Posts Tagged ‘designer’
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Roman (crowdSPRING username: Romasuave ) today. Roman lives and work in Northridge, California.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
My name is Roman Faiman, I am 37, husband to a wonderful woman and father to 2 amazing children, Ben who is 7 and Olivia, 4. We reside in Northridge, a suburb of Los Angeles and I do all of my designing from the comforts of my home studio/Kids play room.
I have a full time job, an Art Department Manager for a printing company, I handle all of the work that comes in and I prep it for printing, which is at times an arduous task since many so called graphic design gurus don’t really know how to set up their files for proper printing. On top of that I also spend a good 30-40% of my day creating designs for our clients. Our biggest account that I am involved in designing is The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, for whom I have designed anything from brochures to presentation folders to event books.
After my work day is over it’s time to work for my company, 4-8 Designs, my main focus at the moment is photo retouching, with print design, including logos, stationary secondary. My website is www.4-8designs.com
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Tags: 12 questions, blog, community, creative, creativity, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, design, designer, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, inspiration, interview, logo, logo design, logos, Roman Faiman, Romasuave, weekly glance of awesomeness
Posted in Awesomeness, community, crowdsourcing, design, inspiration, Interviews, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Svetlana (crowdSPRING username: Allmond) today. Svetlana lives and work in Sofia Bulgaria.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
To be honest I don’t have the slightest idea (how I happened to be in the spotlight) why I am in the spotlight. It’s nice to meet you. My name (translates into) means “light”. There are scattered letters in my left hand, and northern wind in my hairs. I imagine the light, I spend my time playing the space clockwise and back, searching for the meanings, 
reaching for horizons, wondering why do we alibi only for what we’ve done, and not for what we never dare to do.
I live in Sofia | Bulgaria | (Southeastern) Europe.
2. How did you become interested in design?
Do you remember the magic of the dark room, the way the images appear on the white paper…?
I was in love with photography since I was13. As I graduated MA in Fine Art Photography, I was flying for a private air company, and working as a TV presenter for a photography edition. A teacher of mine used to say that living on a peninsula we’re (torned) torn between the water and the land. My heart was torn in few directions and neither of them was enough for itself. I think that the design gives the best opportunity to (see in your mind’s eye) envision in the most creative way ideas, visions and traveling … of brain mind, a perfect (symbiosis among) connection between water, land and air.
3. Which of your designs are your favorites and why?
First of all I have 2 favourite design projects – my daughter Ema (8) and my son Dimiter (almost 6). They never stop inspiring me, teaching me, (ushering me into the land of creativity) showing me how to be more creative. It’s amazing how we can discover the world through the eyes of the children. About my graphic design projects – certainly I try to give my best for every single design, and I feel happy and satisfied when my works are appreciated. I always say to my clients that they have to be 100% happy and comfortable with the result, so this is what matters to me – when a good idea finds the right way to show off. Not everything I like is what the client likes, so what is important is that we meet in between.
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Tags: 12 questions, Allmond, community, creative, creativity, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, design, designer, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, inspiration, package design, packaging design, print design, weekly glance of awesomeness
Posted in Awesomeness, community, crowdsourcing, design, inspiration, Interviews, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Debs & Johnny (crowdSPRING username: UsBeingUs ) today. Debs & Johnny live and work in the countryside of central Portugal.
1. Please tell us about yourselves.
Well firstly what a lovely surprise to be asked to do this, we are touched and honoured – thank you – you will certainly get to see some of the diversity within your crowd 
Well here goes, our story……I think it could be long, so I’ll leave our previous professional background to our own website if anyone wants to know it. But UsBeingUs started really with us finding us – Johnny & I had both previously been married and when we met we were literally start again teenagers in our mid thirties – we were living in England at the time and had very normal busy lives, however we were on an uphill climb as we were start again financially too – we were often ‘stressed out’ and to be honest not necessarily the nicest of people, we had
become snappy, irritable, with little time to relax and enjoy what’s real – thankfully we recognised who we were becoming and felt it was time to try things a different way to see if we could get a bit more balance in our lives – I have traveled quite a bit previously and whilst I love my homeland, I also love the warmth and slower, more relaxed lifestyle that some other countries manage to lead – to be honest we didn’t really know what we were looking for we just knew that we wanted to experience something different, try life a different way – so we took the plunge to experience a more rural lifestyle and moved to Brittany in France in 2003. We were lucky enough to find a beautiful former farm, which we renovated together. A busy time for us as we had a big mortgage and bills to pay – but being in the countryside with space around us did give us the opportunity to experience a different way of life – we chose not have a television, which was one of the best decisions we ever made, everyone always asks us what you do???
