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.

Wendell, thank you very much for participating in this interview. Can you begin by telling us a little about yourself? Where are you from? How did you get your start as a designer?

Hello Grant, and thank you very much for the time and opportunity, I really appreciate it! My name is Wendell Fernandes, and I am from Brazil originally. I came to the U.S. in 1999 with my family when I was just 15 years old. Drawing has always been a huge part of my life. When I was young, I used to draw cartoons, portraits, paintings and even caricatures all the time. In fact, it used to get me into a lot of trouble. Later in life, I realized my passion for communicating ideas visually and soon became interested in graphic design. I can honestly say God has granted me a great gift, to express myself in many ways and “creating” is a big one among them all.

For those of us who have never heard of you before; can you tell us about some of the projects that you have worked on?

Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to work on some great projects. In the early days I worked for an email marketing company called e-Dialog, Inc. During that time, I had a chance to design and build emails for, Nike, Citizens Bank, Avis & Budget, Discover Financial, Nintendo, and even The NFL.

After e-Dialog, Inc., I was called to be one of the main User Interface designers for the new Monster.com. This was a tremendously challenging and rewarding. My responsibility was to design new icons and styles for all of the major components throughout the site. During that time, I worked closely with some fantastic people including Pablo Sanchez, Kelly Baker, Blair Gyllenhaal and Nicole Zassenhaus.

In 1999 I started Dellustrations, a small design firm located in Massachusetts. Since then we’ve had some good and bad times but some how we have managed to stay afloat and survive. I direct a couple of designers and developers and over the years we’ve had the opportunity to work with several large corporations including DivX, and DELL.

Wow! That’s a pretty impressive list of clients! The UI for Monster.com is very impressive. Can you tell us a little about the process of landing a position like that? I suspect that position wasn’t exactly posted on their website (or was it?). Had you been in touch with the people with Monster beforehand?

Thank you very much Grant. Landing a position to work at a company like Monster.com is not easy. I have always felt that “the best [things] always come to those who wait” but you could easily say that I was in the right place at the right time. I was blessed to have a few contacts within the Monster organization and eventually they called on me to be one of the 3 designers to work on their site’s visual interface. In the end, we generated over 600 PSD files in a 6 – 8 month period.

To land a position like the one at Monster, I suggest the following:

1. Maintain a network of friends and professionals.
2. Don’t turn down jobs, take them, share knowledge, network, and get it done. If you don’t know how to do something, find some one who does.
3. Never stop learning.
4. Put God before your work, he is faithful and will grant wishes that you might never have expected.

600 PSD files? That’s incredible! Did you have to produce them all by yourself or was this a group effort? Can you tell us a little about the approval process for this project? How were layouts submitted and approved? Who had the final say?

It really was a lot of work from the beginning. On my first day, I had one initial meeting to get to know the other designers that I would be working with. From that point on, we both began designing mockups non-stop as every Thursday we had deliverables due. Both Kelly and myself produced a lot of the visuals, each with different tasks and different sections to touch on. I was lucky enough to be the one who got to work on the home page and setting the styles and structure the first week. After that we began rolling out visuals portraying that style. This process lasted for about 4 months. After that we brought on a third designer, Nicole Zassenhaus.

The whole process took a lot from us, and we had to work closely with the developers to get our ideas across. We encountered road blocks every day. There was a constant need for outsourcing small details, and when we found that we couldn’t find the correct person, or business to work with us, we would do the work ourselves. It was during this time that I learned how to design icons.

I’m always amazed at how much work and thought goes into a project like that. It’s even more impressive to hear stories like yours where you literally jump right into the project on day one. It must have been a bit overwhelming at first. Any tips on how to cope with the stress and pressure?

Every project has it’s highs and lows. Here are 10 tips to handling the stress and pressure in an environment like Monster and any other major business.

1. Use your time wisely. A day has only 8 to 9 hours, don’t waste any of it.
2. Be open and listen. Even if you know the answer it doesn’t mean you can’t listen. Many times we tend to lose patience when listening to instructions we already know. It is much better to listen than to ignore.
3. Only go to meetings when it’s 100% necessary, don’t waste time in meetings just because you were invited. Remember you’re on a deadline.
4. Take every break you are allowed to. Designers MUST take time to themselves to recover and reload.
5. Take a 5 minute walk throughout the day.
6. DO NOT leave small tasks for tomorrow if you know you can do them today, they build up.
7. Be professional in your conversations, meetings, phone, and most importantly your email and chat windows.
8. Take your boss and coworkers to lunch once in a while and break the ice of the “workaholic” environment.
9. Always organize your work area! You wouldn’t believe how that can influence your day-to-day work.
10. Instead of dark and heavy desktop wallpapers, try something light, subtle and calm. This is the last 10% of your stress free work environment.

Earlier you mentioned that you learned how to design icons while working on the Monster.com project. Since then, you have done icon work for companies like Dell and websites like Smashing Magazine. In your opinion, what makes a good icon and when is the best time to use them?

Icons are something that will never get old in my opinion. Even though there are millions of icon sets/styles to choose from we can still have a hard time finding that “one” icon to represent what we want. What makes an Icon work is not just a good design. An icon will only work if it conveys correctly what is meant to. There are a lot of designers out there, and many are very good designers, but many of them lack the creativity to convey the right message inside a 16×16 space. When icons were first introduced, they were meant to facilitate the content flow, navigational issues and we must remember that.

I agree. Icon design is an extremely important aspect of a good user interface but I have found that it is an aspect of our industry that very few designers ever master. Can you walk us through the steps that you take to create an effective icon?

I use either Illustrator or Photoshop, sometimes both. Over the years Adobe has really delivered great products and Illustrator and Photoshop are perfect for icon design. For some insight into how I approach icon design check out this tutorial that I wrote.

Wow! That’s a really nice tutorial. Thank you for sharing it! Can you tell us a little about your workflow? Do your icons usually start out as a sketch or do you just jump right into Illustrator or Photoshop?

Work flow differs from client to client. Sometimes we can get pretty aggressive and design right off the bat but most of the times we take our time and discover our clients’ needs to the fullest before going digital. It assures quality and commitment. Below are the steps that we take for most of our icon design clients.

1. Discovery: We speak to our clients regarding every aspect of the project. This includes questions like; where will the icons be used, motives, deadlines, priorities, etc.
2. The Icon List: This is when we request a small to-do icon list from our clients regarding the icons they need and organized by priority.
3. The Sketch: After discovering the needs we move into the sketch process. This is where we will define the angle, position and direction for every icon. This is also the time where they can see them and make comments, thus final revisions.
4. The Vector Magic: We move into the digital and delivery of final products.

This process usually takes no more then 2 weeks depending on the amount of icons needed and direction. Our record was 120 icons in two weeks, so we can handle quite a few icons and adapt to our clients’ need.

That’s pretty amazing! 120 icons in two weeks is crazy! What would you say is the most popular use for your icons? The web, print, or software applications?

Our icons are usually used for all types of mediums, Web Applications, Print Design, Software Applications even personal blogs or small engagements. We try to get them all across the board and deliver to any client. No job is too small.

Wendell, thank you so much for participating in this interview! If my readers would like to contact you for design work how can they get in touch?

Grant, thank you very much for the time and the opportunity to share my experience to the world. Contacting us is easy. You can visit us at dellustrations.com and contact us by sending us an email to info [ at ] dellustrations.com. If clients needs a quick logo design, we offer a great service for logo design at logoexpedite.com. Once again, thank you very much!

Q: In our last interview we spoke a lot about how your company Go Media grew and how your blog contributed to its success. Can you start off by telling us a little about what you and Go Media have been up to over the last several months?

