In this quick tutorial, I’ll show you how to convert a custom font for web use in CSS. We’ll be using Font Squirrels @font-face Generator. These fonts work well with most all modern browsers that I’ve tested. You may run into a few older browsers that reject them, but you can set those to a fall back system font type (e.g. Arial or Times New Roman).

You will be generating the following font face formats: 

• TTF - Raw TrueType file, designed to look good on-screen.
• EOT Lite - EOTs are only supported by Internet Explorer. This EOT type is uncompressed and is the same filesize as a TTF.
• EOT Compressed - EOT compressed with LZ compression. File sizes are often smaller than WOFF. Special thanks to Richard Fink and Philip Taylor for creating the excellent EOTFast app.
• WOFF - Cross-browser, web-only font format that uses gzip compression. IE9+, FF3.6+, Chrome 5+
• SVG - This is an XML format required by iOS devices before version 4.2.
• SVGZ - This is gzipped version of SVG.

Step 1 – Choosing Your Font Face

When choosing a font for web you’ll want to pick one that is legally eligible for web embedding. If the generator determines its illegal to convert then it will get rejected. You can also choose from several prepackaged @font-face kits on the site to save you the trouble.

Step 2 – Uploading Your Font For Conversion

The Font Squirrel Generator allows for multiple font uploads and will stack them prior to conversion. Simply click the Add Fonts button and select your font file. Nearly every font format will be accepted for conversion.

For this demonstration, I’ll be uploading Airplanes in the Night Sky Regular, downloaded from daFont.com. I’m currently installing the font on a clients bakery website to give it more of a whimsical design.

Step 3 – Download Your Font Kit And Extract Necessary Files

Check the the agreement and click Download Your Kit. If there are any reported legality issues with your font face this won’t work. The file should download as a ZIP file directly to your desktop or default download folder.

Once you’ve download the font ZIP file go ahead and extract it to its own folder. You can do this by right clicking the font ZIP and selecting Extract All.. (Windows Vista)

The font folder should show up next to your font ZIP file. Open the folder, and it should look similar to the screenshot below.

Step 4 – Utilizing The Font Files And CSS Code

Utilizing the font code is straight forward and easy to understand if you are familiar with CSS. You will not need some of the files in the folder because they are part of the downloaded sample. Click the HTML document. When it’s open in a browser it shows a working sample version of the embedded font.

To transfer the font to your own project, copy all of the font type files to your web site (EOT, SVG, TTF, WOFF, etc..). Place them wherever you would like, but keep in mind you will need to know the absolute or relative address to them.

Open stylesheet.css from the font download. Copy the @font-face styles over to your own web project’s CSS file. Below is a screenshot of my @font-face copied into my project stylesheet. You can see how I styled my headlines (h1,h2,h3) directly below the @font-face CSS

Thank you for reading. Enjoy using your new custom web fonts!

This question will be the first of a new section for design questions and answers. Occasionally, I get emails from designers who are not sure how to go about things. I don’t always have the best answers, and many designers do business differently. Please fee free to leave comments or email me your answers.

Reader Question:

Hello Blake,

I just read your article and it was very informative! I am a graphic designer, and I just decided to start working on my own. My name is Daniela. I am very nervous and was wondering if you wouldn’t mind to just give me some tips, I would really appreciate it. Well, the biggest thing is that I am not sure what is the best way to look for clients. Should I just walk from business to business giving my business cards or cold calling? Or is there better way to do this? Also, if you have any other suggestions what should I do or not do please let me know as well. It seems that you have many years of experience in this field and I would love to get some feed back from someone like you.

Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to your feedback.

Response:

Hi Daniela,

For off, thanks for reading my blog! Finding freelance work isn’t always easy, and it’s taken quite a lot of snowballing for me to keep things going.

I started out in high school dabbling on Rentacoder.com, which is now vWorker. I built up my rankings over years and learned how to win bids on there. Most of it is conveying that you know what you are talking about in order to convince the client…and a couple 10 ratings on your record. I’ve always used vWorker as a safety net for finding work. Perhaps look into a couple bidding sites to scrap out some extra income while you try more traditional methods. vWorker is commission based so its free and a good option. There’s also guru and elance which I’ve not tried.

