On the Go

Well, as of yesterday, I am officially employed as a freelancer. I was approved as the designer for the FRHH (French River Health & Housing) media package and website. The first cheque should be in the mail.

I've realized that this project will involve a fair amount of research and copywriting on top of the design work, although I may not have quoted enough for that on my approved estimate, I will definitely remember to estimate more for that on future projects.

I will also have to break down the business plan that I was presented with in order to develop the copy for the brochure and website, focusing on the benefits and features to showcase for the target audience. I love that every process we, designers, undertake requires us to learn new things and create different solutions. It isn't about the skills we have with software, although that doesn't hurt, it's about the idea, the communication, of our client's service or product to their designated audience.

Many times, maybe even all the time, it's also about the bottom line; clients want to know how much this is going to cost them. Tony Jurgilas, A teacher I had in school, once said, "There is a big difference between Canadian and American clients, Canadian clients want to know how much something is going to cost them; American clients want to know how much they are going to make."

I was lucky, I think, on this project. I didn't have to haggle over the estimate, which intrigues me and scares me at the same time, perhaps I didn't charge enough. That being said however, I priced my estimate on how much time I figured this project would take... and charged accordingly, so my conscience is clear.

Sunshine

Well it's Monday again, that means the start to another glorious week, my seventh in my new career. I've noticed a trend, I suppose one that is prevalent in many industries, that of the highs and lows of projects. The first 3 - 4 weeks I was here we were very busy with projects, but the last 2 weeks slowed down quite a bit. It was nice in that I was able to work on advertorial pieces for ourselves... one of which I gave you a teaser of last week. Today I'll post the full version of it. A selfless plug for where I work at Printer's Paradise.  A big thank to Pamela Carls, for the use of her photo "Safe".

Enjoy,

Closeup

Another close up of an ad I'm putting together for work. Stay tuned for the full ad.

A little more headroom « The Tenfold Collective Blog

A little more headroom « The Tenfold Collective Blog

Just an amazing design space to work in. Takes away the stagnation of an "office" looking area. I'm always impressed when studios/companies take the time to create a creative/inspirational atmosphere to work from.

Six Weeks of Separation

I was thinking about it yesterday, this is the 6th week at my new job, six weeks of separation between myself and unemployment :) Loving it!

I sent all the required paperwork: copy of my diploma, and copies of my receipts, that prove I spent all the money that was given to me for my last year of school. I am now, fully, out from under the eyes and hands of the Ministry of Universities Colleges and Training. My file is officially reconciled and closed. Great feeling to be done jumping through their hoops.

Now back to my previous comments about being employed, it's hard to believe that I am in my 6th week with Printer's Paradise already. I finally feel like I'm working and not just on a placement or something. I had my second paycheque last Friday and I was able to pay all the bills on my desk, in total, for the first time in over 3 months. Usually they just sit there until I can pay them... yes I'd miss some of the due dates but they still got paid all the same.

I have had a hand in quite a few projects here already: 4 vehicle wraps, approximately 20 signs, and 1 flyer for various clients. For ourselves: 1 mailer, 2 flyers, and 1 brochure so far. I guess that's a pretty busy 6 weeks. All of this time, of course, has it's ups and downs, some days are really busy and other's not so much. Much of the time I am fielding questions by clients via phone or email, which is part of why I am here, to interact with our clients and meet their needs.

On another note, I have my first "official" meeting tonight with a couple members from the committee that I am doing some freelance for. I'm a little bit nervous but very excited to get going on it. It's funny that these things start out with conversations that lead you to believe there is a big rush, and yet it can take so long to get them going. It's been over 2 months now since I first started talks with a member of this committee about their needs, over a month and a half since I submitted my estimate, and another 2.5 weeks since I found out I was selected to work on this project (which came 2 weeks after I was selected). So, needless to say, there doesn't seem to be a rush on it at all, unless of course this process is fast compared to what other designers have experienced? After tonights meeting though, I'm sure that I will have a fairly quick turnaround on some of the creatives that they have requested in the media package. This is definitely going to be fun :)

Well that's it, for now, I leave you with another amazing post from a great blog I follow by Fabian Barral, http://www.graphic-exchange.com/

Technology

So this is officially my first post with my new iPad, loving it! It's an amazing piece of technology fir sure. Faster and more capable than the first laptop that I owned back in 2004. It will be even better when the next iOS comes out, looking to be pretty impressive so far. I've downloaded some pretty cool apps for illustrating and for productivity. I highly recommend both sketchbook pro and notes plus, but of course it also helps to have a stylus. I'll attach some images soon.