Tetra

Magna

Pilaca

Typometry

RPM 45

Stroke

Znikomit

Alphageometry

Slinkster

You need to understand how to freelance working with a bottom line. This should be your ultimate goal to achieve on every project. When working for many clients it will be difficult jumping through hoops to accommodate design choices. But in this article I’d like to share a few tips for setting your bottom line and sticking to it.

Envision the Final Product

Before you jump into coding or even open Adobe Photoshop, it may be worthwhile to plan a concept in your mind. If you can see the finished layout in your head then it’s just a matter of fleshing out the details. You’ll save loads of time going back to fix smaller mistakes if you have a plan prepared.

But having a solid finished product ahead of time also keeps you on a single course. You will know exactly what needs to be done and which steps are necessary to get there. No need to side-step your todo list and jump around on extra cool features. Sticking to a tight layout will keep you focused, working dedicated to a single end result.

Understanding Motivation

It’s important to understand why you’re even working on projects in the first place. As a new startup idea the concept is more confusing. When you are building a website for yourself it’s more about building a name, getting traffic and setting up a powerful brand.

But when freelancing it’s 99% about the money. You can still do amazing artwork and make payment your top priority – meaning your work quality will not suffer. But you must be honest with yourself about why you’re freelancing and what the ultimate goal should be. Is it necessary you freelance to keep paying bills, or more like extra income?

Either way you can use this motivation to keep everything moving. When you are stuck on a project and feel lost take a quick break and reflect on the bigger picture. This will reset your perspective on things and hopefully you won’t get caught up in all the small details.

Disregard Perfection

There is definitely no such thing as “perfect” in web design. Or any field of design for that matter. Going into a project with the expectation that it be perfect is absurd. Design is very subjective in its own way – meaning beauty is within the eye of the beholder.

If you aren’t expecting a perfect design from the beginning then you will have an easier time accepting whatever you can build! Because with such a perfectionist mindset you’ll undoubtedly end up destroying your own work with over-analyzation. Go into every project with no predetermined expectations and you’ll be surprised with each outcome.

Stick Within your Boundaries

All too often I see freelancers jumping at any project they can land. Even if the job requires some aspect which they are not familiar with – and this will generally lead to disaster.

You can’t promise work to a client if you are almost totally unfamiliar with some bits and pieces. However you also shouldn’t be afraid to try new ideas which are within your realm of control. For example, if you are already familiar with PHP but have never built an avatar upload form you shouldn’t be discouraged from accepting such a project. You can use your existing knowledge of PHP and tutorials around the web to figure out a finished product that works.

A good rule of thumb is to stay away from techniques you know nothing about. If you have never made a vector in Adobe Illustrator then you shouldn’t promise anything like that in a client’s work. Even with the myriad of tutorials out there, it’s just not feasible to learn an entirely new piece of software on a project deadline.

Accept the Finished Work

One really tough aspect for freelancers is when the project finally comes to a close. Right before you upload all the finished pages, you can’t help but second guess a few choices. Maybe you could flip through a different color scheme or reposition the ad banner?

Thinking like this will keep you holed up in front of the computer screen for too long. Meeting your bottom line is a signal that all the project requirements have been met. Once everything is done you shouldn’t feel attached to the work. This will only make it more difficult to accept the finished piece and move onto your next client.

Overall it comes down to business. Remember that your bottom line is to get paid and provide a service. Once your services have been rendered and the payment is received it’s time to move onto your next gig. If you live for the edge and excitement this lifestyle can be very rewarding! You can get your name on some really cool projects, all while learning new web technologies and getting paid to do so.

Conclusion

I hope a few of these tips can hold a purpose for like-minded freelancers. The field of web design is packed with young, gifted talent. And even meeting new clients can be a struggle with little experience. But when you setup a business around your talents then it’s so much easier churning out tasks and pushing forward as an independent designer.