A: A lot has been going on the last several months.  Go Media is going through a bit of a transition period right now.

1. We also held a staff meeting regarding Go Media’s current branding and how it’s affected by the popularity of the Arsenal and GoMediaZine.  The past 2 years we saw the Arsenal and Zine reach a very large audience, yet despite growing from 6-14 staff members, Go Media has not seen a noticeable increase in design service revenue. Design services and consulting with brands has been Go Media’s driving force since day one.  However, with so much focus and attention pointed at the Arsenal and Zine, the services side of our business has been overshadowed. We’re refocusing on working with brands to establish their identity in their marketplace and give them forward-thinking solutions for print and web.  We’re also trying to build a solid portfolio for film industry work. We’re well-known for the work we’ve done for bands and fashion brands, but the film industry is harder to break into.  But we’ve made a few cracks so to speak by working with Cleveland Cinemas – the umbrella brand that covers the best and most well known indie movie theaters in Northeast Ohio.  I’ve personally worked with some independent filmmakers on some poster and packaging designs and we’re also establishing a relationship with a well known poster company in the UK that could yield some future work.
2. One of those steps is to rebrand the Arsenal and strengthen its position in the design community.  We want to change the way people view stock art and redesign it to help reflect our current beliefs and values.  The Arsenal is not about us anymore.  It’s not the clichéd “kick ass” art that Go Media designers create to let other people use.  It’s more about all design resources and helping out your fellow designer.  We’re just about ready to dive into programming the new Arsenal 3.0, which my colleague Adam Wagner has been working almost exclusively on for the past 3 months.  We’re excited to see it come to life.
3. And lastly, we hired George Coghill as editor of the GoMediaZine.  The quality and quantity of the zine wasn’t keeping up with the demand. As Go Media’s internal priorities shifted back to working with brands, our time to write articles declined.  As anyone knows, you can’t do everything all the time.  George was a stand-up guy who impressed me with his thoughtful comments on our site and his desire to help the community.  He understood what it takes to manage a blog the size of the zine and he fit right in.  He’s actually been assigning Go Media staff to write quick tips and tutorials.  As well as scouting for talented freelance writers.  So far so good!

Q: Whoa! You guys have been busy! It seems like you guys have some exciting things planned for the future. You mentioned that you felt that the Arsenal and Zine were beginning to overshadow the design services side of the company. How has hiring a full-time editor of the Zine helped you to improve the design-side of the business? Do you find that you now have more time to work with clients and pursue new leads?

A: It has helped because Adam and I no longer have to worry about what content will be posted on the zine.  We no longer have to spend time editing other people’s posts or having that sinking feeling when we get busy and let the zine fall behind.

It’s only been about two months, but we’ve already seen the difference.  Our design sales are up for sure.  There are other factors of course, but hiring an editor has certainly given us more time.

Q: Earlier you mentioned that you were attempting to build a solid portfolio for the film industry. Can you tell us a little about your experience working with the film industry? Who have you worked with so far? Why did you decide that this was the type of work that you wanted to do?

A: I’ve been trying to work for films because I’m actually super passionate about movies.  I follow directors just like I do bands.  I could go on and on about why I love film and who my favorite directors are.  If you wanna chat directors, get at me on twitter .  There’s no reason I shouldn’t be designing for film.  It’s just a matter of getting the clients.

How to break into the film industry? It’s definitely not as easy as the music industry.  The music industry is readily hiring freelancers and it’s easy to find bands to work with.  From my experience, there are dozens of companies in Hollywood that do most of the posters, key art, and packaging for mainstream feature films.  I freelanced for Cimarron Group back in 2006 before I started at Go Media, but it was my first year freelancing and my web skills were not up to par.  I eventually did a very small static web site for a local filmmaker for a site that’s no longer online.  That was actually the last film job I had for a long time.

A few years go by and I see my portfolio of apparel designs, band work, and fashion brand work grow and grow.  Ironically, the jobs keep coming in. My best work has been for apparel and bands, so it’s no wonder I keep getting the work. But I’m bound and determined to get loads of film design work in 2010.

How to land a design job in the film industry? It’s not possible to quit Go Media and get a day job in Hollywood.  The goal is to bring film jobs into Go Media.  Here are some things that I’m doing – and you should too, if you want to get film poster design work.

1. For starters, get your work seen by film people.  Right now, it’s mostly other designers checking my portfolio.  Network and be friendly on the net with people who are already doing this kind of work.  Show anyone and everyone your portfolio.
2. Do fake movie posters for your portfolio.  Clients want to see that you understand their business.  Even if you do, it should be apparent on your site.  Also, I put a call to action button requesting film poster design work specifically.  That will help even more if I can get traffic from film people.
3. I am establishing solid relationships with indie filmmakers that I know like Jason LaRay Keener from Alabama who makes hauntingly beautiful films.  You can see an influence from Harmony Korine or Werner Herzog in those experimental shorts.  I did the illustration and package design for their debut  “film EP” that you can buy on their site Reining Nails.  Also, I’m working on key art for a new documentary called Pinned about high school wrestling by director Pat Norman.  Think “Spellbound” but with wrestling.  The movie will be submitted to all the major festivals in the US including Sundance.   That could be great exposure if it makes it that far.  Besides, I really, really love working individually with the directors to get their vision onto a poster.  It’s also fun to meet them personally and chat about what inspires them.
4. I’ve found that the more noise I make about doing film design work, the more attention it brings.  People need to know you’re out there!  This past year I’ve done work for Fright Rags – a horror themed clothing brand that gets inspiration from cult films.  I designed t-shirts for Eraserhead and Phenomena, two of my favorites.
5. Work with an established poster design outfit. If you have a style that is new or different, you’ll likely get some overflow work.  We have been building a solid relationship with the poster design studio All City Media in the UK.  We did some pitches for the film Amores Perros last year and we’re participating in their gallery opening in the fall.  I’ll be doing a poster for Old Joy and a few other designers are going to do posters for Funny Games and American Splendor.  There is no brief or pay involved, but it’s a chance to express our ideas about a film and have them be printed and shown in a gallery.  Perfect opportunity here.
6. Work with local theaters! We’ve done a couple pro bono film projects and worked out trades with Cleveland’s premiere indie movie theater company Cleveland Cinemas.  We worked on an Alfred Hitchcock directors series and did a few posters for their summertime Cult Film Series.  Our relationship has been evolving and we’re now doing the grand opening poster for the new Capitol Theatre opening on Cleveland’s west side. You never know what could happen!

Those are ways to get more film jobs.  I still have a long way to go, but it’s a start!

Q: When most people think of working in the film industry the first thing that comes to mind are the movies. The film industry is more than just movies and independent films. You can also find work in the television industry as well. Would you guys be interested in working with the television industry as well?

A: You’re right, the TV industry is closely related.  There is certainly an interest in doing this kind of work, as we’ve actually already been involved to some extent.  We developed the logo and various motion pieces the A&E reality show Tattoo Highway (video) and we’re starting to get involved with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lake Erie Monsters for some animation work.  We’re stoked on that!

I think it’d be stellar to do work for HBO, MTV, etc.  In fact, a lot of those networks including Comedy Central, FOX, and A&E have purchased Arsenal stock resources in the past, so we’re heading in that direction.

TV is also hard to break into.  I can’t really explain an easy way to tell people how to get involved.  The Tattoo Highway show resulted from an inquiry from their production company Juma Entertainment about some of the motion packs we created.  In the end, they wanted a custom title sequence.  We worked back and forth on ideas for the opener and spent a lot of time in After Effects.  In the end, the approved opener that aired was more of the traditional “cold open” that you see on the show now.

