Many freelancers have some dedicated space in their home in which to do their work. And setting up a great home office is key to your productivity, sanity, and professionalism.
Of course, some people don’t have an entire room in their home dedicated to a home office, but if you… read more
When I first started freelance writing, I thought branding for businesses merely referred to having a consistent “look and voice”. With my partner, we put together a website, designed a logo, added social media accounts– and called it our branding strategy. But I learned that these are just functional… read more
Branding a business can be quite the difficult task, regardless of if it’s your own or a clients. One of the most difficult things to do in this process is come up with a logo. A sole image, or tag of some sort, that will effectively portray what that business… read more
I have written case studies for clients, but haven’t implemented this in my own business yet. It is definitely something I’m going to be working on in the coming months.
Why, you may ask? Because a case study, at its root, combines the all-powerful client testimonial with step-by-step details on… read more
We’ve all been there: a client really, really wants to make a change to your design that, as a designer, you can immediately tell will result in disaster. It happens to every designer, and, as far as I can tell, there’s no real way to avoid it. However,… read more
I’m a believer that marketing materials will never go out of style. There’s something to be said when you have something really cool to give to someone else that characterizes you and your business.
I’m not talking about one of those squishy, stress reliever balls or a pen with your… read more
Vectortuts+ loves Illustration and discovering new talent, so today we are proud to be showcasing Round 1 of the Vectortuts+ Creative T-shirt Project. The best thing is, you can be a part of it! Find out how to get involved, at the jump.
Create Your Own T-shirt Design, Round… read more
Do you have this dream? You go down to your nearest big newsstand one day and check out all those big, glossy magazines. You flip one of your favorites open…and there’s your byline.
You’ve cracked the competitive world of writing for national magazines.
The good news is, this is not a… read more
As a freelancer, you are on your own when it comes to keeping track of your finances. And let’s face it, the financial side of things are generally the last thing we want to mess with at the end of a day. As painful as it might be to… read more
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To work as a freelance web designer requires a lot of patience and perseverance. You need to wake up every day and tackle problems one after another until you can successfully complete your projects. There is a lot of stress and turmoil which goes into this… read more
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Crests and shields are a popular choice for logo designs — they’ve been around for longer than anyone cares to think about and impart a sense of tradition and gravitas. A crest offers a royal, memorable and strong appearance with great impact for the customers and potential… read more
Designing a new product means overcoming a number of challenges, from idea generation through to rights and marketing. Designers will come at these problems in a number of different ways, with variations often dependent on their agency or freelance reputation. However, there are some general tips that can be followed… read more
I am a lucky freelancer—I have my own home office and no kids (well, at least not yet) to worry about. And my job means I don’t have to sit in my office, day after day, until I can’t stand it anymore. I get to go out and meet… read more
Imagine you are in a classroom. Let’s say a high school classroom. You’re sitting at your desk, listening to your favorite teacher—the one who inspired you, the one who got you excited about that thing you love for the first time.
You’ve stopped taking notes because your body just can’t quite… read more
The graphic designer leave behind has, ironically, been left behind in recent years. Its something that is heavily focused on in design school, but rarely is it put into practice in the real world. I think that’s a shame.
If you made a good impression on your potential client… read more
Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive?
Christmas is always a particularly fun time of year for me. Sure, there are the obvious reasons of family, gifts, music, movies, eggnog and all that good stuff. But for me it has more to do with the questions I’m asked by family members and I couldn’t help but laugh… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
When you started off as a freelancer, did it cross your mind that you might not make it? Did you consider the possibility of failure? If you’re like many first time freelancers, you didn’t.
It’s not that surprising that so many freelance businesses go under, when many freelancers don’t… read more
It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at Startups on the Side with Toni Gemayel by FreelanceJam. In this inspiring video the FreelanceJam duo interview Toni Gemayel who has loads of experience as a freelancer… read more
Ron Paul may not be the most avid gamer — but the leading libertarian certainly wouldn’t want to stop you playing his character in an upcoming videogame from Texas-based programmer Daniel Williams.
“Ron Paul: The Road to REVOLution” is a side-scrolling adventure game that echoes console classics of days gone… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
Everyone wants to be rich. That’s a great goal to have, but it usually takes a multitude of consistent steps over an extended period of time to actually get there. One half of the equation is to earn more than what you are making right now, and fast. From freelancing… read more
When I saw this blog post on Gawker.com, I just shook my head. What else can you do?
