Drafts (62)
Since October 2006 I’ve published 472 posts on this blog. Two per week, more or less.
During that time I’ve accumulated an extra 62 headlines/snippets/paragraphs that are yet to be finished, just sat in the dark, waiting. I’m in the habit where most of my new posts are created on the day they’re published, so I’m clearing-out my draft folder. But before all 62 disappear, you could do me a favour.
Have a look at the remaining draft headlines below. It’s likely many have since been written about elsewhere, but of those that haven’t, are there any you want to see published?
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Update:
I’ve hyperlinked a few headlines that have since been published.
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- Genericized trademarks
- Design blogs on my subscription list
- I’m sorry. I thought you were a spammer.
- Crowd-wisdom fails businesses
- Smart people on Twitter
- The death of the printed portfolio?
- Design is not subjective
- Helpful tools for bloggers
- How and when to raise your rates
- Choosing a business name
- Atheism, Christianity and advertising
- Free and easy marketing ideas
- Creating memorable signage
- Crowdsourcing debunked?
- Want some free business cards?
- My desk now
- When a “contest” is anything but
- Logo Olympic games
- When design projects turn sour
- The unseen value of a solid brand identity
- What happens after the artwork handover?
- Does progress stop when you do?
- How to handle challenging client questions
- The importance of identity style guides
- How to avoid domain name theft and what to do if your domain is stolen
- Should you follow good design practice, or take the lead?
- Online promotion tips for graphic designers
- The benefits and drawbacks of video blogging
- WordPress plugins not to use
- Free web hosting and domain registration for a year
- How the colour of your site affects profits
- Top web design mistakes
- Important points to consider about your first website
- Copyright and trademark issues in design
- Showing sketches to clients
And if you see a title in there that you want to run on your own blog, be my guest.
Image courtesy of Thinkstock
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64 appreciated comments on “Drafts (62)”
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I’d love to read of the generalized trademarks, and your opinion on the (questionable) subjectivity of design, as well as the pros and cons of showing clients your sketches, as I’m currently working with my first client who has said that he’d like to see the works in progress. Your insights would be a great help!
+1 for “Atheism, Christianity and advertising” That sounds like an interesting topic.
David,
I’d like to see a post on WordPress plugins not to use; there’s always plenty of talk around recommended, so the opposite of this would be a worthwhile endeavour.
Plus; I’m curious to see what you come up with and why, and the discussion that will follow!
David
I’ve love to see blogs you subscribe to and smart people on twitter.
Curious about the death of the printed portfolio, and always up for a good “when design projects turn sour” story.
GB
Hey David, I would like to see:
9. How and when to raise your rates
It has been something I have been considering for a while and I would appreciate your thoughts on it…
Hi David,
I finally got around to reading your book. It was a great read and it reaffirmed my thoughts and was encouraging that I generally do the right thing! Since I’m only new to freelance, I need all the encouragement I can get, as some try to put doubt in your mind all the time.
Anyway I digress. In response to your archive ‘How and when to raise your rates’ caught my interest. Generally because I want to know what is the right thing to do by your clients. Do you keep old rates for some and for how long and only charge new clients, new rates etc.
So, what ARE the pros and cons of showing clients your sketches? Hurry, I want to read that one. Always enjoy the blog, DA; thanks.
Several of these would be something I would read: 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35
So it seems, that most of these would have caught my interest.
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
11. Atheism, Christianity and advertising
16. My desk now
19. When design projects turn sour
26. Should you follow good design practice, or take the lead?
27. Online promotion tips for graphic designers
28. The benefits and drawbacks of video blogging
29. WordPress plugins not to use
32. Top web design mistakes
33. Important points to consider about your first website
34. Copyright and trademark issues in design
35. Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
These are the list I would most like to read.
Especially the death of printed portfolio, benefits and drawbacks of video blogging and pros and cons of showing sketches.
Also, congratulations on 472 published posts.
Ashley
Pretty much all of them David!
But in particular, I’m interested in:
Design is not subjective
Choosing a business name
Creating memorable signage (I got the enamel sign for Billings last week and it looks amazing, better than I thought, infact it is sort of something about to be covered on Designedbygoodpeople.wordpress.com soon, but includes all aspects of shop front design with costs).
When design projects turn sour
The unseen value of a solid brand identity
Looking forward to the posts.
Regards
Lee
Atheism, Christianity and advertising; I bet this would be controversial ;)
“Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches”
From what I can tell from your past posts, presenting sketches seem to be a significant part of your personal design process, so I’m sure you have strong views on the matter.
A +1 here for “35. Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches”, that sounds intriguing. =]
I’ve always thought that design was not subjective despite most people saying it is. Would quite like to see that post.
“6. The death of the printed portfolio?” would be an interesting read!