Well we got in touch with our surroundings to begin with and we talked, we read, we surfed the net & we opened our minds to new ideas – we began finding out who we really were and discovering what felt right for us – we became vegans, our furry friends started to find us. We also took the time to teach ourselves new skills, the main ones for us, our art and graphic design, passions that have grown and grown
We decided to continue to follow our love of a more natural life & our creative passions – so we gave up the house, the heating, the running water, the dishwasher, the luxuries, the mortgage and the bills and have opted for living in a yurt here in stunning countryside of central Portugal – We have a lovely riverside plot of land and are surrounded by nothing other than nature. We live with our furry family of animals, all of whom have found their way to us one way or another, we have 14 gorgeous dogs and a cat – not planned, just fate
We are lucky enough to have had the love and patience of our family and friends, who may not quite understand what on earth we are doing, but nonetheless give us their support both with their love and their finances at times – thank you so much – you are all here with us in our hearts x
We have just had our third anniversary of living here in Portugal and so far so good, there are certainly challenges and certainly some we were not expecting, having so many dogs was one of those So it took a while with many ups and downs, but this last year, we have been finding our rhythm and so far so good – We love our ‘off grid’ lifestyle here and in time we hope to become as self sufficient as possible with a forest food garden & permaculture system – we are also just starting the process of building our own handmade ecological home to accommodate us all – That should be fun
We have now become I guess what could be described in today’s terms as an alternative couple, with a wide range of interests and ‘cookey ideas’ but in fact as you can possibly see from our art we are probably more traditional than most…
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Tags: 12 questions, blog, community, creative, creativity, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, Debs & Johnny, design, designer, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, illustration, inspiration, interview, logo, logo design, logos, UsBeingUs, weekly glance of awesomeness, writing
Posted in Awesomeness, community, crowdsourcing, design, inspiration, Interviews, Uncategorized, writing | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 17th, 2011
What is a freelancer if not a small business? Just like small businesses, freelancers must engage in marketing, manage payables and receivables and other accounting tasks, perform HR functions, direct production, and plan strategy.
1. Planning and strategy. There are lots of great tools and apps out there that will help you to plan and execute great strategy for your freelance career or business, but the greatest tool you can use is knowledge. The Harvard Business Review is probably the leading publication for business and their an online journal contains thousands of articles nonbusiness theory, practice, and technique. The current issue of HBR includes articles which can provide great value to freelancers, such as “Stop Procrastinating…Now,” “Customer Loyalty in the Twitter Era,” and “he Secret to Dealing With Difficult People: It’s About You.”
2. Marketing. The single greatest marketing tool that a freelancers can use is standing directly in front of you: your clients. Happy customers talk, and when they talk about you or your business, the people they speak to listen. The typical freelancer will receive well over half of their new clients through word of mouth, and strong WOM builds business. Wikipedia defines it thus, “Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. Two great resources are Salesforce and Zoho.com. These two online resources allow you to plan and manage marketing campaigns, manage lead generation, automate sales management, perform inventory and customer support functions, and analyze and visualize customer data.
3. Managing HR. The human resources manager is typically one of the most important (and feared) members of the corporate management team. They typically manage processes that touch every employee every day: payroll, health benefits, incentive programs, performance reviews, pension and retirement plans, and vacation policies. But freelancers do all of this on their own, and more. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Their website has a ton of resources for small businesses and freelancers, including articles, forms and templates, and user groups and forums, as well as information on other resources such as health care benefits, employee assistance programs, and retirement plans.
