Acuity Designs Blog

5 Articles to Help with Goals in Google Analytics

Mel @ Acuity — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:39:41 +0000

Thanks to a smashing article on six revisions about setting up goals in Google Analytics - we delved further into the subject and found these great 5 articles to help you get to grips with just the same.

1.http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2007/03/google_analytics_tutorial_4_wo.htm

Almost 100% of those who’ve contacted me since I started doing these has asked for a presentation on using goals.

View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

2. http://sixrevisions.com/tools/google-analytics-in-depth-goals-and-funnels/

In this article, we’re going to delve into Google Analytics and start to tailor your account settings so you can get information you need much more easily. Google Analytics in Depth is my series of Google Analytics articles where we will explore Google Analytic’s beneficial features to help you get the most out of this powerful and free web tool.

3. http://blog.joshbaker.com/2009/01/15/using-goals-in-google-analytics-to-track-conversions/

A simple non-technical explanation is that Goals count the number of unique pageviews of a specific url that you predetermined during the Goals setup process. When a visitor reaches that predetermined page, Google Analytics increases the numerical count by one for that particular goal. A goal is incremented only once per single visit, so if a visitor during a single visit reaches that predetermined page more than once, the goal count is only incremented one time so as to not inflate your goal count.

4. http://www.business.com/guides/setting-up-goals-conversion-tracking-in-google-analytics-9181/

* Log into your Analytics account and make sure you are on the “Analytics Settings” screen.
* Under the desired website profile, select “Edit” under the settings column.
* Under the “Conversion Goals and Funnel” section, there are four spaces for setting up goals.
* Select a goal that has not been configured and select “Edit” under the settings column.

5. http://www.maine-seo.com/google/measuring-success-through-conversions-creating-google-analytics-goals

Conversions are more important than rankings – they are the goal. Sure, good rankings should lead to higher conversions; but being #1 should not be your first priority. Using Google Analytics, you have the opportunity to set up a total of four goals for each website (should you have multiple sites) to track your conversions.

Click the edit button on the Dashboard page in your Analytics. There, you’ll find all of the settings for your account. What we’re interested in are the Conversion Goals and Funnels.

May 25, 2009 -- Google Analytics Explained Almost (7)
December 7, 2009 -- 5 Articles To Understanding Your Websites Bounce Rate (9)

Links for 2010-03-17 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

20 Free Grunge Like Fonts For Your Creative Projects

Interview with Glennray Tutor – PhotoRealism Painter

Mel @ Acuity — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:22:11 +0000

Hi all, an ABSOLUTE treat today… I came across the work of Glennray Tutor by chance via the wonder of the WWW. I then contacted him, and he was gracious enough to give me an interview and a rare insight into how he creates his truly mind-boggling photo-realistic paintings!

1. Hi Glennray. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those who have not come across you before, can you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do, and your work?

I grew up in a small town in southeast Missouri, a couple of hours north of Memphis. I now live in Oxford, Mississippi which is about an hour south of Memphis. I came to Oxford to attend the University of Mississippi, and received an MFA in painting in 1976 when I was 25 years old. Since then I have been fortunate to have worked full time at creating art. My paintings have been acquired by major collectors and museums, and have been exhibited in venues globally. My studio is comfortably located a few steps behind my house. In addition to painting, I am very interested in music. The daily activities in the studio include both performing and listening to music, which ranges from Mozart and Rossini, to John Lee Hooker and The Yardbirds, to my own compositions.

2. When did you decide painting was a career path that you wanted to follow?

I never had the experience of choosing a career path. From the moment I became conscious I knew I was an artist.

“However, I want to emphasize that flawless technique alone will never generate a work of art. A perfectly played sonata, without an engaging melody, will fail. “

3. What painters/artists have inspired you?

Other than my own, I didn’t see actual oil paintings until I was 17 years old. All of the art that I saw until then were reproductions. And this aspect of viewing art may have had bearing on my later thoughts regarding technique and image. I was absolutely obsessed with comic books and book jacket art. I was astounded by the art of Kubert, Cameron, Infantino, Freas, Powers, Wood, Elder, N.C. Wyeth, Rockwell, Emsh and Schoenherr. In my teenage years, at the library, I discovered the art of Dali, Ernst, Dore, Bosch, Vermeer and the Dutch realists, Modiglianni, Bacon, the French Impressionists, the German Expressionists, and the Abstract Expressionists. I was also visually inspired by television programs and movies.

