I once had an almost 9 to 5 job, but I yearned for the life of being a freelancer. More than that, I wanted to roll out of bed and right to my computer without caring what I looked like. Well, they do say be careful what you wish for. Two years ago, the agency I have been working for, for more than 10 years, suddenly went belly-up. My 9 to 5 became 7 to 7 or more, …or less, depending.
2011 was a tough economic year. Luckily work came looking for me by word-of-mouth (you can never be too nice). And then, it slowed down. Then it picked up. That’s when I learned, I can NEVER turn away work, even at my busiest. Because I never know when the next project would show up.
When work started leveling out, I realized that the only way I can branch out is to expand my network. I was a little embarrassed about my old site: it wasn’t that the work wasn’t good, but the site was so 2009. Yes, it took me two years to finally redesign my site, and I did it with the help of WordPress – no shame in that. (Even with the help, it still took me more than a month to get the content and site to where it is. One can only imagine the feat if I had to do the coding myself!)
So when I happened upon this article, “Why an Online Portfolio Is Insanely Essential For Your Freelance Business Growth,” by Bryce Haga, I thought I’d use this opportune time to share (just as my site is almost whole), and add / “improve” upon it through experience and my time spent taking notes from Creative Live (a designer’s best friend! Thank you Creative professionals: Janine Warner, Melanie & Devin Duncan, who give your time so selflessly! I learned so much from your classes!).
A freelancer’s “rice bowl” aka meal ticket:
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音 yīn
noun | radical 180
: tone; sound; noise; pitch
Kun Reading
音 | ね ne
noun| noun suffix
: sound; noise; report
: note (music)
音 | おと oto
noun| noun suffix
: sound; noise; report
: note (music)
: fame
音いろ | ねいろ neiro
noun| no-adjective
: tone color; tone quality; timbre
: synthesizer patch
On Reading
音 | おん on
noun| noun suffix
: sound; noise; report;
: note (music);
: Chinese-derived character reading
いん in
Chalkboard-style fonts these days are anything but boring. They are a fun way to show off your latest designs and are really taking the Pinterest world by storm. The fonts add authenticity to the hand-written style for back-to-school/educational designs or anything for that matter!
Here are some FREE Chalkboard fonts to kickstart your design doldrums and the new year back in school.
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Stuck in a design rut? Here are “three handfuls” of inspiring wisdom from some of the world’s greatest thinkers, innovators and designers.
The infographic includes quotations from Von R. Glitschka, David Ogilvy, Marissa Mayer, Oliver Reichenstein, Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, Albert Einstein, Alex King, Frank Lloyd Wright, Andy Warhol, Tanner Christensen, Joe Sparano, Douglas Adams and Ellen Lupton.
My favorite quote gives more credit to the common folks like you and I. “A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” – Douglas Adams
Infographic of 15 Inspiring Design Quotes by Glow New Media