Persuasive design is the next practice it will supercharge and embrace, folding its techniques into interaction design.
Have a pleasant reading
WHY PERSUASIVE DESIGN SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT SKILL SET
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Facts About Design Costing 10:30 AM
Designing has become one of the most rewarding and profitable careers in today’s world. The professional world of designing has seen many old and new designers switching from employment to self-employment, due to the rewarding nature of this business. Such designers have done quite a good job in producing call-to-action campaigns resulting into a wider clientele. However, among these, there are many who cut a sorry figure when it comes to costing or charging their design services.
Costing for one’s products is not at all a big deal, however, when it comes to costing for your services, people often find themselves in an acute dilemma. Same happens when a designer does a very good and fulfilling project, but when the client asks for the costing, he totally shuts down and finds himself looking around and asking the fellow designers as what do they charge and how to go about this process.
Following are some facts about pricing your design services:
First Rule, That There is No Rule
If, for any reason, you expect this article to provide you with rules and regulations and set guidelines, then you are seriously mistaken. The very first thing you need to learn about design costing is that there is not hard and fast rule for it. There are no books or guidelines that may help you actually make good costing. The basic reason is that designing is an extremely variable process. Some designs may look simple and easy, yet only the designer might know how much effort and research he has put into making it.
Therefore my suggestion is that every designer needs to develop his or her own method for pricing, and even if you do make your own rules, you probably won’t be able to follow the same rule on every project. It is better to not only have your own formulas of costing but these should also be extremely flexible, highly variable and according to the project.
Costing – A Necessary Evil
Like all other creative professionals of the world, designers usually like to focus on their work more than any other aspect of their business. Although their business is totally commercial and aimed at money-making, still, they are not very comfortable with pricing their services. However, while working on a design project, they should be aware that they will have to face the costing aspect sooner or later. Even more, they cannot hire anyone for this job or leave it to a friend to charge their services, as they are the only ones who know how much time and effort has been put into a certain project and how it should be valued in terms of money.
Especially and particularly, for freelance designers, costing is a necessary evil. One should understand that freelancers wear a lot of hats, and design costing is just one of them. Therefore, it is important to get comfortable with it as earlier as possible and save yourself from many long-term issues.
Charging Less is Inevitable for Starters
There is an important thing that all the design newbies should understand, i.e. no matter how good you design or how skillful you are with your work, there is something that will always keep you from costing your work at higher prices and that is the sole fact that you are new. As soon as you enter the market, as a freelance designer, you will find that you need to prove yourself to the market and establish a name. Charging less is the only way you can beat the raging competition and get your share of goodies from the market.
Hourly Costing Vs Project-based Costing
There are two basic formats on which designer around the world charge their clients i.e. hourly costing or project-based costing. Different designers opt for any of these two formats owing to their routine, work pattern and market trend. It all depends on you as how would you like to take it across and on which format your clients are comfortable paying you. However, in general, project-based costing is more common than hourly rates, but it is better that you explore the pros and cons of both formats and then make a decision.
Learning through Trial and Error
Wherever there is fluctuation in the value for your services, freelancers and even the bigger organizations opt for the most comfortable, yet risky method of costing, i.e. trial and error. Although there is very little margin to experiment whenever there is money involved, however, for starters, trial and error method gives you long-term benefits.
If you have made a mistake in design costing (under-charged and client and lost a big chunk of money or over-charged a client and lost him for being too expensive), always remember that it is normal and you should learn from it. The more you learn from your experiences, the trial and error method will automatically diminish.
Your Prices Speak for Your Work
Design costing is a very tricky business. You need to strike a balance between your high and low prices as this can lead to your reputation. How? Well, pricing is one of the most solid and common way of judging the abilities of a designer (sometimes even more than his or her portfolio). When people usually meet a low-pricing designer,(no matter how well you have designed their brochures, flyers, post cards or business cards) the first thing that comes in their mind is that he or she must not be very skilled or experienced. Your prices impact your impression on your potential clients.
Your prices also impact; rather speak for your own idea about your services and abilities. By costing your services very low you will eventually convince yourself that you are not worth more. Then again, if you cost your services too high, you will indulge in feelings of over-confidence and will not be able to land many clients. So it is always good to keep a balanced costing habit that should benefit you more.
It’s OK to be Uncertain
As I have mentioned repeatedly earlier, design costing is a very vague and fluctuating process. Especially the freelance designers, no matter how experienced they are in their business they do feel slight uncertainly while costing their design projects every time. So either you are a starter or a veteran freelance designer, it is OK to be uncertain about design costing. The majority freelancers struggle with design costing and are often very uncertain, so being uncertain doesn’t mean that you are inferior or lack talent. Take the time to educate yourself through learning and experience.
