6-30-08 Like Colors! Former BADG author Drew Davies and his company (Oxide Design) are creating a book chock full of amazing t-shirt designs. Submit yours today!

5-19-08 Adrian has just launched Font Burner. It’s the easiest way to add great fonts to your website.

After 4+ years Be A Design Group would like to say thank you and good bye. We couldn’t have done it with out everyone’s input and support. We are putting BADG into cryogenic freeze, but unlike Walt Disney, there is the technology to reanimate us.

If you missed the retirement announcement, read here. We will make one more post on this site that we will update with news of our plans, announcements and updates. Look for something big from Adrian in the next month. He won’t even tell me what it is about.

I wrote this over a year ago, but for some reason I never posted it. Since writing this, Creative Suite has been released for Intel Macs along with the Multi-Touch trackpad for the MacBooks.

As I work on my four year old G4 I can’t help but imagine that graphic designers are becoming useless to the likes of Apple and to a certain extent Adobe. I can think of very few software or hardware upgrades that were made in the last couple of years that have made our job significantly faster, better or easier. Sure we will be able to work faster when Adobe comes out with software that is ported for Intel machines, but do we really need anything much faster? When it seems that iTunes takes up about as much processor speed as Photoshop, I realize that it is not designers that are driving the technology anymore. So what industry is driving the market for faster computers? The obvious answer is video.

I have to admit that I love new technology and software just as much or more than the next guy. But many times I agree with those nay-sayers that argue that we don’t need software beyond Photoshop 7 and InDesign CS. Unless you are in the market for more filters and better drop shadows, what have we really gained from the last several Adobe upgrades?

So what can these companies do to generate a little more need (as opposed to sheer want)? As you might have gathered from the above graphic, I am hoping for iPhone multi-touch technology in the next generation of iMacs. If Apple takes away the mouse and keyboard and truly connects the designer to their computer, then the designer demand will be unstoppable. Then we will all be closer to feeling what the early twentieth century typesetters felt when they physically locked up that type in the chase. I know Apple wouldn’t be the first to have touch screen computers, but as they have proven with the iPod, you don’t have to be the first … just the best. Wasn’t it Malcolm Gladwell that pointed out that the originators and extreme innovators usually fail? Sometimes the market isn’t ready and primed for a certain innovation. For example, the Newton.

Since Apple appears to have mastered the multi-touch technology, when will we see it in their computer line? Jobs did make a special effort to note that this technology was heavily patented. Is it time that Apple starts paying a little more attention to the loyal designer base and work with Adobe and others to deliver a truly innovative product? Here’s to “pinching” instead of (command) + (+) or grabbing that antiquated old magnifying glass.

Drew Davies sent me this picture of a new business across the street from his own. Click to see the larger version and I dare you to find all of the things wrong with this photo.

This is just what Red Bull wants me to do, but oh well. It appears that Red Bull is coming out with a new cola. It isn’t in stores yet, so we will just have to imagine what it is like from their website.

My criticism: Do we need more cola? I heard a stat that said you are twice as likely to get diabetes if you drink one soda every day. The idea of something from Red Bull being “not too sweet” seems a little funny as well.

On the up side, I like the idea of everything being natural. Cola without phosphoric acid and preservatives has to be a good thing, right? We will just have to wait until it comes to a convenience store near you. The real question … . Will it also be ridiculously expensive?

So I will join in the hype. Mainly I wanted to point out the cool pull tab (err … pop top). That and maybe they will send our in-house team a case for ourselves.

Bennett Holzworth, Nebraska Book Company, 4700 S. 19 St., Lincoln, NE 68512

The other day I received a letter in the mail informing me that I had something in the newly released Best of Business Card Design 8. It wasn’t until I got the book in the mail this week, that I found out which pieces made the cut. Kind of strange timing to get a two-page spread in a design book in the same month that you are shutting the featured website down (i.e. this site).

I was also pleased to find out that the business cards I did for my wife made it in.

“Freelance Design in Practice,” to be published in Spring 2009 by RotoVision, will be a book for freelance graphic designers who are in it for the long run. I’d like to invite experienced, full-time freelance designers from anywhere in the world to contact me directly for possible interviews. Please contact me at cathy@fishel.com if you have advice, anecdotes and insights to share with peers. Design work will also be shown in the book.

