I like to think I become a better designer everyday. While this is great from a skill level point of view, it is also a little bothersome. How could becoming a better designer be a drawback you ask? Well, mostly because it makes me look at my older work like it is a piece of crap.

I constantly look back at work I did even a month ago and feel like it is subpar compared to whatever I am currently working on. Sometimes it even makes me feel bad for the client. I think to myself;

“How on earth did they OK that design?!”

It is this feeling that makes me question if I should not show some of my past work in my portfolio. On one hand I feel like I shouldn’t show any work that I am not proud of or isn’t my best work. The problem with that logic is, that at the time I made those designs it was my best work.

So, should I assume that potential clients can see and appreciate the progress of my design skills? Or will they just see the older designs as a poor reflection of my skills?

This is where the other hand comes in and makes me think I should post almost everything that I have ever done.

I guess there is no right or wrong solution here. It is really what you feel most comfortable doing. My solution is to do a little of both. On my new portfolio site I will be showcasing about half a dozen of my own personal favorite projects. I will then have a past project archive page where people can view work chronologically if they want to see some more work.

This way they can see what I feel is my best work up front, but can also see that I have done a lot of work over the years.

What is your take on this?

We all know that slick interface designs are pretty to look at. Personally, I ogle over them like the centerfold in a mens magazine. Is that weird? The more sleek and intuitive the design, the more I am drawn to it. Obviously, one of the results of good interface design is usability. Give me an app that looks pretty and works the way I expect it to and I am sold. Where do I pay?

I’m sure none of you will argue with the general statements above. Well, maybe the one about the mens magazines, but you know what I mean. So we all enjoy applications that work intuitively and and look pretty, but how important is good interface design to the overall succes of an application?

I say very.

I don’t just think that good interface design is important just from a usability point of view. I think it is important from a marketing and business point of view as well. It seems to me that your application ( assuming you make multiple ones ) should be an extension of your brand. I should be able to look at an apps interface and know who designed it. Obviously the general public (i.e. non designers/developers) may not be able to do this, but that doesn’t mean its not important. If you want a good example of companies that do just this, check out:

• Meta Labs
• Tapbots

One thing that I think that many app developers underestimate is the value of a good looking design. Just because the application is usable, doesn’t mean that it looks good. I have played with ( and lost interest in ) plenty of apps that worked well usability wise, but just were not pretty. Maybe I’m a design snob, but an app is so much more fun to use when it looks pretty. I am not the only one who feels this way, which is why application developers need to pay more attention to the design process. I can’t tell you how many times I have bought an iPhone app just because it looked pretty. I have at least a dozen apps that I almost never use, but bought because they look pretty.

What do you guys think about this?

I try so hard to stay organized on a daily basis. Keeping all my ducks in a row is what allows me to juggle way more projects than the typical freelancer. Despite all my efforts to keep my inbox clean, schedule calls ahead of time, run everything through my project management app, and other organizational methods; it seems like it can go to shit in a heart beat.

For me, this is usually the result of a client who refuses to use Basecamp once the project has been started. What happens next is like a monsoon in my inbox. Emails containing comments, feedback, files, copy, and other related materials come pouring in at an alarming rate. While some freelancers are used to organizing this way, I am not and it tends to throw off my whole system. Slowly my ducks are beginning to get out of line.

How Do You Stay Organized?

I’d like to hear your comments on how you keep your freelance work organized in a day to day manner. Any sort of tips and advice you can share would be great. Those of you that provide some of the best details I will contact directly for a follow up. Assuming there is enough participation on this post, expect a follow up in the next week or two with some more in depth information from your peers!

As many of you may have noticed, I haven’t had a chance to update Outlaw Design Blog in some time and it has really been bothering me. I would like to apologize for this lack of work on my part. As some of you regulars may know, I recently got married, am buying a house, and having a baby soon. On top of all that, my Wordpress Designers business has been really taking off. Not that any of this is an excuse to leave you guys high and dry, but it is a reason.

Apologize aside, I have been trying to find a new way to bring Outlaw Design Blog back to life. It seems that there are 1,001 design blogs online these days, so I have been trying to think of a way to do something new. One thing I have decided, is to do more video posts and follow them up with some written text. I also have an idea that will hopefully encourage more detailed comments and interaction on the posts.