4. What made you become a photo-realist painter?

During my revelatory visit to The Brooks Museum of Art, in the summer of 1968, when I saw actual paintings for the first time, I discovered that some paintings contain overt indications of how the image is technically achieved, like obvious brushstrokes and pronounced canvas texture. This technical disclosure varies from artist to artist. For example, a painting by Jackson Pollock shows the technique equally along with the image.

On the other hand, a Vermeer does not. For me, visual evidence of how the painting is done, interferes with my entry — both emotionally and intellectually — into the art. (Please don’t misunderstand, I think that technique alone can be fascinating. I’ve stood with a magnifying glass in front of Vermeer paintings literally for hours studying the technique.)

To help clarify, here are a couple of analogies. If I watch a magician, I don’t want to see how he does the trick, because my sense of wonder will be lessened. If I go to a concert hall to hear a Mozart piano sonata, I don’t want to hear all the notes and chords the musician practiced in preparation for the performance. I want to experience the art as purely as the composer intended.

Music is aural, and painting is visual. I want my painted image to be as flawlessly experienced by the eye as a musical composition is by the ear.

However, I want to emphasize that flawless technique alone will never generate a work of art. A perfectly played sonata, without an engaging melody, will fail. How the artist presents the subject matter, will determine whether or not a painting is art.

Because a painting is, as is all art, a form of entertainment, its performance should appear flawless to the viewer.
I was drawn to Photo-realist painting because of its reverence for the image.

5. Where would you say your inspiration comes from?

That’s a tough one…. The result of an acute perception, perhaps. I find everything I see to be extraordinary.

“As a composer of music does not merely reproduce the sounds he hears from the world around him, I do not paint the world as I find it, as a snapshot, so to speak. “

6. Your work has a distinctive look — would you say you have a personal identifiable style?

Yes, I recognize that my work has a distinctive look.

In creating a work of art, I concentrate on the mental and physical process to achieve my intention. Interestingly, style is not a consideration at all, and yet it inevitably occurs.

I think the more personal and sincere an artist’s efforts, and the more experience (practice) the artist has in making art, the more distinct will be the style.

7. Your work, honestly, is truly jaw-dropping. How did you develop your skill and techniques to get to such a level of accomplishment?

Thank you, sincerely, for the compliment.

The answer is self-discipline.

Perhaps the most important realization I ever had was that if I were to reach the level of accomplishment I wanted with my work, I would have to live a different kind of life than the normal person. Art would come first, then everything else would revolve around that, as best it could. A strict working regime was necessary, one that consisted of painting persistently, with or without inspiration. I worked this way for years, learning from my mistakes, and always pushing on to the next level.

8. When creating one of your pieces, where does the process start?

“I also know that I want such a painting to be more than what I am seeing in my arrangement. I want it to transcend to a more wondrous visual and emotional level.”

As a composer of music does not merely reproduce the sounds he hears from the world around him, I do not paint the world as I find it, as a snapshot, so to speak.

The process starts with selecting objects that I find interesting and assembling them into an arrangement. Because I control every element, I infuse the arrangement with metaphorical content, which is of great significance to me and my overall work as an artist.

I work with the arrangement until (and it’s difficult to verbally describe the phenomenon that happens next, but here is an attempt) it begins to radiate a kind of power. At this point I feel there is potential for a painting. I also know that I want such a painting to be more than what I am seeing in my arrangement. I want it to transcend to a more wondrous visual and emotional level.

But — and this is the scary thing about the early stages of the process — I have very little notion of how to get it there.

9. What media typically go into a normal piece, and how long does a piece on average take you to complete?

The surface I paint on is either canvas or paper, prepared with rabbit skin glue sizing, or acrylic gesso. Oil paint is then applied with brushes. The brushes are a variety of sizes, and all are flats, except for #1 and #2 rounds. I sign the painting with the #1. Turpentine is used to thin the paint, as necessary.

After I have arranged the objects, I photograph the setup, shooting approximately 20 photos, each at a different exposure, from completely overexposed, to completely underexposed. A normal exposure, alone, would not allow me to see into the dark and light areas. I use a digital camera and computer, and examine the photos as I’m shooting. Often, I’ll make a change to the setup. I delete the previous photos and re-shoot.

