I fully understand Internet culture. I know that this sort of thing is commonplace. For the most part, I’m pretty laid back. I don’t let much bother me. I know the Internet is filled with jerks; it’s just the way things are. For many years I tolerated them; even cheered them on, but lately, it seems, that the jerks are getting the upper hand.

I read a lot of different design blogs. I most always read through the comments. It’s a great way to see how the community feels about a particular topic. It used to be that when you read through them that you would see a lot of positive comments, a few questions, some constructive criticism, and maybe a couple negative remarks. Today, it seems like the negative remarks are really starting to dominate the discussion and it’s ruining the atmosphere of the community.

I will admit that we rarely receive negative comments on this site. We get a few here and there but nothing that really shocks the conscience. What I have seen however is the tendency of a few people on some other sites to unfairly, and unnecessarily attack an article, tutorial, or author for no good reason.

Sure, there are tons of poorly written articles, and ugly tutorials out there, but does that make it ok to publically flame the article, or in some cases personally attack its author? I think not.

I fully support a public discourse. I think it’s great to voice your opinion and I encourage it on every site I maintain. There is a huge difference however between civil public discourse and malicious, unfair, and insulting statements often made by anonymous readers.

I don’t have any illusions that these types of people will ever stop what they’re doing. I know that they are here to stay. What I will ask however is that the next time you decide to flame an article or tutorial that some one wrote, stop and think before you write. Try to be constructive in your criticism, don’t insult the author personally. Treat them the way you would like to be treated. Remember, we’re not discussing controversial social or economic issues. If we were, I might understand. This is design that we are talking about here. It’s supposed to be fun and educational. There is no need to get upset about a tutorial that some one wrote. If you don’t like it, that’s ok. If you want to voice your opinion, do it. Just be respectful, that’s all.

Over the years, however, Facebook went through a number of changes; new features such as the suggestion tool made the process of finding long-lost friends much easier and Facebook’s incredibly fast growth allowed us to make those connections faster than ever. At first, I thought this was great but what I found however, was that the larger my friend list grew, the less accurate that the suggestion tool became and the fewer friends I ended up finding in the future.

This was because the number of people I knew in the real world was limited and friending a new person on Facebook was no different than crossing them off of a list. For me, Facebook was more about making connections than communication and as I started to make fewer connections, Facebook just started to get boring.

Today, Facebook is more of a chore than something fun to do. Instead of feeling like a treasure hunt, checking my Facebook page seems more like checking my email; more like something I have to do than something I want to do. I log in, quickly browse my feed, maybe check out a photo or two and then log off.

So how does Facebook make the site exciting again? Facebook should start by giving us a way to make new and interesting connections with people we don’t already know. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Facebook to be Twitter, with photos, nor do I want Facebook to become a dating site. Facebook needs to think beyond existing relationships and introduce a way to meet new people that helps build meaningful and positive relationships like we might make in real life.

I don’t pretend to know how this might work but what I do know is this; if Facebook doesn’t do something drastic soon, even the newest members will start to tire of the service. Once that happens, Facebook will start down the path of all the other failed websites.

What do you think? Are you getting bored by Facebook? Let us know how you might fix it.

In this article, I will explain 3 ways in which one can attract a lot of followers. While I am sure that there are exceptions, for the most part, the Twitter Elite fall into 1 of 3 categories; only 2 of which are attainable by most. It is my hope that you guys will use this article not as a roadmap to gain more followers but instead use it to develop realistic goals and benchmarks for your account. That way you can stay focused on your message and your audience, not your popularity.

Celebrities, Major Brands, and (Some) Politicians

If you joined Twitter because you want to be the most-popular user, chances are you’re going to be disappointed. For the most part, the most popular users on Twitter are celebrities, major brands, and occasionally politicians. There are several reasons for this but this is mostly a result of their already high name recognition and popularity. Celebrities, major brands, and politicians have the advantage of huge advertising budgets and mainstream media outlets to help push traffic to their profile page. This is an advantage that the average Twitter user will never have.

