A healthy relationship is often about realistic expectations. What do you expect from a graphic designer?
Hiring a designer, or anyone to join your business, can be a challenge. Different people work with different workflows, have different personalities and different viewpoints. Different people communicate at different levels in different ways. I can’t count the number of emails that have contained the phrase “I’m sorry, I thought you meant…” or “I was under the impression…”. Somewhere somebody made an assumption and something got missed.
Because of these, and other differences I thought it would be a good idea to ask an open question to anyone who has considered hiring or has hired a designer, whether for short term projects or as part of an ongoing marketing plan. Rather than looking at things from a graphic designer’s point of view, it would be good to hear things from the other side of the fence.
So what do you expect? Do you prefer designers to provide all the ideas, or do you prefer to be part of the process? What has worked? What has gone wrong? What kinds of things would you like to see graphic designers doing that perhaps they aren’t? How have things changed over the past few years? If you’re a designer, tell me some of the things that you’ve been asked to do that you thought were not part of your job description but helped the project move along.
Tell me your stories … spill the beans!
Design, brands and beautiful scenery.
My family and I just just returned from a trip to the Okanagan Valley and Sunshine Coast. The Okanagan is situated in southern British Columbia and boasts one of Canada’s warmest climates. Combined with a higher humidity, it also happens to be one of the best places to grow vineyards. If you’ve spent any time (five minutes would do) in a liquor store you will notice that many companies seem to take particular pride in the design of their bottle labels. But, as I found out on our mini-winery tour, there is more to a brand than a label.
Also Ran.
The first winery we visited was Mission Hill. A large, well established name, with healthy prices to match, the grounds of the winery are very impressive. After negotiating a cramped and poorly laid out parking lot, we walked past the vineyard (proudly signposted to ward off ‘Unaccompanied’ guests) and through a very large stone archway. The large courtyard features a contemporary styled bell tower and exquisite architecture. Beautiful, yes. Welcoming, no. While other vineyards and wineries were more than accomodating to their guests, we were never once welcomed by anyone. We may have got lost in the sizeable crowd of tourists on the grounds, but we still evaded any attention while spending time in the extensive wine shop and other retail areas. Apparently, we weren’t dressed well enough to expect the attention. Big mistake. We love wine and we buy wine. Lots!
Best Brand Award.
The Dirty Laundry Winery in Summerland ran away with the best branding award. Named after a ‘service’ started by a Chinese immigrant who wished to expand his laundry business, the winery applied the slightly risqué story to everything from labels to wine names. The logo features surreptitious shapes that resemble figures emanating as steam from an iron, and one bottle (‘Hush’, a rosé) features quotes from the likes of Mae West. Say no more! The store even sells rather, erm, brief garments. A free wine tasting, complete with story line to take you from one wine to the next, and a beautiful patio on which to enjoy your by-the-glass or bottled purchases make the entire winery more of an experience, rather than just a place to buy wine. Rather than being a stuffy brand that wants to charge high prices to pay for a ridiculously over-archeticted fake monastery, Dirty Laundry is a fun winery, with style and taste. Beautiful labels, a fascinating history and warm welcome make this brand a winner.
Best Welcome Award.
Just outside Salmon Arm BC is Larch Hills, Canada’s northern-most winery. Due to the lack of humidity in the region, Larch Hills has produced a rather unique range of wines. They have become particularly proud and known for their whites, which have also won numerous awards. But the wine is only part of the story. Hazel and Jack run the entire operation with only one hired hand. Three people. One winery. That’s dedication, hard work and determination – and it shows. The wines are delicious, but the family-run atmosphere and warm welcome add to the pleasurable experience. Of course the wine has to be good, but a snooty, exclusive brand just puts people off.
I know which wines I’m going to be buying or ordering when I have the chance. It’s not just because of the taste. Buying from a winery is an experience, and the brand enforces or detracts from that experience. Whenever I taste a Dirty Laundry wine, or sip one of Larch Hills’ selections, I will remember the experience I had on holiday. And that is how a brand can influence buyers, long after the purchase.
In case you were wondering, my favourite wines were Dirty Laundry’s Unoaked Chardonnay and Bordello, and Larch Hills’ Pinot Gris and Siegerrebe.
*Photo Credits:© Nick Burman, 2010
Anyone who owns a laptop will tell you that the portability is a beautiful thing. You work at home, on the bus, at Starbucks, in bed, in the bathroom… it’s great. But if anything should happen to your beloved ‘book, you suddenly feel isolated. Chained. Like ‘those’ people. You know, the Laptopless People.