After I have photographed what I feel is a definitive composition, an outline drawing of it is made on the selected surface, using a grid, or a projection. This drawing is not detailed, and serves only as a starting place. Referring to the photos, I begin the painting.As the painting progresses, I change elements, such as colors, location or size of an object, or I may paint over an entire object with a different one.

I continue painting, exploring, always trying to make the painting better. If a photo were made every hour as my painting progresses, and shown consecutively, the painting would appear in constant motion and change. When I feel the painting is complete, I sign it. The original objects and arrangement have gone through a creative process of intellectual, emotional, and physical manipulation, and are no longer what they once were. They are now a painted work of art.My normal schedule is to work everyday, painting approximately 10 hours a day. Depending on size and complexity, a painting takes 1 to 4 months to complete.

10. So far what would you describe as the pros and cons of becoming a painter?

Cons first: To know exactly what I wanted to express as an artist, and then the development of the skills necessary to make these things into a physical manifestation — a painting — was quite an arduous enterprise.

Pros: Making art is hard. However, after I’ve fought all the way from the beginning of the process to its completion, and stand and look at the finished painting, there is no better feeling.

11. To date, what has been your personal proudest moment in your career or art?

There have been many moments I have felt the great feeling of accomplishment — it happens daily in the studio as I work — and I appreciate every one of those moments.

In relation to my career, I’m very proud to have been part of OUTWARD BOUND, the millennium exhibition of 2000, sponsored by Mobil Corporation, that toured major museums throughout the U.S.A. and Asia. The exhibition included work by Warhol, Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Goings, Close, and many other notable artists. I’m very proud of my artwork being used on the series of books by Barry Hannah, one of the world’s greatest authors.

And, by the way, ranking right up there with the best of them, is being interviewed by Acuity Designs.

12. Once again, thank you very much for the interview. Where can those interested in you and your work find you online

GlennrayTutor.com

“I never had the experience of choosing a career path. From the moment I became conscious I knew I was an artist. “

Enjoy the interview? Leave A Comment

March 3, 2010 -- Interview with Illustrator and Artworker – Liam Barry (0)
November 28, 2009 -- Interview With Will Kay of OddKingdom – Becoming Your Brand (4)
July 1, 2009 -- Interviewed by Crazy Leaf Design Blog (2)

Links for 2010-03-15 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 PDT

50 Freely Available Professional Fonts For Your Designs

50 Freely Available Professional Fonts For Your Designs

Mel @ Acuity — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:53:28 +0000

Being designers we usually need more than just the usual font collection. Many typefaces are made available online for free it can be very helpful for designers to build up their type arsenal. Of course many would argue that designers should avoid using free grungy typefaces and instead apply type treatment to existing and well designed typefaces like Helvetica, Trebuchet, Georgia, H&FJ, and others.

That’s why today we have a collection of 50 free professional free fonts, we’re not talking about grunge fonts or ones that have a distressed look, we’re talking about great looking professional typefaces made available for free online. I hope you enjoy this collection!

Caviar Dreams

Champagne & Limousines

Fontin

Oceania

League Gothic

Steiner

Telegraphico

Museo Sans

Days

Fontin Sans

Comfortaa

Rounded

Asenine

Juice Gadisradio

Optimus Princeps

Cicle

Bodoni XT

Day Roman

Liberation Serif

Apple Garamond

Cyclo

Organic Elements

Quadranta

Tallys

Reznor Broken

Museo

Antipasto

Fertigo

Charpentier Renaissance

Delicious

Calluna

Anivers

Fibel

Raleway

Prociono

Headline

Sansation

Chunk

Graublau

Junction

Justus

Typo3

Typo Slab Serif

Just Oldfashion

Goudy Bookletter 1911

Bitstream Vera Sans

Diavlo

Bastardus Sans

Tall Dark & Handsome

This is a guest post from Tom Walker who works as writer and design for a supplier of Pixma ink cartridges, toners, paper and other accessories. Visit their blog for his latest writing about design and print media.

