Being freelance is tough ain’t it? Working in the comfort of your own home in your pj’s with the television on and taking a break whenever you want… sounds nice doesn’t it? Surprisingly, working from home is tough! If any of you are like me then you know that working in the comfort of your own home is nothing short of a horrible distraction!

I think freelancing is a beautiful thing. I love being my own boss and not having to be anyone’s boss. Freelancing is a test of self-motivation and it is not an easy thing. It is important to know how to freelance successfully and these are just a few things I do to keep myself motivated to stay on task when working from home.

1. Set an alarm. Monday-Friday I have an alarm set to wake me up roughly around 8:00am. I find that waking up early as if I am going to an office job helps me stay focused and allows me to start working on any projects I may have by a decent hour.
2. Morning routine. After I am up and awake I like to shower, enjoy a nice breakfast, get dressed, and make sure that I am sitting in front of my computer promptly by 9:00am.
3. You need a desk. Many freelancers have laptops, and working from the couch with their laptop on the coffee table is effective for them. I find it much easier to sit down at my desk with my computer and papers in front of me. Sitting at a desk opposed to the couch or the kitchen table makes me feel like I am actually at work and because of that it motivates me to work!
4. Contact your clients. By staying in touch with your clients day to day it lets them know that you are thinking of them and you are currently working on their project. This really helps me because I want to give my clients 100% satisfaction. Contacting my clients gives them hope that their project is in the works and that pushes me to work harder and finish up projects to keep them happy.
5. Allow yourself short breaks. Designing for long periods of time can damage your creative flow and strain your eyes, so allow yourself a short 15min break every couple of hours. I like to take a break from my work by doing little mindless hobbies such as reading some of the blogs I subscribe to, looking through inspirational and funny images on flickr, and checking my social networking profiles. By the time I am through with my break I feel reenergized.
6. Limit your phone and television intake. Those day time talk shows can really suck you in! I find it distracting to work with the TV on because that is not where my focus should be. I try to cut phone conversations short during my work hours. It really messes with my work flow to find myself yapping away for 10min and then when it is time to continue working I can’t remember where I left off.
7. Make a production sheet. Around 5 or 6 when it is quitting time for me, I like to type up a quick list of where my stopping point for the day was and where to begin when I wake up in the morning. This gives me a sense of accomplishment and helps me start my following day off quickly.

These are just some things that I do day-to-day to keep myself on task. Not all designers are all over the place like I am. I am definitely a designer who needs a set schedule in order to be and feel productive. What do you do to keep yourself motivated and on task when you are freelancing?

It’s not your printers fault, it’s yours. Ouch, I know that was hard for you to hear. A designer’s initial reaction when receiving faulty print jobs back from their printer is to point the blame at the printer. In most cases, it is our fault. As designers, it is our responsibility to make sure our projects are perfect and fit the specifications requested by our printer before we even think about sending our jobs off to them. There has been this never ending war between designers and printers because we never take the time to understand one another. Just like you, your printer wants to do a perfect job and make sure your job comes back to you flawless.

In this article I am going to highlight certain key points to help you build your relationship with your printer. Even if you never meet your printer face to face it is important to build an everlasting professional relationship with them.

