This build is for Magnes Sisters, a high-end bag company based in New York. I worked with the lovely Tricia Okin of Papercut on this project. Tricia pulled me in to handle the e-commerce aspect of the site and to do some blog styling.

The entire site was built in WordPress, with the e-commerce portion being handled by the WP E-commerce plugin. That plugin and I have a love-hate relationship, but we made it work.

The final result (you can also visit http://www.magnessisters.com to see it):

Fun stuff!

The hardest part, really, was trying to manipulate all those shopping cart templates. There was a lot of wading into PHP code and trying to figure out what was where in that plugin. But the final product turned out pretty awesome, and it’s probably one of the best-looking carts I’ve worked thanks to Tricia’s clean and stellar design.

Another WordPress build went in the books, and this one has actually been up for a little while: It’s a site for Matt D’Amour, a health and wellness coach. His site is called My Inside Out Wellness.

Credit for the design goes to Velvette de Laney at Dewdrop Studios.

This site is built entirely in WordPress, and also includes an e-commerce component so that Matt can sell different packages and sessions, as well as some products. He can also charge for event tickets.

While the site itself didn’t need anything overly complicated (except maybe the e-commerce part), it was a serious exercise in WordPress templating. I think there are at least eight different templates involved. And then there are the different sidebars that show up (or don’t show up, depending on the page).

It was a lot of fun, though. It sounds nerdy, but I love figuring out page templates. And it was fun working with a great designer.

I have to say that going solo is one of the most challenging and yet most rewarding things I have ever done. But I’ve made it one year and I’m not broke and I’m not homeless, so something must be going right!

I feel very fortunate in that I found great friends, colleagues and resources along the way. I have been inspired by my fellow solopreneurs and creatives and would not be here without so many people’s support and faith in me.

You usually learn a lot in your first year of business, and this was no exception! I hope to help others as I have been helped, so here goes (in no particular order):

Learn to love the business side.

As a wise person once said, “If you don’t treat it like a business, it’ll always be a hobby.”

Business is hard work. It’s also not always fun. We’re creative folks. We’re all about the drawing, the thinking, the concepts, the colors, the fun stuff. Thinking about marketing and money and taxes and other business-y stuff makes us cringe. But this is the heart and soul of having a sustainable business. Solo folks don’t have marketing departments or accountants behind them. So suck it up, become smart about your business, know how much money you’ve got and that’s how you’ll keep being able to do all the fun stuff.

Organization is a must.

If you ever walked into my studio, you would look me in the face and call me a liar for talking about organization. But really, it’s all about keeping things straight in a way that is comfortable for you. Do you know what all your outstanding projects are? Who you have to follow up with? Where all your reference files are? What all the passwords for the 10 billion sites you’re developing are? What invoices have to get sent out?

I do, despite the fact that my studio is an atrocious mess. I may not look organized, but I know where all the important stuff is. You don’t have to get all OCD about it. Again, find what works for you. I have a nice folder system for all my client work, and I have some checklists on my computer to keep me on track. You know how you think, so take that and run with it.

Put everything in writing.

I learned a lot of expensive lessons because I didn’t put things in writing. Write you proposals and your creative briefs! Make sure your clients understand them! That way, when scope goes out of control or you’re not sure what you were supposed to do weeks later, you have a roadmap (and you can show it to your out-of-control client and try to mitigate some disasters).

Share your knowledge and help others.

I’m not saying you have to give away all your trade secrets. But being helpful is always a plus. First off, you’ll put something in your karma bank. Second, you’ll usually learn something along the way . Third, you can position yourself as an expert in your field and people will come beating down your door if they feel you know what you’re talking about.

I have gotten jobs because someone e-mailed me and said, “I saw you were talking about X on this message board and you really sounded super knowledgeable. Would you be interested in working on this project, doing X?”

Besides, people like working with friendly folks. Helping others shows you’re open to collaboration, which can lead to awesome projects.

Don’t be shy. (Though it’s really hard not to be.)

Most people who know me would scoff at me if I ever said I was shy. But really, I am. I have a confession: I am terrified of the telephone. Nothing gives me the heebie-jeebies more than the thought of making a cold call. (And you wonder how I survived as a sports reporter for five-plus years with this fear of the telephone!) I also feel awkward in a room where I don’t know anyone.

But guess what? You have to swallow your fears and just put yourself out there. How is anyone ever going to know what you do or how awesome you are if you don’t talk to anyone else? Besides, once you find one person to talk to, it doesn’t seem so scary anymore.

I know you don’t want to sound like a shameless self-promoter, but you have to do some promotion. You don’t have to be arrogant. Be friendly and talk about yourself a little. It will get you further than being a wallflower.

