Daily Brad, the blog

So what happens when your client is late in paying you? What do you do to handle this? Biting the hand that feeds you is no way to get more to eat. (Or more design work in this case.)

I recently had a contract client that was late in paying their invoice, and I thought that this would be a good post for feedback through my blog. Having expressed in advance that I was a stickler for payment on time to each of my clients as I sign them, most of them have always been prompt in payment. Typically most companies ask “terms” with each of their vendors, with 30-45 wait periods until payment. But as a freelancer (NOT a vendor), I’ve found that even with the deposit before a job begins, there’s no way that I can give them these kind of terms. I make it clear up front that a check must be cut on completion of the project, and if they won’t agree these terms, I walk away.

Standard terms for my invoices are 30% down and the rest due on delivery. (When the final project is delivered by email or CD/DVD) It is noted right on my invoice that after 10 days the invoice will be overdue (late) and a late fee will be incurred. My clients appreciate this “grace” period, and most of the time it has not been necessary to add a late fee. But once-in-a-while I’ll be working with someone new who doesn’t know the internal processes of their company, or doesn’t have a good working relationship with their accounting department and things get stopped-up. How do you politely handle this?

Here’s how I went about it this last time: The day the grace period ended (Day 10), I sent an email inquiring about the status of the check, and asked if I needed to submit a new invoice with a late fee included. There were no threats, no “warnings”, I just politely asked if they needed more time by telling them that this “time” would appear as a line-item on a new invoice. The check was ready the following day. I didn’t even have in mind what kind of late fee to charge - a standard amount or a percentage of the total?

As a freelance or contract designer, we get to handle accounting, new business, account management and all those things that are normally handled by another person in a agency environment. I don’t like dealing with the money, I don’t like change orders, and most of all - collection is the bane of my freelance existence. How do you make this a smooth process? What kind of terms you provide your clients and how about late fees? Do you have them?

I was sitting in a doctor’s office the other day and the only magazine that wasn’t too “girly” for me to look at was In Style Magazine. But as a designer, anywhere you can find a chance to scope out good design, it’s worth the time. On page 178 of their January 2007 issue they had a page that highlighted several card companies under the heading “Thank-You Notes: After the presents and parties, here’s how to show your appreciation.” This page reminded me of a post that I’ve wanted to put together, and with Christmas in a couple days, I think it appropriate.

Every identity with a side of thanks
As an independent graphic design consultant (I’m getting better at dropping that whole “freelance designer” thing, aren’t I?) you should always look for opportunities to say “thanks”. When I first came up with my brand for Brad McCall, designer, I printed thank-you cards along with my business cards. I think every stationery (or “identity system”) should have a thank-you card included with the letterhead, envelope, and business card that comes standard. I’ve recommended this to most of my clients, and even a couple of the companies I’ve worked for. The surprising thing was that it took a little while to get people to use them. Have we been trained not to say thank-you? Or has email replaced the art of the thank-you card all-together?

I remember as a child my mother sitting me down after Christmas and having me write my thank-you notes. “Be sure to thank grandma for the $5 and tell her what you plan to spend it on” she would say. She understood the power of “thank-you”. But we shouldn’t just say thanks after we recieve a gift, but at anytime someone goes out of their way to enhance your life OR your business.

Make your thank-you special
Some of the thank-you note stationers that In Style recommended had some beautiful handmade and letterpress cards. Cards that not only are beautiful but also have a tactile quality that enhances the experience of anyone receiving them. Here’s who they recommended:

Keep it business, but keep it fun
Whether your print your own custom cards, or choose one off the shelf, don’t forget a couple key ingredients to add:

1. Throw a couple business cards and don’t miss this opportunity to remind your contact that you’re still in the business of doing good business.
2. Never send a thank-you card without a handwritten note. Short and sweet is fine, but the “handwritten” part is critical.
3. Show them you have a sense of humor by using a funny stamp or card. My most recent thank-yous went out with the “SuperHeros” stamps the Post Office recently put out. In the past I used “Scooby-doo” thank-you cards, since I’ve always been a fan of the mystery-solving dog.

And thank-you to all who read this blog. I’d be happy to send you a card, if I only had your address. Snail mail rocks!

When I worked for Omniture as their Creative Director, I would often check the web analytics that we ran on our corporate website to see where people were coming from (referrers). Occasionally I would find several page views that were sent through from what I like to call “Website Pirates”: individuals who would pillage and plunder our site design and use it as their own. They’d be working with the html as templates while building their own site, and forget to take the tracking code off, and send through hits that I could follow. On one “design” we had to get Legal involved since they didn’t even bother to replace the imagery we owned with their own after it went live.

While reading Joshua Steimle’s blog about website piracy on MWi’s website, I got thinking to myself - I sure wish I had screen shots of all those websites that copied my design for the original Omniture website.