Here’s the gist: a guy who is looking for a job created a profile on Monster.com saying he’s looking for a job in the Columbus, Ohio area. He’s contacted by a recruiter… read more
Balancing work and life is very important, and it is necessary to manage both sides perfectly to ensure success in the professional world. Although it sounds simple, managing both sides can be very difficult at times. This is more difficult for freelancers because they need to manage their own time… read more
In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at a case of nerves and a question of file ownership. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send… read more
Freelance Illustrator and Fine Artist Quaker Ninja
At Mashable, we believe that our community is our biggest asset. We love it when you tell us your success stories. Part of our mission is to empower people through social and digital media.
As Alyssa Milano wrote in her TIME 100 article on Pete Cashmore, Mashable “gives voice to… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of “best of” list of videos we’ve discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good… read more
For decades now, voice control over any type of hardware has been the epitome of immersive user interface. From Star Trek to Iron Man, you have seen the benefits of vocal commands used over and over in many forms of science fiction. To date, technology still tries to mimic the… read more
We have another amazing freebie for you today. Exclusively designed for us by Robby from RobbyDesigns.com, it is a corporate identity package called ‘Jack Designs’ that includes PSD templates for business cards, CD covers (front & back), envelopes, letterheads, door-handles and even a design for a mousepad!.
The… read more
CareerCast.com just published a list of 200 jobs ranking them from best to worst based on the following criteria: physical demands, work environment, income, stress, and hiring outlook. They used info from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (along with other government agencies) to create this list.
I did a search… read more
As a solo freelancer, you probably don’t have the budget to conduct big market research studies like the big guys to learn how to improve your business – things like how to improve your sales process, or where your customers are coming from, or a million other market research… read more
I require my undergraduate journalism students to buy two books to keep by their sides at all times. One of them is the AP Style Book; the other is called When Words Collide: A Media Writer’s Guide to Grammar and Style.
I can’t tell you how much I love my… read more
Surprise, surprise! On 11th April Google+ made a new announcement. Google+ now has more than 170 million users!
This is not the only reason why you should consider using Google+ for your freelancing business. Another very important reason is that Google+ profiles and pages can make an impact on the… read more
Irrespective of what niche you write in, there are major industry events that you need to be aware of. Reading about them is a terrific way to get ideas for new topics.
In addition, when you are well informed about your niche, you will be able to generate new… read more
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The team behind Worksy has been hard at work on their product for a couple of years now, but it was only recently that it was ready to go into public beta. The Next Web covered the end of Worksy’s stealth mode at the end of March.
Worksy… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
Writing effective blog posts isn’t as easy as you might think. There are a ton of things to take into consideration, including creating a catchy headline, the length of your piece, even the words that you choose.
I’ve spent some time scanning the Internet to find some useful tips on… read more
Thinking of pursuing a career as a freelance writer? Congratulations. It’s a great lifestyle, where you control your own schedule, set your own rates, and work for a variety of clients.
That is, if you can figure out how to earn enough money from your writing to keep from starving.
Many… read more
Time is money for freelancers, but sometimes giving it away can benefit you in the long run. Providing free advice through social media channels, offering a free eBook, giving away a free newsletter, or offering free consultations, are all excellent strategies used to build upon your client list.
That is… read more
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Restaurant logo design is tricky business. Logo design is a balance between what are often conflicting interests: representing the values of your brand, and standing out from other brands. When it comes to the topic of food, designers need to be especially careful — consumers are picky… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
In this economy, creating and sticking to a budget is more important than ever. Of course, not every freelancer has money problems, but my guess is that many of you out there are taking a very close look at your bottom line—especially with taxes due in just days.
Whether you… read more
It must be a wonderful thing to be one of those chefs in the TV cooking competitions, able to take a stack of surprise ingredients and instantly whip up beautiful, tasty dishes from them.
For most of us, if that’s what we had to do every day, it would just… read more
If you manage websites, you know how important it is to keep your content fresh and up-to-date. It’s also crucial to guide your users towards your new content, without marring the site design and experience you’ve spent a lot of time and effort creating. Pop-ups and banners are distracting and… read more
Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive?
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People love a freebie, right? Sort of. A recent study released by the National Academy of Sciences found that most people reject the offer of free money if they think the arrangement is unfair.