Always carry business cards! You never know when your next potential client is going to show up!

True story: I was once at a local event here in Sacramento, volunteering at a booth with my husband. This was not a design-related event at all. But a photographer came up to our journalism-related booth to ask about shooting for small local publications. And he mentioned he was hoping to get a portfolio up. And my friend and my husband who were both in the booth pointed to me and said, “Hey, she’s a web designer.” I didn’t have my new business cards on me (d’oh!), but I luckily had one old one left in my wallet. He contacted me a week later.

You also never know if you’re going to share an elevator with someone important, so be prepared!

It’s going to be hard sometimes. Just accept it.

It sometimes irks me when people say, “Oh, you’re so lucky … you get to roll out of bed and walk 10 feet to your office and work from home. You have such an easy life.”

It’s not easy. There are lots of terrific things about going solo, but lots of things that suck about it. Accept that for what it is and move on. And make sure you have really good friends who don’t mind it when you vent occasionally (or a lot).

No (wo)man is an island.

Having a great support system is key. Whether you need moral support, or have a question or whatever, always remember that you’re not the only one in your boat.

Like the motto of the Creative Freelancer Conference says, “You work solo, but you are not alone.”

Related to this …

You are not Superman (or woman), nor do you ever need to be.

Sure, some of us know how to do a lot of stuff and do it well. But you don’t need to do everything. Some of the best projects I’ve worked on have been with a team. It’s nice to not have to worry about everything for once. It’s also nice when you’re not the main point of contact sometimes.

There’s nothing wrong with collaboration. You might learn a lot of new things along the way. You might push yourself in one skillset because you suddenly don’t have to worry about 10,000 other things. You might wind up with bigger and bigger projects because you don’t know how to do one thing that’s essential to the contract, but you’ve got a buddy who does.

Which leads me to …

Don’t say no immediately.

I’m not saying you should never say no. There are times you have to or you will go insane. But the key is not saying no immediately.

I have a friend who always says, “I can’t do web design.” Bollocks, I say! I always tell her that she can design a website — she’s got solid design skills –  but she just doesn’t know how to code it and put it on the internets. That doesn’t mean she has to say no. She just needs to find a web guru (as I wave my hands wildly). You see what I mean? Saying no off the bat just shut her off to about a million possibilities right there!

A teacher of mine once said, “Don’t say you don’t know how to do something right off the bat. Chances are that when it comes time to actually do the project, you’ll know how to do it … or you’ll know someone who does.”

But on the other side of the coin, be honest about your limitations and that of your partners. If you’ve thought about it and it’s truly impossible, then say no. But if there’s a fighting chance that it is possible, then don’t say no until you’ve explored all the options.

You won’t like everyone you work with, and vice versa. But always be nice about it.

I’m here to make friends sometimes, but not all the time.

If you encounter someone you don’t really like, don’t make it more miserable than it needs to be — for both your sakes. Just smile a lot, always be professional and then go vent to your friends later.

And don’t be offended if someone doesn’t like you. It’s not like you’re working with that person every waking minute. You’re not everyone’s cup of tea. I know, I hate to burst your bubble.

Smile a lot. Be a good person. Be the person you want to work with.

Let’s face it. No one wants to work with Debbie Downer. Or a consistently negative person. Or a consistent slacker.

But if you’re upbeat and friendly and approachable, people will flock to you. I still think one of the highest compliments I have ever received had nothing to do with my design skills or web skills — it was a client who called me and said, “We really enjoyed working with you on a previous project, and we really want to work with you on this bigger project because we just love your attitude and helpfulness.”

Staying positive is not only good for business, it’s good for the rest of your life, too!

Always keep learning.

Read a lot. Talk to your fellow designers. Ask questions. Take a class. It’s the only way to grow as a designer / businessperson / regular human being.

Have an unwavering faith in yourself.

It’s not easy to go solo. Sometimes things go horribly awry and really, there’s no one else that can fix your situation. This is when you have to dig deep down and trust that everything will turn out OK. It’s one thing to have people tell you it’s going to be OK, but you have to truly believe it yourself. So yeah, always have faith in yourself. When you have nothing else to hold on to, at least you’ll have that. And then things start turning around. Honestly.

Enjoy the ride.

Well, there was a reason you went solo in the first place, right? Savor it! Enjoy the good stuff, learn from the not-so-good stuff. You’re already ahead of the game because you decided to ditch working for The Man, so whenever you get down, just remember that and I guarantee it will bring a smile to your face.

Welcome to my world.

