Author: steve

You may wonder what to include in your online portfolio. Those can be hard decisions. Your web portfolio is the second best sales tool after client referrals. But even referrals need a place to go to check about you and your work.

I’ve solved the wild color differences between screen and print by teaching the client that reflective color (print) and emissive colors (screen) are never going to appear the same. If they do, it’s an accident or illusion. Pantone swatches are supposed to show the “Real McCoy” but even ink mixing can be botched. Drying time, paper choice, lighting conditions,…

My rule is choosing one pro bono project per year. But I treat them like a “real” client with the same priority as if I was getting paid. I try and do the best for them I can. I usually include “teaching and coaching.” And yes, a contract or agreement is necessary to establish good boundaries. I do not…

You can spend a lot of money on Pantone color printing guides. I really recommend buying old used ones on ebay. You don’t need the latest and greatest. Nor do you need all of their products to be a designer. As far as the “aging” goes, unless it has been left laying in the sun for years…

I only have so many nerves left. And a designer friend hit one: design abuse. Remember, 50% of people who approach me for work are not qualified clients. My designer friend was showing infinitely more tolerance than I would for a request to surrender all of the work she had done for a client. What they’re…

Here is information on the reverse thematic process, let’s assume you’ll use Photoshop and do your Pantone conversions there to save time: 1. Run the image through an online image-to-palette converter. 2. Convert the colors to Pantone. 3. Choose a theme using the reverse lookup tool. In this case, I chose Serene. Normally, with so many…

I wrote my own single-page design agreement (Terms and Conditions). I send it as a PDF email attachment. The scope of the project is usually defined in the email. Below is the “web design” version. All my “contracts” are fixed-bid with time limited expiration. I’ve never had a legal dispute. I mainly supply this to the client so they understand…

On a design forum I asked, “What are iMatch Designers anxious about?” iMatch is their client who wants a rebuild of their website. Their reply: “That the visuals don’t connote the value. They believe the current visual impression on the site doesn’t say ‘You get extraordinary outcomes and the experience of working with a professional who…

Marty Neumeier always said the best team was a designer and a copywriter. I really agree with that whenever it’s possible. Then the final design needs to be reviewed by at least 5 people (doesn’t really matter who they are so much.) It’s just been shown that 5 people will catch 80% of the errors.

I saw a nice web page layout in a PDF tutorial. The page was laid out in quadrants and my first reaction was, “I wonder if you could build that using HTML Frames using percentages for the individual frames instead of fixed widths.” So another experiment was born. I do not advocate usage of Frames because of the mantra…