Quote of the Day
“Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them.”
~Salvador Dali
Groupon-Like Site for for Creative Professionals?
According to designmodo.com; “This is a website offering exclusive one-day deals for web designer tools. It can be an e-book, icons, designer software, templates, membership to a professional resource etc. Each deal lasts limited time and allows saving up to 60-70%.”
Looks like this could be a great idea, check it out here!
How to Do More in Less Time
Often, I can be on the computer all day long. Sure, it’s my job — writing, planning, interviews, video, project coordination. However, I find that I have no time for thinking, reading and other things I can and should be doing in the course of the day.
Am I alone? Do you feel this way? Maybe in your case, you are only reading, and not updating your blog. Maybe you’re on the phone all day long selling to new clients and never visiting a customer.
Read the full article here! (via openforum.com)
Quote of the Day
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep”
~ Scott Adams
How to Use LinkedIn for Your Web Design Business
Maybe you’re already one of the 85 million users on LinkedIn, or perhaps you’re just getting started. Regardless of where you fall on the social networking spectrum, LinkedIn has a number of new applications and features to enrich your experience.
In this post, we’ll look at ways to beef up your profile as well as use new applications and sections to optimize your networking with clients, prospects and others in the design community. We’ll also cover how to find design-related groups on LinkedIn, exploit the new features of company pages to showcase your design work and keep up with developments on LinkedIn.
Read the full article here! (via www.webdesignerdepot.com)
How to Decide on Resume Length
“How long should my resume be?” is one of the most commonly asked questions about resumes. Not too long ago, job seekers were told that a resume should never exceed one page. Those who broke this golden rule were destined for the circular file.
Times have changed, and so has the criteria for resume length. The new guideline is: A resume should be long enough to entice hiring managers to call you for job interviews. That may sound vague, but there is no hard-and-fast length rule that works for everyone. Factors to consider include career objective, occupation, industry, years of experience, number of employers, scope of accomplishments and education/training.
Read the full article here! (www.monster.com)
Quote of the Day
“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”
~ Diana Scharf Hunt
How to Get More Design Referrals
Freelancers and small design companies do not have large marketing budgets. There may be a few dollars here or there to spend on Google AdWords, Facebook ads or perhaps a small print campaign, but by and large we survive on one things: referrals.
When someone begins his/her freelance design career, all we have are referrals: from our friends, schoolmates, even our parents and family. As we land our first clients and complete our first design jobs, it’s important to realize the importance of referrals and think about how to maximize them. The more clients we get, the more opportunity for referrals, which brings in more clients, and so on. It grows exponentially and, if you take steps to ensure you get more referrals, you may not have to spend a cent on advertising. Ever.
Read the full article here! (via www.paper-leaf.com)
45+ Unique Examples of Coming Soon Pages
When launching a new site, it is important to build up buzz before actually revealing your masterpiece to the public. That way you can have an eagerly waiting audience to hit the ground running! This next post will not only help you start a promising site, but will guide and inspire you to create your own sensational “coming soon” page to build up buzz. First impressions mean a lot, so make the most out of every opportunity. Here are 45+ Unique Examples of Coming Soon Pages. Check out this list that we came up with just for you. Enjoy! (via www.youthedesigner.com)
Quote of the Day
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
~Mary Lou Cook
Behavioral Job Interviews
Behavioral based job interviews are based on learning how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. The logic is that past behavior will predict future performance. Here’s information on behavioral job interviews, including behavioral job interview questions, how to prepare for a behavioral interview, and techniques and strategies for acing a behavioral job interview.
What is a behavioral job interview?
Candidates for employement often ask what the difference is between a regular job interview and a behavioral interview. There isn’t a difference in the actual format of the job interview. You will still meet with an interviewer and respond to interview questions. The difference is in the type of interview questions that will be asked.
Read the full article by Alison Doyle on about.com!
An Introduction to Color Theory for Web Designers
(tutsplus.com) – Today we’re going to learn the importance of color in Web Design and how to choose a pleasing color scheme. This article is part of our Basix series, which is aimed at providing practical and concise explanations of design principles for those with little design experience… let’s get started!
Who this Article is Written for:
This article is written for people that are just starting to learn formal design principles. It is not meant to be a comprehensive study of how to apply color to a design (we’ll have plenty of those in the future), but rather, it’s an overview for those looking for practical advice that will help them approach color theory within the context of a web design project.
I’m writing this because I’ve always found it difficult to decide on a color scheme that works well for a project; it’s probably one of the toughest decisions that I have to make as a designer. However, by learning the basics of Color Theory and some excellent tools available on the web, I’ve been able to strengthen my designs and account for this weakness.
Read the full article here!
Chicago Event Tonight – AIGA Chicago Mentor Program
Firebelly Design
Need a Little Design Therapy?
Winter’s in the air, and with it, another season of the AIGA Chicago Mentor Program. Anyone interested in joining the group sessions, getting great advice and sharing your resources is encouraged to attend our winter session kickoff event at 6:30pm on Thursday, January 27 at Firebelly Design, 2701 W. Thomas in Chicago.
The focus of this session’s small group is on mixed disciplines. Whether you’re a print designer looking to learn more about web design or a photographer wanting to know what art directors want, it’s a great opportunity to learn from your peers.
See the full details here on aigachicago.org!
Quote of the Day
“People don’t choose their careers; they are engulfed by them.”
~ John Dos Passos
8 Portfolio Phrases That Send the Wrong Message
Like corporate website, which use phrases like “innovative strategies” and “leading-edge solutions” ad naseum, many freelancers’ online portfolios tend to use some of the same tired phrases again and again. I combed through dozens of freelance websites (many of them discovered through FreelanceSwitch’s Find a Freelancer Directory) to create this list of over-used and ineffective phrases.
If you’re using these in your own portfolio, consider finding other phrases so you can stand out from the pool of eager freelancers.
Read the full article here! (via freelanceswitch.com)
7 Tips for Starting a Coworking Space
Jeff Park started out looking for space his company could share with a handful of other independent workers in order to reduce rent. Bill Jacobson and Dave Ulrich ended up with a lot of extra space after the main tenant that shared their sublease decided to move out. And Tony Bacigalupo decided to try working with a group of people that called their rotating work event a Jelly. All of them ended up founding coworking spaces — Ravenswood Coworking in Chicago, WorkBar in Boston, and New Work City in Manhattan, respectively.
No matter what brought you to the conclusion that you’d like to start a coworking space, a good place to start is asking veterans for their advice. We’ve taken the liberty of starting this process for you. Here are seven pointers founders gave us for how to get a coworking space started. (via www.mashable.com)
Quote of the Day
“The word career is a divisive word. It’s a word that divides the normal life from business or professional life.”
~ Grace Paley
Get a Design Job!
(www.aiga.org) RitaSue Siegel’s Get a Design Job, now in its third edition, is available to the AIGA community at no charge. Originally written for Innovation, the quarterly publication of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Siegel offers advice to emerging designers looking to break into the world of design, designers eager to improve their positions, as well as recently downsized managers and executives.
From performing a self-evaluation on the core design competencies that can add value to a wide range of businesses, to navigating different types of interviews and networking situations, Get a Design Job offers practical advice for the changing roles of today’s designers.
Read the full article here!
Awesome Collection Of Creative Websites For Your Inspiration
“Some of most impressive websites out there. They are all individually designed, but have one thing in common: They are stunning.” (via whatanicepost.com)
Quote of the Day
“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
~ Steve Jobs