Recently I joined the sorry crowd that is sans-laptop. My MacBook Pro suddenly suffered from failed logic board and portability was no longer in my life, except for my iPhone.
So, I set out to see exactly how much I could do with my iPhone. One of the problems as a graphic designer going from a fully functioning laptop for portability to depending on an iPhone is the shortage of apps. That is, real apps. Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Transmit, Illustrator… Basically, everything design related.
But I found a selection of apps that have enabled me to login, download and create webpages, create photographs and upload them to the website (after editing, resizing and cropping) and make changes to any existing website. I now had a real, and practical way to be a designer on the road. Print design is another story, but I’m not sure I would want a pre-press app on a hand held screen.
As an experiment, to see just how much I could live without a laptop, I created a website using nothing but my iPhone. You can see it here: Built on iPhone.
Here is a list of apps that I’m using for web design.
Not only does this app login to a webserver and create folders and files like a desktop FTP client, it also includes a text editor. Create a file, type in the HTML and CSS, save to the server and you have a webpage.
Photos on ‘Built on iPhone’ were taken on the iPhone, but I had trouble uploading with FTP On the Go. FTP Pic Up does one thing – it uploads pictures to a preset FTP server. But it does it well, and easily.
Yes, there’s a portable version of Photoshop. Of course, it’s not a patch on the real thing, but it’s from Adobe and it does do some simple editing and colour correction.
The one thing Photoshop for iPhone doesn’t do, however, is resize. Odd. So I had to find another app for that, which is what Simple Resize does. This app does just one job, but it’s an essential one when it comes to creating your own websites on the go. By the way, the website is entirely in Japanese – if you find it in the App Store, that’s all you need to know. It resizes pictures. There is no manual!
Here are some apps that I use for other business duties:
Paired with the desktop version (I actually replaced the MacBook Pro with an iMac, incase you were wondering) Things is a very powerful project management program. I can keep on top of clients projects and to do lists and sync individual tasks with iCal. I simply couldn’t work without it.
For invoicing, Billings is another app that has a desktop version. From creating projects, adding billable items (both timed and fixed price) and emailing invoices, most tasks possible with the full version are available with the app, except for things like making custom invoice templates. Easy to use, highly flexible and good looking too.
Along with the desktop version, Bento helps me keep stuff organized. It’s a database program that doesn’t feel like a database. I can now sort and edit project lists, lists of social media messages, project ideas and contact lists.
Address Book
Everyone needs an address book. But one of the most useful aspects of Address Book is the ability to just click on an address and get instant directions in the Maps app. I might never get lost again!
Mail
Using Mail and IMAP settings, I can see which emails have already been opened by the desktop version. And of course, being able to email on the go is essential.
Safari
Well, I’m not going to get far without a browser, am I? I’ve tried a few other browsers but always come back to the default Apple one. It just works. What else do you need? Portably, it’s a great way to check on the status of clients’ websites.
Instead of carrying documents locally on the iPhone (and forget to transfer the ones I really need), keeping files on iDisk – part of MobileMe allows me to look up essential files quickly.
Word processing, nice and simple. But along with iDisk, I can upload Word documents, edit them on iPhone and save again, instantly syncing with my iMac.
The app I’m using right now! if I”m going ot keep up with business away from the office, I’m going to have to keep blogging. Open the app, select the blog, select a post and type away.
My most useful tweets are stored in Bento (usually the ones with links to my blog posts and website landing pages) so all i have to do is copy/paste into Twitter. Twitter is essential for telling about new products, new website launches and portfolio updates. it’s also a great community for testing sites, second opinions, moral support and networking.
The effects of updates and changes to a site can be easily tracked with Google Analytics. The app also tracks keywords, visitor details and other metrics. The number of charts and figures is quite dazzling, but once you know which ones to keep track of, GA can be a vital tool.
Accept invoice payments, send money requests, transfer money to a bank account – even transfer money to another iPhone by bumping. No more messy, awkward checks or drives to the bank.
These apps (along with the phone and text messaging) help me run business while on the road, at the coffee shop or just away from home for whatever reason. Obviously there are a lot of tasks missing – my iPhone is not a laptop – but on the upside, I get to actually spend time with my family while on holiday!
How about you? Which apps have you found to be essential in using your iPhone for business?