To make a long story short (my blog posts always run long), I was looking at a list of public companies in Utah a couple days ago. I really only knew of a couple and was curious just how many there were. One intrigued me, so I accessed their website. The Park City Group was founded by Randy Fields, the co-founder and former chairman of Mrs. Fields Cookies. Their customers include such well-known names as The Home Depot, Foot Locker, Inc., The Limited, Albertson’s, Schnuck Markets, Pacific Sunwear of California, Wawa, Busch Entertainment and Tesco Lotus. And guess what? Their website design is pirated.

(more…)

I ran across a blog post the other day, that prompted me to think about what was good and bad about my personal experience on being a freelancer. The post, entitled 7 Habits of a Highly Successful Freelance Web Designer was written by Andy Budd, the managing director of a user experience consultancy in England. After being asked by a couple people on how to make it as a freelance web designer, he posted his thoughts as 7 ideas. Here’s a summary:

1. Love what you do:

…you need to have a passion for what you do. Passion (with the aid of caffeine) will keep you working late into the night when the rest of your friends are down the pub or fast asleep.

2. Never stop learning:

…the best web designers are endlessly inquisitive and always want to keep abreast of the latest trends and technologies.

3. Specialise:

Some skills are more in demand than others, but if you’re the top of your field in a particular language or skill, you’ll always be in demand.

4. Get a killer portfolio:

…don’t post up every project you’ve ever done. You’re only as good as your last couple of projects so put your best foot forward and showcase your most recent work.

5. Network like crazy:

…people much prefer doing businesses with somebody they have met and feel comfortable with. Next time they need help on a particular project, they are much more likely to remember you and get in touch.

6. Manage your time:

Make sure people know the difference between your work time and your home time. Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you have time to do the dishes, clean the house and take out the trash. Conversely don’t participate in avoidance techniques like doing the chores, making snacks or watching TV.

7. Build your reputation:

…become the person people want to do business with. That way, rather than searching for new clients, they will come to you.

Read the entire post here.

My addition to this list, would probably be:

Develop a dual personality:
Keep your personal life and work life completely separate by having separate phone numbers (don’t give out your home number), maintain a work email that is separate that your personal email, and divide your personal space into “office” and home (even if you work in a small space).

Find opportunities to be on-site:
Freelancing from home became a lonely experience for me, so I often found opportunities to visit my clients at their offices. I’d drop by in the morning with donuts (my business card attached), or schedule lunches in advance with my clients near their office. I even kept an extra computer that I could keep onsite with one of my clients to work in their office on larger projects. These clients were happy to give me some space and an Internet connection - and things moved much smoother when the client was right there.

So I ran across an interesting site tonight called NO!SPEC. The site’s mission is to educate both clients and Visual Communication designers (also known as ‘graphic’ designers) about the nature of speculative, or “spec” work and how it effects us all in the design community.

The site also serves as a vehicle to unite designers who support the notion that spec work devalues the potential of design and ultimately does a disservice to the client.

How do you feel about Spec work?

Visit the Site | Digg story

Calling all in-house designers! Yeah you, I need your advice.

Following my illustrious one year stint as a freelance designer (a fantastic year that was proceeded by nearly 3 years of agency work) I went to work for MyComputer.com as their one (and only) designer. No, I hadn’t read the book about being an in-house designer, the whole story about having one client, one boss, one brand, one message… forever… and so I just dove in and did my job. Lucky for me, and just in time for me to get sick of the same brand, they announced we were rebranding. We created Omniture from scratch, and I got to do it all. This was an adventure! It enlivened me for another year or so, until I began to get bored again.

So how does an in-house designer stay excited about a brand? How can I work day-in and day-out with the same client (my employer) and not get bored?

Now there is something positive to be said for being in-house, as you get the opportunity to know the company inside and out. But sometimes I go crazy that I’m the only “creative” person working with engineers, marketers, and business people. Who can I brainstorm with that won’t think I’m totally crazy? Earlier today I thought that if I heard the word “webinar”, or “landing page” one more time I might pull my hair out. (And I’ve got such a nice head of it too.)

Here’s a couple things that have worked for me:

1. Balance. I do all the design work. I mean all of it. Lots of it is very boring stuff. I’ve designed and changed the copy on our product sheets probably a hundred times by now, and powerpoints can get old very quickly. So every day I try to balance those tedious production tasks, with the more creative tasks. I even push myself to get involved in other parts of the company and learn more about what others do. I find that design echo’s all across an organization from the look of the office space to how the brand appears on our invoices.

2. Get away. Vacations are CRITICAL to being a good designer. And when I’m away on vacation, I get new fresh ideas in the strangest places. I feel refreshed and alive and ready to make a button for our next webinar. (Not THAT word again) I even do what I call “computer fasts”, where I don’t turn on my computer at home, but instead I read or look at magazines for inspiration.

3. Take a break from design. Have another interest that has nothing to do with design. This is one of my reasons for my blog Tweet Sweet. Though there is always a mention of design in my posts on tweetsweet.com, I delight that my dream of having a chocolate shop has nothing to do with technology.