Examples

• @levarburton
• @Alyssa_Milano
• @nordstrom
• @BarackObama

Journalists and Bloggers

On Twitter, people tend to follow users that have something interesting and unique to say. Journalists and bloggers are really good at finding and distributing information. So naturally, these types of people attract huge amounts of followers. If you’re looking for a way to attract a lot of followers, starting a blog is probably your best bet. A blog will give you credibility and a home base to build a following. Once you start writing articles and posting them to Twitter, you will find yourself being retweeted more and more often. Eventually, you will find that your follower count will begin to increase. While this process takes a lot of time to reach critical mass, it is probably the most effective way to build a large following.

Examples

• @WSJ
• @mashable
• @claytonmorris
• @huffingtonpost

Retweeters

The third type of person with a lot of followers is the Retweeter. Good Retweeters are hard to find, mostly because because it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and time to find interesting articles and retweet them all day. If you want to become a great retweeter, find a topic of interest, then find some great people to follow; after that, just start retweeting. Don’t fool yourself however, retweeting is exhausting and you may find this role to be tedious at first; but eventually people will start to notice and your following will start to grow. The toughest hurdle you will have to overcome will be distinguishing yourself from a bot. You can do this by being friendly, helpful, and most of all by engaging with other users. Don’t just retweet people, reply to them as well, try posting your own thoughts every now and then to put your retweets into context. This will show your followers that you actually read what you post.

Examples

• @mayhemstudios

In Conclusion

The longer you use Twitter, the more you will realize that it’s not a horse race. Twitter is more than just about how many followers you have. Twitter is about distributing information, engaging others, and most of all, having fun. Most Twitter veterans can spot a person who is just looking for followers a mile away so try not to look desperate in your attempts to build a following. Your first step should be to relax. Then focus on being a responsible member of the community. Once that is done the rest should all fall into place.

One of the biggest complaints from my last post was that there were simply too many RSS feeds listed and that it was a bit overwhelming. With that in mind, I decided to keep this list down to a more manageable number. If your website, however, was left off the list, please feel free to add it in the comments.

Download OPML File

Subscribe to these RSS feeds all at once by downloading this OPML file and importing it into your preferred RSS reader.

Colorburned – Website | RSS

1st Web Designer – Website | RSS

Abduzeedo – Website | RSS

Creative Nerds – Website | RSS

CSS Tricks – Website | RSS

Design Bump – Website | RSS

Design Informer – Website | RSS

Design Instruct – Website | RSS

DesignM.ag – Website | RSS

Design Newz – Website | RSS

Go Media Zine – Website | RSS

Inspiredology – Website | RSS

Instant Shift – Website | RSS

Line25 – Website | RSS

Naldz Graphics – Website | RSS

Noupe – Website | RSS

PSDTUTS – Website | RSS

Six Revisions – Website | RSS

Smashing Magazine – Website | RSS

Spoon Graphics – Website | RSS

Spyre Studios – Website | RSS

The Design Cubicle – Website | RSS

The Die Line – Website | RSS

Tutorial9 – Website | RSS

UX Booth – Website | RSS

Vandelay Design – Website | RSS

Vectips – Website | RSS

VECTORTUTS – Website | RSS

We Are Not Freelancers – Website | RSS

Web Design Ledger – Website | RSS

Web Designer Depot – Website | RSS

Use Facebook for Interaction and Conversation

Facebook’s threaded comments make it a much better tool than Twitter for interacting with your fans. Having all your replies in one place makes conversations much more natural. Try posting general comments or questions on your page; you are likely to see an increased response from your fans.

Don’t Import Notes to Facebook Pages Using RSS

There are a lot of websites that import their site’s RSS feed as a note onto their fan page. This is so Facebook will automatically post new articles as soon as they are published. DO NOT do this! When you import an RSS feed as a note to your Facebook page, it keeps your fans on Facebook rather than sending them to your website. This actually reduces traffic to your site, rather than increase it. The solution is to post links manually into your feed. Unfortunately, there is no automatic way to do this that I know of.