Sometimes it is Good to Lose a Project
This a fact especially addressed to the designers who are new in freelancing. When you start a business, there is a special hunger for more and more work coming in. This is totally understandable and quite acceptable, however, as soon as you start getting regular work, you need to wash this lusty attitude away and become choosy about your clients and projects.
All of us have a limited amount of time available for work in a day, and taking a job that does not pay what you need to make it to a good livelihood, isn’t going to be ideal. If you see that the client is very annoying, negatively critical or paying less, your freelancing gives you all the rights to drop that project and focus on more positive ones. Once you have dropped a project then there is no need to worry about it, because, after all, only a freelance design can enjoy this privilege!
Reagan Sirengo Muganda
www.reaganfolio.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Reagan_Sirengo
Costing for one’s products is not at all a big deal, however, when it comes to costing for your services, people often find themselves in an acute dilemma. Same happens when a designer does a very good and fulfilling project, but when the client asks for the costing, he totally shuts down and finds himself looking around and asking the fellow designers as what do they charge and how to go about this process.
Following are some facts about pricing your design services:
First Rule, That There is No Rule
If, for any reason, you expect this article to provide you with rules and regulations and set guidelines, then you are seriously mistaken. The very first thing you need to learn about design costing is that there is not hard and fast rule for it. There are no books or guidelines that may help you actually make good costing. The basic reason is that designing is an extremely variable process. Some designs may look simple and easy, yet only the designer might know how much effort and research he has put into making it.
Therefore my suggestion is that every designer needs to develop his or her own method for pricing, and even if you do make your own rules, you probably won’t be able to follow the same rule on every project. It is better to not only have your own formulas of costing but these should also be extremely flexible, highly variable and according to the project.
Costing – A Necessary Evil
Like all other creative professionals of the world, designers usually like to focus on their work more than any other aspect of their business. Although their business is totally commercial and aimed at money-making, still, they are not very comfortable with pricing their services. However, while working on a design project, they should be aware that they will have to face the costing aspect sooner or later. Even more, they cannot hire anyone for this job or leave it to a friend to charge their services, as they are the only ones who know how much time and effort has been put into a certain project and how it should be valued in terms of money.
Especially and particularly, for freelance designers, costing is a necessary evil. One should understand that freelancers wear a lot of hats, and design costing is just one of them. Therefore, it is important to get comfortable with it as earlier as possible and save yourself from many long-term issues.
Charging Less is Inevitable for Starters
There is an important thing that all the design newbies should understand, i.e. no matter how good you design or how skillful you are with your work, there is something that will always keep you from costing your work at higher prices and that is the sole fact that you are new. As soon as you enter the market, as a freelance designer, you will find that you need to prove yourself to the market and establish a name. Charging less is the only way you can beat the raging competition and get your share of goodies from the market.
Hourly Costing Vs Project-based Costing
There are two basic formats on which designer around the world charge their clients i.e. hourly costing or project-based costing. Different designers opt for any of these two formats owing to their routine, work pattern and market trend. It all depends on you as how would you like to take it across and on which format your clients are comfortable paying you. However, in general, project-based costing is more common than hourly rates, but it is better that you explore the pros and cons of both formats and then make a decision.
Learning through Trial and Error
Wherever there is fluctuation in the value for your services, freelancers and even the bigger organizations opt for the most comfortable, yet risky method of costing, i.e. trial and error. Although there is very little margin to experiment whenever there is money involved, however, for starters, trial and error method gives you long-term benefits.
If you have made a mistake in design costing (under-charged and client and lost a big chunk of money or over-charged a client and lost him for being too expensive), always remember that it is normal and you should learn from it. The more you learn from your experiences, the trial and error method will automatically diminish.
Your Prices Speak for Your Work
Design costing is a very tricky business. You need to strike a balance between your high and low prices as this can lead to your reputation. How? Well, pricing is one of the most solid and common way of judging the abilities of a designer (sometimes even more than his or her portfolio). When people usually meet a low-pricing designer,(no matter how well you have designed their brochures, flyers, post cards or business cards) the first thing that comes in their mind is that he or she must not be very skilled or experienced. Your prices impact your impression on your potential clients.
Your prices also impact; rather speak for your own idea about your services and abilities. By costing your services very low you will eventually convince yourself that you are not worth more. Then again, if you cost your services too high, you will indulge in feelings of over-confidence and will not be able to land many clients. So it is always good to keep a balanced costing habit that should benefit you more.
It’s OK to be Uncertain
As I have mentioned repeatedly earlier, design costing is a very vague and fluctuating process. Especially the freelance designers, no matter how experienced they are in their business they do feel slight uncertainly while costing their design projects every time. So either you are a starter or a veteran freelance designer, it is OK to be uncertain about design costing. The majority freelancers struggle with design costing and are often very uncertain, so being uncertain doesn’t mean that you are inferior or lack talent. Take the time to educate yourself through learning and experience.