Hufton + Crow

Pure Pleasure Design

Atelier

rdio

Olly Sorsby

Studio Chirpy

Aveillant

Level

Planoform

The Kitchen

x-doria

The Barrelhouse Flat

Exsud Creative

Ludlow Kingsley

Indesit

Regent College

Doberman

Ghost Horses

Golla

neve / hawk

It’s Numbered

The Best Designs
CSS Design Awards

Rahal Farms

ShaveSafe

Simply Oil

Cantamanyanes

Conto Figueira

Tesco Herbal Tea

El Rifer

Tesco Cream

Student Work – Chul Lee

Student Work – Pavla Chuykina & Ann Moiseenko

Billington’s

Dulux

Tentenublo

Ocado

Student Work – Sergio Ortiz Ruiz

Kimtech

Thymes Mandarin Coriander

Stark Skincare

In this post today, I would like to share with you some amazing and beautiful CSS3 tutorials for creating various web design elements and interactions. Use this collection to learn something new and be prepared for the near future of the web.

Quickly Build a Swish Teaser Page With CSS3

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a teaser page using just CSS, no images or even a Photoshop design. Use it for any app or website that’s getting ready to launch.

How to Create a CSS3 Dropdown Menu [Tutorial]

In this short tutorial you will learn to code navigation menu in pure CSS3. Simple, clean and professional outcome.

Orman Clark’s Vertical Navigation Menu: The CSS3 Version

By following this tutorial you will learn to recreate Orman Clark’s vertical navigation menu with CSS3 and jQuery while using the minimal amount of images possible.

Accordion with CSS3

In this tutorial you will see how to create an accordion that will animate the content areas on opening and closing using hidden inputs and labels.

Tutorial: CTA button without images using CSS3 and Entypo

In this tutorial you will learn to create button using 100% CSS and Entypo. Buttons without images are more flexible, require less data to be downloaded and are easily changed and updated.

Create the Illusion of Stacked Elements with CSS3 Pseudo-Elements

In this tutorial Tom Kenny will guide you in creating the illusion of stacked elements with CSS3 pseudo-elements.

Pure CSS3 LavaLamp Menu

Another cool tutorial for creating originally jQuery based effect. Learn how to create LavaLamp effect using only CSS3 transitions.

CSS3 signup form

In this article you will find out how to design a clean and attractive CSS3 signup form.

Timeline Portfolio

In this tutoriail you will see how to create beautiful and impressive portfolio using Timeline jQuery plugin and CSS3.

Apple-like Login Form with CSS 3D Transforms

In this tutorial you will see how you can use CSS3 transforms to create an interesting flipping effect on an Apple-inspired form.

How to Create an Image Slider using jQuery and CSS3 [Tutorial]

In this tutorial you will learn to create a slider with “Nivo Slider jQuery Script” and CSS3.

Making an Impressive Product Showcase with CSS3

Amazing tutorial showing you how to spice up a plain old product page with some CSS3 magic and jQuery.

How to Create a Stylish Image Content Slider in Pure CSS3 [Tutorial]

In this tutorial you will see how to create a clean and beautiful CSS3 only image slider.

CSS3 Pricing Table

This tutorial consists of a whole bunch of new CSS3 features including: transforms, gradient, shadow and nth-child.

CSS3 breadcrumbs

Catalin Rosu will show you how to create your own cool CSS3 breadcrumbs in order to increase website’s usability.

Animated Content Tabs with CSS3

In this tutorial you are going to implement some simple CSS3 content tabs using radio buttons together with the :checked pseudo-class and sibling combinators.

Responsive Horizontal Layout

In this tutorial you will find out how to create a horizontal layout with several content panels.

Login and Registration Form with HTML5 and CSS3

In this tutorial you are going to create two HTML5 forms that will switch between login and registration using the CSS3 pseudo class :target.

Responsive Content Navigator with CSS3

In this tutorial Mary Lou will show you how to create a content navigator with CSS only.