This theory was tested by making participants play ‘The Ultimatum Game.’ The game involved… read more
Every other week we roundup some of the highest quality articles and resources that benefit freelancers from across the web. We present these articles here on various helpful topics. This week we have articles on getting started as a freelance marketing, building your creative mind, the power of weak… read more
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at What to do if a Client Hates Your Design (and more!) by spoongraphics. In this video learn what you can do if your client dislikes your design… read more
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of “best of” list of videos we’ve discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good… read more
If someone asked me to explain what a corporate website looked to them the odds are I wouldn’t use words like “attractive”, “visually pleasing”, or “creative.” Unfortunately when I think of a corporate website the immediate stereotypes that come to mind are minimal design elements, lots of text, black and… read more
This blog post by Amber Rice on PRDaily.com tickled my fancy. Maybe it’s because many of my friends have toddlers, or maybe it’s because I’m pregnant—but I think adults can learn a lot from little kids. Below are some of Rice’s suggestions, as well as some of my own.
Be… read more
In a post on her blog last year, WordPress designer, business woman and author Lisa Sabin Wilson, talked about how thankful she is to be part of the WordPress economy. It’s an economy that thousands of people, the world over, are benefiting from (including me!). It is an economy built… read more
Freelancers are those who work from their own comfort zone: be it home or a public café, they can work from any space of their choice. Freelancing, therefore, comes with many advantages, such as flexibility of working space and environment, flexibility of time, and so on. However, many responsibilities come… read more
If there is one thing I miss about working in the corporate world, it is having teams of people working in the background that I can call on for any type of support my business may need.
Have a legal question? Dial the extension to get someone in… read more
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Every designer loves a foray into the minimalist — even if you make your bread and butter designing wildly grungy logos for metal bands using absurd, busy fonts and lots of black and red (not that this is a common niche for designers who do want to… read more
No one is perfect, and we can all improve upon ourselves to become better businesspeople. I really liked this article by Brad Lebo, one of the principals at Vital Growth.
He lists some challenges that each and every one of us can focus on and conquer in order to… read more
We all know that we need to spend as much time as we can networking with prospective clients. But how much time should you spend networking with other freelancers?
Other Freelancers Aren’t Just Competition
As a freelancer, other freelancers have to seem like competition. But those other freelancers can also be… read more
Have you started work on a new app? Are you in need of some design inspiration? Well, your in luck. Today we have a showcase of 30 beautifully designed pixel-perfect iPad UIs that will stimulate your inspiration in no time.
If you know of any others please leave a… read more
There are plenty of deals to be had on the App Store, however with such a huge number of apps, it is impossible to scout out the best ones without a bit of help. Well, that’s where we come in! From now on, Mac AppStorm will be publishing every Wednesday… read more
A little R&R can go a long way to refresh the body and fill your mind with all the great ideas you need for creative success. In this article, Divya Rawat shares a series of things you can do during your off time to keep yourself productive, energized,… read more
When I read this article about how Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, leaves work at—gasp! 5:30 pm every day—I was both happy and annoyed.
I am a huge proponent for working smarter—not longer or harder. I can get done in a few hours what takes some people all day. I am… read more
It’s always nice to hear a good success story. That’s what struck me when I read about Andrea Wren. The UK-based freelance journalist successfully made a career out of freelance writing with no previous experience or training. Andrea is proof that as long as you can write well, you… read more
Every now and again I’ll get a client who already knows exactly how they want their website to look. Now, some times this can be quite nice as it makes the design process quite a bit easier on my end, other times it can be a bit frustrating as their… read more
Ken Taylor is an illustrator and designer based in Melbourne Australia. He primarily works with the music industry so he designed for many Australian bands but he also did some movie posters and let me tell you they are just gorgeous and so detailed. Here’s a set of some of… read more
We are happy to announce this giveaway with Supercombo, a range from the well-known clothing company Funkrush by Pete Harrison (aka. Aeiko). Supercombo is a very diverse range of selling items including t-shirts, wallets, key rings and you name it! For this giveaway, we have a choice of 2 (two)… read more
Marc Georges is a freelance journalist. He writes about how technology is shaping our culture and society. In his free time, Marc produces comedy videos on news and politics with his pals at The Full Ginsburg. Follow him @marcgeorges.
There’s no mistaking it: Columbus, Ohio is a sports town. Drive through the city… read more
I was engrossed in this blog post about why creative businesses fail written by Jason Aten. I work in a creative field (magazine publishing) with many creative people (writers, photographers, and graphic designers). If you work in the creative industry and are looking to start your own business—listen up!
Jason… read more
If you are not familiar with Google+ consider reading my previous article –
8 Reasons that Make Google+ Better than Facebook and Twitter – for an introduction.
This article is about the differences between Google+ pages and Google+ profiles. This way you can use each of them to represent… read more
Thanks to the internet, it is more advantageous to work as a freelancer these days. You can conveniently find clients online, market your work effectively at a low cost (or for free), network with colleagues, run your website, research, handle your accounting and a lot more.