Sometimes it is Good to Lose a Project
This a fact especially addressed to the designers who are new in freelancing. When you start a business, there is a special hunger for more and more work coming in. This is totally understandable and quite acceptable, however, as soon as you start getting regular work, you need to wash this lusty attitude away and become choosy about your clients and projects.
All of us have a limited amount of time available for work in a day, and taking a job that does not pay what you need to make it to a good livelihood, isn’t going to be ideal. If you see that the client is very annoying, negatively critical or paying less, your freelancing gives you all the rights to drop that project and focus on more positive ones. Once you have dropped a project then there is no need to worry about it, because, after all, only a freelance design can enjoy this privilege!
Reagan Sirengo Muganda
www.reaganfolio.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Reagan_Sirengo
Monday, May 30, 2011
Best Tutorials 2:41 AM
I found some interesting resource and thought you might enjoy too.
http://sharkwebstyle.com/2011/03/best-tutorials-february-2011/
Have a pleasant reading.
http://sharkwebstyle.com/2011/03/best-tutorials-february-2011/
Have a pleasant reading.
Monday, April 11, 2011
InDesign CS 5.5 Announced 11:03 AM
Adobe today announced a significant release of InDesign and the Creative Suite, dubbed 5.5! While there is a little for everyone — there’s one or two features that will excite every CS5 user — how much you’ll want 5.5 directly correlates to how much work you do with interactive documents (EPUB, DPS, HTML, and accessible PDF files).
Monday, April 12, 2010
Adobe CS5 suite review 10:43 AM
To begin, I must say that I detected in the suite CS5 one of the major flaws of the CS4: it requires too much RAM and memory. Adobe software, in the past few years has shown a very annoying tendency to double the memory required to install the newer version of every software they own. 600 Mb in Photoshop CS2 turned into 2 Gb CS4, and now, as expected, you’d better have 3 and a half gigabytes to spare in your hard drive.
Another defect of this new suite is the very unpractical habit of sucking 110% of the resources of the machine, requiring an insane RAM and a demented graphic card for the programs to work properly. It makes me laugh that all the Adobe promotional videos are made with Macintosh computers, presumably more powerful than the sword of He-man, and yet all the new tools make them work slowly. The brushes have a good "delay, you will have to wait about 30 seconds (if no more) to apply certain filters ... and so on.
I must say, as a point in favor of the suite, that this time Adobe has had the detail of not having the whole interface changed, they have kept the CS4 design.
In the case of Photoshop, the 3D aspect has been polished. As a plus point, I must admit that the professional versions of the programs are well prepared to work all together because they are fully compatible. However, if God invented compatibility, the devil invented Bridge, a plague they didn’t got rid off in this new version.
I got really upset when I reviewed the new batch of tools of CS5. Each and every one of them (and I mean this for every program, not just Photoshop) are designed to make the softwares more accessible to the public. Don’t get me wrong, but as an artist with experience in the suite, cause I use it continuously to work, I feel infinitely ignored by programmers.
There are few improvements to make life easier for the professional user, such as being able to edit multiple layers at once. But the new tools are basically a candy collection for the general public, to make them able to play with digital creation. They have finally released "Flash Elements" under the name "Flash Catalyst" to make the creation of multimedia environments accessible to the average designer.
In conclusion. The CS5 suite is a somehow an extended version of CS4,but with many bugs solved; with a collection of tools for the public to play with the digital creation, but with little improvement for the professionals.
Adapted from deviant http://news.deviantart.com/article/114507/
Another defect of this new suite is the very unpractical habit of sucking 110% of the resources of the machine, requiring an insane RAM and a demented graphic card for the programs to work properly. It makes me laugh that all the Adobe promotional videos are made with Macintosh computers, presumably more powerful than the sword of He-man, and yet all the new tools make them work slowly. The brushes have a good "delay, you will have to wait about 30 seconds (if no more) to apply certain filters ... and so on.
I must say, as a point in favor of the suite, that this time Adobe has had the detail of not having the whole interface changed, they have kept the CS4 design.
In the case of Photoshop, the 3D aspect has been polished. As a plus point, I must admit that the professional versions of the programs are well prepared to work all together because they are fully compatible. However, if God invented compatibility, the devil invented Bridge, a plague they didn’t got rid off in this new version.
I got really upset when I reviewed the new batch of tools of CS5. Each and every one of them (and I mean this for every program, not just Photoshop) are designed to make the softwares more accessible to the public. Don’t get me wrong, but as an artist with experience in the suite, cause I use it continuously to work, I feel infinitely ignored by programmers.