How to Create Calendar using jQuery and CSS3 [Tutorial]

In this tutorial you will learn to code the CSS3 calendar using jQuery and jQuery UI.

See, my background at the time (creatively) was in film and television. Before my office job I had interned at a small studio where my work over two years ran the gamut of print design, copywriting, scriptwriting, motion graphics and some non-profit documentary work. While the studio itself was small we had a lot of interns and volunteers which meant that our total creative team was around 70-80 people when all hands were on deck.

I loved that atmosphere. I loved racing towards a tough deadline with a team of resourceful creatives at my side. I knew that was ultimately what I wanted in a job. The type of challenging creative collaboration that left you tired to your bones but satisfied in a job well done. So why was I settling for less? I was settling for less because I had bought into a lie. I bought into a lie that said I need MORE before I can start doing what I really want to be doing. More experience, more money, more equipment, a better computer, etc. But then I realized that wasn’t true. I thought about all the projects I had been forced to do on the barest of budgets, with limited cast and crew, with whatever was at hand…and I knew what I had to do.

Instead of looking at my lack of resources as a hinderance, I began to look at them as creative constraints. So I took an inventory of the resources at my disposal, I made a plan of action that began with projects I could complete right away, and I set goals for growing the pool of resources I would need in the future. Then I got to work.

A Lesson Learned

Not long after that decisive moment I left my office job, began writing full time, and started implementing my plan of founding a digital publishing company. In other words, I stopped thinking about how I couldn’t do what I really wanted to because I didn’t have all the pieces right in front of me – i.e. more money, a full team, better equipment, more connections, etc. I began with what I had (which was a laptop and all the spare time I could scrounge up) and I started writing my ass off until more resources became available.

None of this is to say that my input here is the end-all in how to start a creative business or be successful or any of that non-sense. I don’t think there is any sure way to succeed and if there were I would not be qualified to write about it. That said, some of the best advice I have ever heard on “success” and how to achieve it comes from composer Phillip Glass who said, “You get up early in the morning and you work all day. That is the only secret.” While not even that is a guarantee of success, I couldn’t agree more with its principle. In fact, because I’ve thought about that quote so much since I heard him say it in the documentary Glass: A portrait of Phillip in twelve parts, I can attribute much of this post to the implied inverse of his statement; The only sure way to fail is to do nothing.

It is in that spirit that I have written this post. Not as an expert on business or success, but as a fellow creative who has taken action in pursuit of a creative dream and learned something of value along the way. I’m far from the end of my journey – and I’ve done my fair share of stumbling in the dark – but after two years of relentless application (and some fantastic results) I think this lesson is one worth sharing.

Start with what you have – today.

Begin With An Inventory

Whatever your creative goals or career aspirations, you may be surprised at how many resources are already at your fingertips or easily within reach. It’s fruitless and discouraging to constantly think about what you would do “if only”. If only I was a better designer, if only I had that camera, if only I had a better computer – if only. How does that type of thinking get you anywhere? It’s pointless. And besides, is it even realistic to expect that just because we want to do something that we can just jump from point A to point B and be done? In my experience creative work is less like a straight line and more like an unpredictable zig-zag headed in the general direction of your end goal.

I won’t belabor this point too much, but have you ever seen Martin Scorsese’s first full length film Who’s That Knocking at My Door? In all respect to one of my favorite film makers of all time – it’s nothing to write home about. It was low budget, he was working with talented but also very young and inexperienced actors, and the script gives the impression that each scene is little more than an exercise just barely knit together by a central theme and story. But yet, in certain scenes, a glimpse of his unrefined genius is visible. It was only after six more full length films that he created Taxi Driver and blew the door off the industry.