Cold calling is a tactic I’ve never used. I know some people do this and try to set up meetings to inform businesses about ways to increase sales.  It may or may not work. It seems like you would need some strong influence to convince a business to respond. I’d imagine something like 5% success rate.

Roughly, 50% of my work is contracted through vWorker and 25% of those clients tend to return for more work after gaining trust. The second time around we often contract outside of the bidding site to save on fees. Another 25% of my clients are from word of mouth. This is where business cards come in handy. Also, having a blog/portfolio website showcasing your work is a strong indicator that you are professional and serious. You are more likely to attract an entrepreneur if you have a site like danieladesign.com, rather than a Yahoo subdomain or a Coroflot address. I’d recommend having your portfolio on sites like Coroflot or Behance, but your main site is where you nail sales. Be enthusiastic and share your work on social networking sites…add the link to your Linkedin and Facebook profile. Interact on Linkedin groups You would be surprised at the work you can bring in from your own network of friends.

Most of the work is staying committed and enthusiastic. The more work you do for people the more it spreads. I wish you the best of luck and let me know if you need any assistance. Thanks!

Answers From Linkedin Discussions Below

Logo Designers Collective

Melissa Stewart – Hello,
A good way is enter some competitions. 99Designs is a good website. Some creatives would disagree but they’re great for being versatile, great for building your portfolio and if you do win a competition, it’s more than likely to give you the chance to build a relationship with the client resulting in more work.
Take full advantage of the social sites – Facebook and Linkedin. Get a page up on Facebook and network wherever you can. Once you’ve built up enough contacts etc, you could send out a snazzy looking email. I use Mailchimp. Send this email to everyone, including friends and family as word of mouth is always the best way. Print companies are good to get work from if you can artwork for print. Also register with some creative agencies. If you get work through some agencies, you could build up a good relationship with the company you’ve gone to work for and take them on yourself. They’d rather go through you, than go through an agency which is costly.
Mel

Dyan Sutton – Good Advice. I think networking is the most important thing when you first start…and give out those cards. Don’t try to do everything. Find your niche and specialize to some degree.
Price reasonably, but not cheap. Raise your prices as your reputation builds. Be personable. People do business with people they like and stay in touch with your contacts via emails or direct mail. Good luck.

GraphicDesigner Group

Eric Lockwood – Cold calls have never been fruitful. The best methods I’ve found over the past several years include: networking, with friends, peers and business groups; recommendations from friends or past employers; collaborating with other designers on a project; and working on pro bono projects. No matter how you cut it with today’s economy, it’s not easy. Advertising and marketing budgets are the first to be cut and the last to get money.

Cora Stanton – I think you have to used every single method you can find. That includes cold calling, and networking… and everything else under the sun. Put all the chances on your side and get exposure.

In House Designers

Rod Hjelm – I hate cold calling!!! I don’t think it’s effective or productive in any way. Meeting people face to face however can be much more rewarding and there are a lot of ways to do this besides walking door to door down main street.

Networking has been my number one way of finding new work. Do a great job for a client and they’ll be willing to refer their business friends. Network within your own contacts. Don’t ask people if they have any work for you directly. Instead ask people if they know of anyone in need of a great designer. It’s less direct and leaves the reply open for people to think about whether they need design as well. Connect with your contacts regularly even if you need to create a calling schedule.

Networking with others outside your network can be a lot of fun and some of the best places I’ve found include your local Chamber of Commerce. Go to their meetings and meet people. Networking groups are also a big way to meet new people specially if it’s a small business group. These groups can be found in nearly every town.

Have fun with it and show a lot of interest in people you talk to. Ask lots of questions and use these opportunities to learn and grow. I hope this helps.

Freelancer 4 Rent

Sarah L. – Hi Blake

The tips I’ve seen around the internet (and frequently suggest to my clients) are:

Make your cold calls “warm calls,” that is, do some research and weeding before you start. This should include:

* a target market. The universe of all people who might need the services of a graphic designer is large. Decide what types of jobs you’d like to do or who you are best suited to work with and start there.