I don’t know of any independent TV producers.  In fact, I’m not even aware of an underground TV industry – partly because I never looked for it, but I’m sure it’s there.  A lot of this content from DIY producers is ending up on the web as it’s not easy to get your show aired on actual television.  There is probably plenty of art and design work that can be done for indie TV producers.  You just have to find them!

Q: One thing that I think a lot of people forget about it is just how big the film industry is and how much work typically goes into producing a film. While movie posters and on-screen graphics are probably the most visible and well-known aspects of graphic design for the film industry there is also a lot of design that goes into creating the props for a show. For instance, if a movie depicts a fake corporation; some one has to do the branding or make a sign for it. Have you ever thought of doing this sort of work for the film industry or are you mainly interested in designing posters and motion graphics?

A: That’s very true.  I’ve really focused on doing the key art for films, but set related graphic design work would still be a welcome project.  That’s something that would likely result after getting more exposure and experience with the directors and production studios, not so much the marketing agencies.  We could model ourselves after a company like Art Machine who does an amazing job at providing a full gamut of design and interactive media to the film industry.  We’re not there yet, but it’s something to look forward to.

Q: Art Machine’s client list is quite impressive! Do you think it’s possible for a small or mid-sized studio to compete on that level? What steps is Go Media taking to get there?

A: To be perfectly honest, I don’t think it’s possible for a small to mid-sized studio to compete on that level.  Not yet.  If you want to do a marketing campaign for a major Hollywood release, you’ve got a snowballs chance in hell of landing the project over a company like Art Machine.  However, certain studios will look for “boutique” firms like us for work on more independent projects.  In my limited experience, big blockbusters are like big corporate brands.  They do not trust their millions of dollars in the hands of a smaller studio.  It’s too much of a risk.  Companies like Art Machine have been around for decades and are equipped to handle the large scale of such projects.  Companies like Go Media are better suited to handle indie projects with smaller budgets on a much smaller scale. Our best chance to work on Hollywood films is to become a freelance partner with a big agency like Art Machine. We’d be hired because of our different approach, skill set, and our knowledge of the counter cultural underground.  We’d be responsible for some of the creative and technical decisions, but Art Machine would be responsible for carrying out the campaign.  Right now, Hollywood is a little out of reach for the small to mid-sized studio.  I believe that will change in the next 10-20 years as independent film becomes more profitable and studios are willing to take more risks.

Q: I think you just dashed the hopes of thousands of my readers who would some day love to work on a campaign for a blockbuster film. So if it’s not possible for a small to medium-sized firm to head up a marketing campaign for a big Hollywood release, then can you recommend any steps that a small firm could take to land a freelance partnership deal with a larger, more established company?

A: Haha, my apologies for dashing your readers’ hopes!  Let my skepticism be your motivation!  I’m willing to be proven wrong in this case, as I’d love for us small to mid-sized firms to have more of a role in the marketing for feature films.  Like you said, if you DO want to work on a blockbuster film campaign, you’re best chance is to get a job with a company like Art Machine, Cimarron Group, BLT, or any of those.  They mostly do work in-house, but I know they hire freelancers from time to time.  Here are steps you can take to increase your chances of getting a job or freelance project from those studios.

1. Load up your portfolio site with posters and film related art. This quote from onesheetdesign.com says “Create poster concepts on your own, using whatever source materials you can find. Showing film posters in your portfolio, whether you’ve done work in the industry or not, will make a good impression. A rule about portfolios: Show what you WANT to be doing, not necessarily what you have been doing.” I couldn’t have said it any better myself.
2. On a related note, you need to write about what you want to be doing.  On my site, am pretty explicit that I want to do film posters.  I will be writing on my site a lot more about the films I see and what moves me in that regard.
3. Email, cold-call, and mail in your portfolio to all the studios.
4. Communicate and network with people who work at those companies on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in.  Some of them have blogs – subscribe, follow them, comment and participate.  But don’t be creepy or a leech.  Don’t be desperate, but be proactive and involved and offer sound advice.  Remember, they might not be looking to hire and those companies are not charities.  They aren’t just giving jobs away.  But it helps to stay in their line of sight.
5. Sometimes you might be “lucky” and get asked to do some free work.  From my experience, these companies like to “test the waters” by throwing you a pro bono job on a pitch or unimportant side project they have going.  They just want to see how you work.   Half the battle is being reliable.  Don’t be a flakey artist and flake out. You need to stand out and be professional.  Obviously, you need to have the skills – but these studios also want to see that you are smart and serious.

If none of that works, make your own films!  Seriously.  Make your own films and design the marketing materials for them.  Find friends who dabble in filmmaking and get them to make movies too.  Then do the posters for their films.  Start a DIY film collective! One great example is Red Bucket Films.  A group of post-college kids making movies outside the mainstream.  Yet they’re doing the festival thing and getting noticed.  Josh Safdie’s film The Pleasure of Being Robbed premiered at SXSW and then later went on to the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes.  Their branding for their film collective is outstanding.  It’s my guess they have complete control over it and do it their way.  That could be you and your friends!

Q: You’ve certainly provided us with a ton of information regarding graphic design for the film industry. I only have 1 more question for you. Can you recommend any websites where my readers can go to find inspiration for their next movie or film poster so that they can start adding items to their portfolio?

A: To find inspiration for your next movie poster, definitely check out the IMP Awards.  Other sites worth looking are Wrong Side of the Art,  PosterWire, and of course FFFFound.  Thanks Grant, I appreciate your inquisitiveness!!

To learn more about Jeff Finley you can visit his personal website, follow him on Twitter, or visit his company’s website.

Grant: John, thanks for participating in this interview. Can you begin by telling us a little about your background? Who are you? Where are you from? How did you get your start as a designer?

John: Thanks for having me! My name is John Campbell, I am the 26 year old entrepreneur and self taught web developer that runs DesignBump.com. I started building websites about 6 years ago and have been working as a freelance web developer specializing in Drupal for the last 2. I just moved from Florida to the DC/Maryland area where I am finishing my degrees in engineering. While I am no designer right now, I started being interested in (and trying to learn) design when I first got a hold of Photoshop and realized all the wonderful things it could do.

Grant: Tell us a little about your website, Design Bump; what is it all about and why did you create it?

John: Like I said, I am no designer. I started Design Bump as a way for me to save and share the kind of links I was using to learn new skills. At the time Design Float was the only real site doing anything similar, but having worked with Pligg (the software powering Design Float) in the past, I knew its flaws and limitations. I decided to create something that had more potential. I wanted Design Bump to not only be a place to share great content but also a place to connect with like minded people and showcase work as well.

Grant: One of the great things about the design community is its diversity. Everybody brings something different to the table. Some of us are amazing web designers, others are fantastic illustrators. Since you seem to shy away from being labeled a designer, would you say that you are more of a code monkey? If so, which languages are you most comfortable with?

John: I wouldn’t say I shy away from being called a designer but I think it would be unfair to group myself with the talent currently in the community right now. I primarily work with XHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript/jQuery/MooTools. The things that you can accomplish on the web right now with those tools alone still blows my mind.

Grant: I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes I’m absolutely amazed by some of the talented work that I’ve seen by some in the community. There are times when I see some of their work and wonder how I can call myself a designer too. In the end, I realized that everyone has a place and that I should be focusing on my strengths, not my weaknesses.

I noticed that Design Bump got an overhaul several months ago and then was redesigned again within the last several weeks. The new design looks great! Can you tell us a little about why the site changed its appearance so many times within such a short period of time?

John: The very first design was a retro style look I tried out for fun. As the site grew I decided I had to change the main layout from 3 columns to 2 columns in order to simplify the site and implement some usability suggestions I had received from the community. In doing so I also changed the overall design in hopes of adding to the brandability of the site.