So here’s my point: if Martin Scorcese of all people had to start small, figure things out as he went along, and wait for a budget/cast/crew/equipment – we probably will too. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

When I sat down two years ago to make an inventory of my resources, the list was pretty short. That is to say, ideally, when starting a digital publishing company – a company that would eventually make media rich websites, ebooks, ezines, and the like – you would have the equipment, team, and money required to begin. I had none. As I mentioned above, all I had was an aging macbook pro and a few spare hours each day before and after work. At least, that was what I thought I had. Once I actually opened my eyes I soon realized that for someone looking to carve their own creative and professional path in the world there is an incredible amount of free resources.

At the time I took special note of the following:

• Google Apps
• Multiple blogging platforms such as wordpress, blogger, and tumblr.
• Zoho Client Relationship Management software
• Paypal
• And of course my own creativity and experience

In fact, when I really thought about it I didn’t even need my laptop. I actually had MORE than I needed! If I had nothing but the free resources available online, I could go to the library and start my own business by working off of their computers. Wouldn’t be my first choice, but there it was. I had everything I needed to create content, manage clients, and accept payments. At the end of the day, I decided I had absolutely no excuse not to get started right away.

Make A Plan

Obviously, everyone’s plan will be different. Yours will be unique to your creative endeavor as well as your current resources. But whether or not you want to freelance, start a passion project, create a company, or even just gain the experience and clout needed to join your dream company – the benefits of making a plan are the same. Creating a plan that you actually have to carry out using nothing but the resources immediately available allows you to eliminate the impossible and start winning small victories that will help generate the momentum you need to grow.

In my case, the plan was this: Use my personal network and the creative work I’d already done to get a few free blogging/copywriting gigs that might lead to paid work. In turn, I decided to immediately implement the lessons I learned from writing for others, for myself, so I started a personal blog that would be the hub I eventually grew my business around. My logic was that quality free writing would lead to quality paid writing. Enough quality paid writing for enough blogs and businesses around the web and I would kill two birds with one stone: not only would I be able to pay my monthly bills freelancing but some of that traffic would find its way back to my personal blog. Of course a lot of work on my personal blog would lead to a loyal following. A loyal following that could then be leveraged to form revenue generating partnerships which in turn would allow me to diversify my products/services as well as build out a creative team.

After creating this general direction for myself I wrote out detailed to-do lists that would bring me closer to my end goal with each finished task. And then I got busy.

Get to Work

Looking back it’s sort of hard not to laugh. To say that my plan was a bit circumspect would be putting it mildly. But you know what it did? It got me moving in the right direction. It gave me a path, albeit a roundabout one, from what I had at that moment to what I wanted for the rest of my life. And the best part is that once you get moving you become aware of options you never knew existed before. The plan simplifies. Opportunities come as a result of your work that could not have happened otherwise. Others see what you’re doing and they join in not because you have a ton of cash or connections but because they’re passionate too. Eventually what you find is that the simple act of doing makes just about anything possible.

Final Thought

This post is really about one thing. Whether you’re a web designer, developer, blogger, videographer, or any other creative type – if you’re not doing what you love for a living there’s no reason why you can’t change that starting today. I guarantee you that if you sit down and write out your end goal, there is a way to reverse engineer a path to that goal starting with nothing but the resources you currently have access to. You might even be thinking, “but what I really need right now is cash. I’ve already done every possible thing before my next step which involves $X.” Ok, maybe that’s true. Are you on kickstarter.com yet? Are you working overtime? Have you asked friends, family, and anyone else who supports you to help out? If you haven’t, then your plan and resource list are not complete.

Never settle

The icon sets showcased here will be great additions to your arsenal. There are a wide variety of different types of icons, styles, and sizes. You’ll certainly find at least a few sets that you can put to good use in your own work.