This new blog format also calls for a new design. In the weeks to come I will be launching a new design that better suits the blogs new golas. Below is a sneak peak of the new design.

Personal Projects

Aside from all the extra personal projects such as home buying and baby making, I have a number of cool things going on online as well. I thought I’d share some screenshots to let you guys know whats going on.

If you follow me on Twitter @DannyOutlaw you have probably already seen these mockups for my re-design of Wordpress Designers. But, if you haven’t, you are in for quite a treat! This may be one of my most favorite designs I have ever done.

I also have one other project that just launched called PSD to WP. As the same suggest, it is a PSD to Wordpress conversion site. My main reason for starting this site was that fact that it is so hard to find developers who will follow your design to the last pixel. I have an obsession with finding and maintaining a certain margin in my designs. When a developer doesn’t code my design down to the last pixel, it drives me crazy.

While I have a number of developers on hand, I constantly have a need to outsource from time to time. I have tried every PSD to Wordpress site out there and most them are far from pixel perfect coders. While these guys may be much cheaper, you will definitely get what you pay for. We start at $400 for the average Wordpress theme. Check out the site if you are on the look out for a good Wordpress Developer.

Any good freelancer has surely hear the saying that 80% of your work will come from 20% of your clients. As a young freelancer, I found this saying to be far from true. In the beginning, it was more like 80% of my work came low paying clients I found on job boards and 20% of the time I wanted to shoot them in the face.

At the time, I couldn’t understand how this saying could be true. I rarely ever had repeat clients, let alone ones who would come back time and time again.

Looking back, I’m sure it to do with two things:

1. The quality of my work.
2. The quality of my clients.

Problem 1

Obviously when I started freelancing I wasn’t exactly the best designer. Granted I got better as the days passed, but I was still far from exceptional. This undoubtedly was part of the reason I didn’t get repeat clients. While most of my clients were happy with the end product, it wasn’t anything special enough for them to seek me out the next time they needed work.

The solution to this problem is only one that can happen over time. In order to be able to produce designs of a caliber that cause clients to seek you out, you need practice. Becoming an amazing designer like Elliot Jay Stocks or the guys over at Meta Labs won’t happen over night. Constantly designing and pushing yourself to up your game is the only way you will ever become a sought after designer. As such, it is the main way you will get 80% of your work from 20% of your clients.

Problem 2

Assuming you have had a dozen or so clients in your time as a freelancer, I am sure you have come across a variety of clients. Some of them good, others, not so much. I have learned that the sort of clients that fall into the 20% category are a certain type. Typically, that type are the ones who appreciate good design and are willing to pay for it. These types of clients are rarely found on job boards and classified sites.

So, that begs the question, where are these 20% of clients found? More than likely they are found through word of mouth referrals and through amazing work. As I said before, if you produce amazing work, clients will find you.

Looking Back

I make no claims to be an amazing designer, but I manage to make a decent living at it. Having worked my way up from nothing as most freelancers do, I realize now that the 80/20 rule is very much true. In fact, it is a very amazing thing. You usually end up with the majority of your work coming from those 20% of clients because the two of you get along and work very well together. So not only are having to look less for work, but you are getting to work with people who appreciate your designs and creativity.

This is one of my shorter vidcasts, but an important one none the less. As your business grows and you start working with bigger companies, they are going to expect more from you than just a few emails and a contract. One essential element bigger clients expect is a formal proposal. If you have never written one of these, it can be a bit intimidating.

Waiting until you have a big name client ask for a proposal is a bad time write your first proposal.

Do yourself a favor and write a few practice ones first. Writing these practice proposals is a great way to learn what is expected in a proposal, feel more comfortable writing them, and maybe even get a job or two.

Writing these first few practice proposals will be time consuming, I can promise you that it will be well worth it. Not only will this skill help you land bigger clients, but it will probably help you land smaller clients too. Think about it, if you are after a small $2,000 job and you submit the client a well written, formal proposal, and all the other applicants just send in an email; who do you think the client will pick?

Just some thoughts I had today. What do you think?