There are few improvements to make life easier for the professional user, such as being able to edit multiple layers at once. But the new tools are basically a candy collection for the general public, to make them able to play with digital creation. They have finally released "Flash Elements" under the name "Flash Catalyst" to make the creation of multimedia environments accessible to the average designer.
In conclusion. The CS5 suite is a somehow an extended version of CS4,but with many bugs solved; with a collection of tools for the public to play with the digital creation, but with little improvement for the professionals.
Adapted from deviant http://news.deviantart.com/article/114507/
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Is the Creative Professional's Dream Package 10:16 AM
The hype surrounding's Adobe's new Creative Suite 5 (CS5) was huge. The software was touted as being a game-changing new package that would enable creative professionals to work more efficiently, and in some truly amazing ways. For the most part, CS5 does just that.
Adobe CS5, available for both Mac and Windows, takes the company's killer apps and infuses them with new polish and features, making the package one of the most extensive updates we've seen in the suite's history.
Creative Suite 5's scope is so huge, that we not only did a full review of the overall package, but drilled down into each individual application: Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, and Adobe Photoshop CS5
Adobe CS5, available for both Mac and Windows, takes the company's killer apps and infuses them with new polish and features, making the package one of the most extensive updates we've seen in the suite's history.
Creative Suite 5's scope is so huge, that we not only did a full review of the overall package, but drilled down into each individual application: Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, and Adobe Photoshop CS5
Friday, December 11, 2009
CREATING THE RIGHT SIZE POWERPOINT SLIDE SHOW BACKGROUND 5:48 AM
e. One problem that many people encounter is not knowing what size to make their slide show background image. The good news is that you don’t have to reformat your entire computer to create perfect slide shows every time.
The first step to understanding how to create the right size images for PowerPoint is to toss out any ideas you’ve been given about formatting your images by scanning them to a certain dpi. When it comes to PowerPoint, there is a simple way to ensure that your figures are clear, dazzling and easy to view, forget about dpi all together and turn your focus instead towards the screen resolution of the computer you’re using. This doesn’t mean that you have to be concerned with the resolution if you go to a larger screen either, such as a video projector.
It doesn’t matter how small or large your screen is, it is the resolution of the machine the matters. Here is the answer you’ve been looking for to make perfect images in PowerPoint for your slide shows: When you want to create images that fit the slide, the image size must be the same as the screen resolution of the machine you’re using. In other words, if your screen resolution is 1024 x 765 and you want to have full screen images in your slide show, the image resolution, in pixels, should match that number.
The same holds true for images that you want to be half the size in height; you should divide the numbers by 2, so half-size images should be 512 pixels wide by 384 pixels high. Ready for some more good news? You may be able to choose options that proportionately maintain the pixels for customized sizes. You may be wondering about this theory for using a system that you’re not familiar with, to which we say, don’t worry.
You can easily check the display resolution on any machine via the Windows desktop. Just right mouse click and a menu will appear. Select “Properties” then select the “Settings” tab from the “Display Properties” dialog box. Look at the “Screen Resolution” to see what the current setting is. As a rule of thumb, the display resolution is often defaulted to 1024 x 768. That means whether you’re using a laptop, video projector or other type of computer, you usually can’t go wrong with this setting for your PowerPoint slide show.
The first step to understanding how to create the right size images for PowerPoint is to toss out any ideas you’ve been given about formatting your images by scanning them to a certain dpi. When it comes to PowerPoint, there is a simple way to ensure that your figures are clear, dazzling and easy to view, forget about dpi all together and turn your focus instead towards the screen resolution of the computer you’re using. This doesn’t mean that you have to be concerned with the resolution if you go to a larger screen either, such as a video projector.
It doesn’t matter how small or large your screen is, it is the resolution of the machine the matters. Here is the answer you’ve been looking for to make perfect images in PowerPoint for your slide shows: When you want to create images that fit the slide, the image size must be the same as the screen resolution of the machine you’re using. In other words, if your screen resolution is 1024 x 765 and you want to have full screen images in your slide show, the image resolution, in pixels, should match that number.
The same holds true for images that you want to be half the size in height; you should divide the numbers by 2, so half-size images should be 512 pixels wide by 384 pixels high. Ready for some more good news? You may be able to choose options that proportionately maintain the pixels for customized sizes. You may be wondering about this theory for using a system that you’re not familiar with, to which we say, don’t worry.
You can easily check the display resolution on any machine via the Windows desktop. Just right mouse click and a menu will appear. Select “Properties” then select the “Settings” tab from the “Display Properties” dialog box. Look at the “Screen Resolution” to see what the current setting is. As a rule of thumb, the display resolution is often defaulted to 1024 x 768. That means whether you’re using a laptop, video projector or other type of computer, you usually can’t go wrong with this setting for your PowerPoint slide show.