Chapters will include succinct advice and real-life case studies on subjects including:

-Evaluating your personal vision and making yourself stand out

-Establishing a business plan, workspace, accounting system, legal back-up, advertising and even your business name

-Setting fees, bidding, billing, dealing with non-payment, tax concerns, how to know if you’re making money, and trade-outs and pro-bono work

-Legal responsibilities, including contracts, insurance and liability

-Self-promotion of all types

-Finding the best clients and the best mix of clients, and turning them into repeat customers

-Managing workflow and maintaining your sanity

-Achieving a healthy life/work balance

-Periodic self-evaluations and other touchstones

-An entire chapter on solving common freelance frustrations

Logo Design Love Awards is a competition that is going to recognize the best logos in the blogosphere. I was lucky enough to help with the judging, and I thought you guys would enjoy browsing through the logos as much as I did. There are ten categories of blogs and somewhere around 100 logos. Check it out, and cast your vote in the comments of their site.

While we designers talk about new logos, bad kerning, bad business practices, etc., we seldom talk about being a decent and active human being. We tend to celebrate the abrasive celebrity designer that bucks the system and the over-worked people that neglect their family and friends. The design profession also needs to look at what is healthy for the average designer.

The first part of this post speaks of greed and consumsion. After meeting so many designers that are over-consumers it was great to hear some reason from the Stefan’s (Stefan Bucher and Stefan Sagmeister). These two fellows are proof that you can be a nice person and an amazing designer.

I recently went to go hear west coast Stefan (Mr. Bucher) speak at Concordia University and he said some great things that we all need to hear. At one point in his talk he made a quick little recommendation about the new sin of today … DEBT. He talked about staying out of debt so we can remain free to be creative. How can we be creative if we have no choice but to take any and every freelance project that comes our way? We need to be free to make decisions that aren’t completely based on our wallet.

My encounter with east coast Stefan (Mr. Sagmeister) was through his new book. I recommend that any and every designer should get the book, or at least look at Sagmeister’s recent work. It is a great reminder to be a good person (to yourself and others). One phrase in Sagmeister’s book is that “Money doesn’t make me happy”. I’m assuming that with all his success, he knows that from experience. We can all go through life without re-evaluating our priorities. Don’t hesitate to make some course corrections and make some changes in your life.

This is the part where I speak to the perpetual workers out there. Those of us that always find some way to fill our time with design, even if we do leave at 5:00 from our day jobs. While doing design outstide of work is a good thing, it is also good to remember that there are more important things than perfect kerning, becoming a famous designer and getting into CA. Just remember that friends, your spouse, family, sleeping, adventure, church, road trips, hikes and reading are going to be more fulfilling and help you grow as a person.

Over the last eight years of working as a professional designer, I’ve also had the weird fortune of working normal hours at every job I have held. I can probably count my late, late nights working on actual agency work on two hands. I have to admit that a couple of my agency jobs weren’t rock star jobs and some of the work probably wasn’t up to the standards of the work-horse 80/week agencies. But . . . I did have a life, learned things outside of the agency walls and I’m not completely burned out on design. I now have a job where I work 40hrs/week and get to work on amazing projects with amazing people. These jobs do exist. I see my friends near and far (especially those in larger cities) being overworked and disastisfied. For some reason our profession finds it acceptable to sacrifice so much for fame and small fortunes. It is time we as designers, art directors and especially creative directors stand up and start managing a better office. If we don’t stand up for ourselves and our fellow designers, then no one will.

So as we at Be A Design Group say good bye, just keep in mind that although design is very important, we as designers are much more so.

Stay away from the Creative Center! There are plenty of good design schools in the state, but the Creative Center in Omaha is a horrible way to go. I have friends that went there and they would tell you the same thing. A good deal of professional designers in Nebraska will back me up on this. It is extremely expensive and you come out with some antiquated illustrations, some mediocre designs and a hefty debt. I know several successful designers that came from the Creative Center, but this is only because they learned things outside of school and are very talented and driven people.

If you are going to go to school in Nebraska check out UNK or Concordia (yes that is my alma mater). If you are set on a two year school, check out Southeast Community or Metro Community College. I know there are other schools in Nebraska, but these are the ones that I have had direct experience with. Don’t hesitate to check Denver, Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis for their great design programs as well.