Can You Hear Me Now?

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and then left realizing that you had no idea what they even said? Ya, me too.  Communication is one of the most important skills to master in life. It’s easy to view communication as a one way street when in all actuality it has to be a two way street. Just as we realized from our initial question it is possible to be listening to someone talking and not pick up anything they say; this is because we may not comprehend that listening is just as important to communication as is speaking. Communication isn’t limited to auditory conversations though, communication can be perceived with all of your senses. Companies spend millions of dollars a year to attempt to successfully communicate with their target audience by the things they hear, see, smell, etc.

Let’s step aside from the marketing aspect of communication though, at least the consumer standpoint. Now, imagine that you are employed by the company launching the campaign. Communication is vitally important in your position. You have to have effective communication with the company and your team so that you may effectively communicate the message to the masses. Poor communication with kill anything if given the chance. There’s nothing more frustrating as a designer than dealing with a client who can’t communicate what they’re wanting or just has poor communication skills in general.

So, how do you solve this? Great question, I’m glad you asked. I’m not sure that there’s really any set method but one of the best ways is to become a better listener. There seems to be a hidden art to listening, you have to make sure you’re not just hearing noise in what someone is saying but that you’re actually comprehending what they’re saying. If you learn to master this skill then your business, personal life and relationships will all benefit from it. If you don’t, then they will suffer. Just one final thought, think back through history of someone like Adolf Hitler. He started out as a struggling painter, went to war, came out and had a failed attempt at a coup, but eventually formed the Nazi party which would overtake the current government and become a hated man. How did he do it? Chances are he was just a great communicator and swayed people to go along with him. See the power of communication?

Manilla Theme

I always enjoy taking time to run through some tutorials online to sharpen my skills. If it wasn’t for tutorials it’s probably a safe bet to say that I wouldn’t be a designer today, I got my start in the design field simply going through tutorial after tutorial and years later it has proved to be beneficial to me.  It’s important to keep on top of your skills and creative process, I’m constantly looking for inspiration in everything from the lines in architecture to the color pallets provided by nature.

When working on this theme for class I picked up numerous techniques that I hadn’t been using. These proved to be time savers for me that I’ve included into my normal workflow and so far they’ve proved to save time and make my processes smoother, which in turn leave time for more clients. I would say that one of the main challenges I faced probably had to do with typefaces. I’m pretty sure that the tutorial told you which typeface to use but seeing as how I was working on a school computer I didn’t feel like downloading and adding new typefaces to it for various reasons. So that being said, I just made do with what I had and a little manipulation. Once again the best tip or technique that I picked up that’s useful in the workplace is just a work flow thing and how to keep my processes smoother and more efficient.

Overall I enjoyed taking time to do this tutorial and using it to build a little more of a creative base in me. I always find it important to take time out from working on projects for clients and to do a personal project or some sort of personal growth investment/project. This is what the tutorial provided me with.

Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork

As the name might suggest this post is all about teamwork. In the past year of being a full time freelancer I’ve been able to work on projects both individually and as a part of a team. I can’t really say I have a preference as to which way I like working; it really just depends on the project. But seeing how we’re talking about teamwork we’ll focus on that side of the coin.

Working in a team can be one of the most enjoyable and miserable experiences of your life. I just choose to make most of them enjoyable, it helps the project go that much smoother. One of the main benefits to working on a project in a team is that you have the input of your team on the creative process. I like to think of the creative process as a puzzle; it takes many pieces coming together to get the finished product. Without one of those pieces the whole project will suffer, which in turn means your business will suffer. The majority of my work comes from the referrals of happy clients. But since we’re not talking about client relations here we’ll get back to teamwork.

In order for a team to function or “work” you need “teamwork;” I know I know, it’s all to cliche. One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned through working at a family business and now being a small business owner is that you can NOT take business personal. It should be what the name implies…business. This also goes for teamwork no matter what type of team you’re working on. You must think of everyone bringing something to the table; sure there are going to be ideas that clash, but that’s the beauty of the thing. Take a little from here and a little from there, put it together and enjoy the finished product. You can’t get your feelings hurt when someone has an idea that isn’t the same as yours, if you do I suggest always working alone. I’ve been the prideful designer that thought I knew everything was to know about anything and when someone suggested an “idea” on something I had done the grumbling instantly started. But, at the end of the project their idea turned out to be the most beneficial.

