A friend and I get lunch regularly from the same cafe round the corner. Within a few days of first going I branded it as ‘Surly Sandwiches’. The food is good, the prices are better, the service is efficient and you can rest assured that 90% of the time you go there you won’t get a smile from the staff.

Others might find that a poor level of service but for me it represents the pinnacle of consistency – if I’d become accustomed to beaming staff and cheery greetings then I would have been most disappointed the day they failed to hand me a sandwich with a smile. Instead I adjusted my requirements and have them consistently met.

Conversely, set the bar high and you’d best make damn sure you keep leaping it. Hell hath no fury like a person who’s expectations you have failed to meet (catchy). When the usually impeccably courteous staff of John Lewis decided to upset my wife by quibbling over a late delivery, the only way John Lewis could see to fix that little error was to gift us money – an expensive failure to launch.

So, don’t overestimate the importance of being happy. Don’t underestimate the importance of being consistent. Don’t go changing.

Unfortunately, the videogamer in me can only see the striking similarities with this: art from Bethesda Software’s Fallout 3 – a game about a post-nuclear-apocalyptic world in which the only law is the survival of the fittest/best-armed.

I’m not sure this is the message they’d like us to take away.

Anyway, must dash – got to get hold of a Land Rover defender, lots of baked beans and a geiger counter.

(This is absolutely not a political post by the way – just graphic design-related! If you’re undecided about where to put your vote I strongly suggest you visit Vote For Policies.)

Sound

Unless you work alone in a remote mountain range then likely there’s a fair amount of background noise in your work environment. Outside of your control that noise can be distracting, confusing, infuriating and unconducive to good concentration – it’s time you blocked it out.

Firstly, you’ll need some headphones or earbuds – something noise-cancelling/reducing ideally – unfortunately this bit isn’t free! If you work in an open-plan office it’s best to get something that won’t leak sound. I swear by these Sennheisers but as ever, do your own research. With your sound system procured and the background noise muffled it’s time to replace it with something better.

Noise

• Simply Noise
  Some people claim that white noise can help you sleep. Importantly for the premise of this blog post, they also claim it can enhance your concentration. I’m not convinced – but, if listening to the gaps between the radio stations is your kinda thing then SimplyNoise.com allows you to create your own comfortable stream of white noise to fill your headphones with.

Music

• Spotify
  The arrival of Spotify has made a vast library of music available for free. Now you can make your own playlist of music and repeat it to your heart’s content. Of course, once you’re addicted you may want to consider paying for a Premium subscription to avoid the very unconducive advertisement breaks. Get in touch if you’d like an invite for the free version, I have a few.
• Last FM
  If making playlists isn’t your thing then Last FM offers custom radio stations – pick a band you like and Last FM will play you a stream of similar music, some of which you can be sure you won’t have heard before – I’ve bought numerous albums off the back of recommendations made by it.

Vision

Working on an internet-connected computer can be a curse – it’s hard to get down to the real work when a world of information (or entertainment) is hiding behind your browser’s icon. These apps should help.

For anyone

• Isolator
  This is a tiny little free app that dims your other applications, leaving only the current application visible, letting you concentrate on the job in hand. Isolator is Mac only.
• Dropcloth
  For Windows users, the tiny Dropcloth app does a similar job, and its free too.

For writers

If you have writing to do, creative or otherwise it’s good to put the visual distractions to one side. Fortunately there’s a selection of applications that help you do just that:

• Ommwriter
  A charming application that gives you a clean fullscreen visual workspace to do your writing. With the added bonus of calm soundtracks, Ommwriter lets you can engage your brain to write without distractions. Ommwriter is free while in beta and helps you to tame “your wild monkey mind”.
• WriteRoom
  If you just need a clean space to write (without the audio bells and whistles of Ommwriter) then WriteRoom is for you. It’s Mac and iPhone only, $25 for the Mac version, $5 for iPhone.
• Creawriter
  A rough clone of OmmWriterFor Windows users.

Once you’ve got all these in place you’ve really only got yourself to blame for not being able to knuckle down to your work!

So, what are your technological tips for better concentration?