But having such easy… read more
Today, Web site Design is a very important part of current Graphic Design. To keep up with the fast-paced web design industry you must look out self education sources, such as books, books are very important, helps us to build our spirit, give information, helps us to write and think… read more
An Exclusive Series for Newsletter Subscribers
Are you a FreelanceSwitch Newsletter subscriber? If not, now’s the time to join! We’re running a fantastic series of articles, focused on how you can effectively and easily price your services.
We’ll be looking at topics such as hourly vs. fixed rates, assessing the competition,… read more
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We know the conventional wisdom says that black text on a white background provides the most user-friendly experience. There’s plenty of whitespace to guide the eye, and the text is easy to read. It’s harder to get the same feeling with black designs: even with equivalent spacing,… read more
Whether you’re a freelancer, billing your clients by the hour, or are working with your team on an awesome idea, It’s always a good idea to track your time. Tracking time lets you plan your tasks better, period. But most of the apps available are riddled with bugs or confusing… read more
We face criticism from all sorts of angles, both in our professional and in our personal lives. It never ceases to amaze me how often complete strangers will offer up advice on everything from parenting skills, to recipe enhancements, to the exact right way to get from point A… read more
There’s a union for every profession, and freelancers are no exception. If the thought of joining a union conjures up images of strikes, scabs and outrageous membership dues, think again! The Freelancers Union is an awesome nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting freelancers from all disciplines—and membership is 100 percent… read more
Once a week, we feature a fantastic freelance-themed comic from the talented N.C. Winters. Why not also take a look at our comic archive?
A few weeks ago we saw this amazing food icons and we were blown away by the quality of the illustration. We decided to check out who was the author and we ended up on Julian Burford’s Web site. Julian is an extremely talented illustrator from the Netherlands and totally… read more
Selling is the most important element of any business and ranges from selling online products to selling groceries. The success of any business depends on a strong, unique selling point and the correct attitude to sell. You might be a freelancer or a salaried employee; you cannot avoid selling, as… read more
View engaging conference lectures, interesting how to discussions, and high quality freelance advice via video here on FreelanceSwitch.
This week we look at Best Tips to Work Better, Not Harder by Lifehacker. In this video Adam Dachis and Adam Pash show us how to improve our freelance office setup, with… read more
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The name says it all. If you’ve come here, we mean no offense – there’s just a few career killers that we probably all have been guilty of at one point or another. These concepts definitely apply to interface designers, but if you’ve arrived at this post… read more
It’s time for our best news of this week. We have a lot of graphic and web design, a bit of architecture, ads, tech news, awesome reads and other crazy stuff! So take a look at the links we’ve selected for your inspiration and to keep you updated about what’s… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
I remember sitting in a grad school course in journalism school listening to a twenty-something talk about how important blogging was going to become and how it’s changing the essence of journalism. I was so in disbelief as to what I was hearing that my chin was basically resting… read more
The FreelanceSwitch Facebook Page has almost 12,000 Likes and an active following. This is where we post links to our published material, as well as to freelance related posts from across the web. If you’d like to follow what impacts freelancers daily, our Facebook page is a great way… read more
It’s no secret that freelancers face real challenges balancing self-promotion and client demands. That’s why it’s important for you to optimize your time and make smart decisions that produce real results.
Content can be the hook that attracts visitors and engages them.
Using your time to grow your list of… read more
Imagine waking up one morning, booting up your system and realizing that your hard drive is dead. Or maybe you returned from vacation to see that your office has been flooded.
These scenarios would be difficult for anyone. But, for a freelance designer, it could put you out of… read more
This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, You can submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com and don’t forget to… read more
Video Inspiration is a weekly(ish) post where we either feature a specific artist or show a sort of “best of” list of videos we’ve discovered during the week. Everything here may not be brand new, but we felt it worth sharing with the community. If you have good… read more
The Modern Media Agency Series is presented by IDG. CenturyLink thought an online game would engage IT professionals. In eight months, 90,000 people played the trivia contest. IDG’s Howard Sholkin spoke with CenturyLink’s Joanne Kernie at the awards ceremony and digital conference in March 2012.
Crowdsourcing is not a new concept… read more
Property lists are designed specifically for Objective-C apps to store and retain data. These are straight XML files formatted for easy access to bundles and application resources. There isn’t anything overly confusing about Property Lists, but they are unconventional compared to web applications.
In this guide I’d like to… read more
In the past, creating your own online store would have cost you thousands of dollars, or more likely tens of thousands, to cover the cost of developing a powerful, eCommerce site. Not only would the site need to have the store front consumer side created, it would also need a… read more