Think of any sports team, there are different positions that must function accordingly for the team to be successful. I’ll even go as far to say there are similar positions that much function together as well. Your second string QB shouldn’t be bitter towards the starting QB. He’s there as support and also to play when needed. He MUST stay behind the team. Teams only function correctly when everyone is on the same page.

All of this comes back to asking yourself…can you work on a team? Or, are you just not a team player. Team players always want what is best for the team even if it isn’t beneficial to them personally!

Trustworthiness

Whether we want to accept it or not all relationships, both business and personal are all based off trust. Would you share the most intimate details of your life with someone you couldn’t trust? I sure hope not. Just as you wouldn’t tell everything to someone you couldn’t trust, you also wouldn’t do business with a company you couldn’t trust.

When I decided to start my own business there were many things I had to take into consideration and many business principles that I put in place. Probably one of the most important one of those was having great customer service. Both sides of my family are entrepreneurs and own successful businesses, so it’s probably no surprise that I followed in their footsteps. If it’s one thing my parents always taught me it was that your name is the most important thing you have. From then on I’ve always made it top priority to keep a good name. When it comes to business I’ve learned that sometimes it’s important to take a small hit and go above and beyond to keep clients satisfied and stick to my word. Countless times this has kept clients coming back and also referring me for other work. I found that it’s cheaper and easier to keep clients than to go find new ones. For the most part all my clients are great.

So what am I trying to say? I’m glad you asked. One of your top priorities in life should be to be a trustworthy person. It will do more for your business and personal relationships than anything else. With most people you get one shot, it’s rare that life gives you second chances. If a friend shares something in confidence with me and I go tell everyone I know chances are that person will not tell me anything else of importance. Same thing with business; if I do a client wrong one time there’s a good chance they will find someone else and not think twice about it. Be sure to guard your name like you would your fortune!

Choices

We all face choices every day, the determine the outcome of our daily lives. As a creative professional sometimes my biggest choice of the day is about a particular coffee; other days my choices can be the difference in keeping or losing a client.

Everyone knows the old adage “the client is always right,” this isn’t always true in my line of work, but it’s up to me to determine this. Let’s be honest there are times when a client thinks they have an amazing idea for the creative direction of the work they’ve hired you to do. At times their ideas can great and really send the project over the top. But, more times than not it’s the opposite. Now the big question is, how do you handle this? While there is no set answer for this you can be sure that your response is either going to make your client relations go one of two directions. It’s my job to determine what is best for my clients and then get them to catch the same vision.

Creative direction on a project is not the only way that choices can affect your business. As much as I hate to say it your personal life can play a big role in this one as well. Most people like to think they can keep their professional and personal life separate, but it’s just not that easy. Especially in the technology driven society we live in today. It is possible to find out just about anything you wish to know about someone online. This is why it’s very important to make sure you’re painting a professional picture of yourself online. For instance, you could be out with friends and for whatever reason do sometime that could be incriminating to you or wouldn’t portray you in a professional way. You think this only effects you, but if this is posted on facebook, twitter, youtube, etc and a potential client saw it they may choose not to work with you. As much as you may not like it this is the world we live in today.

So, what is the solution? I’m glad you asked. First and foremost, keep yourself professional at all times, you never know who is watching. Secondly, after you land the client put your people skills to work and learn to read your clients. Make sure you do what is best for them, and if that is not something in the same direction as they requested you have to know how to communicate it to them in a professional way. Staying professional will ensure that you can build a successful business and have client relations that are second to none.

Honesty & Integrity

Honesty and integrity, what does it mean to you? I hope it means everything, at least in the standpoint of your business. My personal thoughts are that anyone can build a successful business from being dishonest, but to sustain a business you need good business practices along with character. The best way to define honesty and integrity would be moral character. You can build a successful business without character but the character will always shine through. A statement I try to live my life by is “don’t let your talents take you somewhere your character can not hold you.”

How many of us know someone who lacks character, integrity or honesty? I know I do, I think we each have those people in our lives. Now how would you describe your relationship with them? I know for me I keep my relationships with those type of people very surface and shallow, I would consider them more of an associate than a friend. Why do I do this? It all comes down to trust. This might sound extreme, but would you give your bank account information to someone you couldn’t trust? Of course not, or at least I hope not, I know I wouldn’t. So then why would we trust them in other areas? This question may always remain a mystery.