Every morning each of those monkeys needs your attention – you have three options:

• Shoot the monkey
  By doing the task you shoot the monkey (and get it off your back). Assuming there is no requirement for you to work on the disposal of the monkey corpse this is the easiest way to ensure that task goes away.
• Feed the monkey
  Finding some fruit to feed a particular monkey equates to doing just enough to keep the task away until tomorrow whether that’s writing a holding email or putting an empty bucket under the leak in the ceiling. Feeding monkeys isn’t the best course of action – monkey food costs money and you have to do it every day – better to shoot the monkey today and get the job done.
• Give the monkey away
  Maybe you know someone better equipped to feed the monkey, or better qualified to shoot it? If you’re determined to have less monkeys in the cage by tomorrow morning you can always resort to giving them away. Be warned, it might not make you popular – who wants a hungry monkey?

Whatever you do with your monkeys it’s wise to keep track of them, I’d recommend Scrumpy – a new web application for tracking tasks, managing a to-do list, working together and getting stuff done. I made it – well me and another guy.

(No animals – primate or otherwise – were harmed in the writing of this blog post)

• A – Amazon (they get far too much of my money)
• B – BenGilman.com
• C – CrunchBase (researching the market…)
• D – Digg
• E – Engadget
• F – Football365 (seeking Arsenal news)
• G – Gmail
• H – HSBC
• I – IsItFunnyToday? (the best way to find web comics)
• J – Joystiq
• K – Kongregate (I spent a few lunchtimes playing The Last Stand)
• L – lovemoney.com
• M – MoneyStrands (becoming a daily visitor)
• N – BBC News
• O – OpenX (the ad server for lovemoney.com)
• P – Playfire
• Q – QuakeLive (the other lunchtimes…)
• R – Reddit
• S – Twitter Search
• T – Twitter
• U -TechCrunch
• V – Virgin Media (probably complaining about slow broadband *sigh*)
• W – lovemoney.com (all the Ws)
• X – Xkcd
• Y – YouTube
• Z – Zoopla (window shopping)

I’m not sure it’s a particularly insightful window into my world – it’s surprising how few websites start with Z though…

A few months back I was tweeting about the fact that I’d won a MailChimp t-shirt in their online draw. At that moment a mysterious Twitter account named @hipstery started following me. A few clicks later and I was concluding their checkout process. Don’t talk too loudly about it, but Twitter marketing works.

The concept

In a nutshell, The Hipstery “liberates you from the burden of choice” – specifically, you tell them your t-shirt size, fill in a fancy-dan quiz about your tastes and their t-shirt scientists go find you a t-shirt and dispatch it to your door. The t-shirts are sourced from various cool designers and are usually from rare, limited edition runs.

The delivery

A couple of weeks later (The Hipstery are in Germany and the UK post were probably on strike) a mysterious brown paper bag dropped through my door. In fact, it didn’t drop through my door at all. Instead, a red “sorry you were out and we can’t stuff a t-shirt through your letterbox” card arrived and I had to take a trip to the Royal Mail depot to collect it. So, eventually…

So the mystery is slightly compromised by the fact that the envelope is carrying The Hipstery’s branding but it was the start of ‘the experience’  – not something you usually experience when buying things online.

The grand opening

Using the time-honoured combination of my fingers and opposable thumbs I tore open the package to reveal the goodness inside.

As promised, the primary part of the delivery was the mystery t-shirt – on arrival it was wrapped in a natty plastic bag that is missing from this picture.

The cotton goodness

So, what of the t-shirt itself? What had the t-shirt scientists selected for me? In an attractive shade of grey, my selection was the runner-up of the 2006 London Design Festival’s t-shirt design competition, The Draw – “London Spirit” by Blaise Coutaz. You can read an interview with its designer over here (warning, that link is a PDF, abandon all hope ye who click). The t-shirt is cool and unlike something I might have chosen for myself – all good things.

Here’s a poorly-montaged close-up of the design.

As well as the t-shirt there were two old postcards…

Unexpected but standard enough? Except for the strange coincidence that at the time of the delivery I was wading my way through Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, in which the main protagonists reside in Windsor Castle, the subject of one of the enclosed postcards. Ooooo…

The conclusion

The Hipstery is an excellent way to acquire a t-shirt, I will shop there again. Go forth to theHipstery.com, buy yourself a new t-shirt, feel the burden of choice lifted from your shoulders. Many thanks German friends.