Don’t Overwhelm Your Facebook Fans With Content

Your Facebook Fans are likely to follow fewer people on Facebook than they do on Twitter. This means that your fans can easily be overwhelmed with content from your feed. Try to limit your Facebook Fan Page to 3-5 updates per day.

Sync Your Facebook Status to Your Twitter Account

Facebook will allow you to sync your fan page with your Twitter account; and even though the connection only goes one way, it is a great way to save time if you post identical content on both sites. To link your Facebook Fan Page to your Twitter account click here.

Conclusion

There are many ways to use Facebook to promote your page. Feel free to share any ideas, techniques, or strategies in the comments below.

How to Create a Curious Owl in Illustrator CS4

How to Create a Cute Bunny Vector Character

How to Create a Vector Goldfish in Six Steps

Design a Cute Hamster Avatar

Create a Cute Baby Seal With Illustrator

Create a Cute Little Tiger in Illustrator

Create a Cute Pig Postcard From a Sketch

Create A Vector Art Twitter Bird Character Icon In Adobe Illustrator

OWL DiNG Tutorial

How to Create a Killer Chainsaw Bunny Character

How to Turn a Sketch into a Fat Cat Vector Illustration

How To Create Your Own Vector Cartoon Character

Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Bug Tutorial

Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Snail Tutorial

Create a Cute Panda Bear Face Icon

How to Create a Cute Hippo Character!

Create a Super Happy Octopus Character

A Cow As Chinese New Year Zodiac For 2009

How to Draw a Cartoon Duck , Character illustration

Adobe Illustrator Sketchy Cartoon Tutorial

Sketch To Vector – Bird

A Rat As Chinese New Year Zodiac For 2008

Conclusion

That is it for these tutorials. If you know of any other animal illustration tutorials that we failed to include, feel free to share the link in the comments.

Producing Content

A blog without good content is like a business with a terrible product to sell. If you want your blog to be a successful business you need a great product. Producing a quality product however isn’t easy. Take a look around; there are hundreds of design blogs out there. Competition for the attention of your potential readers is fierce so you will want a product that stands out.

The best way to stand out is to carve out a niche. Don’t try to replicate another blogs success by producing list after list of other design blog’s content. Find a niche in the design industry and exploit it. This is the best way to really make your site stand out from the rest.

The Die Line is a fantastic example of a design blog that has carved out a niche in the industry. The Die Line might not be the most popular website in terms of traffic but it is certainly one of the best in terms of content.

Posting Content

For your blog to be successful you must also post content frequently. You can’t sell a product unless your product is on the shelf for your customers to buy. This means that if you want to sell your blog’s content that you have to put it out there for public consumption. The best design blogs post at least 5 days a week and sometimes even multiple time a day. The science of this is pretty straightforward; the more you post, the more likely your articles are to be seen in RSS, Dugg, Stumbled, or Tweeted. So if you really want your site to take off, you had better start writing!

Abduzeedo is an example of a design blog that posts several times per day and frequent posts are one of the reasons for Abduzeedo’s success.

Recruiting Staff

If you’re going to start posting multiple items on your site per day or per week you may have trouble doing this on your own. This means that in order to keep up that you will definitely need to recruit talented writers to help you out.

There are several ways to recruit writers but I’ve found that the best way to do it is to identify the most talented ones and to go after them. There is no lack of talent here in the design community and you will find that most designers and writers will be happy to contribute to your blog assuming they have the time.

PSDTUTS+ is an excellent example of a design blog that actively recruits writers.

Marketing and Promotion

There are 2 ways that you can increase traffic to your design blog; you can advertise or you can produce traffic organically.

Advertising

Most of us probably aren’t in a position to advertise very much but there are several design blogs out there that have been very successful using advertising to promote their sites. Web Designer Depot is one of the best examples. In fact, I discovered their site through an ad that I saw on another website. If you decide to advertise, try placing your ads strategically. Since advertising is risky and expensive you might want to try placing your ads on smaller, less expensive sites at first and then build up to the larger, more expensive ones.