Photography Icons

Aroma

Webcons

Addictive Flavour

Quartz

Build Icons

Web Designer’s Icons

Portfolio Icons

WooFunction Icons

Application Icons

Hand-Drawn Icons

Credit Card Icons

Payment Method Icons

Payment Icon Set

E-Commerce Icons

E-Commerce Icons

E-Commerce Glossy

E-Commerce Icon Set

E-Commerce Icons

Shopping Icons

Photoshop Tools Icons

3D Glossy Icons

Semi-Transparent Icons

Mobile Icon Set

Cute Blogging Icon Set

Soft Media Icons Vol. 1

Soft Media Icons Vol. 2

Medical Icons

Basal Icons

Social Media Icons

Socializic

Vintage Social Media Stamps

Finance Icons

Onebit

Milky

Toolbar Icons

Trainee Icon Set

Gadget Icons

The Apple Armada

Concave Mac Icons

August Interactive Vector Icons

Retro Icon Set

MimiGlyphs

Pixel UI Icon Set

iconSweets

gCons

Petite Icons

Mini Icons

Pace Icon Set

Finely Crafted Icon Set

Uber – Portfolio WordPress Theme

Whitmans New York

Studio Octopi

Von Dutch

Hiu Denim Co

Casey Britt

Range Rover Evoque

The Amazing Spider-Man

Suit up or Die Magazine

H-Art

My Own Bike

Tim Roussilhe

Tag Interativa

Stephan Rizon

Jalbert Productions International

8 Bis

Mecenat Musical

Marcus Thomas LLC

Mendo

Project Birdman

The Best Designs
Awwwards
CSS Design Awards

If you read a lot of art blogs you’ve probably seen this scenario unfold: One art blog introduces a new artist and all of a sudden over the next week, month, or even year various posts about that artist’s work begin popping up everywhere. And because that first post set off a chain reaction in which every major art blog featured that artist, they are also featured on every middling to small art blog as well. This does not just happen every once in a while – it happens ALL. THE. TIME. In fact, it has to happen. It’s the nature of being a huge source for art/design trends. If another huge source posts something new and exciting all the others have to post about it too or risk being seen as irrelevant and out of the loop.

Maybe this results in boring some readers who check a lot of blogs, but if you are that artist being featured it’s an enormous break. One day you’re toiling away in obscurity and a blog post later millions of people are looking at your work! But how do you get yourself featured? Well, the bad news is that nothing is certain. The first and hardest thing you must do is create work worth sharing. That means you actually have to have produced something special. If not, then this post won’t help you one bit because a blogger at any one of those big blogs will look at your work and move on to something else in about 10 seconds flat. If not faster. But if you have honed your craft, produced a body of quality work, and have a mind to get your work “out there” then the following five tips will help.

1. Get Your Work Online

This is so obvious you’re probably wondering why I even put it on the list, let alone as my number one. Two reasons: (1) It’s nearly impossible to get featured without a gallery of your work online; and (2) I am constantly running into talented artists that I would love to feature but can’t because they don’t have their work up anywhere. So for some reason that is beyond me, this needs to be said. Post your work online.

I’m a big believer that every artist should have a blog, but if I’m honest I have to admit that it’s not absolutely necessary. For some of you the idea of burdening yourself with a blog you have to update on a regular basis sounds about as fun as smashing your head against a wall. I get that, and it’s no big deal. But one of the big benefits to having a blog is that it functions as an online hub. One place where people can go to get updates and find out where else to follow you online such as facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc. It’s also a good place to host a shop, publish announcements for your next gallery show, product release, or anything else along those lines. But I’m getting off point. The point is, you need a place where someone like me can easily snag your work and create a post about it and you.

Any of the following platforms will work:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Tumblr
• Behance
• Flickr
• Cargo Collective
• Dribbble
• YouTube
• Vimeo

Obviously, there are more options out there but these will do for our purposes today. Pick the platform that best fits you and your medium and start publishing your work! It is the first and most important step.

2. Do Personal Projects

Personal projects are great for a number of reasons. They keep you sharp, show your passion for your craft, and allow you room to experiment in ways that you may not be able to on a client project. Here are a few examples of people who started personal projects and wound up creating a name for themselves in the art/design world.

