial, Graphic design, guide, How to, illustration, illustrator tutorial, lines, photoshop tutorial, Tutorial, Tutorials, vibrant by Chris Spooner
Follow this step by step tutorial to create a cool abstract lines design with awesome vibrant lighting effects. We’ll use Illustrator’s easy tools to create the vector linework then add a range of glows, colours and effects in Photoshop to finish the design with a cool grainy but luminous style. It’s difficult to describe this [...]
Continue Reading "How To Create a Grainy Abstract Lines Poster Design"Filed under Design, dribbble, guide, How to, interface, photoshop, photoshop tutorial, Portfolio, Tips, Tutorial, Tutorials, Web Design, website by Chris Spooner
Follow this step by step tutorial to create a simple single page portfolio website design that will self-update using shots from your Dribbble profile. In this first of the two part series we’ll go through the process of designing the website concept in Photoshop, before coding up the HTML and CSS next week. The portfolio [...]
Continue Reading "Build a Basic Dribbble Fed Portfolio Website (Part 1/2)"Filed under Coding, CSS, css3, form, How to, HTML, techniques, Tips, Tutorial, Tutorials, Web Design by Chris Spooner
Follow this step by step tutorial to create a traditional pen & paper inspired contact form in HTML and CSS. We’ll use a mix of basic and intermediate CSS techinques to give the form the appearance of a letter, then use the @font-face CSS property to transform the digital text into handwriting. The form we’re [...]
Continue Reading "How To Build a Handwritten Letter Style Contact Form"Filed under efficiency, finding more time, How to, productivity, time management, timesave hacks, Timesavers by Laura Spencer
Like most freelancers, my time is important. I have to spend it wisely if I want to earn a profit.…
Continue Reading "Super Easy Timesavers for Super Busy Freelancers"Filed under How to, Project Estimates, Project Estimating, scope, Task-Based Estimating by Laura Spencer
Do you know how much time your next project will take? As a freelancer, you should at least have an…
Continue Reading "Three Easy Tips to Help You Effectively Estimate Project Time"Filed under Dealing with Freelancing Problems, freelancing challenges, freelancing problems, Getting Started, How to, problem-solving by Laura Spencer
Sure, everyone faces some challenges from time to time. But, due to the unique nature of freelancing perhaps freelancers are…
Continue Reading "How to Deal with the Unique Challenges That Freelancers Face"Filed under Freelancing Boundaries, How to, Lifestyle, Setting Boundaries, time management, work/life balance by Laura Spencer
Do you crave a balance between your work and your personal life?
Most freelancers do, but the challenges of working…
Filed under Business, Design, Graphic design, How to, Outsourcing, personal projects, productivity, Web Design, Workflow by Kendra Gaines
As creatives, most times we feel like we can do it all, or we are put in a position to do it all. We typically take on a ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ mentality, that can either help or harm us. For some odd reason, there seems to be a discrepancy of sorts when it comes to doing the work for [...]
Continue Reading "Should designers do personal projects?"Filed under Client Agreements, Coming to Terms, contracts, Freelancing negotiating, How to, Managing Clients, negotiations by Laura Spencer
Negotiations are key for successful freelancers. Nearly every project starts with negotiations (or if it doesn’t, it should). Freelancers who…
Continue Reading "Do You Make These 5 Common Negotiating Mistakes?"Filed under Get organized, How to, information overload, Lifestyle, organize your information by Laura Spencer
You know the stuff I mean: ebooks, videos, books, training materials, blog posts you mean to read, and so on……
Continue Reading "What to Do About All that Stuff"Filed under better bottom line, bottom line, How to, more earnings, productivity, Profit margin, profitability by Laura Spencer
Do you want a bigger bottom line?
As a freelancer business owner, you probably DO want bigger bottom line–you just…
Filed under How to, Marketing, networking, networking online, Social Media, social media strategy, strategy for social media, using social media by Laura Spencer
How can a freelancer develop an effective social media strategy with a reasonable investment of time?
As freelancers we rely…
Filed under Avoiding Miscommunication, Bad Communiation, Communication Problems, Communication Tips, Good communication, How to, Managing Clients, Miscommunication by Laura Spencer
Miscommunication is a huge obstacle to building a successful relationship. And, since freelancer/client trust is based on relationship–miscommunication can be…
Continue Reading "25 Tips for Avoiding Communication Problems"Filed under action steps, Business Planning, freelancing vision, Getting Started, goals, How to, measurement by Laura Spencer
Some freelancers strongly advocate the use of business plans for freelancers. Other freelancers will tell you that you don’t really…
Continue Reading "4 Essential Elements of Freelance Business Planning"Filed under diy, DIY (Do It Yourself), diy spa, How to, shower spa by David Delony
Fancy shower heads are great, but unfortunately the prices are also fancy. A post on Instructables shows you how to build your own spa shower head with parts you can pick up for a few bucks at the hardware store.
You’ll need a 1/2 inch PVC pipe, …
Filed under find a freelancer, freelance hiring tips, How to, How to hire a freelancer, tips for clients by Laura Spencer
You’re thinking about hiring a freelancer. That’s why you’re reading this post.
You may be a freelancer yourself (because freelancers…
Filed under How to, simple freelancer, simple freelancing lifestyle, simplify freelancing business by Lexirodrigo
Having a simple lifestyle is common to freelancers. For some, a simpler lifestyle is imposed upon them by the reduced…
Continue Reading "How You Can Simplify Your Freelancing Business"Filed under diy, DIY (Do It Yourself), food art, How to, olive art, penguin art by Netta Siach Lindenfeld
Diana Adams from bitrebels, thought that Black Olive Penguin are a common appetizer and that everybody knows how to make them. Once she realized that its not the case she decided that she will write a post about it and teach us all how to make the…
Continue Reading "DIY: Black Olive Penguin"Filed under freelancing, goals, How to, networking, niche marketing, Success, Tips, Web Design by Kendra Gaines
There are a lot of articles that will try to tell you what you are doing wrong and how to fix things, but the truth is the majority of them aren’t super honest. They want to get you to sign up for something to sell your work, and that’s supposed to put you on your [...]
Continue Reading "4 reasons you still aren’t successful"Filed under Design, graphic designer, How to, Opinion column by Tom Ross
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One of the major threats to your career as a graphic designer is to let your work stagnate and your improvement slow down. It’s very easy to fall into a comfort zone where you stop exploring new design techniques and simply stick with what you know. This is why most designers experience the greatest learning curve early on, and why after they ‘find their style’ their future improvement is far more limited.
Continue Reading "How to Improve as a Graphic Designer"