It wasn’t long after the second revision that visitors really started to increase and I realized if I wanted to have a site aimed towards designers it should probably look a little more professional. I knew I needed help. So, after looking around within the community, I contacted Chris Spooner of blog.spoongraphics.co.uk to help me out. I basically said, “Help me make a site you would want to visit” and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I don’t plan on changing the appearance again anytime soon.

Grant: Good choice using Chris! Chris is an excellent designer and really did a fantastic job. Did he do the CSS/XHTML as well? Or was that where you came in? I always do my best work when I collaborate with designers who compliment my skill sets. Did you find that you worked better with some one like Chris at your side?

John: Chris was a great designer to work with and I can’t recommend him enough. A great thing about Chris is he knows his way around CSS/XHTML, which I think gives him an edge when he is thinking about the end design and how it might be coded. I enjoy working on my own sites as much as possible though, so I did the CSS/XHTML myself. I prefer to know exactly how the site is laid out and what makes it tick without looking through someone else’s work. On top of that, navigating around multiple Drupal pages/templates can be tough and time consuming if you haven’t done it a lot, especially if you have a lot of custom PHP calls in the site that require styling like I do.

Grant: Earlier, you mentioned that Design Float was developed with Pligg and that it suffered from some limitations as a result. What kind of limitations does Pligg have and how has developing Design Bump with Drupal made your site better?

John: As anyone that visits Design Float regularly has seen, Pligg has some serious security flaws that allow spammers almost unrestrained access to the site. Drupal, while not perfect, has a community large enough to quickly and reliably patch any problems that may arise. The other huge difference for me was the large number of open source contributed modules for Drupal that allow for the site to do almost anything without having to write a ton of custom code. If down the road I want to add enough functionality to make Design Bump a full fledged social networking site like Facebook (not that I will or want to) I can easily do so.

Grant: Since you unveiled the latest version of Design Bump several weeks ago you have been busily adding new features. What recent changes have you made to the site and what changes can we expect to see rolled out in the future?

John: Aside from the obvious design and layout changes, Design Bump now has a blog, better user profiles, and external voting buttons for bloggers to add to their sites. Recently I have been spending most my time fixing all the little bugs that pop up and improving the sites performance. In the future I was considering adding more ways for the community to interact through the site. Maybe a forum, private messaging, or a buddy list. A lot of it depends on what the users ask for.

Grant: Voting sites like Digg and your own are sometime criticized for being either rigged or too difficult to get your articles onto the front page. I will be the first person to say that I routinely ask for Diggs, Bumps, Moos, or Stumbles for my content. How does the voting system for Design Bump work? How many votes does it take to get to the front page? Are there any other factors at play? Why do links drop off the front page? Do you feel that it is unfair for users to ask for votes via Twitter or some other service?

John: The voting system at DB currently is set to allow any story, whose URL hasn’t been flagged as spam, to reach the front page with 6 votes. I have also been working on a system that gives votes from proven users more weight, so sometimes stories with less votes will also make the front page. Stories very rarely drop off the front page unless they have been flagged as spam. As for asking for votes, I think that is what people should do. The community as a whole decides what content is best so the more people voting the better!

Grant: That’s very interesting. I’m glad I’m not the only one who believes asking for votes is ok to do. Before I wrap things up can you name 3 people in the design community that you have a lot of respect for and would like to see interviewed on this website?

John: I have been interacting with a lot of different people within the design community recently so it is hard to narrow it down. When I first got started in web design I probably looked up to Collis Ta’eed more than anyone else. He has continued to do some amazing things and you have to wonder if he ever sleeps. Chris Spooner and Jacob Gube are two others that I have enormous respect for. The both are incredibly well rounded and talented on multiple fronts. They are also really nice down to earth guys.

Grant: How can my readers connect with you? Are you on Twitter? What’s your screen name?

John: I’m on Twitter @designbumped and you can subscribe to Design Bump through Twitter as well @DesignBumpRSS. Other than that I can always be reached through my site’s contact form! Thanks for interviewing me Grant!

Chris, thanks for being a part of this interview. Can you start off by telling us a little about your background? Where are you from? How did you get your start as a designer?

I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, and have been a designer for around 8 years. I started my career as the webmaster for a small Christian college called St. Louis Christian College, where I gained a ton of experience dabbling in everything from print (newsletters, posters, t-shirts, brochures) to custom content management systems and web infrastructure.

I then took a position as an e-commerce web designer for Network Solutions designing a wide range of storefronts for clients on our e-commerce platform, consulting clients on best practices for e-commerce and optimal user experience.

I moved on to a position as a front-end developer for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, working with various websites and web applications and mainly with Enterprise.com.

Over the past 10 months or so, I started blogging on Chris-Wallace.com, releasing WordPress themes, and building a few of my own web projects aimed mainly at aggregating great content for designers: designmoo.com, mixcss.com, mashedjobs.com, and alldevjobs.com.

Tell us a little about your company Walmedia. How long have you been in business? What services do you offer?

Walmedia is a one-man web design studio that works with a purposefully short client list I’ve built up over the years. My goal is to help startups from day one build a successful and profitable web presence by avoiding some of the pitfalls new companies can make in outsourcing their web work to the wrong companies or freelancers. I started Walmedia in 2006 and offer standards-based web design, UI design, and work mainly with open-source web applications: WordPress, Drupal, Magento, and even ZenCart.

You are a self-proclaimed Visual/UI Designer and Front-end Developer. Tell us a little about what that means. How is this different from being a web or graphic designer?

That’s a very good question. I think as I’ve progressed through my career it gets harder and harder to assign just one simple title that explains what I do. From design mockups to Javascript development to WordPress theme development, I am always moving in and out of the various types and phases of projects. Once I started working on web applications and not just static websites, my title of “Web Designer” was no longer descriptive of the type of work I was involved with and interested in. Paul Boag (Boagworld), had this struggle a while back and ended up simply referring to himself as a “web strategist.”

I think the difference is in the various skills associated with doing so many different things for various clients and my own projects. One day I’m working on a large-scale interface design project and the next I’m jumping into Illustrator or Photoshop for a set of icons.

You have a lot of experience designing Wordpress themes and releasing them on your website. Can you tell us a little about some of your themes? What are some of your most popular? Are your themes free? Do you have any for sale?

When it comes to developing WordPress themes, I am still very new in the community, but have been extremely fortunate to release a few themes in cooperation with some great guys in the design community, Jacob Gube of Six Revisions and Vitaly Friedman of Smashing Magazine.

I have released 6 WordPress themes since November of 2008 and have really seen things take off since the day my first theme went out the door. Rusty Grunge, my first theme, is my most-used theme, having been downloaded over 30,000 times on WordPress.org and is a great theme for casual bloggers because of its simplicity. Gallery and Absynthe are a few themes which have really gained quite a following as well. I really love seeing people’s modifications to my themes and to see the amazing things they come up with every day using something I contributed to, it is a lot of fun for me.

All of my themes are free to this point except for one, DesignFolio+, which is a great theme for print and graphic designers looking for a solid WordPress portfolio and blog. It is extremely customizable with a slick theme options page, an easy way to upload portfolio images and Flickr and twitter integration.

Why do you like Wordpress as a platform? What makes it so much better than some of the other blogging or CMS platforms?

I think WordPress is one of the best blogging platforms. With such a large community, it makes it easy to find plugins and tutorials to really push the outer limits of what you can do with it. You’d be hard-pressed to find another platform and community that is so well-organized and connected. I’ve worked with Drupal, ZenCart, Magento, Joomla!, and others and WordPress’ plugins and themes are much easier to find, use, and get support with.