Abduzeedo.com – Fabio Sasso created Abduzeedo in 2006 as a personal blog where he could post the things he was learning as a graphic designer in the form of free tutorials and resources. His blog is now one of the largest art/design blogs in the world. Additionally, in large part due to the attention his blog drew to his work (which is amazing) he is now the senior designer at Google. I’m sure you will agree, that is no small feat.

LostType.com – Riley Cran and Tyler Gaplin began Lost Type as a way to distribute a single typeface they had created. Over time the site has turned into one of the most unique and useful type foundries online. Especially for cash-strapped designers in need of great fonts and typefaces. They are a fantastic example of two guys turning a passion project into a business – and a lot of attention from the design community.

BeautifulSwearWords.com – Theo Olsen – who’s not even 21 until 2014! – began a fun little project on tumblr in which he creates hand drawn versions of swear words. Simple, fun, funny, and man has it got a lot of attention. He’s been featured all over the place for this project, not to mention making the jump to television thanks to a quick feature on Adult Swim.

There are a TON of other great examples like these but you get the idea.

3. Participate In Others’ Projects

Participating in ongoing projects initiated by others can be nearly as beneficial as starting one yourself. It’s basically the same as being featured on a popular blog in and of itself. Here are a few cool projects on my radar that I’ve seen get picked up and distributed in the art/design blogosphere.

• Six Word Story Every Day
• Alphabattle by Lettercult.com
• Beautiful Swear Words (Submissions)
• Lomography competitions & giveaways
• The Sketchbook Project
• And many more.

Most popular blogs are always having competitions and giveaways so take advantage of that. Especially considering that if it’s a blog you would like your work featured on in the future, turning in a noteworthy entry to a competition they took the trouble to organize will put you on their good side and force them to look at your work. Participate as much as you can and if your work is good, people (especially bloggers looking for their next post) will notice.

4. Email Bloggers

Here is the easiest way to get your work noticed by a blogger. Send them an email like the one below.

Subject Line: [Interesting New Project Name]

Body: Hey Nathan,

I just wanted to drop you a link to my new art project.

[link]

Hope you enjoy!

[Name]
[Portfolio/Blog Link]

BOOM. Done. That is all you need. In fact, if you bury your link under an avalanche of words (even if it’s a really awesome explanation of your project) the email will probably go unread and the link un-clicked. The same idea can be executed in blog comments, facebook, twitter, or any other medium for contact.

5. Avoid A Flash Portfolio At All Costs

Piggy-backing off of number four, if I receive an email from someone who would like me to check out their online portfolio and I click on their link only to find that their portfolio is made in flash I will almost always close the window and move on to the next email.

Here’s why: Images in flash do not allow for right-click save nor are you able to drag and drop them into a folder. It’s a given that for just about every blog post an artist’s images will have to be resized, but add to that process a lengthy screen capture session and your portfolio is likely to get passed up. And if you have some sort of animation that cannot be paused the screen capture process just got five times longer because the screen captures have to be in time with the animation. Most bloggers, myself included, will not take the time to take that many screen captures when there are tons of other great resources available where that is not necessary.

That’s not to say it never happens. I’ve definitely gone to the trouble of doing this before for someone who’s work I thought was too good to pass up. I’ve also passed on a bunch of people I thought were worthy of being featured because I had a lot of deadlines that day and couldn’t spare the extra time. So why take the chance that when someone discovers your work and wants to put it in front of millions of people they decide not to because of a dumb flash animation?

Final Thought

As I mentioned above, nothing is certain. These are not “five steps to automatically getting your work on top art/design blogs” but in my experience these tips range from absolutely necessary to at least a solid step in the right direction. If you have any tips/tricks of your own that you would like to share, please feel free to do so in the comments below. Or if you think I’m full of it, I’ll be happy to discuss your objections as well