I think many of us, myself included, rely on free and premium resources too much. Why not take a step back and become more involved in our designs? Some DIY style if you will. This post is a collection of ideas on how creatives can use digital cameras to do just that. There are also a few unique ideas for using your digital camera to help you run your business. I hope you find them useful and would love to hear any ideas you might have!

1. Building a Resource Library

You know all those amazing Photoshop textures, brushes, patterns, and backgrounds you see floating around the web? Many of then are made with nothing more than a digital camera and a eye for design. If you are reading this post, I assume you have both. Take your digital camera with you on any outing you go. You never know when you might find a cool texture or something that could make for a useful Photoshop brush. Need a specific hand drawn doodle for your design? Do it DIY style with a pencil, paper, and your camera!

2. Cataloging Colors and Pallets

It seems to me that there are few places to find better color combination than in nature. Of course, if you are trying to build a website full of hot pinks and electric limes, you may need to look elsewhere. That said, I constantly stumble across colors in nature that I think are amazing. Have you ever seen a birch forest? It is an amazing combination of colors. Fall is an especially great time to take your camera out doors to find great colors. Save these photos for reference later or build and save color pallets in Photoshop right away.

3. Ghetto Screenshots

If for whatever reason you can’t get a screen shot of your site in a certain browser or on a computer, use your digital camera to snap a picture. Obviously this won’t be accurate interpretation of the website, but it should convey any major visible problems. This is especially handy when your clients are just to computer illiterate to figure out how to take screen shots. Most people these days at least know how to take a digital picture and upload it.

4. Creating Your Own Stock Photography

Not that good stock photography is really expensive these days, but why pay for something you could create yourself? Obviously you can’t recreate every image on a stock site, otherwise you would probably be a photographer. But even a amateur with a point and shoot digital camera can create some of the pictures I see on stock sites. Being able to say you not only designed a site, but also did the photography for it isn’t something a lot of designers can say.

5. Backup Printed Documents

While many printers these days come with scanners, not everyone has one. If you are one such person, try using your digital camera as an alternative to a scanner. Before I had a scanner, I used my digital camera to photograph contracts, business cards, and other important documents. I would save them on a separate hard drive from the originals as a form of backup. This method also means you can setup an online fax account and move your business into the 1980’s. This is also another great method for getting signed versions of your contract back from clients without a scanner/fax.

My 5 Favorite Digital Cameras

I used to work as a travel writer who reviewed travel gear. As a result, I have seen and tested my fair share of digital cameras. Not to mention that I used to be a professional photographer before I got into design. I have done everything from high volume photography to print magazine work. I bring this up simply because I don’t want you to think I am shamelessly adding some affiliate links for the hell of it. These cameras are really ones that I think are great for designers and creatives.

1. Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 10 MP Waterproof Digital Camera
This is my favorite one for the simple fact that it is waterproof. I do a lot of watersports and outdoor activities, so this is super useful to me. But, even if you aren’t really into outdoor stuff, this is still a great camera. It offers WAY more protection than your basic digital camera. It is shockproof, crushproof, freezeproof, and waterproof. What does that mean? Basically, it means short of dropping it from and extreme height or driving over it, there isn’t much you can do to make it stop working.

Other digital cameras I recommend include:

2. Nikon Coolpix S70 12.1MP Digital Camera
“The Coolpix S70 introduces Nikon’s newly developed 3.5-incg Clear Color OLED Display with refined touch control that offers a new level of intuitive fingertip shooting control and a variety of exciting playback options.”

3. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1/H 10MP
“The sleek DSC-TX1 incorporates the “Exmor R” CMOS sensor and boasts stunning low-light performance, reducing grain by more than 50%, even without a flash. High speed burst captures 10fps without distortion and expansive Sweep Panorama shots are easy to achieve with press and sweep motion. Control it all with its 3-inch touch screen LCD.”

4. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 12.1 MP
“The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 digital camera features Intelligent Auto mode, a 28mm wide-angle lens, automatically detects 8 scene conditions and selects the appropriate camera settings. Face Detection captures faces more naturally and helps prevent blur. Also, now record high-definition videos in 720p HD and enjoy your memories on your HDTV. ”

5. Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP
“Canon’s new EOS Rebel T1i is packed with features, both refined and new. In addition to its admirable performance with an all-new 15.1 Megapixel Canon CMOS sensor, DIGIC 4 Image Processor, a 3.0-inch Clear View LCD with anti-reflective and scratch resistant coating, and compatibility with the EOS System of lenses and Speedlites, the EOS Rebel T1i adds remarkable Full HD video capture at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080.”