Let’s change pace a little. I understand that you recently had a bout with cancer and had to drop out of school to fight it. How did this experience affect you both personally and as a designer?

Well, to be honest, it was definitely a very difficult time for me and my family. I was a college student and my wife (girlfriend at the time) just found out she was pregnant and had a pregnancy-related condition that put her in the hospital multiple times, all while planning our wedding and preparing for surgery to remove the tumor and go through chemotherapy.

In my design career, this was definitely a huge turning point in my life, quickly shifting my focus to making sure my new family was taken care of, had a home, food, and all the necessities to survive and grow. Just weeks before going through chemotherapy, I set up a meeting with school officials from a small Christian college I attended for 2 years and offered to redesign their outdated website while undergoing chemotherapy treatments in exchange for a full-time position when I was done with chemo. They agreed and that’s how I began my career and have been going all-out ever since.

Life always seems to present us with certain surprises and challenges that affect our outlook and expectations. How did your battle with cancer change your professional expectations? What advice would you give to anyone who finds themself in a similar situation?

When I was told I had cancer, I immediately thought about my new family and the need to provide for them. If that meant selling Tupperware or kitchen knives door-to-door, I would’ve done it. Luckily for me, I instantly started thinking about ways to provide for my family doing something I knew pretty well… designing websites.

The best advice I could give to someone in a similar position is this: instead of using your condition as an excuse, use it as fuel to motivate you to do things you never thought possible.

The design community couldn’t survive without the sponsors that support it. You sponsor several websites including this one. What is it about the design community that you like so much? How has the design community helped you and your business?

My favorite part about the design community is the people. Everyone I meet, either on twitter or through my blog, has a passion for what they do, always trying to improve themselves through education and experience and there is always someone willing to lend a helping hand when I may need some help myself.

In a business sense, the community is what drives me. I love contributing WordPress themes, tips, tutorials, advice to such a passionate group of people. I’ve been given some great opportunities to contribute to sites like Six Revisions and Smashing Magazine and am very grateful for those opportunities because they allow me to share my projects with people who may need just that extra bit of motivation to act on an idea for a project they had, but couldn’t execute.

Finally, can you name 3 other people who you would like to see interviewed on this website?

I would love seeing an interview with Rogie King of Komodo Media, Mark Hemeon, one of the creators of Design By Humans and TeeFury, and Jonatan Castro of Midtone Design.

Follow Chris Wallace on Twitter: @chriswallace.

Jim, thank you so much for participating in this interview. I have really enjoyed working with your products and I know my readers have enjoyed them as well. Can you begin by telling us a little about your background? Where are you from? How did you get your start in design and software development?

I started off doing print graphic design, after mistakenly getting a degree in Economics (don’t let your children get Economics degrees). At the time Photoshop was at 2.0 and was just starting to be used seriously. In fact, the head of the graphic design department at Cal State Northridge told me I couldn’t use computers because that’s not what was being used in the real world. Except for the fact my day job was in a corporate design department where we did nothing BUT use Photoshop and Illustrator all day (and PowerPoint… but you know… I was young and needed the money).

Anyways, so I became enamored of Kai’s Power Tools, which was more or less the first set of plug-ins for Photoshop, and started going to conferences where he was speaking. Eventually meeting him and bunch of other folks from HSC Software (which became MetaTools which became MetaCreations, etc.). This lead to getting a job as a QA Engineer for KPT, Bryce, KPT Goo, Final Effects (first After Effects plugin set) and a number of other very cool products, especially for the mid-90s. It was an amazingly cool company with a lot of very smart people that was utterly dysfunctional. So I left after two years to become the 5th employee of Total Training. At the time they were developing a plug-in set for After Effects and that’s what I was working on. They eventually sold that to Adobe and I went to Cycore, another AE plug-in developer. I’ve worked on a LOT of After Effects plug-ins.

Tell us a little about your company Digital Anarchy. How did Digital Anarchy get its start? Where are you based and how long have you been in business?

Digital Anarchy was a description of the internet that appeared in Wired. I forget who the article was about that said it. Seemed like a good name, and, importantly, I got the domain.

After leaving Cycore I did the dot com thing for a short period, working for some absurd company that was paying me too much. After it became clear they were headed for fuckedcompany.com, I hired a friend to write a set of After Effects plug-ins. I got laid off two weeks before we were supposed to ship, which worked out perfectly. We released Text Anarchy at NAB 2001 and we were off and running.

We started off in San Francisco and 8 years later are still here. It’s a good place for Anarchists. :-)

I have often mentioned your products on this website. Can you tell us a little about your line of products? What are they? What are their capabilities? And how can a designer use them to improve their workflow?

3D Invigorator allows you to create 3D Logos and Text. These are the most common things that 2D designers want to in 3D. Invigorator makes it exceptionally easy to create great looking 3D designs. It’s mostly stuff that’s impossible to do in CS4 and the best part is it works in any version of Photoshop. You don’t need CS4 Extended.

ToonIt creates cartoon, illustration, and painterly effects. You have a wide variety of presets to choose from and dozens of parameters allow you to customize it to your liking. You can set up the effect easily and quickly make adjustments and modifications… whether you’re going for a cartoon, an etched drawing, or stained glass. This just recently got 5 stars from Photoshop User, so we’re excited about that.

Primatte Chromakey allows photographers to use one of the leading film/video technologies for doing chromakey (blue/greenscreen work). It’s very powerful and easy to use. The next version which is coming soon is aimed at photographers that are doing high volume where they need automated keying. Look for more info about this in the near future.

Backdrop Designer is designed to work alongside Primatte, but can be used by itself to create cool backgrounds. It simulates the look of muslin drapes, which are traditionally used as photography backgrounds. It’s resolution independent so the textures and backgrounds can be rendered to any size.

You can get more info, trial downloads, and tutorials at our web site: www.digitalanarchy.com.

Photoshop plug-ins and filters can be very useful but sometimes it seems that they have developed a bum rap among the design elite for making things “too easy.” How do you go about convincing people that filters and plug-ins are not a crutch and are ok to use?

It really depends on how you use them. Usually you can go much deeper into them to create things that would be difficult or very time consuming to do by hand. How much is your time worth? If you spend 30 minutes messing around with layers, blend modes, built-in Photoshop filters, etc. vs. 5 minutes applying a filter, I wouldn’t say that’s smart design. Especially if your client comes in and wants changes. But, yeah, some people are a little too reliant on the presets that ship with most plug-ins. There’s a certain level of user that really wants presets, so we always have them… but we always try to give users enough control that they can get in there and create some unique effects fairly easily.

Some filters allow you to do things that are simply impossible with Photoshop. 3D Invigorator is a good example of this. If you want 3D text or logos, your only real options are to get 3D Invigorator or go into a 3D program.

You also have to consider how much time you want to devote to any particular element. If you’re on a deadline or a given element is just a small part of the design, sometimes you can just apply a filter, select a preset and be done with it. Again, it really just comes down to how you use plug-ins. Like almost everything, including Photoshop itself, they can be used for good or evil. (ok, so maybe bad design isn’t exactly evil… but people on the street might look at you askew and say ‘oh, he’s one of _those_ designers’ and shun you. You don’t want to be shunned.)

I discovered Digital Anarchy while searching for alternatives to Photoshop’s Lens Flare tool. I found a YouTube video demonstrating the capabilities of Knoll Light Factory and have loved using it ever since. Can you tell us why Knoll Light Factory is so much better than the default Photoshop Lens Flare tool?

Uh, perhaps because the PS Lens Flare hasn’t been updated since version 0.9? John wrote the original one for Photoshop. After selling Photoshop to Adobe, he didn’t revisit it until he was at ILM and needed a photon torpedo for one of the Star Trek movies. So he wrote what is now Knoll Light Factory.