A dictum of freelance work is you shouldn’t do something you’ve never done before for a new client–too many variables out of control. Starting with the experience you have will give you some confidence as you contact people.

* organizations within your target market

* the best person (or people) in each organization to contact.

* that person. Be polite. Recognize that this person probably hears from a large number of freelancers in the course of a week. Why should s/he consider you?

* to develop a relationship with that person. Call up and ask her or him out for coffee. Email this person for advice related to mutual interests. And, of course, don’t drop the person the minute s/he says “sorry there’s no work”–you don’t know what the future will bring you or her/him.

Good luck

Sarah
(see also http://bit.ly/YL-2012)

Vivienne Ettenfield – Hi Blake and Daniela,
I cold call every other week. I started visiting small business around my local area, just to introducing myself and the services Vivacious Designs offer. This built up my confidence to cold call larger business. I learnt that businesses buy into the person before the services you offer.

Marketing Communication

Derek Miller – Go to www.elance.com and register there. People like myself use them constantly to find freelancers.

Art & Design

Paul Livesey – If you live in the USA I suggest that your join elance.com which is a forum for freelancers. I haven’t been successful bidding for jobs but then I live in South Africa which may be problematic for some clients.

Digital Media Group – Australia and New Zealand

Craig Reardon – Thanks Blake. We at The E Team have a ‘no cold calling’ policy. Why? Because they are fundamentally invasive and as such can only tarnish you and your brand. To my way of thinking any organisation that cold calls is either desparate or lazy. Why else would you risk annoying and insulting those you want to do business with? Sorry for the passion but its become a pet grieve of mine as my own workday is constantly interrupted by cold callers.
Clever marketing is by far the better approach.

AIGA | the professional association for design

Doug Best – I’ve been a full-time and successful freelancer for 15 years.

Cold calls are a waste of time. Its really not a good idea to start freelancing full-time unless you have 1 or more clients lined up already.

You also need to do some ruthless and objective self-examination to determine just how good your work is. If you don’t have really quality chops you will be slaughtered.

The most fertile ground for clients is generally finding design / branding / ad / web studios in your area and trying to get work from them.

Christian Simon – I would second Doug’s comment. Where a freelancer may wish to use a cold call to generate an interview and secure some initial commitment, this is not the way graphic designers are hired. The portfolio remains the point where most hiring decisions are made. They won’t grant the interview until they see the portfolio. They won’t see the portfolio because they don’t take cold calls from every Adam/Eve.

Sally Minker – Cold calls don’t work in graphic design. It’s mostly who you know. Networking and telling all your design friends that you’re looking for work is the way to go.

Mark Grabow – I disagree about cold calls not working, but it can take 100 calls to get a single job. As wonderful as referrals and networking are for finding new clients, sometimes it is getting down to search, research and trolling. @Doug is quite correct about self-examination. Be certain you have the knowledge, experience and capabilities that match up with their needs and exceed what they are currently producing.

Stephen Shepherd – I have been running my own freelancing business in the UK for a little over a year now and have been very successful. This has been achieved by placing my business out there so that when people want my services I am there ready to provide (some call it In-Bound Marketing).

Cold calls have not been any part of my marketing plan and I do not see them ever featuring in my business. The secret is to use the internet and social networking to your advantage and sell yourself as a brand. Keep you as a brand consistent and you will find people cannot help but talk about you.

The proof is in the pudding, I started my business in January last year with 1 client now I have completed work for over 20 clients in my first year and 8 of those clients are regular repeat customers. All this with just good SEO on my website, consistent branding and regularly providing content through the main social networks.

Mark is right in some respects, but you have to think to yourself is the customer you get from cold calling your ideal customer.

That said, I have friend who makes a digitally printed brochure/book about herself and drops it off at design studios she is interested in working for, and she gets jobs that way.

Ezra Alexander Cohen – Another vote for networking. Nothing beats it. I networked heavily for 3 years in the late 90′s (including being a founding board member of PANMA and the now defunct Design Exchange) and to this day I can trace 90% of my business to contacts I made during that time.