Digital Photography Resources

Want to learn a little more about digital photography before you invest in a new camera or buy a digital SLR? That is totally understandable. Lucky for you, there are a number of really great sites that teach even the most novice photographer how t create and capture outstanding images. Below is a list of a few of my favorite:

Photo TUTS+ - Nice site full of all kinds of tutorials and a next to no product reviews, which is nice.

Digital Photography School - This website covers every area of digital photography from tutorials, to reviews, to professional advice.

I think fan art is super cool. I think it is especially cool when artists transform their favorite characters in their own style. It is so interesting to see the variations that different artists come up with. Some of the more popular characters like The Little Mermaid and Super Mario, could easily have their own post where no two pictures looked alike. It is quite amazing when you think about it really.

Which one is your favorite?

This is one of my longer videos, so i will let it do most of the talking. No reason to bore you with a long video and a long post!

I’ll be honest, until recently, I knew very little about what I should be doing as far as bookkeeping, banking, and taxes go as a freelancer. I think it is safe to say that many freelancers feel this way. If you don’t, then you are a rare breed of super freelancer. Over the last few weeks however, I sought out to find an affordable and helpful CPA t help me get books in order.

In a 15 minute conversation with my CPA, I learned more than I had in 10 years of self study on the topic.

If you think hiring a CPA is to expensive, let me just say that its not. On top of that, it is money VERY WELL spent. Most CPA’s that specialize in working with small businesses and freelancers generally charge $50 to $75 a month for book keeping. Payroll services can usually be added for an additional $50 to $75.

If you have any questions about money and freelancing, I strongly encourage you to watch this video and seek out a local CPA in your area.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to listen to @CarlSmith talk at a local design group meet up I attended. If you aren’t familiar with Carl, he works at wicked cool company called nGen Works and is the mastermind behind Happy Webbies. But, enough about that guy…

Being the big usability expert that he is, he constantly mentioned getting feedback from his “pool of people” on various topics. He would poll the audience, so to speak, to see what the majority of people thought about a company name, a usability feature, layout, etc.

What an awesome idea I thought!

Now I can have a way to prove clients wrong when they are being idiots!

Ok, so there’s more to it than that, but that is certainly a perk. Whats great about this idea is that’s free to do and can do wonders for your work. Find as many people who are willing to give you feedback from time to time and add them to a list. Don’t just limit yourself to the design community though. In fact, the more your each outside of the community the better. It seems that a more diverse list of people from different backgrounds, ages, and internet skills would really improve the quality of feedback you get.

So, that’s it in a nutshell, watch the video for more details and share your comments below!

Last week I talked a little bit about the importance of joining social media design sites like Behance and such. This got me thinking abut how to decide what work to put up on these sites. After all, if the point in joining these sort of sites is to get more work, it only makes sense that you should only post your best work on them.

That seems easy enough.

But, if you are anything like me, you constantly seem less than impressed by work you have done in the past. I’m always improving my skills as a designer, so I tend to look at my older work as sub par. No matter how good I may have thought the design was at the time, in retrospect I hate it.

That isn’t to say its a bad design now, I just seem to see all the flaws in it and how better it could be if I were to redesign the site today. So, how do you get over this dilemma?

The first place to start is just post what you think is the best of your worse work. The other is to poll random people or fellow designers. By polling non-creative types you can get a sense of what work of yours potential customers may be impressed with. By asking fellow designers, you are getting creative feedback that could help you improve your skills over time. Getting feedback from designers who you respect can really help you step up your game and become a better designer.

Portfolio Review Resources

Sometimes it is a lot harder than one might think to get feedback on their design. Lucky for us, in this digital age, there are a number of sites that can provide you with feedback on your design. It is important to note that you should take any feedback you get on your design on these sites with a grain of salt. There is no telling the skill level of a person based on their feedback. I mean, do you really want to take the advice of someone who designs things in MS Paint? Ok, maybe that’s a stretch, but you get the idea.