Giveaways

Since advertising is expensive and most design blogs can’t afford it in the beginning. That means that you will have to find creative ways to promote your site. Giveaways are fantastic ways to attract attention to your site. In the early days of Colorburned, several other design blogs including Bittbox, Abduzeedo, and You the Designer hosted giveaways for us. These giveaways were very helpful in getting us off the ground. More recently, Media Militia has been successful promoting their site on other design blogs by providing big ticket items such as external hard drives to be given away.

The best thing about giveaways however is that you don’t need some one to host them for you. We’ve hosted dozens of giveaways on this site and we’ve found that they are amazing tools for gaining traffic and loyalty amongst the readership.

Social Networking

There are literally dozens of social networking sites out there to help you promote your design blog. My favorites are Twitter and Facebook. In fact, if you want to promote your site in the social networking world, you really need to start there. Don’t be shy, remember you’re running your site like a business so don’t be afraid to tout your articles and achievements. Always speak positively about your website and don’t be afraid to ask your readership for help promoting an article.

Websites like Design Bump, Stumble Upon, and sometimes Digg are great ways to promote your site but also keep in mind that there are several sites (including this one) that offer some form of user created news. Feel free to submit your site to as many of those sites as possible.

Producing Revenue

Producing revenue is the most important aspect of running a design blog like a business. If you’re not producing any revenue than your design blog is just a hobby. There are several ways to produce revenue on a design blog but the 2 most basic ways are through advertising and sales. Most of the popular design blogs out there earn revenue through one or both of those options. Line25 has a great article describing how many of the top design blogs earn revenue.

Banner Ads

One of the best tools I’ve found out there for offering advertising on my site is Buy Sell Ads. Buy Sell Ads is an advertising network that allows advertisers to strategically place banner ads on whichever site they choose. I highly recommend Buy Sell Ads because it will make you money and save you time which is great for a blogger who is constantly short on both.

Giveaways

Every now and then you may receive a request from a company who wants to give away their product on your website. Most design blogs are eager to provide content and products to their readers and will frequently do this without accepting payment. This is a big mistake! While it is nice to have a product to give away on your site, giveaways should be considered advertising and posting giveaways without accepting compensation is bad for business.

Reviews

I use the term review fairly broadly. When I refer to a review, I’m not typically talking about reviewing a product like a mobile phone or graphics tablet. I’m usually referring to a post that simply mentions a website or product. When your blog reaches maturity, you will frequently receive requests from companies who will ask you to mention their products in an article. We consider this sort of thing advertising and charge accordingly.

Sales

There are a lot of design blogs out there who have something to sell. Design blogs such as the GoMediaZine have the Arsenal to promote and others have some sort of premium membership or Wordpress themes to promote. Selling something is a great way to increase revenue without having to increase the burden on your advertisers. The toughest part about sales is figuring out exactly what to sell. Check out Spryre Studios for a great article and earning passive income.

Conclusion

Running a successful design blog is not easy so don’t be frustrated if your early attempts result in failure. Learn from your mistakes and try to turn them into positive experiences. We made several mistakes in the early days of this site; in fact, we’re probably still making some. Just makes sure that you never lose site of your goals and that you are continually reviewing your progress to make sure that you are still on track.

Deciding on a Name

Deciding on the name for Design Informer was very tough. I started by opening up Notepad and typing up different ideas for my blog. The next step was to arrange them descending order, starting from the one that I liked the best.I then went to GoDaddy and started going down the list and typing them in to see if they were available. This part was very frustrating! I typed in domain name after domain name and they were all taken. I also considered buying a domain name that was already in use but I decided not to. After typing in over 50 possible names, I typed in “designinformer” and guess what? It was available. I quickly purchased the domain name and threw up a landing page.