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
WHY PERSUASIVE DESIGN SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT SKILL SET
11:50 PM
Persuasive design is the next practice it will supercharge and embrace, folding its techniques into interaction design.
Have a pleasant reading
WHY PERSUASIVE DESIGN SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT SKILL SET
Have a pleasant reading
WHY PERSUASIVE DESIGN SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT SKILL SET
Read more...
Facts About Design Costing
10:30 AM
Designing has become one of the most rewarding and profitable careers in today’s world. The professional world of designing has seen many old and new designers switching from employment to self-employment, due to the rewarding nature of this business. Such designers have done quite a good job in producing call-to-action campaigns resulting into a wider clientele. However, among these, there are many who cut a sorry figure when it comes to costing or charging their design services.
Costing for one’s products is not at all a big deal, however, when it comes to costing for your services, people often find themselves in an acute dilemma. Same happens when a designer does a very good and fulfilling project, but when the client asks for the costing, he totally shuts down and finds himself looking around and asking the fellow designers as what do they charge and how to go about this process.
Following are some facts about pricing your design services:
First Rule, That There is No Rule
If, for any reason, you expect this article to provide you with rules and regulations and set guidelines, then you are seriously mistaken. The very first thing you need to learn about design costing is that there is not hard and fast rule for it. There are no books or guidelines that may help you actually make good costing. The basic reason is that designing is an extremely variable process. Some designs may look simple and easy, yet only the designer might know how much effort and research he has put into making it.
Therefore my suggestion is that every designer needs to develop his or her own method for pricing, and even if you do make your own rules, you probably won’t be able to follow the same rule on every project. It is better to not only have your own formulas of costing but these should also be extremely flexible, highly variable and according to the project.
Costing – A Necessary Evil
Like all other creative professionals of the world, designers usually like to focus on their work more than any other aspect of their business. Although their business is totally commercial and aimed at money-making, still, they are not very comfortable with pricing their services. However, while working on a design project, they should be aware that they will have to face the costing aspect sooner or later. Even more, they cannot hire anyone for this job or leave it to a friend to charge their services, as they are the only ones who know how much time and effort has been put into a certain project and how it should be valued in terms of money.
Especially and particularly, for freelance designers, costing is a necessary evil. One should understand that freelancers wear a lot of hats, and design costing is just one of them. Therefore, it is important to get comfortable with it as earlier as possible and save yourself from many long-term issues.
Charging Less is Inevitable for Starters
There is an important thing that all the design newbies should understand, i.e. no matter how good you design or how skillful you are with your work, there is something that will always keep you from costing your work at higher prices and that is the sole fact that you are new. As soon as you enter the market, as a freelance designer, you will find that you need to prove yourself to the market and establish a name. Charging less is the only way you can beat the raging competition and get your share of goodies from the market.
Hourly Costing Vs Project-based Costing
There are two basic formats on which designer around the world charge their clients i.e. hourly costing or project-based costing. Different designers opt for any of these two formats owing to their routine, work pattern and market trend. It all depends on you as how would you like to take it across and on which format your clients are comfortable paying you. However, in general, project-based costing is more common than hourly rates, but it is better that you explore the pros and cons of both formats and then make a decision.
Learning through Trial and Error
Wherever there is fluctuation in the value for your services, freelancers and even the bigger organizations opt for the most comfortable, yet risky method of costing, i.e. trial and error. Although there is very little margin to experiment whenever there is money involved, however, for starters, trial and error method gives you long-term benefits.
If you have made a mistake in design costing (under-charged and client and lost a big chunk of money or over-charged a client and lost him for being too expensive), always remember that it is normal and you should learn from it. The more you learn from your experiences, the trial and error method will automatically diminish.
Your Prices Speak for Your Work
Design costing is a very tricky business. You need to strike a balance between your high and low prices as this can lead to your reputation. How? Well, pricing is one of the most solid and common way of judging the abilities of a designer (sometimes even more than his or her portfolio). When people usually meet a low-pricing designer,(no matter how well you have designed their brochures, flyers, post cards or business cards) the first thing that comes in their mind is that he or she must not be very skilled or experienced. Your prices impact your impression on your potential clients.
Your prices also impact; rather speak for your own idea about your services and abilities. By costing your services very low you will eventually convince yourself that you are not worth more. Then again, if you cost your services too high, you will indulge in feelings of over-confidence and will not be able to land many clients. So it is always good to keep a balanced costing habit that should benefit you more.
It’s OK to be Uncertain
As I have mentioned repeatedly earlier, design costing is a very vague and fluctuating process. Especially the freelance designers, no matter how experienced they are in their business they do feel slight uncertainly while costing their design projects every time. So either you are a starter or a veteran freelance designer, it is OK to be uncertain about design costing. The majority freelancers struggle with design costing and are often very uncertain, so being uncertain doesn’t mean that you are inferior or lack talent. Take the time to educate yourself through learning and experience.
