Graphic Designer - Grace Oris

Doing It Different

Grace Oris — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 01:20:41 +0000

Design has its own dos and don’ts but there are always fresh ways to do things. We probably just haven’t tried it yet.

Here’s a video of some awesome guitar-playing. It’s definitely not how one learns to play a guitar and it’s not even “correct”. If you started learning to play the guitar this way, bizarre fingering and all (more like playing the piano), someone passing by would say “that’s not how to do it, let me show you” and he proceeds to teach you the “right” way. But watch and listen to the beauty of “wrong” playing.

It’s not that you shouldn’t learn and do things the carefully correct way. But lately, have you tried doing things a little out of the ordinary? How about using this font with that? mixing this color with that? applying this texture on that?

What you end up with could be the very thing that will make your work stand out.This post is published on Graphic Designer – Grace Oris Join the discussion.

Impressive 3D Sketches

Grace Oris — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:54 +0000

Ever seen the like? Nagai Hideyuki is a Japanese artist with some serious talent. See for yourself:

Here’s a video of how he does it:

More of his work here.This post is published on Graphic Designer – Grace Oris Join the discussion.

The Cheapest Designer

Grace Oris — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:30:34 +0000

You can be the cheapest logo designer on the internet and attract a lot of clients with this strategy. Of course it can work, at least up to a certain point. Because tomorrow, someone else will be cheaper. What would you do then, charge less?

A smarter way to go about it would be to charge what you’re worth and be “more” to your clients. More preferable to the next designer because you listen, you understand, you put yourself in their shoes, your designs are your best work. Your clients are comfortable working with you and enjoy the design process.

And they will come back to you with another project. They will also tell their friends about you. Not because of something they can measure like a dollar amount but for something intangible but has a greater impact.This post is published on Graphic Designer – Grace Oris Join the discussion.

When they don’t say “Thank You!”

Grace Oris — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:20:48 +0000

You wrapped up his project months ago. He emails you now, asking what were those CMYK values again? He needs it ASAP. You know you sent all that information at the close of the project. But, being the nice guy that you are, you stop what you’re doing and laboriously dig up project files and those CMYK values from your hard drive and send it along.

You don’t hear from him again. No thanks, just silence.

An aspiring designer contacts you and asks for advice about this and that. You gladly craft a long and very thoughtful response because you so want to help her avoid your mistakes and be successful.

You don’t hear from her again. No thanks, another silence.

Passing the salt gets an easy “thank you” and it only takes two seconds of your time. You wonder, almost angrily, why you don’t even get a quick thank you email for going out of your way and spending (or was it wasting?) a lot of time just to help. You start feeling bitter. More of this and you resolve not to help anymore.

Don’t.

Be helpful whether you are met with gratitude or not.

“The deed is everything, the glory naught.”

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Handwritten

Grace Oris — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:42:56 +0000

“If we strip away the monitors, and the printing presses, and the typefaces … how would William Caslon have written on a post-it note?” asks Cameron Adams, the Man in Blue. I came across his inspiring article written a few years back where he collected the handwriting of some prominent type designers. Here’s one of them, by no less than Erik Spiekermann:

Read the entire post here. It’s always refreshing to have a glimpse of the person behind a design.

On a side note, when was the last time you wrote a paragraph by hand?

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Choose Clients Wisely

Grace Oris — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:22:19 +0000

I’m halfway through David Airey’s latest book, Work for Money, Design for Love and learning a lot. Chapter 14 is on choosing clients where he says,

“We have only so many hours we can devote to our profession, and working with the wrong people means you don’t have time for more enjoyable and potentially more profitable jobs.”

There’s this and more. The book is full of practical advice and there’s a lot to learn from the experiences of other designers. If you’re serious about succeeding in the design business, I suggest you buy the book.This post is published on Graphic Designer – Grace Oris Join the discussion.

Success in the creative fields

Grace Oris — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 02:42:59 +0000

I’m (re)learning to draw starting with this book by Andrew Loomis. Something to think about, not just in drawing but in any of our creative pursuits:

“Success in the creative fields is always accompanied by distinctiveness, something that singles one out as an individual and sets him apart from the crowd. One artist can be as successful as another in his use of basic knowledge, without repeating another artist’s performance. If there is any way that one man in the craft can really help another, it is by increasing his knowledge of the craft itself, not in the particular qualities of the man’s own work.”

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What’s your focus?

Grace Oris — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 03:52:12 +0000

What you think you need to do today:

find/pitch new clients
update your portfolio
create your own website
start a blog
create designs to sell for passive income
start a personal project
learn a new skill
write/record a tutorial

…

What you really need to do:

pick one and focus on it for a day, a week, a month or how ever long it takes.

Finish that then focus on the next. This doesn’t mean neglecting the rest, just putting them in the background and knowing that your focus at the moment is on that one thing. You’ll get more done, feel more accomplished and your creativity level stays high.

Leave the multi-tasking to moms!

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How to have control over design revisions

Grace Oris — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:00:51 +0000

One of the most annoying situations for a designer is when a client asks for revision after revision. A small change is okay, but when followed by a series of changes, it can drain your energy, block your creativity or rouse mean thoughts towards your client.

Try these:

1. Involve your client from the start

This is the most important. Get the client into the loop early on. Make sure you understand what he/she needs and wants in the design. Discuss ideas first and agree on the basics. If you do a good job at this even before showing a single design, you’ll greatly reduce the revisions later on.

2. State your policy on revisions

You may say something like this in your initial emails or in the contract: minor changes are expected and acceptable and major (or lots of minor) changes will mean additional charges. Letting the client know upfront what to expect will discourage that impulse to play designer (“can you make that bigger? “…put that a little higher”, “how about rainbow colors?”…)

3. Do your best work even if it’s the first draft

I’m not referring to those cases where showing sketches or wireframes are appropriate. This is after you’ve agreed on the best concepts and are now preparing the initial drafts. It may only be drafts but always think of them as the final artwork, that is, give it your best already. Sometimes I get the feeling that something isn’t quite right and yet I ignore it. Usually, it’s what the client calls out to be fixed. Don’t ignore that feeling. It’s your design “conscience” speaking.

Always have a reason behind every design element (why those colors, what’s the line for, why is it positioned that way, etc.). If your reasoning is sound, you can stand by your work when the client wants something changed and you disagree. The likelihood of your client agreeing with you increases and you might not have to change a thing.

4. Advise the client to thoroughly study the draft and list all changes needed

The tedium of: change this one thing – save – attach to email – send email – await response – change this other thing – save and so on… can irritate even the most patient designer. Ask the client to note all comments and changes and even think on it for a day or two before sending you one email or document containing all changes.

What are your thoughts on revisions and how do you handle them? I’d love to hear it.

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Fun with logos

Grace Oris — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 01:00:56 +0000

While cleaning up my files, I found this logo I made a few years back (no, I wasn’t pregnant then). I tweaked it a bit and changed the name from “preggy”.

I’m not keen on selling logos with made-up names but it’s fun to create a few in between projects. Better yet, it helps keep the creativity going.

I just put this up on logopond where I hope to post my fun projects after neglecting my profile on that site for so long.

Do you make logos for fun?

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