I had an old portfolio site. In fact, the only reason that site ever got done was because it was a final project for a class. (See the need for a hard deadline?) But my portfolio sat there for four years. It very rarely got updated because it was kind of a pain in the butt.

It sat there and sat there and sat there. In four years, I picked up some mad ninja skills and that portfolio never reflected that. Finally, fast forward to June 2010 and my trip to the Creative Freelancer Conference and HOW Conference. I had been going solo for almost a year and wanted to push to make new connections at these conferences. But not with the indignity of a super-outdated portfolio! So I finally got it done. And learned a lot in the process about portfolios….

First off, the finished work, which you can see at http://jenndelafuente.com:

This sketch of my portfolio site had been sitting in a notebook for — I kid you not — almost a year. It was so great to finally see it come alive.

In redesigning my portfolio, I knew there were several things I wanted it to accomplish:

1. It had to be easy to update. (Duh!)

2. I wanted it to show off the skills that I try to sell to clients. (Duh again.)

3. I wanted people to be able to connect with me easily via a myriad of options.

4. I wanted it to have some personal style and verve. I wanted my spirit to be on display.

When setting out to do your portfolio, knowing what you want it to accomplish is half the battle! Designing without a purpose is completely useless.

I think I managed to cover all those points in the design. The portfolio is in WordPress, which makes updating a snap. I’ve also started billing myself as a “WordPress ninja” — it’s on my business card, really! — so having a portfolio using the platform I’m trying to sell my clients on is a plus. I think it’s a pretty solid demonstration of the “outside-the-blog” nature of WordPress.

People have lots of options to connect, whether via the contact form, or Twitter or Flickr or this lovely blog. I like the running commentary on the sidebar — it also helps to keep fresh content painlessly on the the site.

And lastly, I think there is some personality. I don’t write stiffly (never have). Plus, the red background is an original pattern that I made a while ago (it’s also on my business cards), so there’s an extra added personal touch.

Next came selecting what work would go in the portfolio. One of the best tips I read somewhere is to display the work you want more of. That really helped narrow it down (especially when it came to choosing what websites to display).

And voila! My new portfolio. So glad to finally get it up there.

This was my second CFC and my first HOW. CFC was a wonderful time and also a mini-reunion with a few of the folks I met last year in San Diego — Tricia Okin, Genevieve Margherio, Jenn Cole, Kirk Roberts. I also finally got to meet many of the people I only knew online through message boards and e-mail groups, so that was neat.

I took away a lot from both conferences — my brain is in near overload right now — but here are the big nuggets. Because the nuggets and highlights are most helpful anyway, no?

The CFC stuff:

* Luke Mysse made a great presentation on the first day about being your own boss. It was inspirational and made me feel so empowered. His big point: Your life balance is on your hands. You can train clients not to call you at odd hours or e-mail you at midnight. You can stop feeling like you need to work until 3 a.m. You’re the one in control. We complain so much about how our clients are all over us or about how we’re sleeping very little, yet we violate our own boundaries. This was very eye-opening. I think I’m going to start taking back my time NOW!

* Samantha Bennett had a great presentation about prioritizing and getting things done. My favorite tip from her — it was directed at the procrastinators that like to say, “oh, I would do this if I had an hour to spare … or two” — was this: Set aside 15 minutes each day to do something. It can be the same thing, or maybe something on your to-do list that got lost in the shuffle the day before. That way, you’ll always have a block of time to get something done.

My 15 minutes will be spent on our exercise bike. I know that’s not a lot of time, but to me, 15 minutes everyday is better than zero. Because I do suffer from the time lament — oh, I wish I had an hour to go swimming. Or walking. Or bike riding. With this, I get something that I want to do done. And I still have the choice to play tennis with the husband, go to the gym or swim later in the day should I be feeling so inclined (or carve out a larger portion of time).

* I always enjoy Dyana Valentine‘s energy and passion in helping people pitch their businesses. It was helpful seeing her do a live demo with one person. And she really got everyone thinking about how we make our clients feel and how we want them to feel when they’re done working with us. And she reminded us that other people are actually our best evangelists. If we get our friends excited, they’ll talk about us excitedly to everyone thy know too.

* Galia Gichon did a presentation about money and managing money (oooh, the scary topic!). I really like that she had very practical advice and broke down such a complex hairball of a topic. Two of my favorite tips: 1) Put all your goals in numbers. They’re much easier to reach that way. (For instance, “I’m going to pay down $2,000 in debt in three months” instead of “I’m going to pay off this credit card.”) 2) Set aside a day each week to deal with your finances. Just pay all your bills, check on all your accounts, do all the money-related things that one day and one time. And then you don’t have to freak out unnecessarily as your bills come in.