Sometimes it is Good to Lose a Project
This a fact especially addressed to the designers who are new in freelancing. When you start a business, there is a special hunger for more and more work coming in. This is totally understandable and quite acceptable, however, as soon as you start getting regular work, you need to wash this lusty attitude away and become choosy about your clients and projects.
All of us have a limited amount of time available for work in a day, and taking a job that does not pay what you need to make it to a good livelihood, isn’t going to be ideal. If you see that the client is very annoying, negatively critical or paying less, your freelancing gives you all the rights to drop that project and focus on more positive ones. Once you have dropped a project then there is no need to worry about it, because, after all, only a freelance design can enjoy this privilege!
Reagan Sirengo Muganda
www.reaganfolio.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Reagan_Sirengo
Costing for one’s products is not at all a big deal, however, when it comes to costing for your services, people often find themselves in an acute dilemma. Same happens when a designer does a very good and fulfilling project, but when the client asks for the costing, he totally shuts down and finds himself looking around and asking the fellow designers as what do they charge and how to go about this process.
Following are some facts about pricing your design services:
First Rule, That There is No Rule
If, for any reason, you expect this article to provide you with rules and regulations and set guidelines, then you are seriously mistaken. The very first thing you need to learn about design costing is that there is not hard and fast rule for it. There are no books or guidelines that may help you actually make good costing. The basic reason is that designing is an extremely variable process. Some designs may look simple and easy, yet only the designer might know how much effort and research he has put into making it.
Therefore my suggestion is that every designer needs to develop his or her own method for pricing, and even if you do make your own rules, you probably won’t be able to follow the same rule on every project. It is better to not only have your own formulas of costing but these should also be extremely flexible, highly variable and according to the project.
Costing – A Necessary Evil
Like all other creative professionals of the world, designers usually like to focus on their work more than any other aspect of their business. Although their business is totally commercial and aimed at money-making, still, they are not very comfortable with pricing their services. However, while working on a design project, they should be aware that they will have to face the costing aspect sooner or later. Even more, they cannot hire anyone for this job or leave it to a friend to charge their services, as they are the only ones who know how much time and effort has been put into a certain project and how it should be valued in terms of money.
Especially and particularly, for freelance designers, costing is a necessary evil. One should understand that freelancers wear a lot of hats, and design costing is just one of them. Therefore, it is important to get comfortable with it as earlier as possible and save yourself from many long-term issues.
Charging Less is Inevitable for Starters
There is an important thing that all the design newbies should understand, i.e. no matter how good you design or how skillful you are with your work, there is something that will always keep you from costing your work at higher prices and that is the sole fact that you are new. As soon as you enter the market, as a freelance designer, you will find that you need to prove yourself to the market and establish a name. Charging less is the only way you can beat the raging competition and get your share of goodies from the market.
Hourly Costing Vs Project-based Costing
There are two basic formats on which designer around the world charge their clients i.e. hourly costing or project-based costing. Different designers opt for any of these two formats owing to their routine, work pattern and market trend. It all depends on you as how would you like to take it across and on which format your clients are comfortable paying you. However, in general, project-based costing is more common than hourly rates, but it is better that you explore the pros and cons of both formats and then make a decision.
Learning through Trial and Error
Wherever there is fluctuation in the value for your services, freelancers and even the bigger organizations opt for the most comfortable, yet risky method of costing, i.e. trial and error. Although there is very little margin to experiment whenever there is money involved, however, for starters, trial and error method gives you long-term benefits.
If you have made a mistake in design costing (under-charged and client and lost a big chunk of money or over-charged a client and lost him for being too expensive), always remember that it is normal and you should learn from it. The more you learn from your experiences, the trial and error method will automatically diminish.
Your Prices Speak for Your Work
Design costing is a very tricky business. You need to strike a balance between your high and low prices as this can lead to your reputation. How? Well, pricing is one of the most solid and common way of judging the abilities of a designer (sometimes even more than his or her portfolio). When people usually meet a low-pricing designer,(no matter how well you have designed their brochures, flyers, post cards or business cards) the first thing that comes in their mind is that he or she must not be very skilled or experienced. Your prices impact your impression on your potential clients.
Your prices also impact; rather speak for your own idea about your services and abilities. By costing your services very low you will eventually convince yourself that you are not worth more. Then again, if you cost your services too high, you will indulge in feelings of over-confidence and will not be able to land many clients. So it is always good to keep a balanced costing habit that should benefit you more.