Here are some more tips to consider when choosing a domain name:

1. When choosing a blog name, try to choose something that’s easy to remember. This doesn’t have to be about web design or graphic design. Try to make it catchy. When I chose Design Informer, I wanted a name that would be easy to remember and also a name that sounded good. It’s pretty funny actually, that after I chose this name, some people actually refer to me as ‘DI’ or as the Informer. So remember to keep that in mind when coming up with a name.
2. Is your name scalable? What I mean by this is that if you decided to expand your network/blog, would it be easy to come up with another name? For example, Collis over at Envato has a network of sites called Tuts+ (ie: NetTuts, PSDTuts, ActiveTuts, CGtuts). He also has the marketplaces which are all named after nature, such as CodeCanyon, ThemeForest, GraphicRiver, etc. Make sure to think about this as well when choosing your name. Oh, and don’t forget to purchase these other domains as well that you think will one day be part of your network.
3. By the way, it would also be wise for you to think about how easy it would be to promote your potential name. Design Informer was a catchy name so it was very easy for me to spread the word about it.

Building your Brand

For Design Informer, I already had a logo in mind when I started the process. I wanted to use a speech bubble as part of the logo. I know, it’s a little bit overused but I thought that it would match the name. I also included a spy holding a magnifying glass as a mascot for Design Informer. When I think of the word Informer, I think of a spy, or someone who tells and shares secrets with someone (Informant), hence the Design Informer. So it was very easy for me to create the logo. As far as the website, I went through many different iterations until finally deciding on the current one. Here’s an excellent article about branding basics that every designer should know.

It is very important for a new blog to have its own identity. You don’t want to be just like any other blog out there, but you want to stand out. Here are some tips on doing that.

1. Design your own website. Please don’t use a purchased template for your site. Chances are, there are already other blogs that have the same design, making it much harder for your site to be memorable. I know for a fact when people come to my site, they always remember the large header that I have with the spy as well as the big, bold logo. Don’t have the skills to design and code your own theme? Then shell out some money and invest in one. If you aren’t willing to do this, then you probably won’t be succesful anyway. I learned a lesson a long time ago that where your “treasure” is, there will your “heart” be also. This means that if you are willing to spend money on something, then you will be into it. :)
2. Be very visible in the design community. Get your name out there. If you are a new blog, consider purchasing some advertisements from bigger, well-known blogs. Leave comments on other blogs, but don’t spam. Make sure you leave intelligent, well thought out comments.
3. Use the power of social networking. It is extremely important that you use social networking to aid you in building your brand. Tweet useful articles, interact with other designers, build relationships with your followers. Get people to follow you by being a good resource.

These are just some tips that I have personally used to help me build the Design Informer brand.

Choosing a Direction

The direction of your blog should already be chosen long before you start blogging. There are many different niches out the that you can cater towards. For example, Design Informer is a general graphic design and web design blog, so it is in a very broad field. You can be more specific and start a blog about typography, or about design theory. I would also suggest that your blog’s direction should be something that you have a passion for.

Remember, once you set your blog’s direction and you start establishing your blog, it’s going to be hard to switch it to a different direction so choose wisely. Here’s a great article that deals more with this subject.

Developing Content

We’ve all heard it before. Content is king. If you are going to be successful at blogging, then you will definitely need to have high quality content. Most new bloggers have a lot of article ideas so writing content in the beginning isn’t too difficult. But what happens during the second month of blogging when you have already used up all your great ideas? What do you do then? Where do you get your content? Let me give you just a few things that help me develop content for my blog.

1. I keep a notebook with me at all times. I have a small field notes notebook that I have been carrying around with me to write down ideas and inspiration when they strike. I remember when I first started blogging, I got tons of ideas while I was out and about. I told myself that I would write it down when I got home, but eventually never did. I’m sure the same can be said about others as well. That’s why having a notebook will definitely help you remember your ideas.
2. I spend some time thinking of new ideas. Ideas aren’t always just going to strike you when you start blogging. You are going to have to spend some time churning out ideas from your brain. Once in a while, I just sit there on my desk, think of new ideas, and then I write them down. Also, it helps that I have a long drive to work everyday, so I have lots of time to think about what to write next.
3. Read other blogs.There are some blogs that I visit frequently and read so I can get some ideas. There have been plenty of times that I have read an article, and at the end of it, I received multiple ideas for blog posts, all by reading a single article.

