Another reason I’ve drastically reduced my postings is that I haven’t been motivated to write about anything that already doesn’t have millions of articles/opinions on the Internets. Sure, I like having my opinion heard, but if I’m not passionate enough about it, I find it hard to get motivated to spend a good deal of time writing up an article. I found I became what I feared most – just another design blog. I mean there’s nothing wrong with design blogs, and there are several I still check out, but there’s just so many now. To do it right requires more time than I have available at the moment.

So, for now, I am signing off, but you can always catch me on Twitter @keysthatclick which I tweet on from time to time. This isn’t the utter end of Keys That Click, and I’m sure I’ll revisit the site and continue on posting in the future. But for now… a hiatus.

Time flies when Apple is working on new products. Today at 1PM EST/10AM PST, El Jobso will be delivering a keynote at WWDC in San Francisco. If you like following along as the details unfold, here are a couple of my favourite live blogs to follow:

Gizmodo

Engadget

Today Adobe announced the upcoming release of the Digital Publishing Platform that is built upon Creative Suite 5. This technology, though not available publicly as of yet, was used by WIRED to publish their first iPad edition of their magazine. Having seen the WIRED digital magazine on my iPad, I’m excited to see what this Digital Publishing Platform can do. In the FAQs Adobe has posted, they mention that InDesign CS5 was a core element in the creation of the WIRED Reader. I love creating print collateral with InDesign and look forward to a chance of creating interactive materials in it. I’m hoping that the publishing platform will allow me to provide new services to clients where we can turn what use to be ‘plain-Jane’ PDFs into more interactive pieces that really engage the reader.

And in case you’re wondering, this platform appears to be fully compliant with the Apple Developers License Agreement, so it shouldn’t go the way of Flash. It also takes advantage of HTML5 technologies – showing that they are not being too stubborn in their quest for Flash acceptance. The plan is also to make this support multiple platforms, so the iPad isn’t the only tablet/device out there that will take advantage of this.

I’m happy to see Adobe is embracing new technologies like the iPad even if Flash is not supported. What the WIRED digital magazine shows is that Adobe is still tops in producing creative materials, static or interactive. Welcome back to the show, Adobe! [Adobe via Gizmodo]

It’s interesting to read about Gizmodo’s ousting of the Apple employee who lost the prototype as being simply being a human interest story (which he defends in the comments of the article as well). I still think it was a rather douchy thing to do.

The interview doesn’t focus too much on the specifics of the iPhone 4G story given it is currently under legal investigation. It makes for a good read though. NY Times

This post was originally published on the How Did it Start blog as guest post. Please check out their blog!

We asked Carlos Perez, owner of Pérez Design + Communications Inc., how he got his start.

How Did It Start?

I had been doing design work on-the-side since 2001, but I never took it too seriously. My commitment lay with my full-time job and employer, while the business added a little (and I mean a little) extra pocket change. In 2005 I had opened up a bank account, registered a business name (Pérez Marketing Communications) but I didn’t really know what I ever wanted to do with it in the long term. In fact by the fall of 2007, I was ready to call it quits on my side business as it really wasn’t generating much business, nor was I particularly seeking it. Paying $12 a month on a business bank account I barely used really started to feel like an unnecessary expense.

Things turned around in October of 2007 inside the Wells Fargo Theatre in the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO. I was one amongst hundreds in attendance of the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) Design Conference. My employer at the time allowed us to visit one such conference a year, and it was my first and consequently last that I would take advantage of. I was listening to some pretty incredible people speak about the influence of design on society. But oddly enough, it wasn’t the big speeches with moving words that really got me. It was the people I was sitting with in the audience. A substantial amount of people had a glow of blue on their faces cast by their MacBook laptops as they worked on a variety of projects. I had left my IBM ThinkPad at the hotel… it would have been embarrassing to reveal it in that crowd. I didn’t know if it was true or not, but in my mind, I was sitting amongst self-employed folks working on stuff that they really loved. I saw people working on brochures, invitations, websites, logos and more. At the time, I had quite a cool job as an Industrial Designer in a high-tech company, but oddly, after seeing these other designers work on such a variety of projects, I began to feel jealous.