During 2009 I, like many, saw business drop off as budgets froze and I tried cold emailing… I have a substantial portfolio so I did get a dozen responses but nothing panned out into new relationships. In the end what got me going again was contacting older clients and reminding them that I existed. Of course you can’t poke old clients if you are starting out so… get out there and press the flesh.

Calvin Werry – I do make cold calls for my photography and find that it’s a very small part of my total income. I did lot’s of cold calls for a graphic design firm that I worked for in the ’90s and it did pay off. We had a great portfolio and a staff that needed more work. You had to be persistent and know that it might be a thousand calls and 6 meetings before you landed a lucrative client with many jobs. You can try a marketing campaign with emails and physical mailing of promotion items via the post. You follow up on your mailings via a phone call and request to show the rest of your portfolio. It is most important to get “face time”, not over a phone. Treat your own marketing campaign like you would a clients, it takes more than one instance of seeing your brand before that will say “hi”.

Networking and introductions via contacts is the best way. I have found that local “networking” groups with active members in the various vertical markets is one of the best tactics. Not only do you make yourself available to the group, you get leads for cold calls that are starting new businesses or changing locations. FInd a group that meets once a week, say for lunch, exchanges leads etc. Find a local charity that you can “fill some of your time with” and work side by side with other volunteers from the major corporations in your community. Not only do you feel good about helping others, you are gaining contacts for your business.

Tiffany Smith – Networking. Networking. Networking.

I’ve found that being a member of local organizations (your city’s chamber of commerce, any young professional/small business group, graphic design chapters like AIGA) is such a benefit to business. It’s a great way to meet other business owners and get connected with their creative needs. Besides, in this economy, people don’t just want to buy a service, they’re buying a service from a person they know and trust.

Jonathan Metz – I’m a little bothered by the fact that you decided to recommend a crowdsourcing site, especially on AIGA, which has been known to have a stance on spec work. Personally, I feel that crowdsourcing undervalues our field and continuing to work on sites like this only promotes the idea that it’s an okay business plan to ask designers to do work up front with minimal opportunity to get paid.

I agree that cold calling is somewhat a waste of time, but given the chance I’d rather waste my time doing that than working for free. In essence, networking is just a fancier term for cold calling since you are hoping they don’t throw your business card away and call you for some random project.

I’ve used crazedlist.org, which is a craigslist aggregator to find gigs. Creative Hotlist, Behance, and coroflot can all be useful for finding gigs as well. I would also recommend posting work on the envato marketplaces. Unlike crowdsourcing sites, a designer posts a project and individuals pay for it if they like it and see the value of it (like an open market).

Nicole Spiegel-Gotsch – Hi Blake,

For the most part I agree with everyone’s comments but there can be value in what is sometimes referred to as a “warm” call. Where you do some market research and contact prospective clients who you’ve identified as a higher value prospect based on your research.

In NYC the Science Industry and Business Library (SIBL) http://www.nypl.org/locations/sibl offers many excellent business and marketing resources accessible online.

Another way to find prospective clients is by connecting with your local creative alliance. If you’re interested, I have an article detailing the many networking and educational opportunities they provide here:

http://www.graphicdesign.com/article/fueling-the-creative-economy-part-ii-call-to-graphic-designers-get-involved/

Hope this helps!

Christian Simon – @Ezra Alexander Cohen, Contacting past business relationships I am of two minds. On the one hand past relationships are worth investigating because the persons know your quality–competent, trustworthy, can take criticism, work hard, etc.

Yet business is competitive. I can’t imagine working with many people from my past because I think of them in the past. I’m thinking of the difference between designers and illustrators/photographers in particular. While certain jobs /remain/ much the same (like catalogs are a bunch of cut out things with prices, or annual reports are pages of financial figures), the rest /want/ to be new. Seeing an illustrator who has matured is a wonder. Is it the same for reconnecting with designers?

To bring it back I guess what I’m leading to saying cold calls (and of course networking) are a necessity if you’re not going to reopen past relationships.

Blake McCreary – Again everyone, thanks for such a productive thread with many answers about cold calling! You’ve been a great help to expanding my knowledge and anyone who reads the blog.