I want my business to be known for great work, but more importantly for honesty and integrity. I don’t want to build a great business but have a poor reputation. I would like to be able to hold my head high when I’m in public and know that I’m respected for the person I am and not just because of a successful business. Unfortunately this is something that’s always missed with a lot of businesses, especially new businesses. Sometimes it’s much easier to be focused on immediate success and doing whatever it takes to achieve it instead of what it takes to sustain it.

My question for you is how do you want to be remembered? I could name numerous names of successful people and I’m sure you remember them for something other than their success. Chances are you will remember them for their personal failure over their professional successes. It takes one action to loose trust, but many to gain it back, therefore make sure you never loose it!

Behind the Lens

When asked what I was passionate about my mind instantly went to anything creative. Simply put, I love to create. There’s just something fulfilling that comes out of visualizing something and seeing it come to pass. Today though I will focus on one area of creative expression, photography. All forms of art are created twice; first in the artist’s mind and second in the medium in which it is expressed. When it comes to photography there are numerous avenues in which you can explore, but for this article we will focus on wedding photography.

For photographers weddings can be one of the most enjoyable experiences or one of the worst. I’ve had both of these experiences shooting weddings. You’re dealing with models you’ve never met or met a few times, wearing clothes you didn’t pick, and lighting that you have very little control over. In my web scouring today I found a great resource for wedding photographers or photographers looking to enter the wedding photography world. Photo.net has some great resources for wedding photography. From equipment to time-lines to pricing, you can find it all at photo.net.

Let’s talk equipment for a minute. In my opinion your most important piece of gear for shooting weddings would be your lenses. There’s nothing better than a sharp, clean glass. It is ideal to have lenses with a large maximum aperture of 2.8 or larger. As I mentioned before you are working with lighting conditions that you have very little control of. Because of this it is important to be able to capture as much natural light as you can, hence the large aperture. Also, you will want to have lenses that can cover very diverse focal lengths; generally speaking you should be able to cover everything with a few lenses ranging from 17-200mm. Aside from having a nice camera body, which is a given, you will want to have some sort of external flash. While on camera flashes are good for some things, they’re not very versatile and do not offer many options. My wedding kit includes a Nikon D90, a handful of lenses hitting my focal ranges, flash, and diffuser. Speaking for myself I won’t shoot hardly anything now without my diffuser attached, it works wonders to evenly distribute nice, soft light.

There’s many other things I could talk about today as it relates to wedding photography, but I think by the time I finished there would be a book. Some other important things to keep in mind in photography, as well as any business, are pricing, working with contracts, protecting your business, keeping it professional and organization on the job – before, during and after the wedding. I hope that this article has enlightened you some into the wedding world. It’s a great field to get into, but isn’t for all photographers. If you are currently a wedding photographer, former wedding photographer or hoping to be a future wedding photographer I would love to hear your feedback.

Anger Management

This month’s blog post on anger management is one that I’ve had adequate experience with in the past few weeks. What is the relation between clients and anger management? Initially it may not seem like there is much of a relation at all, but give it time. As a designer you are in the service industry, and as anyone who has worked in the service industry knows anger management is key.

Sure you’re getting paid by your client for a service you provided them. Seems like a good deal to anyone looking on, service = pay, and in a lot of cases service = really good pay. I’ve recently had to ask myself if my rates are worth the headaches that some clients will put you through. For the sake of not damaging my clientele base I will not reference any clients individually.  In the last month I’ve had one person in particular who has made me want to fly off the handle at them numerous times; thankfully over the years I’ve learned how to manage these situations. Let’s think for a minute what could have happened had I told them what I was really thinking. First, I might have lost that client or the potential business of those that client knows. Also, it could damage my companies reputation in that particular region, I say this because I work as an independent contractor and contract work out all over the country.

It’s always good to take a few seconds to sit back and evaluate each situation when dealing with clients. Most of the time I will evaluate what I’m going to say for a few minutes before I contact a client to deal with a situation. Doing this gives you the opportunity to keep your emotions out of it and handle each situation in a professional way. After all, you are a professional right? Or at least you should be if you are trying to run your own business, even more so if you’re working for another company. Not representing yourself as a professional could eventually get you terminated from a firm or company. If you think this isn’t important, think again! It will save you in the long run.