Concept Feedback
Concept Feedback is a nice site that practically guarantees you will receive feedback on your design within a day or two of posting. It’s a great place to hear what other creatives think about your work.

Design Critique
Uses Twitter as a tool to get reviews for your site or design. Seems ok, but reviews are limited to 145 characters.

Feedback Army
This website cost money, but is pretty affordable. It is more based on usability, but seeing as how usability and good design go hand and hand, it seems like the site could be worthwhile.

How to Self Review

If for whatever reason you don’t want a public review of your portfolio or just can’t get any decent feedback, don’t fret. Self evaluation of your portfolio isn’t terribly complicated. I usually just ask myself a few questions when deciding what work to publish in my portfolio and online networks.

1. Does this design showcase my skills? - Ok, this one is kind of a given, but it’s still important. Don’t just add stuff to your portfolio for the sake of filling it up. Less is more in this case. It seems to me that 3 amazing designs are far better than 10+ sub-par designs.

2. What does the live version of this site look like? - Double check that your clients are still using your theme or that they haven’t broke it. If a would be client visits a site in your portfolio and its all jacked up thanks to your idiot client, it could reflect badly on you.

3. Is this a big name client? - A big name client can do wonders for your portfolio. Even if it’s a sub-par design, most people will overlook that aspect and just be impressed that so and so thought you were good enough to work with.

4. Do I want more work like this? - I think it is important to show off websites you enjoyed working on. For one, this will show through in the design. Second, it could lead to more similar work. Why not try to get jobs you actually like?

5. Does this design need explanation? - Sometimes a design can just need an explanation. Not because its a bad design, but some circumstances just call for it. These sort of designs probably aren’t the best ones to add to your portfolio.

I’m all about customer service. I have kind of taken on the Zappos philosophy when it comes to that area. I constantly go above an beyond to help my customers out. Rather than just give them design advice, I also help them with their business and marketing for free. I’m around to answer any of their questions five days a week and sometimes on the weekends. I make small changes to the site for free and a lot of other things that I could easily charge for.

Normally this isn’t a problem. But, it got me thinking, where does this sort of customer service stop?

Obviously major design and development things are going to cost the client extra. I guess more of what I am questioning is the back and forth changes? The little things that add up fast and make me feel like I’m being taken advantage of.

If, like me, you do all these sort of little things for free, when do you say that you will have to start charging for them? Better yet, how do you explain to your client that you’ll have to start charging them for it after doing it for free for so long?

Obviously you can setup guidelines in the contract, but I don’t like being restricted like that. I guess it’s just a slippery slope either way you look at it if you want to do business this way. That said, I have found that by doing business this way I have been getting a lot more repeat work from clients. Even before I finish one project for them They ask me to start on another one for them.

So, I guess there is something to be said about this business model.

My buddies over at 45 Royale worked on a project called Screenr. Basiclly, Screenr is a online screencasting tool that allows you to sign up with just your Twitter account. You can then create five minute long screencasts and share them on Twitter or just use the permalink created to share with others.

I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t very impressed with Screenr. Not because it wasn’t usable or functional, but because I didn’t really see the point in creating screencasts to share on Twitter.

My love for screencasting came one day when I had a client who was new to Wordpress and wasn’t very internet savvy. After a handful of support calls that were very basic Wordpress functions, I decided to create a simple screen cast for the client. The screencast walked the client through how to use the theme specific features as well as some basic Wordpress functions.

I have not had a support request from that client since then.

Normally I used to walk clients through how the theme worked over the phone. They would write notes and learn how things worked. No doubt they would forget much of what we went over on the phone as soon as we hung up. The beauty of these screencasts is that they have them to view any time. So, if a month after they have tweeked their theme they decide they want to change something; rather than call me, they can check the screencast first.

I also use these screencasts to talk to my developers and explain to them how I think the theme should work or what some parts of the design may be. I’ll share one of these videos below in case you are interested in seeing it.

Talking Shop - Episode 12

Like it or not, the age old bit of Kevin Costner wisdom, “if you build it, they will come”, couldn’t be more untrue for the designers portfolio site. Hoping that a potential client finds your needle in a haystack portfolio site out of the clear blue is idiotic at best. Obviously, some good SEO and online advertising can help, but that’s still far from a good start.

