Which of the Many Graphic Design Studios is A Fit for My Firm?

Your goal is to find just the right graphic design studio, so here’s a plan. Do a search for graphic design studios, and even localizing it for your area, there will the tons of responses. And, in today’s internet world, it’s not necessary for the firm to the local. That only broadens the scope of what’s available to you and increases the difficulty of making a decision.

So, how do you choose? Look first at what you need and it will be much easier.

Being clear about what you want and need, and able to clearly communicate that, will make it much easier to see which of the graphic design studios is a fit. Are you looking to focus your marketing efforts on print or the web. Do you already have a logo or do you need one? What about CD or DVD production? Make a clear list of what you want.

Who are your customers? Perspective graphic design studios will need to know all about your target audience, so be ready to answer the “who”, “what”, “where”, “why”, and “how” questions about them. Define your potential and current clients in terms of their demographics such as age range, income range, ethnicity, lifestyle, professional focus (if applicable), education, home ownership, and mobility.

What are the reasons they buy your product or services. What pains or problems do they experience and what solutions does your product or service offer? What are the inherent benefits to the customer of buying your product or service?

How does your target audience use your product or service? What were your past marketing efforts? Why did your past marketing efforts work, and why not? If you don’t know, that’s okay. Bring along your past marketing materials and ask your candidates what they think. This is another way to assess whether or not you want to work with a particular studio.

Knowing your product or service, your market and what it is you want is just half the equation. The other half is what you are looking for. Here are some simple questions. You can rank the candidates on each of these on a 1 to 5 scale where 1 is “not at all” and 5 is “Yes, absolutely”.

Do they have access to all the services I need? You might want to make a list of the services and then rate the graphic design studio on each one.

Does the style of their work meet my taste criteria?
Do they have experience with my product or service?

Do I think I’ll enjoy working with them? (This may not seem as important until you’re in the middle of a project. Then it will be crucial.)

Will they give me references?
Are the references happy with the work they received?

Okay, now you are armed and ready to choose from among the bounty of graphic design studios. Remember the ones that come up first in your search know how to optimize their web sites and if you are working on a web site, this may be important to you.

March 22, 2009 · Filed Under Graphic Design

Comments Off

Doing Pro Bono Graphic Website Design

There are many reasons to do pro bono work as a graphic website designer. First, beginning graphic website designers or graphic website design students can get valuable experience from doing pro bono graphic website design work for non profit organizations and low budget organizations such as Boy Scout troops, Cub Scout packs, and Churches.

Another reason to do pro bono work as a graphic website designer is tax breaks. The hours you spend working on graphic website design for free can be deducted from your taxes at the end of the year as a charitable donation. Check with your accountant or tax preparer to determine the most reasonable rate, but highest rate, that you can get away with charging per hour for your tax deductible hours so that you can claim them as a charitable donation.

The other reason to do pro bono work as a graphic website designer is experience and to build your portfolio. If you are a graphic website design student or you are just starting your graphic website design career, this can be a fantastic opportunity. Build your graphic website design resume with work that shows not only your talent but your big heart and community spirit. Build your graphic website design portfolio to increase career opportunities. And build experience and education with on the job training and experience in graphic website design.

With the internet growing daily by leaps and bounds, it is no wonder that everyone wants a professional graphic website designer on their side to create an awesome website with even greater graphic design so that they can compete with larger organizations. With all of the churches, cub scout packs, boy scout troops, school activities, day cares, home businesses, small businesses, and children’s organizations out there today, the average graphic website designer should have no problem finding pro bono graphic website design work.

Once you have found pro bono graphic website design work, you need to treat it just as you would any other freelance graphic website design assignment or project. That means you have to find out what the client wants in their graphic design website. Create a creative brief so that you and the client are on the same page with where you are going with their graphic website design project. You also need to set up a work schedule and time line for the client so that an expected completion date can be given to the client for completion of the graphic design website.

Once the pro bono graphic website design project is completed, follow up with the organization to make sure that they are happy with their graphic design website. Then, keep in touch with the organization in the future. This will open up networking possibilities for graphic website design freelance projects in the future with paying clients. It will also open up possibilities for more pro bono graphic website design freelance projects for that and other charitable organizations.

Overall, doing pro bono graphic website design work is a great, fulfilling, rewarding way to gain additional experience, graphic website design samples for the beginning graphic artists portfolio, and tax breaks for the freelancing graphic website designer.

March 22, 2009 · Filed Under Graphic Design

Comments Off

Available Graphic Design Books

There are many graphic design books available for those interested in graphic design, students of graphic design, and those in a graphic design career. Books for graphic designers that are starting out should not try to keep up with books for experienced graphic designers. You should keep in mind your level of expertise in graphic design, as well as your level of interest in graphic design, when deciding what graphic design book to buy or check out from the library. Those looking for information as a student of graphic design will wish to seek out more specific information than those who are seeking knowledge of graphic design as a hobby.

Student Graphic Design Books

A great graphic design book for students wishing to pursue a career in product graphic design is called Design Secrets: Products: 50 Real Life Projects Uncovered. This graphic design book analyzes product graphic design for various projects. It includes information such as the graphic designer’s motivation behind the project, client specs, and other information. This graphic design book is a great way for graphic design students to learn more about product graphic design.

Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design (long title, I know) is another great graphic design book for students of graphic design. This graphic design book gets back to basics, leaving the technological and creative aspects of graphic design behind in favor of looking at the general purpose of graphic design. It is a must for starting graphic design students, or those interested in pursuing a career in graphic design.

Hobby Graphic Design Books

A new book called Take Control of Fonts in Mac OS X, Tiger by Sharron Zardetto Aker is a great graphic design book for anyone using a Mac OS X computer operating system. This new operating system makes dealing with fonts very difficult, and this graphic design books gives you hints, tips, and tricks to manage your fonts in this computer operating system more effectively.

The Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams (not that Robin Williams!) is another great graphic design book for hobbyists and those in other professions that find themselves using graphic design for work or play. This book has a wealth of information that can also make it a great candidate for students interested in pursuing a career in graphic design.

Graphic Design Books for Extensive Study

The Complete Guide to Digital Graphic Design is a great graphic design book for beginning, student, or experienced graphic designers that are struggling with the technological aspect of graphic design. This book is a must for experienced graphic designers and students of graphic design alike.

Overall, there are so many graphic design books available that it would be impossible to list them all here. If you would like to know more about graphic design or would like to get a graphic design book, check your local book store, your local library, online library catalogs, and online book stores for more graphic design book options.

March 22, 2009 · Filed Under Graphic Design