Point No. 1 really does work, I have to say. Several years ago, I would make up these crazy Excel spreadsheets listing my debts and how much I was going to pay toward them each month. I would calculate whether I had extra money in the budget and adjust these totals as necessary. It was quite a system. But it really worked. I paid stuff down. And then I got away from it and my finances feel like this giant hairball of a mess. Gotta get back to the old ways.

* Jean Perwin did a presentation of copyrights and contracts, and that was probably the most useful and practical session there was. It was very educational. And I also have a basis from which I can write my contracts!

HOW stuff:

First off, this was my first HOW Conference. It was incredibly daunting at first — and the expo was a madhouse, but the swag was freaking awesome — but I’m glad to say I went. I also enjoyed selling at the Designers’ Marketplace and meeting fellow crafty designers. It was a positive experience and I would definitely consider going again!

* Von Glitschka did a presentation about having the tools to come up with killer concepts. First off, it was a reminder to do all the fun brainstorming exercises that sometimes get lost in the rush to produce, produce, produce. But he also spoke a truth that is very near and dear to me because it was also true in my former life as a journalist — the best designers come up with killer concepts because they’re very well-rounded and well-read and very educated. When you have a broad pool of experiences and reference to draw from, you come up with more (and better) ideas. He emphasized the need to not only be well-read and educated in design, but in other areas too. We sometimes know too much about design and shape and form and color and not enough about why a design speaks to people and moves them to action, or why a design would be offensive to a certain culture or why a design wouldn’t work for a certain client/audience/project. Von was also kind enough to share his presentation and brainstorming ideas here: tinyurl.com/5alarmconcepts.

* My other favorite presentation was from Nancy Duarte, who talked about weaving stories into our presentations. It was a new spin on what makes effective presentations. I mean, she brought in concepts from screenwriting and film, which was cool. She also used the Gettysburg Address as an example of an effective presentation (also something I would have never thought of, but hey, Abraham Lincoln knew how to make a point effectively, no doubt!). Her main message was that your presentations have to transform an audience, and effective ones get them to go out there and either evangelize your idea or buy something you’re selling because they connect with them on a human level. My last favorite point from her was that you know you’ve made an effective speech/presentation when no one is tweeting during the show.

So yes, my head is swimming with stuff. But I’m really excited to put a lot of what I learned into practice!

This time, I went back to my print roots — it’s nice to step away from the web coding sometimes — to create a business card for good friend Jeannie Wong, the lady behind JAMM Information Group.

Jeannie started up a new business focusing on helping small businesses and nonprofits in the Sacramento area get a leg up on social media. Most of these folks don’t have the time or the budgets to have someone help them with their marketing, so that’s where Jeannie comes in. She brings almost 25 years of writing and editing experience as a former journalist and features editor. She’s also social media-savvy and helps spread the word about her clients through those channels, putting out timely, smart and focused information out to the public (as opposed to just white noise and mindless chatter).

JAMM Information Group needed some business cards, so here’s the finished product:

Front of the card:

Back of the card:

Jeannie had a very simple aesthetic in mind and a very simple color scheme. In fact, she came to me with a roughed-out design and knew she wanted to use “We’ll JAMM for you.” as her tagline.

One of the things I thought would be nice to add to the design were some icons (where the writing, editing, social media parts come in). Icons have become a part of our visual culture, and since social media is big on icons (just look at how many Facebook Fs and Twitter Ts you see floating around), so I thought it would be nice to have that same kind of feel and idea on the business card.

I also used the speech bubble on the back of the card because I also feel that social media is all about creating buzz and jumpstarting a conversation about (insert topic here). That’s what JAMM Information Group is trying to do for its clients, but with this card, JAMM is also trying to promote itself and create its own buzz. So the speech bubble felt like an appropriate icon. Plus, it helps reinforce the name of the company in the tagline, and well, a company that will jam for you has got to be good, right?

The rounded corners on both the back and front of the card tied everything together and reflect the rounded corners of the speech bubble. They’re also nice separators. In hindsight, I probably should have made both of them connect in the same place from the front to the back, but maybe I’ll do that the next time Jeannie has to re-order cards.

One of the classes was a studio class. We were put into teams, and our task was to produce an ad campaign for the Rotary Club of Sacramento. It consisted of a print ad and a 30-second commercial. The commercial was going to be aired on local television and everything (ad space had been bought). Two different groups worked on two different ads. Ours was the one with lower production costs, meaning we had to shoot everything in one location and probably in a studio (we have a photography studio on campus).

I worked mainly on the 30-second commercial. There were three photographers, the incredibly talented Ron Nabity, Andrew Nixon and Kevin Fiscus. I project-managed. We were also assisted by Ann Edwards, who helped out with a lot of production, and Marika Andrews, another photographer who mainly helped with scouting models.