@Jonathan If I were recommending crowdsourcing as a full solution, I wouldn’t be requesting opinions from AIGA. I had also mentioned networking after I shared my experience and said, “Perhaps look into a couple bidding sites to scrap out some extra income while you try more traditional methods.” I don’t think you should be bothered by crowdsourcing, but I will defend myself.

vWorker requires a 100% deposit by the employer so you work is not upfront work if you follow protocol. That is not “speculative work.” Avoid the contests which were just added. Sourcing has a bad wrap for paying little and/or under par. This is partly true, if you are ill prepared to showcase your portfolio and have a lack of commitment. There are plenty of filters on the feeds that limit your bidding time by choosing projects that provide satisfactory budget. You can even find jobs that pay hourly (around $25/hr) doing logos, packaging, and web design. It’s important to be upfront about your process while bidding. You would be surprised how many employers appreciate going the extra yard to attain well thought out creative design.

Over half of my annual income is derived from crowdsource bidding where I land quality clients that are personable and fair. One of my recent clients Titan-Seo.com was hooked from vWorker. Host-Party.com was also pulled from vWorker. Both of these companies are top quality and now gained the trust to pay me up 50% upfront on contracts outside of vWorker. If you play your cards right you won’t be on vWorker bidding very long. It’s basically a job board with security.

Victoria Malabrigo – As someone just starting out, I’ve found that even though networking is obviously key, you have to start somewhere. Sometimes right out of college you don’t really have a network at all to begin with. Along with going to your local chambers of commerce to scope out small businesses, I’ve found that one way to get your pinky toe in the door can be through a recruiter.

Now, having a recruiter isn’t for everyone, and I can imagine people thinking “like I need a middleman to take out more of my income,” but it doesn’t always work that way. The scouting agency I started with paid exactly what I asked/bartered for from certain jobs, and they lump their fee on top of yours. Some places are different. Then they do all the tax-related stuff for you and it’s much less of a headache trying to figure out how much a year you should be saving if you’re doing your own taxes.

Aside from the whole pay aspect, there’s a great deal of networking opportunity involved. Some of the jobs I’ve booked I would’ve never been given the time of day had there not been a reputable recruiter behind me. It’s their job to talk to folks from companies all day long and gain a deeper understanding on what kind of jobs those companies are looking to place. A recruitment agency doesn’t have to be permanent, and you can leave or not take jobs whenever you see fit. You can still search for other jobs outside of the agency, which of course I’ve done. For me, it was definitely a strong start coming fresh out of college and I definitely value all the opportunities they had to offer. Beats not working at all.

Kelly Rutherford – You have to look at the % of successful contacts by the effort you put in. What I understand is that it is a “numbers game.” Every business has the same reality as a graphic designer. If 4000 “mailed” post cards returns 4% return on investment you will see this reality whether you are a large or small business.

We have to embrace the reality that we are our own marketing directors of our services. What that means is we will wear many hats – sales person, marketing director, office manager, telemarketer, producer. So, the next time someone asks for spec work, a discount or more of your time, tell them your accountant said “NO.” Otherwise all the other functions in your business will not be able to get paid and you will no longer be able to FREElance.

Ronald Kerns – networking at AMA (American Mkting. Assoc.), IABC (Int’l Assoc. Business Communicators), and other similar professional organizations are ideal for establishing relationships with people to build a freelance business.

Temp recruiters are “better than nothing”…no, you’re not getting paid as much as you would be if doing it on your own, but a 2-3 week gig at a prestigious design firm or ad agency is “better than nothing”…and, again, you’re networking while there.

Example: I had a 2 week temp job (set up through a creative temp placement agency) at a small, but great, marketing firm. I made sure I “connected” on LinkedIn with those I worked with closest. Then, months later, I see the “immediate supervisor” has left the company! A quick note to her to say “HI”, and that I noticed she left, along with an invite to the next AMA function…..and, she’s become a valuable source of work..with her new company, as well as through some of her other clients…..all from a 2-week “temp job”….

Stu Leventhal – I would add a few suggestions – most already posted – like “networking” are correct.

I would try and get more creative:

• Visit a local college MBA program – and offer design services for young entrepreneurs starting fledging businesses. Branding / brochures / web sites etc .