1. Printer Specifications. No matter who your printer is they have most likely provided you with a list of specifications. Following these specifications ensure that your project will come back to you looking how it did when you designed it.
• Even though printing is the final stage of design it is important to read over your printer specifications before you start a new design project to make sure you are building your document correctly. Why? Well, depending on your printer they may have certain document setup sizes. Some printers build their bleeds directly into their document making them larger, while others require the standard .125 inch bleed around your document.
• The printer specifications also address color guidelines, as well as rich black specs. Did you know that some printers have their own specific rich black mixture? There are so many rich black combination’s out there, so if your printer uses a certain combination make sure you are using their rich black. Also take the time to discuss Pantone Colors with your printer. Some printers charge a higher fee to print Pantone Colors.
• Your printer’s specifications will also provide you with file format guidelines and how to save them correctly. Don’t assume your printer is able to print your EPS file. Even if they may be able to print your EPS, it may not be their preferred way of printing. If possible, always create your final print file using your printers preferred file format and step-by-step instructions to setting up and saving out your file. It is always a good idea to never send your printer your original documents. This can cause all kinds of text, color, and image problems.
• If your printer has asked you to name your files a certain way, respect that request. I have learned from experience that naming your file any old name is grounds for confusion. Your printer probably has a high traffic of files coming to them daily, so naming your file ‘MyBrochure.pdf’ is not going to help your printer distinguish your jobs from the next brochure they receive. If your printer doesn’t have a file naming system, create your own. This will help prevent confusion for your printer, as well as yourself. I always include my job name and date in the files title before sending it off.
2. Never wait until the last minute. Your printer is very busy, so don’t think you are their top printing priority. If you know you have a deadline that needs to be met and that you will be placing a large order of a large print run, plan ahead. Even if you are not aware of your exact deadline date book a general time slot with your printer to ensure that they have all the printing materials needed for your project and the time to print it. In some cases, it is more important to make a date with you printer opposed to your client. You can always change your printing date, but you can’t change your client’s expo date and when they will be needing their newly designed banner.
3. Send test files to your printer. A lot of the time we are in a hurry to send jobs out to the printer and don’t take the time to test them out. After you have fit your project to your printer specifications and packaged it accordingly to their guidelines send them a test file. By doing this it helps guarantee that there are no unaccepted mistakes when the final file is ready.
4. Time is money. After you have delivered your job to the printer don’t just sit around and wait for them to contact you. Contact your printer every now and then between the time that you send your job and the time you are meant to receive your job back. Make sure that they received your job and that everything was delivered to them with no problem. It is also nice to contact them to just ask how everything is going. This lets them know that you are very concerned about the print job and that you are waiting on it.
5. Double check your job once you receive it. Ok, this is the step that we love to point the blame at! We are sticklers when it comes to checking over our final product for errors. If you happen to find any errors that are clearly printer mistakes address them with your printer immediately. If your printer did a wonderful job, make sure to tell them. We love to know when we have done a good job and so do our printers.
6. How do we know when we have made mistakes as designers, not the printer? Here are some common mistakes made my designers:
• Text issues: If you have sent your printer a job and saved it as a PDF straight from Illustrator, chances are your printer is going to need your fonts unless you have created outlines of your text. Make sure you are always sending your printer a flattened PDF or have created outlines from your text to ensure that there will be no font issues. Also double check the colors of your font. If you have used black on your body text, make sure you are using 0,0,0,0 CMYK color values and not registration black or rich black (rich black is used for large blocks of black color, such as background colors).
• Image issues: Always try to keep your images at or above 300dpi and in CMYK. Some printers allow for image dpi a little below 300 (I have never gone lower than 250 dpi) and in rgb, but double check this with your printer. Better safe than sorry. If you are placing your images into your document, make sure they are linked to the appropriate file. InDesign gets a little tricky sometimes when it comes to linking images. Even if your image is not linked correctly in InDesign a low res version on that image is still displayed in your document, make sure it is linked and not just a low res instance of your image.
• Check your dot gain values to make sure that your images don’t become washed out or shadows look too dark. If you aren’t sure what your dot gain is or how to check it learn all about dot gain here.
• Trimming issues. I have been reinforcing ‘better safe than sorry’ throughout this article, and once again: better safe than sorry! Always keep your text .25in from the edge of your document and always extend your bleeds .125in outside of your document to make sure that no text is being cut off and that no unwanted white edges are showing.
• Paper stock. Depending on your project your printer will usually recommend a paper stock. If they don’t, ask. If you don’t ask this is a good learning experience. If you receive your project and the other side of your paper is showing through, your paper was too thin! Unfortunately, this is our problem. It is always nice to learn from our mistakes though.

These are just a few general mistakes that designers make. There are many more out there, but I’d like to think that these are the most common. If you run into any other mistakes, don’t be so quick to jump on your printer about them. Your printer is very knowledgeable and want your job to be perfect, so they will be willing to consult with you to make sure the same mistakes will not happen again.

For many designers, the start of any new project is always the toughest step. I am going to share five tips with you that will help you get started on any new design project without developing designer’s block. These tips will also save you a lot of time.

1. Make sure your client has presented you with a design brief. A design brief is very important because it establishes a sense of direction for the designer to start from. If the client has not provided you with a brief, create your own design questionnaire that acts as the brief and present it to your client. The questionnaire is a great way for a designer to kick-start any project. If you are not sure what a design brief is, David Airey has broken down different parts of what a design brief is, and what it should consist of. To get an idea of how to write your own design questionnaire you can view my design questionnaire.
2. Sketch, sketch, sketch, sketch! Even if traditional drawing and sketching is not your forte it is important to put your ideas somewhere. Some designers don’t incorporate sketching into their workflow, but over the years I have found that sketching and writing down keywords is a great way to identify a projects theme. Finding the theme of a project allows the style of the project to emerge.
3. Create your own document templates. Creating your own InDesign and/or Illustrator document templates is a great way to help get over your initial design block. By having a library of templates, all of your bleeds, grids and columns are already setup and ready to be executed. Don’t let a blank canvas scare you. Being able to spaciously visualize your workspace before you begin designing allows your brain to layout your design with greater ease.
4. Establish a list of 10-15 fonts that you feel are well-designed. There are so many fonts out there today, that narrowing your choices down to just a few fonts per project is a time consuming task. Having a list of fonts that you feel are usable is an excellent way to start your new project without having to scroll through 2000 different fonts. It is important to know that you are never limited to the fonts on your list. You always want to choose your fonts based on the style of the project at hand.
5. Put yourself before your client. What!?! Following briefs and requests may not work well with your initial design visions. Instead of trying to make your visions work with your client’s requests provide them with both options. Work with you own visions first to get your creative juices flowing and your client’s visions and requests second. By using this work method you can inspire yourself to design something following your client’s requests. This is also a great advantage because it allows you to provide your client with multiple and different design prototypes to choose from.

Other tips and ways to find inspiration to help you start new projects and avoid designer’s block:

• 101 places to get design inspiration
• 15 tips to avoid designer’s block
• A guide to choosing colors for your brand
• 34 places to get design inspiration- online and off
• 60 more places to get design inspiration- online and off