June 8, 2009 -- Freelance Contracts (27)
January 30, 2010 -- 5 Free Non-Disclosure Agreements (4)
January 6, 2010 -- 5 Free Web Design Proposal Contracts (11)
April 8, 2009 -- Free Business Plan, Projected Balances and Expenses Templates (2)
October 14, 2008 -- Free Invoice, Receipt, T&C and Privacy Templates (1)

Interview with Illustrator and Artworker – Liam Barry

Mel @ Acuity — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:03:50 +0000

Hi Liam, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those who have not come across you before, can you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do and your work?

Hi there!

Err… well my name is Liam Barry and I’m an illustrator/designer/producer. I studied illustration in Brighton, but I grew up in East London. I work mostly in black and white at the moment, I love how striking the contrast looks, although it has made me a bit obsessive about silhouettes! I tend to work mainly with calligraphy inks, a huge pile of pens, scanned brush marks and Photoshop.

What illustrators have inspired you? What made you become an illustrator and when did you decide illustration was a career path that you wanted to follow?

I’m a great fan of quite a few illustrators/artists! Sometimes it’s the images I am drawn to, other times it can be the work ethic or attitudes towards the creative process. I guess favourable mentions go to the films of Hayao Miyazaki (Laputa, Nausicaä, etc.) and other manga/anime because that’s pretty much all I watched as a child and teenager haha! I always loved the drama and dynamism found in Japanese comics, then when I looked into the history of Japanese image making and printing I got really into the style of the composition and layouts. A more ‘current’ illustrator I’m certainly a fan of is David Foldvari. Although his work looks quite clean and simple, it contains an uncompromising wit and humour that really resonates with me.

It’s funny because I don’t think I ever decided myself to be an illustrator

It’s funny because I don’t think I ever decided myself to be an illustrator, I just kept doing what I was doing and learning in school until one day my art tutor told me I had better study illustration for my degree so I could keep exploring the stuff I liked. It was a bit bewildering at university being surrounded by loads of people who knew exactly what they were aiming for professionally, but it was great in a sense because I got to learn and share things from a wide range of creative types.

I guess the short answer is that I have been creating images all my life and I can’t think of any other ‘job’ that lets me be myself enough!

Your work has a distinctive look – would you say you have a personal identifiable style?

Hmm, that’s a tricky one!

I remember being obsessed with trying to nail a ‘style’ during my studies, developing a working method that I could practice and get super-good at, but to be honest, pursuing that never really made me feel happy about the work I was making. I hated the idea of not trying new things so I decided to just concentrate on what I thought was cool at any time, however it worked out!

I am most happy making images about everyday things (usually of the darker nature!), mixed with elements of fantasy to create a compelling narrative. I think the three main themes of my work so far are ‘the unexpected’, ‘the primal’ and ‘the anti-hero’. All of these themes are of an un-compromising nature which I think is a really powerful idea in the world we find ourselves living in today where you have to ask for permission to do almost anything!

When creating a fairly abstract piece such as the piece below..where does the process start? What is your typical ‘start to finish’ workflow?

‘Self’ was made to be part of an exhibition of the same name by a group called ArtIsProof (http://www.artisproof.com). The group is run by a friend and studio mate of mine called Mark Pavey who I was living with at the time. The only criteria for each artist were the word ‘self’ and a limited palette of 3 colours.

I wanted to do a piece of work about myself and where I had come from, but I wasn’t really comfortable with being in the spotlight like that. The day after I received the brief from Mark an old friend of mine, whom I grew up with, called me to say he had been diagnosed with depression and he needed to talk to someone about it.

I went and stayed with him for a day or two and documented the visit with photos and notes on what we talked about. It turned out he blamed where he/we grew up for his depression and paranoia so that was that, it was decided… I was doing a piece of work about him and myself at the same time!

Once the idea was sorted I used pieces of string dipped in ink and dropped onto paper to make hundreds of ‘snake-like’ marks. After I had scanned all of them in to Photoshop I used some of the documentation photos as a basis to build up the ink marks into the face structure, shadows and hair. I like to leave the imperfections of certain marks in to avoid things looking too clean and artificial. This is the general method I use for most of my work, although depending on the job I may focus more on a specific ‘stage’ of the process.

What are your weapons of choice in creating your illustrations? What are you a hardware (Pc / Mac)/ software (Adobe suite?) / traditional tools (pencil / paint? ) for designing or a mixture?

Defiantly a mixture! I have drawers full of pens, brushes, different types of tape, tins of paint, bottles of ink… if it makes a mark, I want to be able to use it at some point! In fact that’s the first challenge I face when starting a new piece of work; which medium to use.