4. Connect with the design community. This is a new effort of mine, and I’m just beginning. I’ve been so out of the loop with how things have changed in design. I subscribed again to magazines I use to love like Print, Communication Arts, and How. I’m looking into design conferences I can attend, and just joined the local AIGA chapter. There are some talented people out there - and I need to rubb some more inspiration off them.

Any other ideas? (I pose the question to my readership, even though I think at this point only a couple of my friends visit my blog.)

When I partnered with some friends to create a small agency back in 1999 called Gear Media, I found that many download meetings with our clients would end up being stretched out and repetative. I found that the same questions were asked over and over again, and it ended up being a waste of time for me (though a necessary waste of time). So that’s when I discovered the concept of a Creative Brief. Also called a Creative Worksheet (I guess because they aren’t so brief sometimes), this document allowed me to cut these primary download meetings in half, and give me a better idea of what the client was after.

Soon after Gear Media failed, I had many people ask me for the Creative Brief I had put together, apparently they felt the need for it as well. I happen to think about this today, while looking for it, and thought I’d share it. The following version was the version used for a logo design.

INTRODUCTION
—————————————-
A significant amount of time can be consumed in meetings, phone calls or emails produce a quality product that meets your needs.

By using the Creative Brief as an information gathering tool, it allows us to assess your product or service. We can more effectively meet your needs and the needs of your target market through the use of this brief.

I . YOUR COMPANY
—————————————-
1. Your Name: (Name of person filling out brief)

2. Company Name/DBA:

3. Web Address/URL:

4. What products/services does your company provide?

5. How long has your company been in existence?

6. How would you describe your company’s image? (Not how others view your company, but how you view yourself.)

II . COMPETITION
—————————————-
7. Who are your top 5 competitors? Do they have Web sites? If so, where are their Web sites located? (Web site address/URL, for example: http://www.sitename.com)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

7a. (Optional) Any comments on the above companies? (For example: what is well done on their Web site? What could have been done better? Why are they on your competitor list?, etc.)

8. What should we know about your competition?

9. How does your product/service compare with your competitors?
Weaknesses of your product/service:

Strengths of your product/service:

III . TARGET MARKET
—————————————-
10. Who is your target market? Of the entire market you address, what percentage does the primary or secondary audience hold?

10a. Primary Target Market:

10b. Secondary Market:

11. What are the needs/skills/interests of the audiences listed in 10a & 10b?

12. What does this audience watch, read, listen to?

13. How Web savvy is the majority of your target market listed in 10a?

14. What perceptions DOES your target market (10a) currently have about your product/company?

15. What perceptions WOULD YOU LIKE your target market (10a) to have about your product/company?

16. What persuasive message(s) will most powerfully impact your target market’s perceptions?

IV . LOGO DESIGN
—————————————-
17. Is your logo identity a:
[ ] NEW logo design
[ ] Redesign of an exisiting log

18. If your logo is a REDESIGN of an existing logo, list your concerns with the current logo?

19. Where will this logo be used? (Check all that apply)
[ ] Corporate Package (letterhead, envelope, business card)
[ ] Signage (building/office)
[ ] Internal memos and fax cover sheets (black and white)
[ ] Checks, invoices
[ ] Screen (Internet, Intranet, email)
[ ] Printed collateral (brochures, spec sheets)
[ ] Advertising (direct mail, direct email and print)
[ ] Shirts, hats, jackets, etc.
[ ] Misc. spiff items (pens, mouse pads, mugs, key chains, etc.

20. Which versions of this logo will you need?
[ ] RGB (screen use)
[ ] CMYK (full color - process printing)
[ ] Black and White (gray scale also)

V . DATES, APPROVALS, AND BUDGETS
—————————————-
21. Who is the primary contact person at your company for this project?
Name:
Title:
Phone Number:
Email Address:

22. If Different than above (Question #21), who will approve work done by Brad McCall, designer? (Choose one)
[ ] Same as above (preferred)
[ ] Different from above:
Name:
Title:
Phone Number:
Email Address:

Many of the services Brad McCall provides have fixed costs, while others vary according to such factors as complexity, functionality, expandability, deadlines, etc. To help us make recommendations, ensuring that the functionality you desire is in agreement with your budget, provide us with an estimated price range for this project.

23. What is your budget?

Creative Design:
Web Programming:
Other (stock photography, copywriting, etc): $

Other Budgetary Comments:

24. Do you have any other questions, or final comments?

SUMMARY
—————————————-
Once a contract is submitted, approved, and the project has commenced, the content of this Creative Worksheet will be used to direct the design, development, and marketing processes.

Here’s a handy little tip for all you freelancers out there. I ran across this article from a link on Performancing.com and had a good laugh, since most of these I’ve heard before in my freelancing days. NEVER believe them… they may literally have good expectations when they tell these lies, but it’s not worth the risk.