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Tags: accounting, client, CRM, customer, customer service, designer, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, freelancer, graphic design, inspiration, leadership, marketing, project management, small biz, small business, smallbiz, start-up, startup, startups, Strategy
Posted in business, How To, inspiration, marketing, start-up tips, Strategy | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature Dragan Lončar (crowdSPRING username: draganfly) today. Dragan lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
Hi everybody! I am Dragan. I finished graphic design at Belgrade University some fourteen years ago and ever since this is mostly what I’ve been doing, getting to the level of jobs like Art and Creative Director. Apart form my inherited immediate family, I have another family, consisting of my fellow human rights defenders, and the youngsters that need some support in building self-esteem and major encouragement, since it is very difficult to be gay in Serbia. I also have enemies, but I assure you that I never did anything to turn them against me, except for my liberal sense of humour and their unfounded envy. I lived almost a year in Helsinki, Finland, and over six years in London, UK, where I had various experiences in fast paced market, even to the point of being a Creative Partner in my own company that was buried after several unpaid pitches, just after a half million pounds budget branding and launch campaign. Somebody would say that I was never bored in my life as sometimes I cannot recall all the details. Also, because my design interests and experiences are so diverse. I practice Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism as the tool of global peace movement through the SGI organisation, changing my karma and doing something what is called ‘the human revolution’. I am one of the leaders in SGI Serbia. I love cooking the mix of Mediterranean, Scandinavian, Japanese and Thai food, and love swimming and jogging. All of that, of course, when I can grab some time from super needy clients and horrible socio-political situation in Serbia. Currently I count 38 years of age, but who’s counting… I intend to stay forever young!
2. How did you become interested in design?
When I was a child, my parents were not really poor but we lived very modestly. I was never bribed with toys, or I always wanted the most expensive ones which they couldn’t afford. I was always inclined toward quality rather than quantity. Since my sister is much older than me, I could be considered as a single child who was often alone. So I spent time making castles of playing cards, or I would recycle any packaging that would come into my hands, and make furniture, cars, or anything that I could resemble or that took my fancy at given moment. Later, I don’t see if I really had a conscious choice. It was more an inclination that had to be fulfilled.
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Tags: 12 questions, ads, advertising, blog, branding, community, creative, creativity, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, design, designer, Dragan Lončar, draganfly, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, inspiration, interview, marketing, package design, packaging design, weekly glance of awesomeness
Posted in Awesomeness, business, community, crowdsourcing, design, inspiration, Interviews, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Although project galleries on crowdSPRING can be visible to all users, crowdSPRING offers buyers the option to make their project galleries completely private.
We put together this short tutorial to help you understand the differences between public and private galleries and to answer some of the most common questions we regularly hear from users, including: Do public or private galleries get more entries? Which one is better for which type of project? Can gallery settings be changed after a project is posted?
PUBLIC (open) GALLERY
In a design project, the entries in a public gallery are visible to all users (in writing projects, the galleries are always private). If the project has an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) the gallery is visible after the NDA is executed.
When buyers score entries, creatives can only see their own scores and comments from the buyer (until after a project is awarded, when scores – but not comments – are revealed). Creatives can use the “Project stats” tool at the top of the gallery to decide if the buyer is active in the project (this tool show the total number of comments and the score distribution in the project).
PROs
FOR THE BUYER - Although opinions are split about open and closed galleries, we’ve found that more creatives tend to participate in open gallery projects (there are plenty of exceptions, because the size of the award, quality of the brief, and other factors also play an important role). Since we make it very easy for anyone to report potential violations of intellectual property, open galleries also make it easier for other participants to flag problem entries.
FOR THE CREATIVE – The creatives can see the competition, how other designers solve the problem, and bring up their own designs accordingly. They may also see if they can add something new to the project, or realize the competition is too stiff, and choose to move on to something else.
CONs
FOR THE BUYER – If a buyer is concerned about privacy, open galleries may not be the best option. A public gallery will allow others to see the ideas in the gallery. So if you’re concerned about privacy, you should definitely consider a private gallery. Also, some creatives only prefer to work in private gallery projects. This is a minor point because overall, participation in open gallery projects is very high.