Our group had to do everything from scratch. We came up with the concept for our ad (it’s about showcasing a more diverse, younger face for Rotary). I wrote the script (and got lots of help editing and re-arranging it). We storyboarded the whole thing, figured out how we wanted the ad to look, found models, the whole nine yards. The faculty had hookups with a local recording studio, and both groups got to sit in and listen as voiceovers for both ads were created.

It was an incredible process. I’d been involved in some aspects of production before — I’m a former theater stagehand, and I do know my way around a recording studio — but I’d never worked on a commercial from start to finish. Our photo shoot was an 8-hour marathon involving four different models (though only three got used in the final commercial). It was the fastest eight hours ever. It was neat to work with a team of photographers and learn about their lighting and setups and watch them work with models. It was fun helping direct a shoot and fix stray hairs and straighten out collars.

Lastly, it was neat to see the concept that we thought of come alive in this commercial. It was shot entirely in a studio, all still photography.

The only thing we didn’t do was cut the final commercial. That was left to one of the teachers and his son, who are Final Cut gurus. However, I cut a version of the commercial for my After Effects final. (I told you I killed two classes with one stone.)

Working on this commercial was one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve had so far as a designer, and I truly appreciate all the work that goes on behind the scenes. And I feel fortunate that I got to work with such a fun and talented bunch of people.

Here is the commercial cut in After Effects. It’s not the real commercial that will be seen in the Sacramento region, but do enjoy anyway.

Boy, did I learn a lot. And it was fun.

The final portfolio for this class consisted of 12 different shots, each fulfilling a specific assignment. Enjoy.

(Click on a photo to see it larger.)

Front / Side / Back lighting (same subject)

Selective Focus

Human Interest

Painting With Light (this is a single exposure, three different light sources in this case)

Motion (intentional, not accidental)

Close Up (as close as you could get if you didn’t own a macro lens!)

Cityscape

Environmental Portrait

Night Shot (this is my personal favorite in this portfolio)

Flash Three Ways (top: Fill Flash, middle: Freezing Motion With Flash, bottom: Isolating Subject With Flash)

Student Choice #1 (yes, that’s a real leaf, I swear)

Student Choice #2

This first project was for a studio class. (It’s basically a student-run creative agency that does real-world work for clients here in Sacramento.) Each graphic design student was paired with a photography student and given the task of choosing an existing ad campaign and designing an ad that would have fit logically into said campaign. If it was a print ad, the newly created ad had to look on-brand and advance the theme presented in the previously existing ads. (For instance, one pair of students did their version of the Diesel “Be Stupid” ads.)

I took a slightly different tack and chose the Bud Light “Too Light, Too Heavy” ad campaign, which is entirely a TV ad campaign. There were no print ads for reference, so the challenge was to come up with a situation that could be interpreted quickly in one or two shots. This was the result (call it “The Haircut”):

Now that was a fun shoot. How often do you get to tote around garden shears and act like you’re going to cut a chunk of hair out?

Everyone asked me if we actually cut the guy’s hair. We didn’t. That’s all hairstyling, baby. (Many thanks to my friend Lisa Williams for serving as not only the hairstylist, but the model holding both the scissors and the shears. And another friend of mine, Corey Hill, graciously let us ‘fro his very fluffy real-life hair.)

Several ideas were batted around for the ad, including a version at a doctor’s office where the Too Heavy would have been a doctor swinging a mallet to check a guy’s reflexes. But in the end, the haircut idea was the easiest to execute. My photographer, Janelle Robinson, and I thought about shooting this at an actual salon, but as it turned out, we didn’t really need to because both photos were so close up.

This project definitely helped me flex some art direction muscle, not to mention the post-production Photoshop skills I haven’t used in a while. It was also just neat to see this start from the concept in my mind to the actual print product.

As a side note, this piece won a silver award at the Sacramento City College Graphic Communications Student Showcase. Woot!

Finally, school is over and I have some of my time back. But it was a terrific time. I’ll be posting some of the final projects from various classes.

Learning new things is so essential and vital to our profession. It’s also nice to look at things from a different perspective. You sometimes feel creatively energized that way. For instance, I took a photography class and worked with photographers on a commercial shoot for a different class. Being behind the camera was not only a great experience, but it also taught me how to interact with photographers, learn more of their lingo and learn how to direct a shoot. Being an actual photographer taught me more about aesthetics and composition and having an eye for things. It’s all stuff that’s applicable to what we do as designers.

Besides, it was all just plain fun. Who knew school could be so much fun?