I usually go with my gut instinct as I could waste days obsessing over it! Then I move to my sketch book where I try to plan out as much as I can so that when I reach a stop or a block later on I can use it to get back on track.

After I have made all the composite elements of the image it gets chucked into the Pc (not a Mac person I’m afraid!) with Photoshop or occasionally FlashMX to be layered, composed, tweaked and processed.

I think it takes a certain type of person to even want to become an illustrator/designer

So far what would you describe as the pros and cons of becoming an illustrator?

For me one of the greatest pros of being an illustrator is the freedom it allows you to be honest with yourself and the world. It’s your job to be aware of the opinions of others, whilst developing opinions of your own that you feel others may benefit from. Other than that its often exciting and finishing a successful job feels brilliant!

I think the cons are a bit more obvious and general. If you freelance (which most illustrators and designers have to) then your paycheque is never guaranteed and on certain jobs the stress levels can go through the roof! I think personally it can make you hate yourself sometimes because it’s hard to not think “I could have done more, pushed harder or made more effort” about almost any image you make.

I think it takes a certain type of person to even want to become an illustrator/designer. Somebody with a certain type of dissatisfaction with the way things are at the moment that leads you to finding solutions to problems nobody else may even care about!

Do you have any websites / blogs you visit on a regular basis?

I personally visit the Wooster Collective website (http://www.woostercollective.com/), the Design Observer (http://www.designobserver.com/) and the Eclectic Cow (http://vacascom.blogspot.com/) the most, but I’m always finding stuff and then forgetting to bookmark it! Other than that I watch a lot of documentaries on BBC iplayer and Google video.

Once again, thank you very much for the interview. Where can those interested in you and your work find you online?

I have my own website for my illustrations and other things I find interesting at www.liambarry.com, my contact info is there too if you want to get in touch about anything.

If you’re interested in buying a print then check out the store at www.artisproof.com.

OR, if you want to hear a cheeky bit of music check out www.myspace.com/barryvalentine for some recently made music.

A Massive thanks to Mel at Acuity Designs for having me on and the best wishes to everyone else!

- Liam Barry.

March 16, 2010 -- Interview with Glennray Tutor – PhotoRealism Painter (2)
March 2, 2010 -- 20 Free Grunge Like Fonts For Your Creative Projects (4)
January 26, 2010 -- Aurora Borealis Typopgraphy Wallpaper Photoshop Tutorial (14)
November 28, 2009 -- Interview With Will Kay of OddKingdom – Becoming Your Brand (4)
July 5, 2009 -- 5 Amazing Photo Manipulations & Digital Art (deviantArt) (1)
July 1, 2009 -- Interviewed by Crazy Leaf Design Blog (2)

20 Free Grunge Like Fonts For Your Creative Projects

Mel @ Acuity — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:16:20 +0000

Everyone seems to be talking about grunge nowadays. Are you a fan of worn out and destroyed style aswell? If the answer is YES, I am sure you’ll enjoy this little collection of 20 free grunge fonts from fonts2u.com that I have built up below. I am sure few of them will become your favorites too .

http://twitter.com/fonts2u

April 12, 2009 -- Do you need a design degree to freelance? (13)
September 18, 2008 -- Art/Illustration: Artistic Realism vs Abstract Concepts (0)
March 3, 2010 -- Interview with Illustrator and Artworker – Liam Barry (0)
January 26, 2010 -- Aurora Borealis Typopgraphy Wallpaper Photoshop Tutorial (14)
November 5, 2009 -- 11 Articles To Stop You Making Designer Mistakes (7)
July 5, 2009 -- 5 Amazing Photo Manipulations & Digital Art (deviantArt) (1)

Design Community Survey

Mel @ Acuity — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:22:51 +0000

Below is a questionnaire that will take you no more than 5 minutes to complete. What I hope to do is when enough have filled it out is make some insights into the design community and get my maths boffin friend to compile some lovely little pie charts and comparative graphs.

Is there anything you would like the questionnaire to be asking designers? Comment below!

Answer as honestly and to the best of your ability and get your friends to fill it out as the more of us that do – the stronger the results will be!

Is there anything you would like the questionnaire to be asking designers? Comment below!