.• Go to local restaurants or diners – see which need better menus – or signage – offer your services

• I’m a printer – and I refer design all the time. So go to local small printers and ask if any of their clients need design services – or do they need to add design as a service.

• This is political season – find local politicians running for office and offer your services to do their flyers / posters / lawn cards etc . .

The world is changing in the communications industries in ways that even the best and the brightest and have a difficult time getting a grip on. So all of us – myself included – need to discover new ways of finding business!

Blake McCreary – After reading through all of these responses I’ll agree that networking is the staple of the business. We’ve all found work in many different ways to start out. I firmly believe that it takes quite a bit of luck and everyone gets some. I’ve always tried to take advantage of new opportunities and nail them. I remember working with a photographer a few years ago and her brother-in-law worked for a small sports agency. She referred me a year later and a small $500 project turned into to a much larger 4 digit contract.

@Robbi I’ve found that asking for a referral is actually a very good way to spark word of mouth. Many clients get the impression that you may be very successful and busy. If they know you are looking for work they may think of you more to return the favor on satisfactory job.

I’m also looking to write a follow up article on all of the wonderful info. If anyone is interested in heading that project it’s open to guest writing. You’ll get credited and some free hosting. Thanks!

For this online portfolio project you will learn how to:

• Choose a Hosting Plan to Start Your Website
• Install WordPress Using CPanel
• Install a Free Portfolio Image Gallery Plugin (Lightbox Plus)

This site was originally created with a basic WordPress installation on a $3.95 starter hosting plan at theDesignerHost and a WordPress theme from Themeforest.net.

Interested now? Follow the steps below.

1. Get a Domain and Hosting Package

First thing is first. See if your desired domain name is available.

Choose a web hosting service that provides a CPanel for free. Many companies will only offer a plesk or simple control panel setup charging extra for CPanel. Those work most of the time but can be difficult to figure out for an inexperienced person. A shared unlimited hosting service should cost you less than $10 depending on the features.  I’ve worked with most of the shared hosting services during my web design work for clients. A few have proven to have great strengths and weaknesses.

Personally, I’d steer away from GoDaddy after working with them several times. Load times are normally slow (around .85 seconds) and they only offer CPanel as an upgrade.

A few good ones are HostGator (.12-.2 seconds load time), BlueHost, and my own affiliate service theDesignerHost (.12-.2 seconds load time). All of these services are fast and reliable with good support. The main difference is between theDesignerHost and HostGator. theDesignerHost leases our servers from HostGator but provides consulting for portfolio related questions. You won’t get any answers from HostGator about your theme installation because they are technicians, not designers. With theDesignerHost you will most likely be having your questions answered by me personally. That’s great, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading my blog for design related answers!

Section Notes

• CPanel with Fantastico Deluxe is your friend
• Hosting should cost less than $10 for a starter package and be unlimited

2. Install WordPress

Normally, a WordPress installation takes approximately 5 minutes to install using the famous 5 minute install method on WordPress.org. This is true, but it’s not all its cracked up to be. WordPress can pose a lot of problems when installed on a host without all of the proper configurations. A manual install can also be more difficult for new users because they aren’t familiar with htaccess, permalinks, uploads security, and cache folders. For new WordPress users I highly recommend you stick to a service that offers Fantisco Deluxe on CPanel.

Here is the basic walkthrough of setting up a WordPress website with CPanel:

• Login to your CPanel at http://yourdomain.com/cpanel/
• Click Fantastico De Luxe under “Software/Services”
• Click WordPress
• Click New Installation
• Fill out the Installation Location, Admin Access Data, & Base Configuration and Click “Install WordPress”
• Confirm the installation and login at http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/

3. Upload a Quality WordPress Theme

Free Methods

There are tons of free WordPress themes in the WordPress Extend catalog. These will work but may lack some advanced features and quality design. Recently, I published a list of some premium quality Free WordPress themes here. To install these themes, you can go under “Appearance” on your WordPress admin panel. From there you can download them directly to your themes section.

