Busy May…

I signed up in Elance last February and it kept me really busy during April and May. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. It’s really great news and am still happy with the way things are going. Clients are great and I get to do more flexible designs. Most of my projects are catalogues and I’m really hoping to get more brochure projects.

Some of the projects I’ve finished so far with Elance: (You may click the title to download the entire PDF catalogue)

Shades of Monet Cosmetics

Michelle did an amazing job! Our staff really can not say enough. She is highly recommended from Shades of Monet Cosmetics. Thank you again Michelle for your hard work!

- Monet Colbert, Shades of Monet owner,

www.shadesofmonet.com

Coral Springs, Florida

The Brides Bouquet

Excellent experience on Elance. Helped me get ideas out of my head and into a catalog. Revised until I was happy. Very quick responses, usually faster than me. Creative and unique layouts, not cookie cutter. Hope to use her again soon!

– Heather Mooney, The Brides Bouquet owner

www.thebridesbouquet.com

Clovis, California

ExpertsOnline.tv

Fantastic work, very fast too, high quality

- Lee Gilbert

www.expertsonline.tv

Warwickshire, UK

Surviving in a Jungle of Creative Chaos

If you’re a struggling freelance graphic designer searching for useful tips on how to up your business, then you should better stop reading this. There are already millions of blogs by real talented designers with far more experience than I do so just google away! But if you’re one of those who are ranting about the hardship of freelancing, then stay and we’ll shout ‘em out together.

Sane people would likely ask, “If it was so darn hard to to keep a steady flow of projects (and income), then why not go back to the corporate world?” Though it makes sense, unfortunately, I’m one of the common breeds of artist who would rather be broke and have all the creative freedom in the world than be a slave to a company who gets the credit (not to mention most of the moolah from the clients as well.)

Now I’m not saying that I don’t work for money. It’s just that I measure my creative success in how much money I could make from my own accounts, not in how much project wins an award (which usually involves as much as 50 people in a team). Again, don’t get me wrong. I don’t sacrifice quality for faster turn-around just so I could accept more projects.

I’ve only been a full-time freelance designer for a little more than a year and I admit that I still have a long way to go to establish myself. It’s true that during drought, there really is almost nothing. And when it rains, it really pours.

The good thing about being a newbie in a pool of talented freelancers is that I can be as wild as I can in my “fictional” portfolio. Remember those days back in school when you just do nothing but outrageous designs, never have to please a client? I already had my share of being a client’s dog and now I’m cultivating my creative soil to bring out what I really am capable of. But the other side of coin is I get not a single cent for all the time spent working on them.

I just don’t try to forget that no patience and hard work reap no reward.

Why outsource your design team?

It is not uncommon for small businesses to hire freelance graphic artists for their marketing collaterals development and now more and more larger companies are outsourcing their design teams too. Why? Because if a company could find a reliable team, they could save a lot. No more extra office space and utilities expense, employee benefit expense and training expenses!

Also thanks to the ever improving design softwares and Internet Technology. Print materials such as brochure, flyers and even catalogs and 150-page coffee table books can now be produced through web interaction. If you’re worried about files being too large to be sent through email, Adobe’s PDF can produce press quality files without exceeding 1MB for a letter-size artwork. No need to set up an FTP site either for files more than 10MB. YOUSENDIT can let you send files up to 100MB for FREE!

This means you no longer have to leave your desk to have your design requirements done. Just send the files, your design challenge, mandatories, etc. through email and I’ll send you the studies or final design for your approval. You don’t have to worry about the production supplier either. All you have to do is sit back and wait for your deliverables. Saves you time as well!