I wanted to be able to work on a variety of projects and help businesses succeed by helping them develop creative ways to communicate with their audiences. Plus, I wanted to push myself further by moving out of my proverbial comfort zone and take on new risks. Coming home from the conference I knew I had to invest more time and energy in my side business rather than put a stop to it. I renamed my business to Pérez Design + Communications and launched a new website in November of 2007 to see if it would spark new business. Less than 2 weeks later, it did. I landed my first major client that would wind up providing me with the confidence to seriously consider leaving my full-time job. They found me through Google and called me after visiting my recently revamped website.

Between my full-time job and my side jobs I was getting very busy. It wasn’t sustainable and I knew it. A choice had to be made… take a sizeable risk, but fulfill my dreams of being self-employed, or take the safe route and stay with my employer. After much discussion with my wife, planning, budgeting and consideration I left my full-time job in May of 2008. Since then I haven’t looked back and have been growing my client base and engaging projects that continue to push my limits and capabilities.

Why Is Your Company Successful?

There certainly isn’t a magic formula but here are some of the things that have helped me on my path to business success.

Hard work This is the easy one, keep at it and you will succeed. Do your homework and persist to do the best job you can. If you slack off, don’t expect results!

Desire To Learn I ultimately want to continue learning and pushing myself to be a better business owner, a better designer and a better person. If you lack the drive to want to push yourself further, you probably won’t succeed in launching and maintaing your business. That, or you will lose interest in it and not put the amount of effort that is needed to make it successful.

Support Support is essential, and you can’t expect to do it all yourself. I’ve had tremendous help from my wife, family and friends. It also means seeking professional help for projects that our outside of your capabilities, but also on day-to-day activities like accounting.

Luck And yes, I’ve gotten lucky, but I find luck never happens unless you’ve put in some hard work first.

A Moment You’ll Always Remember?

I can recall listening to many speakers at the AIGA Conference explain their career path, and most of them glazed over the details when they said things like “… in 1995 I started my own business…” or “ …in 2003 I left my full-time job…”. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why or how they could say it so non-chalantly when the prospect of doing something like that had seemed so frightening to me. But I now catch myself doing the same thing, and I the only reason I can give for why it comes so naturally, is that I never regretted the decision, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

About the Author

Carlos Pérez is the Creative Director/Owner of Pérez Design + Communications Inc. providing creative services (print, web, branding, photography) for business. He is also the Creator and Contributor of Keys That Click, a blog about minding your own (design) business and other observations. You can follow him on Twitter @keysthatclick

File this one under “things I wanted to do, but never got around to, and then someone beat me to it”. Free The Foxes is a lightweight script that detects the browser that your web visitors are using and gives them a popup if they are using a sub-standard browser. I’ve loaded the script onto the Keys That Click site, so users running IE6 and IE7 will be prompted with a window like the one above telling them that they should upgrade their browser for the best user experience. Really IE7 works fine on this site, but trying to get everyone to upgrade, even if it’s just to IE8, should be every web designer’s mission!

Installation takes seconds, and customization options include being able to choose which browsers will trigger the popup window. It would be nice to see a less intrusive approach such as a bar at the top of the window that slides down when clicked. I do wish the name was a little less FireFox oriented, but it’s not that big of a deal. Go check it out! [Free The Foxes via Web Resources Depot]

When I picked up a new Moleskine notebook last week, I discovered a problem that I didn’t encounter with other notebooks I used in the past – I had no where to put my pen! Previously I had always used notebooks with spiral coils which would conveniently house my pen when not in use. Given the fact that the clip on my pen is oddly shaped, I couldn’t just clip it on the front cover, well not without it creating a massive bump and causing my self-diagnosed OCD to kick and drive me nuts, that is.