It’s OK to be Uncertain
As I have mentioned repeatedly earlier, design costing is a very vague and fluctuating process. Especially the freelance designers, no matter how experienced they are in their business they do feel slight uncertainly while costing their design projects every time. So either you are a starter or a veteran freelance designer, it is OK to be uncertain about design costing. The majority freelancers struggle with design costing and are often very uncertain, so being uncertain doesn’t mean that you are inferior or lack talent. Take the time to educate yourself through learning and experience.
Sometimes it is Good to Lose a Project
This a fact especially addressed to the designers who are new in freelancing. When you start a business, there is a special hunger for more and more work coming in. This is totally understandable and quite acceptable, however, as soon as you start getting regular work, you need to wash this lusty attitude away and become choosy about your clients and projects.
All of us have a limited amount of time available for work in a day, and taking a job that does not pay what you need to make it to a good livelihood, isn’t going to be ideal. If you see that the client is very annoying, negatively critical or paying less, your freelancing gives you all the rights to drop that project and focus on more positive ones. Once you have dropped a project then there is no need to worry about it, because, after all, only a freelance design can enjoy this privilege!
Reagan Sirengo Muganda
www.reaganfolio.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Reagan_Sirengo
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Best Tutorials
2:41 AM
I found some interesting resource and thought you might enjoy too.
http://sharkwebstyle.com/2011/03/best-tutorials-february-2011/
Have a pleasant reading.
http://sharkwebstyle.com/2011/03/best-tutorials-february-2011/
Have a pleasant reading.
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InDesign CS 5.5 Announced
11:03 AM
Adobe today announced a significant release of InDesign and the Creative Suite, dubbed 5.5! While there is a little for everyone — there’s one or two features that will excite every CS5 user — how much you’ll want 5.5 directly correlates to how much work you do with interactive documents (EPUB, DPS, HTML, and accessible PDF files).
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Adobe CS5 suite review
10:43 AM
To begin, I must say that I detected in the suite CS5 one of the major flaws of the CS4: it requires too much RAM and memory. Adobe software, in the past few years has shown a very annoying tendency to double the memory required to install the newer version of every software they own. 600 Mb in Photoshop CS2 turned into 2 Gb CS4, and now, as expected, you’d better have 3 and a half gigabytes to spare in your hard drive.
Another defect of this new suite is the very unpractical habit of sucking 110% of the resources of the machine, requiring an insane RAM and a demented graphic card for the programs to work properly. It makes me laugh that all the Adobe promotional videos are made with Macintosh computers, presumably more powerful than the sword of He-man, and yet all the new tools make them work slowly. The brushes have a good "delay, you will have to wait about 30 seconds (if no more) to apply certain filters ... and so on.
I must say, as a point in favor of the suite, that this time Adobe has had the detail of not having the whole interface changed, they have kept the CS4 design.
In the case of Photoshop, the 3D aspect has been polished. As a plus point, I must admit that the professional versions of the programs are well prepared to work all together because they are fully compatible. However, if God invented compatibility, the devil invented Bridge, a plague they didn’t got rid off in this new version.
I got really upset when I reviewed the new batch of tools of CS5. Each and every one of them (and I mean this for every program, not just Photoshop) are designed to make the softwares more accessible to the public. Don’t get me wrong, but as an artist with experience in the suite, cause I use it continuously to work, I feel infinitely ignored by programmers.
There are few improvements to make life easier for the professional user, such as being able to edit multiple layers at once. But the new tools are basically a candy collection for the general public, to make them able to play with digital creation. They have finally released "Flash Elements" under the name "Flash Catalyst" to make the creation of multimedia environments accessible to the average designer.
In conclusion. The CS5 suite is a somehow an extended version of CS4,but with many bugs solved; with a collection of tools for the public to play with the digital creation, but with little improvement for the professionals.
Adapted from deviant http://news.deviantart.com/article/114507/
Another defect of this new suite is the very unpractical habit of sucking 110% of the resources of the machine, requiring an insane RAM and a demented graphic card for the programs to work properly. It makes me laugh that all the Adobe promotional videos are made with Macintosh computers, presumably more powerful than the sword of He-man, and yet all the new tools make them work slowly. The brushes have a good "delay, you will have to wait about 30 seconds (if no more) to apply certain filters ... and so on.
I must say, as a point in favor of the suite, that this time Adobe has had the detail of not having the whole interface changed, they have kept the CS4 design.
In the case of Photoshop, the 3D aspect has been polished. As a plus point, I must admit that the professional versions of the programs are well prepared to work all together because they are fully compatible. However, if God invented compatibility, the devil invented Bridge, a plague they didn’t got rid off in this new version.
I got really upset when I reviewed the new batch of tools of CS5. Each and every one of them (and I mean this for every program, not just Photoshop) are designed to make the softwares more accessible to the public. Don’t get me wrong, but as an artist with experience in the suite, cause I use it continuously to work, I feel infinitely ignored by programmers.