FOR THE CREATIVE- If a creative has a unique concept, posting in an open gallery will show others that concept – and some creatives are leery of letting other creatives see (and potentially copy) their work in progress. We have strict rules about concept copying (see Q&A 14 in our post about intellectual property) – if an original concept is copied, the creative can easily report the entry by clicking ”Report violation” in the details view for that entry.
PRIVATE (closed) GALLERY
In a private gallery, only the buyer can see all of the submissions. Creatives only see their own entries in that project.
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Tags: blog, community, creative, creativity, crowdspring, design, designer, gallery, graphic design, graphics design, logo design, private gallery, public gallery
Posted in community, crowdsourcing, design, Site Updates | 5 Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature MJ (crowdSPRING username: UpQuark) today. MJ lives and works in the desert southwest of the US.
1. Please tell us about yourself.
My name is MJ (I’m a female “Junior”). Contrary to popular belief, I was not spawned, but rather hatched in the northeast region of the US. I live in the desert southwest US, and am the youngest of four girls who, oddly and inexplicably, were not hatched. The explanation is classified, even to me.
Okay, so random tidbit (or is it random? We’ll see…): I’m ambidextrous. Not in a perfect-handwriting-with-either-hand kind of way, because my handwriting isn’t… oh wait! My handwriting is equally bad with either hand, so there ya have it. Clarification issue solved.
I actually do believe that my ambidexterity translates into everything I do, in that my logical and creative sides tend to balance each other out, or slap each other around, depending on what’s needed. I’m often frenetically creative and possess hyperfocus superpowers (unless I see something shiny, and not in a girly way; I mean like futuristic spacecraft shiny. Or escaped mercury). My sister and I can riff on creative ideas faster than a… something really fast, or get extremely excited about something really geeky. If I get too hyped, there’s cheap entertainment to be had. Think superball let loose on a vibrating surface.
So, linear background.
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Tags: 12 questions, blog, community, creative, creativity, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, design, designer, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, inspiration, interview, logo, logo design, logos, MJ, UpQuark, weekly glance of awesomeness
Posted in Awesomeness, community, crowdsourcing, design, inspiration, Interviews, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
Talent, reputation and strong communication skills go a long way to winning clients, but it’s also important to make sure that your freelancing business reflects a strong brand.
Remarkably, many freelancers don’t brand their own freelancing business. This is a mistake because your potential clients will form quick impressions about you and your business.
Branding reflects how others perceive you and your freelancing business. The most successful designers and writers – including those who work on crowdSPRING – have taken the time to think about their freelancing businesses, to create strong logos, upload strong avatars (that we display to potential buyers), write great copy in their profiles, and otherwise build a strong brand outside of crowdSPRING – on their own personal sites and elsewhere. Clients do notice.
Here are several tips to keep in mind as you develop your brand:
A Brand Should Have A Good Name and Logo
A strong name is easily recognizable and is important to good branding. The dilemma for many freelancers is whether to name their business after themselves, or come up with another name.
Using your own name is of course, easiest – and if your name carries some credibility in your circles, perhaps most effective. On the other hand, using your own name does have some disadvantages – some clients might perceive you as less professional and less serious about your design or writing business. Some names also are much more difficult to spell or pronounce. This is especially important if you’re looking for freelancing work internationally.
Today, it’s difficult to find a good name and an available domain; many short names have already been taken). However, plenty of successful brands have proven that there are many different ways to create a good name. For example, many successful brands use real words (Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Yelp), some use misspelled words (Google), compounds (Facebook, Firefox, WordPress), phrases (LinkedIn, SecondLife) and other variations. One of my favorite freelance brands is Graham Smith’s “imjustcreative“. If you’re interested in more examples – especially if you’re struggling to find a name for your company – I recommend you read this post about naming your company.
When you start thinking about building your brand, ask yourself the following questions:
What do you hope to accomplish with your freelancing business?
What do your customers and potential customers currently think of you/your business?
What do you want your customers to think when they think of your business?
How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
The above questions are important not only for selecting a strong company name, but also for selecting a strong logo.
