Tag: Design

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Enjoying The Little Things

Good morning! 

That is to say at least that its morning when I wrote this. The swiftness and convenience at which technology (smartphones, apps), moves is amazing. To be able to sit on my front porch and write a short post to all of you from my iPhone, while sharing the little things like reading, journaling, enjoying a good coffee and soaking in the beautiful morning, well it’s fantastic! 

As I sit, soaking in a bit of sun and caffeine, having already sent out a client’s proof this morning, I can now take this little bit of “me” time to refresh and renew the soul. It really is the little things in life that can bring much joy.

Just a quick post from the porch, until next time,

Tim

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Inner workings 

The last week has been a touch-and-go battle with my website. A disfunctioning update wreaked havoc in the machinations of my site that shut it down for a couple of days. Darn those plugins… on the upside it turned out to be a great thing, it forced me to end the love/hate relationship that I had with my site’s former design. I had been meaning to get to it more than once and allowed myself to be sidetracked for other projects and so it stayed, as it was, until it finally broke. Lesson learned, “don’t leave until tomorrow things that can be done today.” It’s still a work in progress, pieces still to add and streamline, but so far it’s a well functioning, clean form. I hope you like it. 

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Still Here

Hello!

Wow! It’s been a long time. I haven’t posted here since October 2016, where does life get away from us?

I post on a more regular basis through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter so you can follow those links through this site. I do need to work on posting from here more often. That being said, life has been busy, not just in the world of Freelance and 9 to 5-ing but also in my personal life. I have 3 large projects each year at this time for 3 different towns but should have them all wrapped up in a couple of weeks. I have also been continuing on with reworking my self-published children’s books, so keep your eyes peeled for those as well (not really soon, but soon).

Motivation and perseverance are the words and goals for 2017.

Stay tuned!

Tim

 

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Freelancing

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One of the definitive boons of being a Graphic Designer is the opportunity to work outside of your current job, if you have one. Freelancing allows, at times, an alternate means of creative freedom, the chance to grow your talents and abilities while being able to control the projects you work on. It is a beneficial release that not all designers are able to take advantage of depending on their contracts.

I have had the opportunity the last couple of years to work on a number of different freelance projects that have helped me as a creator and a manager of my own personal studio. The hardest part that I have found is actually finding and landing the jobs. I don’t know if others in my field have an easier time of it or perhaps I just don’t look hard enough, or in the right places for them. I am hoping to increase my productivity this year and next, with an end-goal of becoming full-time independent in the next couple of years. Building a clientele list must be the hardest part of this field.

Tim

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I’m Back!

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Hello again! Welcome back! If you didn’t notice I was gone, then you need to stop by more often. Here’s the skinny on what I’ve been up to.

The past month found me in search of a new web host as my previous host has moved out of the business of hosting. I was referred to another provider but they ended up being a little pricey for what my current site needs and so the research began. I finally settled on a host here in Edmonton and found the price and process relatively painless… well sort of. Buying the webspace from the host was easy enough and they provided me with my login information quite quickly. I wasn’t as informed as I thought I had been though and shortly found out that I would have to do all the transferring from old host to new host on my own. This is not something I’ve had a lot of experience doing. I started the process trying to use their system (which wasn’t CPanel that I was used to), to try and upload my files but it refused to pull folders as well as files,which left a great deal of my website still residing on my hard drive where I had backed it up to. This brought me to the idea of using an FTP program which I should have started with as this is the most effective means to upload to a website. By this time you would think I’m ready to go right? Wrong. The next thing I learned was that but switching providers you don’t automatically move, or have to move, your domain name, this is optional. Once everything was transferred and registered I was still having problems getting my page to load. This new problem ended up being a reloading error that caused browsers to point back and forth between URL’s and basically loc
king it up. I found a fix online and edited my wp-config file to correct the error, and voila my site is up again.

All of this is to say that it has been a good experience for me because with every problem I encountered I had to research and find a solution which then adds to my knowledge base. Hopefully I don’t have to do it again for awhile…

Thanks for reading!


Tim

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Work in Progress 1

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Saturday! I absolutely love Saturday mornings. Sitting at my desk in my living room, in front of our bay windows while working on Freelance projects, to me, is fantastic! This morning I’m continuing on a 40 page Hockey Tournament Guide. First time I’ve done one of these but I’m quite satisfied with my results so far (cover image above). I hope your day is as fun as mine.

Tim

 

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Saturday Design

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Every season of life is different, sometimes lingering, sometimes fleeting, but always changing. Seven years as a Graphic Designer  have shown me that as with anything else, there are also seasons within the design field. Months can go by without any Freelance work and then suddenly many projects flow in keeping me busy for a few months. Some of them are paid and some are not but all help keep my skills honed. The trick is to prioritize and manage your time well, avoiding becoming overwhelmed, always keeping your deadlines in sight. The more projects you can bring in the more experience you gain and the more your name will hopefully circulate, bringing in more business. Ultimately my goal is to become self-employed and have my own mini studio. Until then, the balance continues.