There are few improvements to make life easier for the professional user, such as being able to edit multiple layers at once. But the new tools are basically a candy collection for the general public, to make them able to play with digital creation. They have finally released "Flash Elements" under the name "Flash Catalyst" to make the creation of multimedia environments accessible to the average designer.
In conclusion. The CS5 suite is a somehow an extended version of CS4,but with many bugs solved; with a collection of tools for the public to play with the digital creation, but with little improvement for the professionals.
Adapted from deviant http://news.deviantart.com/article/114507/
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Adobe Creative Suite 5 Is the Creative Professional's Dream Package
10:16 AM
The hype surrounding's Adobe's new Creative Suite 5 (CS5) was huge. The software was touted as being a game-changing new package that would enable creative professionals to work more efficiently, and in some truly amazing ways. For the most part, CS5 does just that.
Adobe CS5, available for both Mac and Windows, takes the company's killer apps and infuses them with new polish and features, making the package one of the most extensive updates we've seen in the suite's history.
Creative Suite 5's scope is so huge, that we not only did a full review of the overall package, but drilled down into each individual application: Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, and Adobe Photoshop CS5
Adobe CS5, available for both Mac and Windows, takes the company's killer apps and infuses them with new polish and features, making the package one of the most extensive updates we've seen in the suite's history.
Creative Suite 5's scope is so huge, that we not only did a full review of the overall package, but drilled down into each individual application: Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, and Adobe Photoshop CS5
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CREATING THE RIGHT SIZE POWERPOINT SLIDE SHOW BACKGROUND
5:48 AM
e. One problem that many people encounter is not knowing what size to make their slide show background image. The good news is that you don’t have to reformat your entire computer to create perfect slide shows every time.
The first step to understanding how to create the right size images for PowerPoint is to toss out any ideas you’ve been given about formatting your images by scanning them to a certain dpi. When it comes to PowerPoint, there is a simple way to ensure that your figures are clear, dazzling and easy to view, forget about dpi all together and turn your focus instead towards the screen resolution of the computer you’re using. This doesn’t mean that you have to be concerned with the resolution if you go to a larger screen either, such as a video projector.
It doesn’t matter how small or large your screen is, it is the resolution of the machine the matters. Here is the answer you’ve been looking for to make perfect images in PowerPoint for your slide shows: When you want to create images that fit the slide, the image size must be the same as the screen resolution of the machine you’re using. In other words, if your screen resolution is 1024 x 765 and you want to have full screen images in your slide show, the image resolution, in pixels, should match that number.
The same holds true for images that you want to be half the size in height; you should divide the numbers by 2, so half-size images should be 512 pixels wide by 384 pixels high. Ready for some more good news? You may be able to choose options that proportionately maintain the pixels for customized sizes. You may be wondering about this theory for using a system that you’re not familiar with, to which we say, don’t worry.
You can easily check the display resolution on any machine via the Windows desktop. Just right mouse click and a menu will appear. Select “Properties” then select the “Settings” tab from the “Display Properties” dialog box. Look at the “Screen Resolution” to see what the current setting is. As a rule of thumb, the display resolution is often defaulted to 1024 x 768. That means whether you’re using a laptop, video projector or other type of computer, you usually can’t go wrong with this setting for your PowerPoint slide show.
The first step to understanding how to create the right size images for PowerPoint is to toss out any ideas you’ve been given about formatting your images by scanning them to a certain dpi. When it comes to PowerPoint, there is a simple way to ensure that your figures are clear, dazzling and easy to view, forget about dpi all together and turn your focus instead towards the screen resolution of the computer you’re using. This doesn’t mean that you have to be concerned with the resolution if you go to a larger screen either, such as a video projector.
It doesn’t matter how small or large your screen is, it is the resolution of the machine the matters. Here is the answer you’ve been looking for to make perfect images in PowerPoint for your slide shows: When you want to create images that fit the slide, the image size must be the same as the screen resolution of the machine you’re using. In other words, if your screen resolution is 1024 x 765 and you want to have full screen images in your slide show, the image resolution, in pixels, should match that number.
The same holds true for images that you want to be half the size in height; you should divide the numbers by 2, so half-size images should be 512 pixels wide by 384 pixels high. Ready for some more good news? You may be able to choose options that proportionately maintain the pixels for customized sizes. You may be wondering about this theory for using a system that you’re not familiar with, to which we say, don’t worry.
You can easily check the display resolution on any machine via the Windows desktop. Just right mouse click and a menu will appear. Select “Properties” then select the “Settings” tab from the “Display Properties” dialog box. Look at the “Screen Resolution” to see what the current setting is. As a rule of thumb, the display resolution is often defaulted to 1024 x 768. That means whether you’re using a laptop, video projector or other type of computer, you usually can’t go wrong with this setting for your PowerPoint slide show.
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