Here are the taps. I’ll give you a chance to spot it.

(If you said ‘the blackening grout in the corner of the tiles’ then you’re wrong)

The flaw in these taps is a manifestation of pitfalls into which any designer could fall.

Lying at the opposite end of the bath, with water running, the most convenient way to stop the water is for me to stretch out a foot and turn off the tap. Normally this is easily achieved. Imagine, though, how difficult it is to rotate the slick metal cylinders that control the flow and temperature with a wet foot.

So, enough with the watery tale – what’s this design lesson? It’s three-fold, around a theme.

Users will always surprise you

The designer of these taps possibly had an image of the bather turning on the bath with dry hands and going away to find rose petals, candles and a Cadbury’s Flake.

Assumption is dangerous and is best avoided:

1. Envisage the different use cases for your product
2. Never underestimate just what your user might consider the ‘best way’
3. Consider a user that isn’t yourself or someone your age, gender, ability etc.

However clear and sensible you may think your product is, get a second opinion. Put it in front of a selection of different users, see how they do things. Just try not to get your notebook wet.

Design should be flexible

If the taps on my bath were regular cross-head tap handles or single lever taps would they have been anymore difficult to operate by hand? Not likely – they’d probably be easier. Design taps with simple foot, face or elbow operation and you’ve kept all (most of) your users happy.

When your product appears on the shelf (virtual or physical) among all the others your prospective customer must be able to envisage how their particularly way of living can be enhanced with your product. By all means cater primarily for the 90% of your users by suggesting a clear way of doing things – just don’t make it impossible for the other 10% to engage.

Form must follow function

The old ones are the best. What does your product have to do? What problem is it solving? How can your product’s design and visual appeal enhance the solution your product provides. Keep it simple, don’t overdesign.

Take more baths.

Struggling for a tenth? Or a ninth… or a second? No problem!

Face it, your readers don’t have time for ten of anything. In fact if you’re honest with yourself only one of your ‘tips’ is actually any good, right? So cut the fat.

Some suggested titles:

• “One essential tip you need to…”
• “One step to a better…”
• “Top one reasons why you should…”
• “One person to follow on Twitter…”
• “One reason why…”
• “The One Point Plan to…”
• “One overused thing…”
• “One thing to stop doing now…”

Go forth, blogging super-stardom awaits. Thank me later.

(Thanks @lolmorrisson and @sporticia!)

1. For A Beautiful Web by Andy Clarke (@Malarkey)

Let’s start with a no-brainer. Andy Clarke’s blog is informative, well-written and entertaining too. It’s also lovely to look at. I’d particularly recommend the slides of Andy’s Walls Come Tumbling Down presentation and his write-ups of the New Internationalist design process.

2. Veerle’s Blog by Veerle Pieters (@vPieters)

Veerle’s Blog has appeared on countless ‘great blog design’ lists and those honours are richly deserved. But the real highlight is Veerle’s content, particular her Illustrator and Photoshop posts. For me, as a relative Illustrator amateur, it’s fascinating to see (and learn) how effects are achieved.

3. Hicksdesign by Jon Hicks (@Hicksdesign)

As I vaguely recall it was Jon’s blog that first alerted me to designing with web standards instead of tables and Dreamweaver – it was a long time ago. I’ve been a keen reader ever since. Jon blogs less then he once did and his subject matter is as likely to be cheese as it is design but it’s always worth a read.

4. Bokardo by Joshua Porter (@bokardo)

A new entry for me, Joshua Porter writes insightful posts on all aspects of interface and user experience design for the social web like microcopy, avatars and Gall’s Law. Consistently excellent stuff.

5. CR Blog by Creative Review (@creativeReview)

Boo to the corporate publishing entity amongst the talented individuals – I’ll let them off. The Creative Review blog is a great source of quality creative design work across all fields which will inspire and irritate in equal measure. They do interesting ‘questions of the week’ too.

So there’s my five. Any suggestions for a follow-up list?

Just recently I’ve been giving some thought to the reasons for working this way. Not everyone has a career that can easily be carried on outside as a freelance sideline – some workplaces will forbid it even if you could – but if you take them seriously you can soon turn a hobby (i.e. photography, craft etc.) into work. Whether you’re selling your main work skills on a freelance basis or pursuing a hobby as a job the reasons are likely the same.