So, how can you resurrect your dying portfolio website?

You don’t.

That’s right, you don’t.

Rather than trying to give life to a dying breed, why not create your own superhuman soldiers to find clients for you? And by superhuman soldiers I totally mean join design oriented social networks.

Why Join Design Networks

The better question here is why wouldn’t you join these design oriented social networks? By not joining social sites like Behance, Flickr, and DeviantArt you are cutting back the number of potential clients that could see your work by over 50% or more. OK, so I made that number up, but I’m sure its more than accurate.

By showcasing your work on all of these other social sites, you are increasing your chances for clients to see your work and in turn, contact you for paying work. Even posting your work on stock sites is a way for clients to to find you. I have hired several designers and illustrators over the years that I have found through stock sites. This is not an uncommon way for clients to find designers. It happens all the time.

Your Thoughts?

What do you think about all this? Im sure many of you would like to share your two cents and I encourage you to do so. I also encourage you to share the social sites that you are a part of. Feel free to add links!

It has been a while since I did one of these sort of posts and I think its long over due. Being that I am in a real simple design state of mind lately, I thought I would do a showcase of websites that feature very organized and clean designs. While many designs that fall into this category tend to be “minimal” themes, that’s not always the case. Some of the examples below are proof of that.

What do you think of these designs and this style? Which one is your favorite?

1. MashKULTURE

2. Snook

3. Simple Type - Free Template

4. Astheria

5. Teenage Engineering

6. Corporate Risk Watch

7. Five Simple Steps

8. Typojungle

9. CFO Registry

10. Minimalsites

11. Life of my Story

12. Information Architects

13. 3 Rings

14. HUGE

15. Frank Chimero

16. Kyle Steed

17. If You Could

18. Hellonoam

19. Somme

20. Internet Gentleman

21. Iconwerk

22. Reform Revolution

23. Book Cover Archive

24. Distrop

25. Deskography

26. Pro Theme Design

27. Iokon Media

28. A Way Back

29. Design Intellection

30. Capitol Circle

31. Christos B

32. Art Expo New York

33. One by Four

34. Brian Hoff

35. Purple Raincloud

36. GOOD

37. Poccuo

38. SiteInspire

39. Nosotoros

40. Hex

41. Sans Lux

42. AdLucent

43. Marten de Jongh

44. Anebstar

45. Mission Bicycle

46. The Post Family

47. Fusion Ads

48. Ostmodern

49. Clicwerk

50. 508 Switch

I know we have all had our fair share of clients who are just complete idiots when it comes to design, technology, or both. Some people just don’t understand good design or development, but other are just dumb. Regardless of how dumb they are, we shouldn’t treat them as such.

This is especially true when talking to new clients.

Treating your client as an equal is going to get you a lot further than treating them like you are the almighty design god. I can’t begin to describe how much of a difference being personal and straight with your client makes. But, I’m sure you have had an experience in the past where you worked with a service provider, maybe a CPA or banker, who just made you feel really good about working with them.

Thats what I’m talking about.

Treat all your clients, new or old, with that respect. If you don’t, you can kiss your clients goodbye. They will remember that attitude, and probably tell others about it. Take this post as a prime example. It was sparked by a call I made to a potential CPA I wanted to work with. From the minute he picked up the phone he seemed annoyed that an idiot such as myself would even bother to call him. I was so annoyed with the way he was treating me that i almost hung up on him in mid sentence.

Later that week I talked to a nice young lady who was nothing but nice and helpful from the moment I started talking to her.

Guess which one got my business?

I know we all tend to have the same exact workflow with every client we work with. It only makes sense. I mean, if something works well, why do it any differently? Well, what if by doing it differently you could actually do it better? That’s what today’s video is about.

I have been exploring ways to make my Wordpress Designers more about the client and less about me as a designer. In exploring for ways to make this happen I began to wonder what it would be like if I tried changing up my design workflow to be more client friendly.

Basically, what I did was talk to the client several times until I felt I had a pretty good idea of how the client liked to do things. For example, was he going to be a very hands on client, or was just going to be happy with anything I did? Did he seem like he had a very specific idea in mind or was he unsure of what he want exactly?