Aside from Star Trek I’ve noticed Knoll Light Factory used in several television series and featured films. How does it make you feel when you see your product used in so many awesome ways?

It’s always great to see our products being used successfully. Whether it’s a feature film or a photographer telling us how he couldn’t live without Primatte or something. We make the tools so people will use them, so it’s definitely a high when we see great work being created. Of course, the flip side is that we REALLY want feedback. If people aren’t happy with the product, let us know. That’s the only way we can improve them.

Digital Anarchy formed from the ashes of the Dot Com Bubble of the late 1990’s. In your experience, is a recession a good time to start a business? How have you applied what you learned from the Dot Com Bust to the current economic situation? Do you have any advice for young designers/programmers who might be concerned about the future?

It can be. Good resources and talent tend to be cheaper during a recession. There’s no way we could’ve started up in 1999 with dot.coms paying people crazy sums of money to tech support, much less programming.

But each recession is different. The dot com recession mostly just affected the tech centers…. SF, Boston, etc. The rest of the country was doing ok, taking out home equity loans to buy SUVs, software, and whatever.

This recession is different. It’s much broader, in that everyone is being affected. So it may take longer to come out of it. If you do start a company, you may need to have a bit more capital because of potential length of the bottom. That said, things seem to be improving. So we’ll see… folks are taking longer to buy and they’re a little more likely to wait for a sale.

As for the future… things will recover. Persistence and staying on top of your skills is key. If you’re having trouble finding a job use the time to work on your skill set. It’s no harder now than it’s ever been to start a web based business. Find something interesting, design/program a web site around it, and if nothing else you can use it for your portfolio. If you’re going to start a business you need to stay positive and have faith it’ll eventually comes together.

The other key bit of advice is get out there and network. Go to parties where people in your industry hang out, go to tradeshows, hang out in forums and try to set up beer nights for anyone local. Just get out there. The more people you know the more likely you’ll run into someone who’s company is hiring.

What sort of things can we expect to see from Digital Anarchy in the future? Are there any new and exciting plug-ins being developed that we should keep a look out for?

Cool Stuff! ;-) We have a new version of Primatte coming out, some new materials and textures for 3D Invigorator and we have a couple cool things in development that aren’t quite far enough along to talk about yet. But we’ll give you guys a heads up. We’ll be looking for beta testers at some point… perhaps some of your readers might want to help us out.

Finally, can you name 3 other people that you would like to see interviewed on this website?

Lol… uh… let’s see… Corey Barker from NAPP is an interesting guy. As is Colin Smith of Photoshop Café. Rebecca Gurian from Canon, she’s the product manager for Canon’s Studio Solution which is their new application/workflow for pro photographers. Looks cool, be interested to hear more about it. And if you can track down Kai Krause… ;-)

Visit The Digital Anarchy Blog.

David, thank you so much for participating in this interview. Can you start off by telling us a little about your background? Where are you from? How did you get your start as a graphic artist?

It’s my pleasure, Grant. Thank you for asking me.

I was born in Bangor, Northern Ireland, a small town with a population shy of 100,000 and 12 miles from the capital, Belfast. I landed my first design-based job when I was working in telesales for a newspaper in Scotland. An old university friend of mine was working there too, and she knew I wanted a different job, so when one of her friends told her about a design opening, she put us in touch and so it began.

Just goes to show, you don’t need to be in a design-based job to land another, and you’re always more employable when in employment of any kind.

You have made quite a name for yourself as a logo designer. Why are you so drawn to branding and identity development?

I love learning. And what I love about identity design is how you work with clients in vastly different industries. An obvious requirement in design projects is to learn as much as possible about the client’s business, so one day I’d be involved with the history of wine producing, and the next I’m dealing with architects.

The diversity is what I enjoy most.

As designers sometimes we have to be the bearer of bad news. How do you tell a client that their logo is in need of a redesign without being rude or insulting?

I actually don’t need to. My clients find me, so they already know a redesign is called for (if indeed that’s the case, as opposed to a new logo, or a logo refinement).

Sometimes clients may have unrealistic expectations when they present their logo ideas to a designer. How do you set them on the right track?

It’s a very rare occurrence when a client presents me with a logo idea. After all, isn’t that what I’m being hired to do?

As you know good design takes time. As designers, we are commonly presented with impossible deadlines. How does a designer realistically balance the need to create a high quality design within a tight deadline?

This is where a solid and realistic start to every project is necessary. If a potential client tells me they need a new logo in a week, I’ll tell them I can’t do it. Saying “no” makes those times when saying “yes” is much more rewarding.

Lots of designers struggle when faced with the task of creating a logo for themselves. How would you advise a designer who is trying to figure out how to best to brand themself?

Tough question, especially given that I spent the bulk of a year on my own identity design (brainstorming, sketching, finalizing, then scrapping it and returning to the start). Settling on a design that represents you needs to be a very personal thing, so I guess if there’s one tip I can give, it’s to make your identity reflect who you are.

With that said, it’s your client work that sells you, so if in doubt, why not opt for a clean, professional logotype?

I understand that you are currently working on a book. Can you tell us a little about it? Any idea when it will be released?

Back around Christmas I was approached by US publisher Peachpit Press, asking if I’d author their first book dedicated to logo design. Needless to say I was very flattered, and after a few months ironing out details, I’ve just submitted my first chapter.

The completion date has been set for the end of October, and we’ll hopefully get the book in stores before this Christmas.

The title is “Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities” and the profile of the contributors has been humbling. Some fantastic designers and agencies have come on board to share their design processes.

Again, thanks for asking me to participate in your interview series. All the very best.

Follow David on Twitter: @davidairey.

Visit David’s websites: davidairey.com and logodesignlove.com.

Jeff, thank you so much for participating in this interview. I’ve been a big fan of Go Media for quite some time and I have wanted to interview you for a while. Can you begin by telling us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where did you go to school? How did you get your start as a designer?

I’m 26, recently married, and currently looking to buy my first house.  I live in the greater Cleveland area on the west side. I studied 3D modeling and animation at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and I’ve been designing professionally since 2004.

I freelanced under the alias “Mylkhead” and modeled my business after some of my favorite designers Rob Dobi, Derek Hess, and Angryblue.  I started by designing t-shirts for bands and apparel companies on Myspace.

Tell us a little about your company, Go Media. How did Go Media get its start? What do you guys do and how long have you guys been in business?

Go Media is a full service design firm.  We do art direction, branding, print and web design, illustration, and motion graphics.  Our portfolio site is at gomedia.us. We also sell design resources in our store called The Arsenal and we write articles and tutorials on our blog called GoMediaZine.

The backstory:

In 2005 I had done some freelance projects for Go Media but didn’t start full time until 2006. Prior to that, Bill Beachy and Chris Wilson (now known as Wilson Revehl) formed Go Media in 2003 after a handful of successful collaborations in their respective freelance businesses. Meanwhile, I was finishing up college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where I studied 3D Animation and Design. I freelanced under the alias “Mylkhead” for two years and had some inspiring conversations with the Go Media duo.

They had recently hired Oliver Barrett as a designer, and the three of them convinced me to join the team over some delicious Max and Erma’s burgers on a cold December evening in 2005. Our goal was to build Go Media into a recognized leader in the design industry. 3 years and lots of blood, sweat, and tears later, here I am today. Still sweating, bleeding, and crying, but I love it. We’ve got a great staff of 13 on payroll and a snazzy custom built office space near Ohio City. But this is just the beginning. As Wilson always says “We haven’t even launched this company yet.”