Breaking down the reasons

“I enjoy it!”

— [CC] Photo from taniwha

Simple right? Particularly if it was a hobby to start with, the plain enjoyment of doing the work can be reason enough. In the early part of your freelance career this will be a factor but beware: once a hobby or leisure activity becomes the dreaded ‘W’ your attitude to it can change rapidly.

To be honest, even after six years of it I still enjoy my freelance work – I wouldn’t do it otherwise! If you can hold onto this then chances are you’ve found your career for life. Onwards.

“I could do with the money”

— [CC] Photo from hippie

It makes the world go around apparently so I’d best tackle it early doors. If you’re not one of Messrs Jobs, Gates or Abramovich you could probably do with a bit more cash. Using your skills to help clients to good effect in a few spare hours is a good honest way to make a few extra pounds and comes without the complications of large-scale bank fraud or counterfeiting.

For me this is definitely one of my reasons – primarily I enjoy the challenge of my work, to be financially recompensed to find smart solutions to interesting problems is a great bonus. Having said that, where money is concerned it’s sometimes hard to balance the value in pounds/dollars and the value of that time used differently. How much is an hour of leisure time with your family or significant other worth to you? Less than an hour you can invoice for?

“I’m building my portfolio”

— [CC] Photo from cless

When we’ve recruited for designers at my work the first thing we ask for is a link to a portfolio. We’ve interviewed many a designer who has worked hard in a team environment on a large collaborative website project – in this case it can be difficult for them to communicate to the interviewer where their skills were involved. A bit of freelance design on the side is a good way to stuff your portfolio with design work that is exclusively your own and it gives you lots to talk about the next time you’re that side of the interview table.

As I’m currently perfectly happy in my full-time job (hi boss!) I’m not needing to build my portfolio but that doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to see it extended with a new site once in a while.

“I like working with different look and feels / brands”

— [CC] Photo from mmmonica

Over the course of my freelance design career I’ve worked for, amongst others, a health charity, a rally driver, a chef, a photographer and an artist. Each of these clients wanted and required a different visual approach. For any designer it’s a healthy workout for the creative brain to apply your skills to the differing look and feel requirements of various clients. This is particularly true where your main job may be limited to the brand requirements of one company.

The value of variety extends to other jobs too – developing skills outside of the ones most regularly tested by your day job is the way to becoming a more rounded person allowing you to replace ‘cinema’ and ‘socialising’ in the ‘other interests’ section of your CV.

“I’m keeping up with newer/other technologies/techniques”

— [CC] Photo from balakov

My full-time work is constantly iterating the functionality and design of a large website built on .net 3.0. When I build a website for a client I’ll build it in PHP5 and MySQL along with packages such as WordPress and Drupal. Lost yet? The terms don’t really matter – what’s important is that familiarity with two very different environments is helpful and valuable for your future career! When new techniques arrive it’s good to have a variety of projects to try things out on.

“I’m aiming to do [x] and [y] by [year]“

— [CC] Photo from kaptainkobold

Numerous blog posts and books I’ve read recently (hello Five Simple Steps) have emphasised the need to kick off any part-time work career with an attainable target in mind.

It could be you’re cutting your teeth on freelance projects so you can break into doing your hobby full-time, maybe you’re building your skillset to earn a promotion or maybe you’re building your client base to set out on your own one day soon. Most of those writers will agree that the situation is only sustainable for a limited time (from six months to two years!) so you may as well be honest with yourself on this one!

This pursuit of “[x] in time for [y]” is more or less where I came in – I’ve never been particularly clear on my long-term aim and I’ve done nearly six years. Having that clear aim in mind can help you make decisions on which clients to proceed with and which ones to pass up. It can also help you decide whether to continue taking on freelance work at all.

So why do I do it?

For me, the crucial part of my freelance work is the enjoyment I get from the challenge of designing for different clients – this is what drives me to continue. My ambition to improve my skills in my chosen field means I’ll invariably choose the projects that grab my attention as an opportunity to hone skills I don’t use so extensively in my main work. With the world economy the way it is, the chance to earn a small crust doing that is a positive factor

Thoughts?

So how about you? What benefits can you see to working this way? What’s your long-term aim? Why do you / don’t you freelance on the side? Would you if you could?