I hunted online for some solutions which included using leather straps, metal clips or even duct tape. Then I came across Kate Lightfoot’s blog, ScarlettCat,  where she has a quick how-to on creating a simple pen holding solution for your Moleskine. Her solution includes using a hammer, a nail, a button and a needle and string. As you can see in the photo below, the button is used to hold the elastic strap in place. It still keeps your Moleskine shut, but also gives you a place to put your pen!

With a little determination, but more importantly, a lot of help from my wife (I can’t be trusted with a needle and string), I put my brand new Moleskine under the knife nail. It was a surprisingly quick and easy exercise, even with having to restring the button after my first attempt at it, which left the string bound too tightly and didn’t leave enough room for the Moleskine’s elastic strap to fit underneath! That’s when my wife took over and did it the right way. In fact, I think it took longer for me to decide on what button I was going to use!

When it comes to being an active participant, I’m relatively new to this design-related blogosphere. I’m not an expert blogger. I don’t make any money off of it. So, perhaps what I’m going to say won’t be popular amongst others out there who have been doing this for a much longer time, are successful at it, and even make money off of it. But heck, it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to.

Here it goes. I hate posts titled with a number of reasons, tips, suggestions, anything that I need to, nay, MUST, know. For example: “198 Reasons to use HTML5″, or “83 Inspirational Photographs to Get You Thinking Creatively” or even “6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Name An Article With Titles Like ’6 Reasons…’”. Yes, I made those up (well except for the last one, that’s real), but that style of title/article seems to be very common on many design blogs. These titles continuously fill my Twitter feed and frankly, I just ignore them now. And that’s a shame – just because the title is like that, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any good information in the article itself.

Is it perhaps time to let this trend die and go back to focusing on letting the content speak for itself? In a stroke of complete hypocrisy, here are my 6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Name An Article With Titles Like ’6 Reasons…’

1. It’s Overwhelming. Sure I was joking with numbers of 198 this, or 83 that… but I’m not far off from what actually goes on out there. More isn’t always better. Really, it rarely is.
2. It Provides Useless Information. Does posting the number of steps, tricks, reasons, etc. really make the title more compelling? For example, take this: “23 CSS Tricks You Should Be Using” vs. “CSS Tricks You Should Be Using”. Does adding the number truly add value to the article and entice people to click to read on? I honestly don’t think it does.
3. It’s Less Personal. Presenting your title with a number in it  seems rushed and less personal. Take the example in Reason 2. The title without a number seems a little more calm and personal. You’re presenting some useful information to the reader. Throw a number in and all of sudden you’re just rushing to get the reader some information and moving on to the next topic.
4. It Becomes Noise. There seems to be so many articles titled like this now, it’s so easy to get lost in all the noise. As I mentioned, my Twitter feed is full of these now. Numbers no longer impress me.
5. Quality over Quantity. I’m not saying that all the articles that have titles like these don’t have valuable information to share, but the title can really turn people off, in my experience at least. How about reducing the number of items in your post and choose the really good ones, rather than throwing a whack load of options at the reader.
6. I Just Wanted to Have Six Reasons. Useless point? Exactly.

Please, don’t interpret this as a dig to the many talented and well intentioned bloggers out there that provide us with endless streams of suggestions, tips, and general know-how. Like I said, just because the article title isn’t my favourite, it doesn’t mean that the content isn’t good. Maybe it’s just a matter of presenting it differently so that it feels like you are trying to have a dialog with your readers, rather than just naming off a list of items and moving on your way. Alas, my readership is low, so I’m sure this won’t make much of a difference out there, but at least for my part, I promise not to participate in titling my articles in this manner. Well, starting after this one at least.

I just finished reading the Wall Street Journal article entitled, More Freelancers Fight to Be Paid, and would have to agree that for self-employed individuals collecting on your accounts receivable can be a daunting task. It can be like asking Howie Mandel to “open the case” and hoping for the best. Having to play the role of the Accounts Receivable agent is perhaps one of the reasons that keep people away from running their own business, or perhaps something people who jump in too soon fail to realize they have to do. It can be tough, and it can be ugly. But if you play your cards right and follow your gut (assuming your gut leads you in the right direction on most occasions), you can minimize those pains.