I’d love to see a lot of those, but after going over the list a couple of times so as to not list all of them, these are what I am left with. Still a lot I suppose, but all topics I feel I’d really like to read on (or more on, in case it’s something I’ve seen covered elsewhere).
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
26. Should you follow good design practice, or take the lead?
27. Online promotion tips for graphic designers
31. How the colour of your site affects profits
32. Top web design mistakes
33. Important points to consider about your first website
35. Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
Thanks for the great site, and looking forward to seeing what comes out of all of these.
This one please! Atheism, Christianity and advertising
19, 21 and 23 are covered a bit in your book, but I’d love to hear more on them.
1, 7, 13, 24 and 32 because I think you’d have a good take on these topics, even though others have written about them.
16 because, well, sharing whatever is on our desks is always interesting. :)
Thanks, David!
I would love to see your opinions on “Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches”, as this is a discussion we continue to go back and forth on, depending on the client.
Numbers 3, 9, and 23 look interesting!
12, 13, 18, 19, 26, 31, 32
You have a good list in your archive. The following stood out from crowd for me:
5. Smart people on Twitter
12. Free and easy marketing ideas
20. The unseen value of a solid brand identity
29. WordPress plugins not to use
But reading all the comments, you might end up posting all of them…
I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.
I’d love to see:
10. Choosing a business name
11. Atheism, Christianity and advertising
17. When a “contest” is anything but
27. Online promotion tips for graphic designers
32. Top web design mistakes
And I’d like to run on my blog,
10. Choosing a business name
I would like to read atheism, Christianity and advertising. Sounds very interesting!
Hey David, I’ve just started my second year of Graphic Design in university and I’d love to read about the following:
2. Blogs I subscribe to
5. Smart people on Twitter
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
11. Atheism, Christianity and advertising
19. When design projects turn sour
27. Online promotion tips for graphic designers
33. Important points to consider about your first website
I guess I have some writing to do! Thanks very much, everyone. Excellent feedback/encouragement.
Topics # 2, 6, 11, and 35 sound the most interesting to me, although I’d probably end up read them all if you put them all up!
I’d quite like to see the following;
10. How to choose a business name.
12. Free and easy marketing ideas/27. Online Promotional Tips -provided they’re fresh, unconventional ideas, there’s rather a lot of blog posts saying the same thing over and over.
16. My Desk Now
29. WordPress plugins not to use
32. Top web design mistakes
33. Important points to consider about your first website
The importance of identity style guides
How the colour of your site affects profits
thank you,
That’s a lot of great drafts! I’m up for reading all of them!…but here are my top picks:
6, 10, 11, 19, 31, 33, 35
Hi David, I’ m most interested in the following:
10 – Business naming – it was interesting to see how you started off with a different business name before changing to what it is now. I think it would be great to hear some more views on the importance of choosing a business name.
19 – What do you when a project turns sour? is there a way to bring life back into it?
20 – unseen value of solid brand id – something useful to tell clients maybe?
21 – always good to hear how others follow up after artwork handover
23 – handling difficult client questions – interesting!
24 – id style guides – be really useful to see more on this – when is it important to use them? does it matter if its a big or small company?
35 – showing sketches to clients – something thats always an interesting discussion point – does it confuse and overwhelm or is it beneficial in some cases?
Thanks if you get a chance to cover any of those.
I would love to see :
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
I’ve been thinking about this for a VERY long time as I pretty much only use digital examples. Thanks!
The death of the printed portfolio? Perfect topic for me right now…
I would love to hear your thoughts on:
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
7. Design is not subjective
10. Choosing a business name
11. Atheism, Christianity and advertising
Thank you!
I would like to see the following:
Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
Choosing a business name
Free and easy marketing ideas
The death of the printed portfolio?
WordPress plugins not to use
thank you :)
I found several! some, as you say, have been written about elsewhere, but I am interested on your take on them anyway. Perhaps then not a post dedicated solely to some of these, so maybe group some of those where there is not that much to say as part of more encompassing posts?
2, 4, 5, 8, 7, 10, 12, 19, 22, 26, 24, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35
Yes, I over did it.
Your insights are quite good though, so I am not ashamed of over listing.
how about how to deal with stressful work situations? ie- power trippy co workers?
#’s: 7, 11, 13, 34, 35 if I had to narrow it down. Love to read any of the others though. Thanks for all you do!
As I am a recent graduate, I would love to see posts about the following ideas:
7. Design is not subjective
21. What happens after the artwork handover?
23. How to handle challenging client questions
24. The importance of identity style guides
33. Important points to consider about your first website
35. Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
Thank you!
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
7. Design is not subjective.
I’d love to read more on 7, 12, 23, 34. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this.
In the interest of a quick list, I would like to see numbers 6, 9, 11, 21, 23, 24, 26, 32, 35. Of course I would read about any of these topics!
For me these ones:
2. Blogs I subscribe to
4. Crowd-wisdom fails businesses
7. Design is not subjective
9. How and when to raise your rates
12. Free and easy marketing ideas
24. The importance of identity style guides
27. Online promotion tips for graphic designers
+1 Top web design mistakes
Doesn’t harm revisiting, reiterating, and discussing the some basic things again. BTW just read your book ‘Logo Design Love’ and loved it!
As I work for a creative design agency I’d love to see your comments on
I’m sorry. I thought you were a spammer.
Well, I post on all sorts of blogs and have been refused as a spammer a few times. My company doesn’t have a blog, and I’m far too lazy to do one myself, so it would be interesting to find out what goes through the mind of blog owners
Design is not subjective
It is! so I want to know why you think it isn’t, lol
When design projects turn sour
Oh lord, a £ for every one of those … Some business owners are so protective of their (sadly often stupid) design ideas that you offer a bit of constructive criticism and you transform from design guru to the anti-christ. Of course it swings both ways and it’s sometimes so hard when you are working on that really boring client job that you just can’t get into ..
The unseen value of a solid brand identity
We do a lot of brand identity work, especially online identity, so that’s of real interest. How hard can it be to get accross to clients that the brand lives with you and must be able to evolve with the company. Yes that cute little mammal might be what everyone is talking about today, but in 6 months time you are going to be yesterdays news ..
Should you follow good design practice, or take the lead?
We would all love to take the lead wouldn’t we? I work for an employer so it isn’t often I get the chance to do that – and if I worked for myself would I have the guts to take the leap or play it safe and take the client fee?
Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
Often the problem I have found is that clients are ‘business’ people. That is they have drive, they have ideas, but they can lack imagination. So they just don’t ‘get’ the internal design process I follow and how that sketch that appears to have nothing to do with them is just a stepping stone.
How to choose? I look forward to all of your articles! Don’t discard them, please!
I’d be interested in:
2.Blogs I subscribe to
6.The death of the printed portfolio?
7.Design is not subjective
13.Creating memorable signage
19.When design projects turn sour
21.What happens after the artwork handover?
23.How to handle challenging client questions
24.The importance of identity style guides
29.WordPress plugins not to use
34.Copyright and trademark issues in design
35.Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
Looking forward to more interesting content on this site!
I’m interested in Atheism, Christianity and advertising, How to handle challenging client questions and Online promotion tips for graphic designers. And When design projects turn sour sounds very interesting and juicy! Thanks, always a pleasure to read your blog!
Having to choose? That’s unfair.
11, 16 and 24 are my top three votes…then you can do the rest!
Hi, David. I liked almost all of the drafts. But here goes the ones I liked more (in order of likeness):
33. Important points to consider about your first website
31. How the colour of your site affects profits
5. Smart people on Twitter
6. The death of the printed portfolio?
27. Online promotion tips for graphic designers
26. Should you follow good design practice, or take the lead?
3. I’m sorry. I thought you were a spammer.
That’s it. Thanks! And congratulations for the sucess of the blog!
10 and 11 would be very interesting! especially 10
I would like to see :
3. I’m sorry. I thought you were a spammer.
8. Helpful tools for bloggers
25. How to avoid domain name theft and what to do if your domain is stolen
32. Top web design mistakes
Personally, I do not mind to read all topics. Get them published.
Thank You.
Oli, Nigel, I appreciate the extra questions/insights. Thanks guys, and to everyone else who offered an opinion. Back soon.
The first of the drafts, fleshed-out:
Showing sketches to clients (when it’s good, when it’s not)
Hi David,
You’ve done such great work so far. Something helpful for me as a graphic designer is knowing more about “Copyright and trademark issues in design.” So often a customer just wants me to grab a random picture online, which I try to refrain from doing because 1. low-quality pictures for the most part, and 2. I’m unsure of copyright issues so I worry about getting in trouble.
Thanks, David!
I’d love to see 2, 6, 8, 8, 21, 31, 32, and 33.
That’s a lot of great drafts! I’m up for reading all of them!…but here are my top picks:
12, 13, 18, 19, 26, 31, 32
# Pros and cons of showing clients your sketches
I never do, I’d be interested to read your thoughts on this.
Oh you’ve done it now, lol.
I’m so behind on my blog reading :\
xx
David, I like Should you follow good design practice, or take the lead? and How and when to raise your rates. I think those would be interesting topics to write.
I would love to see a write up on “When Design Projects Turn Sour”. It would be very interesting seeing what others have dealt with and maybe learned from their experiences. Nice post.
11. Atheism, Christianity and advertising. Now that sounds intriguing.