I understand that Go Media has three owners. Can you tell us a little about who makes up Go Media? What is your relationship with the others and what are your roles?

Bill and Chris started Go Media and built the foundation.  Bill’s been a talented comic book illustrator and great business man.  Originally, he handled all the “business” stuff – accounting, legal, sales, etc. We have since hired staff to manage those things, but Bill still has final say on the “biz” side of things.  Wilson is a dedicated and hard working designer with a passion for business and technology.  He handles the technology – servers, hosting, web sites, etc. I’m a designer with a passion for business and marketing and I generally handle online promotion and social media.  If anyone can associate a face with Go Media, it’s most likely my face.  The rest of our staff includes an office manager, sales/project manager, information designer, marketing director, and other illustrators and designers.

Tell us a little about Go Media’s Arsenal Packs. Why did you guys decide to start selling stock vectors in addition to your design services? Are you surprised with their popularity? What should we expect to see in the future?

It was summer 2006. We had folders full of vector art that we had used and reused from project to project. After going back and forth, we decided to just make our first Vector Pack and put it up on our site and tell people about it.  Much to our surprise, we sold a handful the very first day!  We were amazed that it worked.  People kept buying, so we had to make a 2nd pack.  We thought the trend would die any day so we were always so excited when they were making us money.

In 2007, we were featured in lots of design magazines like Computer Arts and IDN magazine and our Vector Packs were a big hit around the blogosphere.  We knew we weren’t doing anything NEW by selling stock vector art, but it seemed like everyone else really bought into it and supported us.  As a result, we saw handfuls of new sites just like ours selling similar products.  We knew this was big.

We saw the competition and also the abundance of “freebies” being distributed all over the web.  This was tough for business so we started selling other stock resources like textures, Photoshop brushes, fonts, and animated motion packs. And this past year we have released our t-shirt templates which have proven to be pretty popular.

As we continue into 2009, we’ll be creating more and more products and hopefully find new ways to help designers.  We’ve got lots of ideas in the pipe.

There are a lot of design firms that are struggling right now because of the current economic climate. Go Media is a rather unique design studio in that you guys also have a popular blog and the Arsenal Packs to fall back on. Do you believe that these items have put you in a stronger position to help ride out the storm?

We’ve also been hit hard by the recession.  It’s always scary when you do your best work, but clients don’t come back.  Or you release an amazing product, but sales are still the same.  Or even worse, you spend thousands on advertising and see no ROI.  These are things every business is struggling with.

Having what we’d consider “The Big 3” definitely helps.  Services, Products, and Knowledge.  Our core business model is designing for clients, but the Arsenal has been a saving grace.  While sales are down, it’s definitely helped us ride out the storm.  And the GoMediaZine is a minor boost in income each month from advertising sales, but I feel it has a direct result on how well the rest of our business does.

We also manage our money wisely.  We carry no debt (aside from the mortgage on our office building which will be paid off in less than 2 years).  That’s helped us. We grow organically when we need to.  Some businesses like to borrow a lot in the beginning and work hard to pay it back.  The way we choose to run things can be slower, but it’s paying off big time during the recession.

Bloggers regularly give items away for free. Giving items away for free is a great way to increase traffic on a website but also to build loyal readership. It seems to me that Go Media has to walk a fine line. You guys are a design studio, a design blog, and a stock graphics reseller. How do you guys balance these roles while still managing to make a buck at the end of the day?

Great question!  We do have to walk a fine line. It’s pretty easy to assume that when you are selling a product/service and then other people in your industry offer a similar product/service for free, it’s going to hurt your sales.  For that we grit our teeth and bare it. From a business perspective, we adapt and create a better product and do the best we can.

We sometimes have this irrational fear that people will stop paying for design services, resources, etc.  But truthfully, people know that you get what you pay for.  There are free versions of just about everything digital these days.  Free stuff exposes newbies to the premium stuff.  People may not even have known about the Arsenal if they didn’t download some freebies from another person’s blog.

When we release a new product, we like to give away a free sample for a few reasons.  It’s content for the zine, which is always good.  People generally respond positively and are more likely to purchase the entire pack.  It will also boost traffic and subscribers.

However, giving away too much candy can make people sick.  Sometimes you need to give people some steak (to take away an analogy from @Adam_Wagner). Teach them how to fish!  Provide insight with articles and tutorials that give a user more confidence to make their own business better.

This is going to be a tough question but I’m going to ask anyway. Do you guys see design blogs who give design resources away for free to be a competitor, friend, or something in between? Do you feel that these sites do a service or disservice to the industry?

Another great question Grant, I like these.  I think it’s a little of both.  They’re competitors in the fact that we are providing similar content to the same audience.  Chances are the readers of the GoMediazine are also readers of Colorburned, PSDtuts, etc.  Although the relationships between these bloggers is friendly, there is still a competition for reader’s attention.  Freebies are a good way to shine the light and say “hey look at me!”

The blogosphere is an interesting place.  I consider it friendly competition.  In the past I would get salty over another blogger posting a freebie just after I released an Arsenal product.  Or if I would see another blogger get 100 comments on their post, but my similar post only got 10 comments, I might go pout in the corner and feel sorry for myself (haha).  I imagine a lot of bloggers feel that way.

However, more and more I’m learning that this is just how it works.  In the end we want to provide our readers with great content and give our customers amazing service.  If you’re nice and friendly, you’ll be well-liked by your peers.  If you’re a jerk and aren’t social, you’ll probably not do so well.  Transparency is more important than ever before.

Also, most of these bloggers are not design consultancies like we are.  The Arsenal and GoMediaZine were started as small side projects that grew into their own animal that needs nurturing and attention to keep them alive.  If our blog has 15,000 subscribers, that’s still an amazing thing to note considering that it wasn’t meant to be our primary business model.

So are freebies doing a service to the industry?  Yes and no.  Yes because they’re still good content for our readers/customers.  From a customer’s perspective it’s a hell of a deal!  On the other hand, is it devaluing the hard work and effort the skilled artists put into these freebies?  If designers can create this amazing piece of art and give it away for free, how can designers justify charging a client a premium for the same thing?

The same could be said for the Arsenal.  We are putting a low price on original art and simply removing ourselves from the design process.  Which a design consultancy would probably never want to do, right?

However, we’re finding that Arsenal customers are not the same customers who hire us for design work.  They’re other design studios, freelancers, or small start ups who don’t have the budget to hire us anyway, but probably will in the future when they’re ready to get to that next level.

And as a design consultancy, it’s our job to give the client more value than just the final artwork.  We’re paid for our knowledge of the industry, trends, peace of mind, customer service, etc.  Something you can’t get with freebies.

So I think freebies have their place in the world.  But like I said, too much candy can make people sick!

I was surprised to find out that you guys are based in Cleveland, Ohio. Can you tell us a little about what it’s like working in the Midwest as opposed to New York or Los Angeles? Do you find it difficult to locate qualified artists or potential clients?

I don’t have any experience working on the west or east coast to be honest. With the internet, it’s so easy to work with people from those cities so it’s nothing we ever think about.  However, if I was in NY, there are potentially lots of meet and greet opportunities that could lead to more projects, but truthfully, I’m not the NYC or LA type.  I spend more time in the office working and networking online and probably wouldn’t be too impressed with schmoozing in the big apple.  There are creative people everywhere.

However, I have experienced some issues when trying to hire talented people out of state.  I’ve been told “Cleveland is a tough sell.” So that’s obviously a problem when the talent you want isn’t interested because of your location.  But hey, I’m not losing sleep over it.

Ok, let’s change gears a little bit. Tell us a bit about your workflow. How do you typically go from a sketch to finished product? Do you prefer working in Photoshop or Illustrator?