Quality Design Method That’s Inexpensive

Several market sites have popped up where you can download more advanced WordPress themes for around $40 or less. One example is the Themeforest Marketplace mentioned above. Be sure to read the reviews of the authors and check to see whether they are offering proper support for the theme purchase. A published list of popular portfolio Themeforest WordPress themes can be found here. Once you purchase the theme you want, just download it and upload the corresponding zip file using the WordPress theme uploader under the “Appearance” panel.

4. Adding Your Portfolio

If you did not purchase a theme from a theme market place you will need a way of Creating a Lightbox Gallery on your WordPress pages. I’ve tested out most of the well established lightbox plugins. I use and recommend Lightbox Plus from 23Systems.net. You can see an example of a lightbox gallery on my portfolio page.

Installation is simple. Upload the Lightbox plugin zip, or download it from the WordPress catalog. Create a new page called “Portfolio.”  Upload all of your images to the page without inserting them. You don’t insert them right away because you are going to click “Gallery” on the upload to insert the whole gallery.

Conclusion

Uploading my portfolio to the web changed my career. Instead of sweating it out trying to find a job I can stand, I ended up doing my design work directly from my home. No strings attached and my own work schedule. You can do the same with a small investment of about $15 in hosting.

Ready to get started? theDesignerHost.com is offering 20% OFF For LIfe on any hosting package, plus a FREE domain at signup (.com, .net, .org). Use Coupon Code: “Friend” to receive the discount!

To save the repeating pattern samples below, right click the title and save as..

(Source: subtlepatterns.com)

WHEN: February 15, 2012 @ 6:30 – 8:30pm

WHERE: Indianapolis Art Center
ADDRESS:
820 East 67th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46220

PRICE:
Members: $FREE
Non-Members: $20

Register at AIGA Indy

AIGA Indy is thrilled about [INHOUSE] – a new initiative to provide support, resources, and inspiration for the many in-house designers working here in Indy and the surrounding areas. This quarterly event will share insight into the inner workings of in-house design studios – shedding light on the current struggles and successes faced in an in-house design environment. From speaker presentations to panel discussions, the [INHOUSE] initiative is a time to share, encourage, and inspire designers in all aspects of the design industry.

Join AIGA on Wednesday, February 15 for a unique opportunity to learn about the inner-workings of the design team at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). David Russick and Matt Taylor will discuss how the IMA Design Studio works to create and maintain all design aspects of the museum’s diverse needs.

Get to know the presenters:

David Russick, Chief Designer

David is responsible for the aesthetic appearance of the IMA Campus. He oversees a team of seven designers who create and maintain all design aspects of the museum’s diverse needs. From traveling exhibitions, to wayfinding, publications to permanent collections, the IMA Design Studio provides 2D and 3D designers an opportunity to collaborate on a daily basis.

Matt Taylor, Senior Graphic Designer

Working within the IMA’s Design Studio, Matt leads a team of designers who are responsible for all of the musuem’s graphic needs. While maintaining the IMA brand, his team designs a variety of material including exhibition graphic design, marketing collateral, membership and development campaigns, wayfinding, signage, publications and more.

Creative Lightroom+Photoshop workflow from Martin Perhiniak on Vimeo.

Here’s a collection of ribbons I’ve used for several non profit projects over the past couple years. The set includes ribbons for several cancer and abuse types.  Find the meanings here: http://www.trinitylondon.com/awareness-ribbon-meanings.asp and you can always edit them for the color of ribbon you need for your organization.

Download Vector Cancer & Abuse Awareness Ribbons

This Adobe Photoshop (psd) file was used a while back on a client website. The client wanted an Apple.com style navigation menu, and these are the remade styles for the previous Apple website design. This PSD includes the three styles for the Apple menu background, hover button style, and onClick style. Hope you find it useful!

Download Free Apple Style Nav Menu PSD Here

Recently, Grant Friedman (of PSDtuts) had the opportunity to chat with Matt Kloskowski. Matt is the author of “Photoshop Compositing Secrets,” a new book that demonstrates some excellent techniques to help you create better and more realistic Photoshop compositions. In their interview, they discuss why it’s important to bring a camera with you wherever you go, some techniques that you should always apply to your images, and much more. The video is around 25 minutes long. Enjoy!

You can find “Photoshop Compositing Secrets” on Amazon: