A few of the more popular blog posts

Baskerville typography

With hundreds of blog posts on my site, here’s a quick alternative to browsing through the archives (click a topic heading for more).

Popular topics

  1. Designers & clients
  2. Identity design
  3. Graphic design
  4. Type and typography
  5. Web development
  6. The blog world
  7. Print management
  8. Advertising

Designers & clients

world jigsaw puzzle
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The design pricing formula
I’m regularly asked how I work out my pricing. The design pricing formula explains why I can’t say what other designers should be charging their clients.

The brand identity design process
It’s of benefit for prospective clients to know how I work, and here I give a very brief overview of the brand identity design process.

Agency vs freelancer — your take
I asked my readers what the difference is between hiring an agency and hiring a freelance graphic designer. Here I’ve picked out a few of the most appropriate answers.

How 20 designers charge their clients
A select group of graphic designers answered three questions about their financial practices: How do you charge clients? How do you accept payment? Why do you recommend working this way? Here’s what they said.

Graphic design contracts — your advice
When I wrote a brief article about graphic design contracts you offered some excellent advice in the comments. Here I feature a select few of your contract tips.

10 things to expect from your designer
Anyone can design a logo, but not everyone can design the right logo. This article details what to expect from a designer, helping you make the right decision.


Valuable tips for preparing design briefs, kindly submitted as a guest post by Sharon Hayes of Round Box Design.


How much to charge a client is one of the most talked about topics in self-employment, and here I offer points to consider for designers setting their graphic design pricing.

Using freelance graphic design contracts
Contracts can be an essential part of self-employment as a graphic designer, but when you’re starting out, it’s not always clear what you must include. This post aims to help.

Identity design

families logo
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What makes a good logo?
When it comes to seeing a logo that makes you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” what is it about the design that gives that impression?

Identity design process for Berthier Associates
Dominique Berthier, Managing Director at Berthier Associates, approached me to redesign his company’s brand identity.


I’ve launched a new website to document information on the world’s most iconic logo designers. The site features inspirational creatives such as Herb Lubalin, Steff Geissbuhler and Paul Rand.

Colour resources for logo design
Colour and emotion are very closely related, so it makes sense that designers need to pay particular attention to colour choice.


Trends quickly come and go in logo design, which can leave your corporate identity looking dated almost before it’s rolled out.

Graphic design

graphic design
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Designing through a recession
Here in the UK it’s all doom and gloom — at least that’s what the politicians would have you believe. As a self-employed designer, however, I’m in a great position to take advantage of the credit crunch, and with the right preparation, you can be too.


It’s not easy finding talented graphic designers, but it’s fair to say the best have a healthy online presence. So to make things easier, here I present my top 50 graphic design blogs.

15 graphic design interview tips
The following graphic design interview tips were written by Lee Newham, a senior designer at London-based design consultancy, P&W.


I’m often asked what graphic design books I recommend, so to save a little time in future I’ve launched an Amazon-powered graphic design bookstore.

Getting your foot in the door
CV tips for graphic designers.

Type and typography

typography
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What typographic advice would you give a third year design student?

30 inspiring Flickr groups on typography
The following groups contain more than 50,000 images showcasing typography. Just about enough to quench your type desires.


Here are a few select typography resources, providing you with typography tips, tutorials and advice.

Web development

keyboard lights
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In this article I share thoughts about my online appearance, feature blog designs that appeal to me, and detail the most important factors to consider for your own website design.


Join me on a journey through my past website designs, where I showcase what used to act as my online graphic design portfolio. Be warned, as it’s a bumpy ride through the wonders of MS FrontPage, too many tables, and the tale of one man marketing himself as a large corporation.

7 SEO blogs and 21 useful articles
Reliant on my website for most new business, it makes sense to learn how to improve Google rankings.


Your website opens doors to contacts you’d never imagine you’d meet. Now more than ever, millions of people have access to your online presence, and whether you like it or not, they’ll immediately judge you upon your site design.


More and more of us are doing business without ever meeting our customers face-to-face. There’s one common stumbling block that can hinder any deal, and that’s the issue of trust.


Google Analytics (the web statistics package) can tell you a lot about your website, and one of those things is where your visitors arrive from. This is where knowledge of your “referring sites” proves useful.

Online marketing for graphic designers
For you to focus all your SEO efforts on one search term is ruling out a vast amount of potential business.

The blog world

blog computer keys
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My top 7 blog mistakes to avoid
I’ve made quite a few mistakes since I started authoring a blog. By giving you a look at my errors hopefully you can avoid doing the same. Here are my top 7 blog mistakes.


There’s a whole psychology around publishing a blog, and here I highlight just a few of the thoughts that I’m prompted into thinking.


This is a web usability question that concerns you, the people who read my blog, and also those who author their own blogs / websites.


To write a great blog post I believe it must follow these tips.

Print management

print cmyk
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When it comes to a printed graphic design job, there are certain questions you should ask at the beginning to prevent costly errors and to make the most of your print budget.


Here I show you how to save money when commercial printing.


Have you ever had a client ask you why their marketing material hasn’t printed the colour they requested?

Advertising

Smirnoff logo
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To a kid, everything’s better in a McDonald’s wrapper.


Many people believe that the fashion industry and the media cause a huge amount of pressure to be piled on the shoulders of young women.


Just how much do you value your own appearance? Would you give up on making a great first impression for a few extra dollars a month?

Looking for something else?

If there’s something in particular that you’re looking for, try typing it in the search box on the top right of this page. Alternatively, contact me with details, and I’ll see what I can do to help.

Top image credit: RellyAB

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