So remember to keep everything professional when dealing with clients. After all this is how we like to be treated when we’re a client or customer somewhere isn’t it?

Home Page Design

What makes up a good home page? Is it good navigation, great design, colors that accent each other, clean design, or flashy design? I think it’s a combination of all of the above, yes I realize that a clean design and flashy design someone what contradict each other. Truth be told there are a lot of websites that have figured out how to communicate everything is a clear way that’s easy to navigate and has very appropriate graphic elements; that being said there are also sites on the other end of the spectrum which have missed all together what a website should be and look like.

Lets start with Catalytic Design, a design firm that specializes in web, identity and print. At first glance of this site I can tell what the company is, what they do, and how to navigate to any additional information I need. The graphics on the site are very appropriate to the site, it has a very clean feel to it and has a great color palette. However, the one thing I don’t necessarily like about this site it’s the lack of pages. Every link on the site redirects to a different point on the same page; in my opinion this doesn’t make the site the easiest site to navigate. Sure it has clear navigation but it can also make it confusing trying to figure out exactly where you are on the site.

Here are a few sites that I think have done a great job with their homepage as well as the whole site. Taylor Made Cupcakes has a fresh design that while it’s not flashy or complicated, it communicates the point it’s trying to make very clearly. As soon as you open the page you’re greeted by an esthetically pleasing combination of pink and complementing colors. The navigation is very clear and to the point; it’s also located in two points on the website. I do have a problem with the navigation though, it doesn’t change to show you were you’re located on the website. This is clearly visible though by the heading of the pages that communicate which page you are on, I would just like to see it in the navigation as well. Daphne Animal Shelter has also done a very good job of communicating clearly. They have a very well put together color palette, as well as a call to action to adopt a pet. However just like Taylor Made Cupcakes the navigation of this site doesn’t change when selected to let you know what page you are on.

Now onto the fun part, and by fun I mean makes you wanna gouge your eyes out, figuratively speaking. Here are a few sites that could be listed in the epic fail category of web design. DP Graph is just painful to look at, I’m lost from the second the site loads. There’s constant movement of spinning objects on the page as well as harsh colors and no navigation. I feel like I’m looking at a lot of heat maps after spinning in circles for a few minutes. I’m not sure exactly what I would do to improve this site other than completely redesign it. I would also do a complete redesign for Gates N Fences. At least with this site my eyes get a rest from the craziness of DP Graph’s site, but the graphic elements of this site do not complement each other at all. This site also has navigation, which the other site lacked; however, the navigation could be condensed down tremendously. In a redesign for Gates N Fences I would recommend reducing the navigation to no more than 5-7 key elements and give a clean design site wide.

I hope now you have a sense for what makes up a good homepage and site as well as a bad one. In your design remember to keep it clean to look at, simple to navigate, and have a call to action for the point you’re trying to communicate.

Taking Stock

What are my web design goals?

My web design goals are to become a designer and developer. I’m the type of person that likes to know how and why something works the way it does, because of this I’m not sure I could leave all my programming and coding up to someone else. It’s not even for the fact that I’m afraid it wouldn’t work, more that I just want to know how it works and why it works that way.

Which aspects of web design interest me the most?

Coming from a design background the obvious first choice would be design. However I’m equally as interested in interface design. To me there is nothing worse than ending up on a poorly designed and poorly functional website.

What current skills do I have that will be useful in creating web pages?

At the moment probably the only or at least most proficient skill would be visual design and the ability to see a finished product before starting. I know very little about coding and programming, thus why I’m taking web design and development courses.

Which skills will I need to brush up on?

I think it’s never a bad idea to brush up even on the stuff you already do well; but that aside I need to brush up on HTML/XHML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, programming, and Java.

Which hardware and software tools do I already have for web design?

Currently I operate off a MacBook Pro loaded with full Adobe Creative Suite 2, full Macromedia Suite, Final Cut, and audio editing software. I also have a PC based machine loaded with Adobe Creative Suite 4 and Logic.

Which tools will I need to buy?

At the moment I don’t think I need to buy any software. It wouldn’t hurt to upgrade from a dual core to a quad core and stack 8 GB of ram versus 4 GB. Also I’m constantly having to pick up more hard drives, but that’s a never ending story in any creative type of work. The only other thing would be pick up an extra monitor or two.