There are lots of other great articles online that you can read to help you with producing high quality content. Now that I have given you ideas on generating new content, here are a few pointers on keeping the quality of your content at a high level.

1. Don’t just compile a list post that has no value. Add your own spin to it. Now, I’m not going to elaborate on this much as there have been tons of articles that were written this past year about this, but don’t just pump out a list post because you are out of ideas. If you are going to do a list on the “50 Best Photoshop Tutorials” then at least describe each tutorial to us. Tell us why you chose that tutorial to be on the list. Really, I’m sick and tired of these people who are doing list posts after list posts so they can get another post written.
2. Learn how to spell. Please do this for the sake of your readers. I know that English is not everyone’s first language, but there are hundreds of spell-checkers out there that you can use.
3. Vary your content. I already mentioned lists earlier, but try to mix it up with articles, tutorials, inspiration posts, freebies, interviews and resources.
4. Do something different. Put a unique spin on things. Let me give you an example. Most blogs do some type of interview. Let’s use Chris Spooner for this example. Chris has been so gracious to allow people to interview him multiple times, but more often than not, these interviews are all the same. They all ask the same questions. Where do you live? Mac or PC? How did you start? I wanted to be different so I decided to start a series on Design Informer called “Ask the Expert.” This series of interviews all focus on one topic and that topic alone. I’ve also had tremendous positive response from the readers about doing these types of interviews. It’s a unique spin on something that blogs have been doing for a long time.

Growing your Readership

Now that we have a name, a brand, a direction, and good, high-quality content, people should automatically start flooding the site right? WRONG!

While all of these are good, there is still much work to be done. Your blog won’t grow just because you have great content and a great design. Let me give you a few tips to generate some buzz around your blog and how to grow your readership.

1. Take advantage of social media. By far, Twitter has been the most profitable for me. I’ve received tons of new readers through Twitters. Interact with people and build relationships with them. This is the best way to grow your readership.
2. Write an article for another blog, especially one that is already established.
3. Comment on other blogs. Don’t spam please, but leave genuine, well thought-out comments and people will notice you. I’ve also acquired readers using this method.

There are a lot more ways to grow your readership, but those three are what worked for me the best. By the way, don’t get discouraged if your blog doesn’t grow rapidly. Keep working at it and you’ll eventually start to gain more readers. I can sum up the magic formula for growth in two words. Are you ready for this? Hard work!

Earning an Income

This is an area that I am in no way an expert, but I have had some success with this in the three months of blogging. Currently, all my advertisement spots are taken. In the beginning, I would suggest not placing any ads in your site at all. Some would be against this, but this is what I did. I didn’t want to have lots of blank spots saying Advertise Here on my blog. An alternative would be to use affiliate ads such as Theme Forest, Woo Themes, etc. until you are able to acquire some advertisers. (Oh, by the way, I currently only use BuySellAds but I’ve heard of others that are great as well.)

Also, I would suggest to start off at a low price. In the beginning, I was a little discouraged cause after two months, I didn’t even have 1 advertiser. Then one day, I woke up, I got my first one. I was so excited. This happened for about 5 straight days. I’m not sure how they heard about my site, but all I can say is this. If you have good content that draws people, chances are, you will probably draw some advertisers as well.

Here are two articles that you can read to further help you earn an income on your blog.

• Selling Ad Space: Tips from Top Design Blog Owners
• From the BuySellAds Blog
• Which ad network should work best for your blog?
• Interview with Todd Garland of BuySellAds.com

Again, I just want to thank Grant for allowing me to share some of my experiences and lessons that I have learned from blogging.

I Want My Mojo

At times, you will find it hard to stay motivated with the client’s latest demands changes with their design and it can easily deter you from all future projects along that path. As a result you will continue to feed that ‘lazy’ voice that will say things like “Maybe you should hold back on designing for a while” and “Take a break for a month” to avoid further annoyances.