It seemed to me that if I adjusted my workflow to better suit the type of client that I was working with the benefits would be plentiful. By adjusting my workflow to fit the client, I would have less headaches (maybe), eliminate wasted time on design and development, give the client a more personalized experience, let the client feel more involved, and most importantly; the ability to build n even stronger relationship with the client.

Sitepoint as been a great launching pad for the novice freelancer. While the jobs a new freelancer may find here might not be the highest paying, at least they help get you some experience. The real tools of success from Sitepoint are their massive collections of books and kits. There is a book on just about every topic a new and experienced freelancer could want. Anything from how to start freelancing, to how to better outsource work. Not to mention there are plenty technical books written by some of the industry leaders. Below are some of the books and kits that I have found the most useful from Sitepoint.

The Web Design Business Kit 2.0

More Info - Free Chapters - Buy Now
The Web Design Business Kit 2.0 was designed by Brendon Sinclair, who has his own successful web design firm based in Australia. You get not only get actual documents Brendan uses in his business on a daily basis, but you’ll also receive lessons on how you can sell yourself, how to keep your clients, and more.

The first folder you’ll come across will be the Manual. It walks you through five sections he says are the keys to being successful in business. He has it all covered as the manual takes you through your first steps in freelancing and how to establish your business. You can then move on to how to run and expand your business, and then find out how you can look to the future in the last section of the manual.

The second folder you receive will be full of legal and business documents. You will find financial documents and paperwork to help you plan your business. Client contact documents, employment documents and more, this kit has everything you need. These documents are handily available on the CD-ROM as well. Just fill in your information and your ready to go.

The Web Site Revenue Maximizer

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The Website Revenue Maximizer is for any website owner who wants to make more money. With the kit you get tips and instructions on how to maximize profits by using affiliate programs, picking the best tools for your website, and increasing your page views.

You can be a new website owner or someone who wants to make more money with your website, the Web Site Revenue Maximizer works for everyone. Figure out the mysteries of website traffic and search engine optimization, as well as generating advertising income. This kit will cover everything you need to make your website more profitable.

There are steps on how to set up your site to make advertising revenue, such as how to sell ads directly and using Google AdSense. There is information on how to handle affiliate marketing to help increase sales. You will even get lessons on how to sell online, such as how to notice fraudulent transactions and how to build credibility to make more sales. In the building traffic section you will learn things such as how to get visitors to keep returning to your site and how to build traffic by offline promotion. Anything you wanted to know about building traffic and making money is included in the Web Site Revenue Maximizer.

Sexy Web Design

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Sexy Web Design is a book that can help in making your website better looking, as well as becoming more functional. It is a guide that can teach you how to create your own web interfaces from scratch. You don”t need any experience at all. The book will teach you how to do everything even as a beginner. It is easy to read as it is made in a large 8×10 format.

In this book you will learn how to find inspiration for your designs, create designs with atmosphere and mood, and just plain make your web site look sexy. Anyone from seasoned website owners to beginners will find something helpful in this publication. You will learn how to design a website even before there is any text involved. You will even get helpful information on what to do before any designs are even thought of for your website. Dealing with clients, moving from diagrams to doodles, and much more will also be covered so you can make your website look the best it ever has.

The Principles Of Successful Freelancing

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From getting started as a freelancer to how to retain clients once you get them, this book covers everything you need to know. Miles Burke is the author and is the founder of the company Bam Creative, and has won entrepreneurship awards in 2005 and 2007. His The Principles of Successful Freelancing book is very helpful to any person seeking advice about working as a freelancer.

The book will take you through questions that can help you decide if freelancing is the right decision for you. You will also be guided through how to plan for your success as a freelancer, as well as being taught how to keep your business finances in order. Learning how to stay productive and happy are next and then you can learn to overcome fear of sales and how to brand your name. The book then goes over the importance of providing excellent customer service and engaging business from other sources. The book then wraps up with what do do after establishing a successful business. If you want to learn about freelancing, it’s all here.

Outsourcing Web Projects: 6 Steps to a Smarter Business

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This publication will give you insights on how to build a more profitable business. Included in the six steps are getting vendors to compete for your job, finding the outsourcing partner that is best for you, and achieving the best price for your product or service. The final three steps are learning how to draw up an agreement, keeping your project on the right track, and developing a relationship with your vendor that will last a long time.