Yes, I typically sketch first, scan, and finish on the computer.  However, if I already have a solid idea in my head of the finished product, it’s sometimes quicker just to start the design digitally.  I like AI and PS, but lately I prefer working in PS mostly because I like to work with textures and my Wacom works better for me in PS. I also use 3DS Max for my 3D work.

Finally, can you recommend 3 designers or bloggers that you would like to see interviewed on this site?

I couldn’t think of just 3.

Well, I recommend interviewing my colleague Oliver Barrett – he’s got a lot of good ideas and it would be really cool to get a different perspective from inside the Go Media roof.   I can only explain things from my experience.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliveroliverbarrett

• Rob Dobi – http://dobi.nu
• Chris Rushing – http://www.thedara.com
• All City Media http://www.allcitymedia.com/
• John Baizley – http://www.myspace.com/johndyerbaizley
• Aaron Horkey and Burlesque Design – http://burlesquedesign.com/

To learn more about Jeff Finley, connect with him on Twitter, visit his personal website, or check out the Go Media website and blog.

Todd, thank you so much for participating in this interview. I’ve been using your product for several months now and I have come to really appreciate the time it saves me.  Can you start off my telling us a little about yourself? Where are you from? How did you get involved in the online advertising industry?

Sure thing, I’m 27, happily married, and live in Boston, Massachusetts. I originally grew up in southern Maine and once lived in Brazil for a year when I was 18.  I’ve been building websites and applications for roughly 10 years now and have a strong passion for front-end design and code.  I got started in online advertising through buying and selling ads for a couple design related websites I ran as a hobby.

Tell us a little about Buy Sell Ads. Why did you start Buy Sell Ads? What makes Buy Sell Ads different from other online advertising marketplaces? Why should a website use your product?

I started BuySellAds.com because I was frustrated.  There just wasn’t anything like it for me when I was buying and selling ads for two of my websites.  Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely other ad marketplaces similar to BSA, but none of them were *exactly* what I was looking for.  I got tired of having to keep track of when to put ads up and when to take ads down, collecting payment, finding potential advertisers, etc.  So, the idea was to simply create a company that could solve my problems as both an advertiser and a publisher.  Luckily, I wasn’t the only one with this problem.

How BSA is different… I don’t know we just are ;)  Many ad networks just feel so archaic – the way they do business, they are a pain to work with, they have crappy support, etc.  I think that there is a new generation of companies online that have an organic, honest, and transparent feel to them (because they are) and that is the type of company I’m trying to build with BSA.  I’m out to do good business, help advertisers get results, and help publishers make more money.  Our technology isn’t all that innovative; we’re just trying to do it better than the other guys.

The main reasons why a website should use BSA vs. selling ads direct are:

• We’re going to sell more ads for you since we’re able to get your site in front of more advertisers that trust our judgment.
• You’re going to save yourself so much time by using BSA.  The time you would spend managing advertisers is better spent creating new content for your site.
• We don’t get in the way; BSA can live nearly transparent on your site.

I am always interested in how people come up with brilliant ideas for new businesses. In your experience, what advice would you give to some one who just had a brilliant idea for a business but isn’t quite sure how to pull it off?

Well, if you have the skills to get something out there and working by all means just get it done, launch, and see what happens.  If you don’t have the skills to get it done yourself then find someone to team up with that can help you realize your idea.  There is nothing better than simply getting your idea/product out there and in front of potential customers.  Getting feedback from those customers and then continuously iterating on your idea is key.  I think this is great advice – it is one of the most important lessons I learned while working at HubSpot.  BSA would still be in development if I hadn’t learned this valuable lesson from the team at HubSpot.

I have found that there are 2 types of startups; self-funded startups that literally scratch and claw their way to the top; and startups funded through venture capital.  How would you classify Buy Sell Ads?  Which method do you believe is the most effective?

Right now, BuySellAds.com is of the first type that doesn’t have a penny of outside funding and is trying to scratch and claw its way to the top.  Which method is the right choice or most effective totally depends on the business, what stage it is at, and what its goals are.  Right now, I’m not even thinking about funding for BSA, I see it as a big distraction for us at this point.  I’m focused on trying to keep the company as lean and efficient as possible while still adding great value for our users.  With all of the skeptics and doom and gloom stories about the ad industry I’m not sure anyone would want to invest in an ad network like us right now anyway ;)

A lot of startups fail early on. What do you believe has been the key to your success as an online business?

Well, I’m flattered that you think BSA is successful – and in some ways we are, but we have a long long way to go before we are a *real* company ;)  I think what has helped BSA to date is that we’re a breath of fresh air for many people.  I’m very hands on with the company and I’m not much different than many of our advertisers and publishers.  In a lot of ways I’m in the same shoes as our users and it’s really easy to connect and relate to them and how they use BSA.  In addition, the company is pretty efficient from a financial and operations perspective which has helped keep things simple early on.

What are your future goals for Buy Sell Ads? Anything new in the works?

Honestly, the main goal is to just continue to get more advertisers results which in turn will make our publishers more money.  We actually just launched a new version of the website earlier this week which is really exciting.  Once we get the new version under our feet we will continue to improve upon functionality, features, etc. and start to innovate on some additional monetization opportunities.  I always like to say that “I have a few tricks up my sleeve”, and while I hate to be so ambiguous, I do have a few tricks up my sleve… there is some cool new stuff that’s in between the brainstorm/spec stage right now that I’ll be blogging about and/or launching once we get past the new release next week.  So, the future goal is to keep pushing and keeping finding ways to add value for our users.

With the collapse of print advertising, there has been a lot of talk about the collapse of advertising as a whole. First of all, do you buy any of the speculation that the advertising industry is on the verge of collapse? What do you think is the future of advertising; either online or in general.

I love this question and I love reading those speculative blog posts about the gloom and doom of the online ad world.  I’d like to approach this question with a numbered list if you don’t mind:

1. People who think advertising is going to die aren’t very smart, and the majority of these blog posts are to spark discussion.
2. As long as marketers are trying to sell and promote their brand, products, and services, advertising will exist (period).
3. Online advertising will continue to grow without a doubt.  Numbers will be skewed for a while until the world figures a way out of the current economic situation.
4. Just as many other industries have being “trimming the fat” so-to-speak, so is the online ad industry.  The days of bloated CPM’s and inefficient and non-transparent ad campaigns are coming to an end.
5. The ad industry is in need of some innovation (as are many industries right now), and the gloom and doom perception should help fuel this effort.

All in all, I think that some of the gloom and doom posts about the ad industry are good in a way because it gets people thinking, debating, and trying to figure out new and innovative ways to connect with their target audience.  Consumers and marketers alike are getting more and more sophisticated each and every day.  People will always be annoyed by crappy ads and ads promoting crappy products, but a good ad for a good product targeted at the right audience positioned properly will always be able to find success.

What tips would you give to anyone who is considering monetizing their website?

If you are planning to monetize your site via advertising my absolute best advice is to just build something useful.  Don’t put any ads on the site until you’ve got some real traffic.  Don’t use AdSense or any of those ad networks that immediately put ads on your site when you first sign-up.  Chances are these ads aren’t going to be very well targeted.  Un-targeted ads do not help you; they’re going to cost you more money than they will make you.  Build a great site with useful content/tools, and once you have built up come credibility THEN put ads on your site.

Finally, do you own a mobile device? If so, which one? How do you use it to improve your productivity?

Yes, I have a Blackberry Pearl.  For me, it keeps me productive because I am always in tune with what is going on with BuySellAds.com.  I know about each and every order, every support request, etc.  So, once I am back in front of a computer I have a plan of attack and know what I need to get to first.

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