Archive for the ‘Practical Philosophy’ Category

Why rockstar graphic design means good business, and how to get rich during a “bad economy”

To our friends, associates, and distinguished guests:

The past six months have been good to us, very good. We have experienced successes that we never imagined possible, and we’re stoked. We took risks, and things paid off.

Right around holidays the economy was getting bad, CNN and Fox News ran around like chickens with their heads cut off warning of “The worst economic crisis since the great depression”. The media frenzy spread to general conversation of daily life, it got to the point where you couldn’t talk to any business contact without hearing some mention of, “the way the economy is right now, blah, blah, blah”. The sky was falling, the sky was falling, and for those who didn’t know any better, it did fall, on your head, and you got screwed, slaughtered.

If you got screwed in real estate, I’m sorry, I really am. Lots of people ended up getting screwed in real estate. In a MAJOR nutshell, people got greedy, took out loans they shouldn’t have and went into unwise and uneducated debts. Value is subjective in the world of real estate and the values went down. What can we learn from this? Debt is stupid. If something seems too good to be true then it is, tattoo that on your forehead so you see it every time you look in the mirror.
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8 ways to work more effectively, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s ultimate work center

Everybody is crazy about outsourcing and working remote. Luckily for many freelance graphic designers, you have the luxury of your work already being remote, and you work from home, Starbucks, or wherever. Others work in 9 to 5 design studio environments, or corporate in-house design environments. And many of you reading this aren’t designers, and perhaps you work a regular career 9-5 job sitting at a computer. Either way, if you can become more effective at what you do, then you become more valuable, and thus have the opportunity to make more money, becoming harder to fire. So whether you work from home, a big office building, or a small studio space, here are 8 of the best tips I’ve picked up along the way that have enabled me to achieve super-human productivity.

#1. Separate your work area from your living area.

If you work where you sleep, your work day never ends. Separating your work area from your living area creates a necessary mental barrier for peace of mind. If you go to bed at night and your laptop is sitting 2 feet away you’ll be tempted to pick it up and finish the last bit of that project or send out one more email. Create some form of home office or work space and work until a certain time of day: 6 o clock, 7 o clock, then leave that space, close the door, revert to your personal or family life, then return to the work re-energized, creative, and ready to complete tasks.

This still applies to those of you who work 9-5’s, when you have to go into an office building. You already have the separation. You already have a place to escape from, and a place to escape to. The reason why I include you is because maybe you have secret plans to quit and start something from home, or maybe your career goal is to keep your job while negotiating a remote work agreement, or maybe you just want to work on side projects from home in your spare time. Keep this in mind for the future.

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How to be the best designer in the world - 11 rules for success

If you don’t properly plan, then you plan to fail. If you have no guide then you can become lost. At times during our careers we can become complacent and confused. “Why do I still work here?”, “How do I become better?”, “How do I earn more money?”. But if you have a map, all you have to do is follow it, and you can reach your outcome. You don’t ever have to re-invent the wheel, so don’t bother.

As contemporary designers, we follow in the footsteps of those who came before us, and we can easily look at what they did to replicate the process of becoming successful from scratch. The definition of success is entirely up to you, weather it’s critical acclaim and awards in the design community, landing a prestigious design or art director job, starting your own design firm, or simply working on creative projects and being able to support yourself financially while doing it. If you’re still in school, then read this, and begin following these principles now. If you’re already well established in your design career, then use these principles to brush up on lost habits. They won’t lead you astray. Here’s how to become the best designer in the world:

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