Written by Dave Hecker, the book comes from someone who has over 18 years of experience in software development and is the owner of Sagewing. He has lots of hints and advice on how you can run your business smarter and make more money doing it.

You will learn things like how to evaluate possible outsourcing partners, how to produce a list of these partners, and how to choose between an hourly or fixed rate agreement. Also included in the training is how to get a misguided project back on track and the Ten Commandments of the great client.

If you are a free lance web developer having problems making it in the industry, then this is the book for you.

Well, I must say, GoMedia has done it again. This time they have done it with spray paint. If you have ever looked for quality images of spray paint textures, you know there is a lack of good ones out there. The ones that you do find are either low quality, strictly a Photoshop brush, low resolution, or just plain ugly. Once GoMedia got wind of this, they set out to make things right. Working with some local artists, they created a set of spray paint textures that have none of the above mentioned characteristics. No sir, these images are hi res and just over all awesome.

Check out the Spray Paint Textures

Do a Google search for “Spray paint textures” and you’ll see why knew that the artistic community deserved better.

So, we brought in a well-known graffiti artist from right here in Cleveland to show us what he could do. And, well, we were mightily impressed!

Our graffiti artist had the supplies, technique, and experience to create incredible blended tones & texture. He quickly laid down a base of colors and then slowly added layers. By the time he got to the topmost layer, he was practically placing each drop individually! His control & detail was pretty amazing.

Really, it’s kind of like having your own personal Jackson Pollock at hand. To finish off each texture, he feathered the edges with white spray paint to achieve a natural splattered fade.

I’m happy with what we came up with, and I’ve already used the textures a few times. I like that these spray paint textures can be used without calling attention to themselves. With simple tools like Photoshop’s brightness/contrast and hue shift/saturation, the versatility is pretty impressive. Try blending these into any design that needs a more traditional, naturalistic, urban feel.

As a special gift to you, we were lucky enough to get two free samples of the pack to give away on Outlaw Design Blog. You can see smaller versions of the included samples below. These images don’t do the textures justice. The original files are 300dpi and huge! You can download them below:

DOWNLOAD HERE

Last week I did a post for GraphicRiver call “The Scariest Movie Posters of All Time.” They were really just a showcase of cheesy old horror movie posters. Because I am such a fan of that style, I thought I would show you how to create poster with a similar style. Its really easy to do and produces an awesome finished product. I was inspired by one of the posters I saw on the list. Can you guess which one?

Step 1

Create a new document with the following settings: 8×10 and 72dpi and add your background color to white.

Step 2

Create a red box (#d72323) with a yellow stroke that is 7px wide.

Step 3

Find a nice picture with a lot of action to use for your background silhouette. I used this picture of a witch from ShutterStock.

Cut out the background as you see fit and add to the inside of your red box.

Step 4

Adjust the brightness and contrast to the witch layer. Use the following settings:

Step 5

Add a black color overlay to the image as well.

Step 6

Use a Gaussian Blur and add a slight blur to your image.

Step 7

Find a nice picture with a lot of action to use for your background silhouette. I used this picture of a surprised bride from ShutterStock.

Step 8

Resize your image to fit the design. You will also want to cut out the background as you see fit.

Step 9

Once you have the picture resized, tilt the image just a little bit and get rid of any portion of the image that isn’t inside the red box.

Step 10

Destaurate the the image so that you have a nice back and white version of the photo.

Step 11

Adjust the brightness and contrast to the following settings:

Step 12

A a yellow color overlay that matches the border color of your red box.

Step 13

Create a black box and rotate it slightly. This is where our movie title will go.

Step 14

Add your movie title into the black box. You will need to rotate it slightly to fit the same angle of your box from the previous step. I used a premium font called Calgary Script.

You will also wan to create some additional content for your movie poster.

Step 15

To finish of the poster and give it that vintage touch, we are going to add an image of some old, folded paper. I used this image of folded paper from ShutterStock.

Add the image as your top layer. Set the layer blend mode to multiply.

The reduce the fill of the paper layer to about 50%