As designers know, the logo is an important element of a brand. As you think about your logo, keep your audience and products/services in mind because you want your logo to reflect your business. A good logo builds trust and a strong logo will help to pull your brand together.Think about the branding of some of the world’s most admired freelance designers as you consider how you can pull your own brand together.
A Brand Should Be Consistent
Some freelancers and freelancing businesses mistakenly modify their brand message depending on their audience (or short-change certain audiences altogether). For example, a business might take a more serious tone on their website but a very lighthearted tone on Twitter. This approach is ultimately ineffective. To build and maintain a strong brand, every aspect of your brand should be as good as your service and you must be consistent in presenting your brand to prospects and customers. This includes not only your business’s name, logo, overall aesthetic design, but also includes your marketing materials, website, business cards, deliverables, etc.
Brand consistency requires attention to detail. Successful brands communicate in a consistent voice across all mediums, have a consistent look to their communications and use collateral materials that support their brand messaging. For example, when you deliver proofs in a project on crowdSPRING, do you use a proof template that also includes your own brand?
Why should you care about brand consistency? You should care because brand consistency leads to familiarity, and familiarity leads to trust. It’s impossible to build long term relationships with clients and potential clients unless you build trust with them.
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Tags: brand, branding, designer, freelance, freelancer, imjustcreative, logo, marketing
Posted in business, community, crowdsourcing, design, How To, marketing, Strategy | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.
We’re very proud to feature zaxgarner (crowdSPRING username: zaxgarner) today. He lives and works in North Carolina.
Hey cS Community!
Thanks for the opportunity to join you today.
Life has been busy, so I will drop a few brief lines for a quick read & then we can all get back to designing!
1. Please tell us about yourself.
I’m a self described simple man…. 02′ Grad Appalachian State University (the real ASU…in Boone NC) – I think this was also Kevin’s ol’ stomping ground! I majored in Graphic Design & Marketing… in an attempt to balance the business side with the creative. The design 
department was big on typography & fine art ‘which was a huge plus’. I took classes in casting, photography, clays, & metals etc… I think I could have got by with a little less art history though! The marketing courses were awesome, I enjoyed learning how design/creative work enters our marketplace & society.
Former Rowdy Kid, Construction worker, Repo-Man, & Tattoo artist…. To Graphic Designer. Also a converted Christian since 04′ attempting to operate under Col.3:17.
2. How did you become interested in design?
I started my design career with non-commissioned murals. You know; crayons on walls etc… & tracing drawing books to keep up with my older brothers. I won a few art contests in kindergarten & found out that this design thing could pay off – The hook was set!
3. What is your favorite project from the past year?
In listening to a podcast I found out Concealment Solutions – in Orem Utah was hosting an independent T-Shirt design competition for their best selling concealment holster – ‘The Black Mamba’. In working with the owner we got the Tee nailed down & the project evolved into a complete branding package for: Concealment Solution’s primary logo, Misc. Product logos, Business cards & web headers etc… I still have a great working relationship with them… with future projects on the horizon! They sent a me a bunch of gear as an added bonus!
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Tags: 12 questions, community, creative, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, design, designer, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, illustration, inspiration, interview, logo, logo design, logos, weekly glance of awesomeness, zaxgar.com, zaxgarner
Posted in Awesomeness, community, crowdsourcing, design, inspiration, Interviews, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
If you are a creative, you know the galleries in projects can be filled with page after page of designs, and everyone is trying to stand out from the crowd. There are several techniques you can use to display your designs that may help draw the eye of the buyer and the decision makers on their team.
First, you need to start with your brilliant design idea. Next – display your concept in a way that will capture attention. Here are a few ideas…
Versatility
For logo projects, it is important that your design is versatile enough to work wherever a company will want to use it. The design will need to work on the web, in print, and on many other types of collateral.
For true flexibility, show that the logo can work in color, on a dark background and light background, and in back and white.
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Tags: branding, community, creative, creativity, crowdsourcing, crowdspring, design, designer, graphic design, graphics design, graphics designer, inspiration, logo, logo design, logos, Strategy, weekly glance of awesomeness
Posted in Awesomeness, design, How To, inspiration, Strategy, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