Don’t be another washed up freelancer – The Freelance Lifecycle

Mel @ Acuity — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:55:10 +0000

The more I network on sites such as twitter and talk to freelancers around the world; typical life – cycle seems to be the same for freelancers – especially within the first 6 months and a condition that I am now going to call ‘the-slump‘ strikes again!

1 – 6 months isn’t life just beautiful

What appears to be the norm, is that a new freelancer either through a client from their previous employment; referrals by friends or family; promotion etc there is a 1 – 3 month period of glee and success. A time when all is right in the world, jobs and clients are great, cash flow is stable , the freelance life is amazing and you going to sleep with a satisfied smile wondering why you didn’t take the dip into this world earlier.

80% of your income, comes from 20% of your clients

Does that ring true for yourself??

6 – 12 months the big bad world

Now ever so slowly, the business, jobs, enquiries begin to fizzle out and your left with a cobwebs around your email inbox! Followed by the worst factor of all is money getting tight and then the demon of discouragement and negativity kicks in. Perhaps, a client who was paying for your lovely new lifestyle – stops calling / cancels their retainers or goes bankrupt?

The days of a guaranteed pay-check at your last job all of sudden look rosier with the benefit of hindsight.

Whatever the cause, this phase of a freelancer’s life is characterised by the all to real and sudden realisation that your great little company / life was all too dependent on far to few clients and you trudge back with your tail in between your legs back into employment!!!!

TAKE A STAND – Learn from mistakes of old and prepare!!!

As a freelancer you must always be weary of the dangerous territory of depending upon a few clients. Repeat business is always brilliant. Of course. However, repeat business must be via new avenues of income and it must be business that you are confident will be there between the good times and the bad!

Even with repeat business it should be part of your monthly strategies to be actively looking to solicit new business and it should be a part of your business plan to always be seeking new revenue streams! People change, businesses change, markets change, clients change – your only protection is to be prepared for change.

1 year on one small step for you, one giant step for…

Wherever you see a successful business somebody once made a courageous decision

If you have been smart or intend on being smart you have thought about your long term freelancing success and taken heed of your marketing. It is at this point where you will make the courageous decision to persevere and you won’t go running back to mister big bad agency but you will find ways to diversify, innovate, recruit and compete against your competitors.

December 2, 2009 -- Does a successful freelancer have to be a good sales person? (6)
November 13, 2009 -- Competing Against The Agency – The Freelancer’s Epic Battle (17)
February 3, 2010 -- How do your organise yourself as a freelance designer? – Part 2 (2)
February 3, 2010 -- Graphic Designer Arguing With Client Video (1)
January 4, 2010 -- Referrals – Freelancing Dreams (3)
December 29, 2009 -- Freelancing From Home and Staying Productive (12)

How do your organise yourself as a freelance designer? – Part 2

Mel @ Acuity — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:00:54 +0000

Hi all..

Welcome to Part 2 of the first post: How do your organise yourself as a freelance designer?

This is more of a search for ideas and methods than an informative article. No matter how often I tidy and plan ahead, my desk after about 2 weeks always seems to revert back to the same crazy chaotic mess that it does. Trying to give everything that I have to do/ handle organised is something that I attacked recently and have come up with a somewhat 3 level solution.

Now a further insight into how and those I know organise ourselves on a daily business… how do you organise yourself?

Odd Jobs and Task Management

As the hours wizz by and the clients and projects stack up, keeping track of all the little things you need to can be a challenge to say the least. I do the following to help me stay on top of things:

Email…. Myself!
Thinking of something that you know you may forget to complete? Shoot yourself an e-mail as a reminder, That niggling ‘1 message unread’ or so at the end of the day when your tie-ing things up will be a crucial reminder! This is especially great if you have a smart-phone as you can be on the train etc and shoot yourself a reminder email or when your back at the office.

StickyNotes / Postiks on the screen

You have to keep an eye on these, or your screen can turn into a mess as you see to my right. However, if it is well managed this is a great way to have reminders in front of you.

Writing a daily to do list!
Every morning (well most…) I wake up and the first thing I do is take out a piece of paper and write down 5 things that absolutely have to get done on this working day. The key is to make these 5 things VERY achievable, nothing that is going to move you to far out of your working comfort. However, the psychological feeling of being able to cross things off during your working day is very helpful and you will be surprised as you often surpass those 5 things and get even more things done.