It is in that moment that you need to reactivate the activity and reclaim your ‘mojo’. Keep working on that clients design and then make contact with a few more businesses to create opportunities for your next projects. It is in that activity that you will find your ‘mojo’ to continue along the design path with a greater strength and with fresh ideas.

Spread it Out

By increasing your activity (e.g. jobs, meetings etc) you will be spreading out your workload across various activities, which will in turn increase the amount of feedback you will receive. Instead of just having one client with one project and waiting for their satisfaction with the completion of the project; spread out your client/activity base so you are not waiting on one person. The more projects you have going on at the one time the better your chances to be able to take any criticism and work with it, without it heavily affecting your motivation.

Keep it Real

By adding more variation to your workflow, you will inevitably keep things much fresher in your mind and have the ability to change much easier; making your current and future projects a bit more exciting. However, you do need to keep it real and only add extra activity without pushing aside a current project that needs urgent attention.

Streamline the Flow

With up to ten projects on the go at any one time I am continually challenged to create unique pieces of work, which in turn fuels my motivation to keep going. It also keeps my mind busy which helps streamline the flow of information and helps me process my thoughts into workable ideas much easier. When you have a lot of new things going on at the one time you will constantly be in ‘the zone’ and your ideas will soon flow like a water park speed slide.

Conclusion

Motivation is the fuel that will continue to push your designs further allowing you to reach out to bigger and better opportunities. It is with activity that our motivation will thrive. Keep your activity pumping by expanding your clientele, workload or projects, and allow yourself the chance to stay in ‘the zone’ more often.

While the above message may be simple, it is very effective in creating a powerful design portfolio and constant excitement throughout the design process. I wish you all the best with your endeavours.

I took my sweet time trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to switch from PC to Mac and during that time I was able to do quite a bit of research on whether or not it was possible to transfer my Windows license to Mac. To be honest, I didn’t find a whole lot of information regarding this topic except for 1 inaccurate blog post on Adobe’s website that claimed that a transfer would be free – which was not the case.

Leading up to this I called Adobe to confirm some of this information. What I learned was this: I COULD NOT transfer my Windows version of CS3 to Mac CS3 but I COULD transfer my CS3 license to a CS4 license. All I would have to do is sign a document stating that I would destroy my Windows copy and never use it again, send that document to the people at Adobe, and pay them the regular upgrade price of $599. Seems easy right? Well, it was, sort of.

Once you’ve come to the realization that you are going to have to pay a lot of money to do this, your first step should be to call Adobe Sales and ask them to process your order. If you’re in the US or Canada call:

1-800-585-0774
Monday-Friday
from 5:00am to 7:00pm
Pacific Time.

Once you’ve got them on the phone. Tell them what you want to do. They will want your serial number. If you registered it, they should have it on file. Once that is done they will ask for your credit card number to place the order. Then, they will place your order on hold until you have submitted their LOD Form. To do that you will have to print it, sign it, scan it, and then email it to them by logging onto their site. At that point they will be able to process your order but in order for that to happen it will have to be approved by some one in customer service.

I don’t like to wait, so after I submitted my form, I called them to see if it was received.  They said that it was but the sales office could no longer help me so they transferred me to customer service (make sure you get the number) then you will have to speak to some one from there. They will tell you that a Senior Customer Service agent will need to approve the request and that it will take a few days to do. Don’t take their word for it. Do your best to push the order along. Remember, you’re paying them $599. They should be in a hurry to do this.

Eventually my order went through. I received an email telling me my order had been processed and another email telling me that my order had been shipped. Once that happened, I received my copy within 2 days. To make your version of Adobe CS4 for Mac work they will send you a full-version of the software, not an upgrade. That is why they make you jump through so many hoops.

In all, I was pretty happy with the process. It did take a while to make the calls and fill out the forms but it was worth the $1200 I saved by upgrading instead of buying a new copy. Anyhow, I hope this article has helped put any of you potential Mac users at ease. Good luck and have fun with your new computer and software!