No one wants to work for free, which is essentially what you are doing when you are unable to collect on your invoices. Not only have you put in the time doing the work, but you then need to put in the time to collect on your receivables. I personally think one of the major reasons that land freelancers in hot water is accepting everyone and anyone as a client. The temptation of the potential work and income can be so great that you might wind up turning a blind eye to some red flags that should be signalling you to turn away. Sometimes it takes being burned a few times to be more picky in choosing your clients.

Trust is a Two Way Street
I’ve turned down work because things just didn’t feel right with the potential client in initial meetings. In one scenario, the client seemed very skeptical of me, asking me how they knew I wouldn’t just use a prepackaged web template when designing their site, and that I was actually doing the work myself vs outsourcing it for cheap labour abroad. If someone isn’t willing to trust you and respect you as a professional, don’t give them the pleasure of blindly trusting them. The potential income can be hard to turn away, but imagine doing the work and not getting anything for it. Or even just doing the work and having to put up with a character that treats you poorly. That’s time you could have been spending on finding other work with reputable clients. Of course, it’s not always so black and white. Skeptical potential clients aren’t always bad clients. They themselves may have been burned in the past by freelancers. Ask them about it. If they are making valid points, there might be hope for you still. If, however, they’re claiming that the designer was in the wrong, but you don’t necessarily agree with their arguments, tread lightly.

Ask for Credit References
Asking for credit references is quite common and any company that is worth doing business with will gladly provide you with them. If they start balking at this stage, perhaps heading for the door will save you a lot of work and unpaid time. Sure, they will always refer you to their best and happiest creditors, but the fact that they have happy creditors at all could be a good sign.

Can’t I Just Request A Down Payment?
Yes, you can. But it won’t always work. Many commenters to the WSJ article suggest that requesting down payments on projects is the way to alleviate these issues. However, some companies have policies that won’t allow that, but it isn’t necessarily a sign that you need to turn and run. Red tape can be so thick, especially in large companies, that multiple payments can very time consuming and difficult. Sometimes, clients may simply be hesitant because of their own past experiences with being burned by a freelancer. Do what you can to alleviate those concerns. Just imagine you were looking to outsource some of your work and the scrutiny you would employ in choosing someone. If, however, they are down right rude about not wanting to pay you a deposit, that’s just poor business sense, and you might be better off skipping the project and the client altogether. If you are going to ask for a down payment, you need to put some work in before you invoice for your first cheque to show the client you are serious about the project. Even it if it’s just an initial proposal on how you intend to approach the project, a gesture like that can put the client at ease and let them know you will be following through on your end of the deal.

Asking for Your Money
I’ve luckily only had to wear the pesky and persistent Accounts Receivable hat on a handful of occasions. Generally, it was for clients I knew would pay (from having a history of payments that were on time, and just being generally trustworthy people), but I had to remind them about outstanding invoices that had gone past due. It happens, people get busy. Heck, I have even forget to follow-up on invoices because I was too busy to realize they were overdue. Your first attempt at collection should stay civil, but direct. Crying foul too often and too loudly can backfire in the longterm. Being confrontational right off the bat can anger your client and possibly delay your payment further. Sometimes it can just be an honest mistake. If, however, you are getting the run-around and lame excuses, you might need to start stepping up your game. What I find can help is talking to the Accounts Payable person/department (if they have one of course). The person you are dealing with on the project on a day-to-day basis may not know the accounts payable process well enough, so cutting to the chase can get you some answers. Don’t do it behind their back though – it won’t earn you any gold stars.

Bad-Debt
If you’ve exhausted your options and know you won’t be collecting on your invoice, check with your accountant to see if you can write the amount off as a bad debt expense. You should at least not get taxed on something you never wound up collecting on!

Unfortunately, being in business for yourself means that you will run into deadbeat clients from time to time, and lose your shirt in some instances. Fortunately, being the sole decision-maker let’s you make the final call on accepting a client or project. Be smart about your choices. You don’t have to say yes to everything that comes your way. When you find clients that pay, hold on to them, and make sure you let them know you appreciate their business.