Distractions
Part of staying organised is staying on track – part of staying on track is not getting distracted or procrastinating. Designing and dealing with distractions is something I blogged about a while back here. However, it is still a prominent issue as my ‘office’ is still essentially in my home. What I have found is giving myself a separate working area entirely has helped me to freelance from home and stay productive.

Looking for ideas and methods that everyone uses to keep themselves organised and motivated.. suggestions?

December 29, 2009 -- Freelancing From Home and Staying Productive (12)
December 1, 2009 -- General Rules For Doing Free Freelance Work (5)
November 19, 2009 -- Should You Find a Niche To Stand Out From The Pack? (3)
November 13, 2009 -- Competing Against The Agency – The Freelancer’s Epic Battle (17)
November 11, 2009 -- 10 Ways To Score and Evaluate A Client (5)
February 21, 2010 -- Don’t be another washed up freelancer – The Freelance Lifecycle (1)

Should Your Website Have A Client List

Mel @ Acuity — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:20:40 +0000

Should your website have a client list? This is a question that a client popped to me not long ago. That got me thinking.. is it a necessity or a bit of self indulgent showy-off-ness?

I then asked some of my previous clients about what they looked for when they selected Acuity Designs for their project; ‘who I had previously worked with’ was as high up on their list for many as ’standard of work’.

In general, the majority wanted not only to see who they wwere as in company names, but also whether we had worked with clients similar to themselves in the past. A client list is great in that it helps to position yourself within certain key markets and show off a bit of expertise. That got me wondering, whether rather than just the list I have now, – maybe I should be ordering the client list by industry / size of company / work done?

Some have said that posting a client list, lets your competitors know who your doing work for – which in our industry – I can’t see a huge drawback or disadvantage that that poses?

What do you think, should every design site have a client list for potential clients to peruse?

November 19, 2009 -- Should You Find a Niche To Stand Out From The Pack? (3)
April 12, 2009 -- How to translate a website – considerations (1)

Graphic Designer Arguing With Client Video

Mel @ Acuity — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:09:46 +0000

Hi all, found this video in my travels of a graphic designers conversation with a client! Hilarious!

Be warned Language is very strong in the video!

February 21, 2010 -- Don’t be another washed up freelancer – The Freelance Lifecycle (1)
January 4, 2010 -- Referrals – Freelancing Dreams (3)
December 8, 2009 -- Give Old Photos A Punchy Stylistic Feel – Photoshop Tutorial – with Video (6)
December 7, 2009 -- What Should You Include In A Design Project Proposal? (5)
December 2, 2009 -- Does a successful freelancer have to be a good sales person? (6)
November 30, 2009 -- Turn A Boring Photo Into An Emotive Portrait – Photoshop Tutorial – with video (9)

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Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

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Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

Long Term Freelancing Success – Part 2 – Marketing

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Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST

Acuity Designs Blog

5 Articles to Help with Goals in Google Analytics

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Interview with Glennray Tutor – PhotoRealism Painter

1. Hi Glennray. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those who have not come across you before, can you tell us a little about yourself, what it is you do, and your work?

2. When did you decide painting was a career path that you wanted to follow?

3. What painters/artists have inspired you?

4. What made you become a photo-realist painter?

5. Where would you say your inspiration comes from?

6. Your work has a distinctive look — would you say you have a personal identifiable style?

7. Your work, honestly, is truly jaw-dropping. How did you develop your skill and techniques to get to such a level of accomplishment?

8. When creating one of your pieces, where does the process start?

9. What media typically go into a normal piece, and how long does a piece on average take you to complete?

10. So far what would you describe as the pros and cons of becoming a painter?

11. To date, what has been your personal proudest moment in your career or art?

12. Once again, thank you very much for the interview. Where can those interested in you and your work find you online

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50 Freely Available Professional Fonts For Your Designs

This is a guest post from Tom Walker who works as writer and design for a supplier of Pixma ink cartridges, toners, paper and other accessories. Visit their blog for his latest writing about design and print media.

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20 Free Grunge Like Fonts For Your Creative Projects

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Design Community Survey

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Don’t be another washed up freelancer – The Freelance Lifecycle

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How do your organise yourself as a freelance designer? – Part 2

Odd Jobs and Task Management

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