I’ve been designing for clients since 2006 and if there’s a single thing I understand 1,000%, it’s that sending proofs & getting feedback can be a challenge when our clients aren’t meeting with us in-person.

And the pandemic hasn’t changed that. Prior to Covid19 & social distancing, there were plenty of people freelancing & working independently for clients all over the world, myself included.

Even video calls weren’t as great as an in-person meeting, simply for the fact that they couldn’t literally point (with their finger) directly at something in the design & comment on it.

Instead it went something like this…

I’m SO effin’ excited to talk about these resources today! You just don’t even know. 😂

• One does all the logo exporting FOR you, in #alltheformats, saving a shitload of time.

• Another makes it super simple to video chat with customers, –no more downloads for them to join the call!

• The last one is maaaaybe, my favorite: a genius way to share our work with the client, stay sane, stick to the rules & still be organized.

Can I get a hell to the yeah, ladies?! Ok. I can’t wait anymore. Let’s dive in!

If you’re a designer who uses Lorem Ipsum placeholder text, chances are you’ve at least heard a comment from your client like this: “I see the draft and it looks great, but the text is all in another language.” Haha!

Tired of explaining what Lorem Ipsum is? Maybe it’s time to try one of these placeholder text generators instead!

Are you manually taking a screenshot from your tablet/phone/laptop/desktop to get these kinds of screenshots? Are you piecing together multiple pages yourself to get the full page? 🤦🏼‍♀️

There’s a much better way, thankfully. It’s not hard, or lengthy, or terribly complicated, so let’s walk through it.

Let me start by saying to all of you, as I write this on Thanksgiving morning while my husband sleeps in & I’m feeling particularly happy & grateful:thank you for following along and being part of this journey with me. I love & appreciate all of you!

Rebranding for yourself is so tough, especially for designers. Why?!

You’d think, because we have the capability, the software, the hardware, the knowhow, –and yet? It’s still so damn hard.

But why is it so hard for us? Why did I make the decision to change my branding or my brand colors (so many times)? Let’s investigate.

I'll start by saying I swear I'm not a "design snob!" Haha! 

That being said though, there are a few important things I tend to notice most frequently in other people's designs that will either give me better faith in their knowledge of design, ...or not.

A lack of attention to these 4 details in any given design will help me decide what caliber of designer I'm looking at. Are they self-taught with good instincts? Are they a trained or college educated designer? Are they a trained designer or a self-taught with bad design instincts? These can be important factors in deciding:

• from a client's perspective: who to hire

• from a designer's perspective: who to get advice from

Here's that list! It's super short! These are the top 4 things to check as you design or before you wrap up your design, because it will leave a better impression on other designer's and your client, and help create better consistency.

First things first, I realize that it seems hypocritical for me to say this when I design sites in Squarespace, which is a template-based system. I’m not referring to websites here, at all.

Templates for websites are entirely different because a website template means the coded structure is already done for you, but (typically) you still edit it. A LOT. You change the fonts or color scheme, put in your own content & images, etc. and truly make it your own, hopefully to the point it no longer obviously resembles the initial template style. You can choose where to put your content & end up making something that may or may not resemble the original you started with and THAT’s why it’s different.

Also, web developers are not always designers & designers are not always web developers; having the two separate sets of skills are vital in creating a good site, but it's not necessary to have both skill sets in the same person. A developer sets up the template, then a designer can come in & use that structure to design a site for someone using what the developer created. It's a great system!

So what's really wrong with using a logo or business card template, for example? I totally get why people do it. They're usually free, or very cheap and people who use them typically don't have a designer on staff or they assume they can’t afford one to set up these things. A lot of these templates even look really good, depending on where you get the template from, of course.

So, if they're free, cheap, easy to use, and are built into whatever company you're ordering the product from (like VistaPrint), then why shouldn't you be using them?

Using one font throughout a document can be visually monotonous, right?

But how do you know which ones go together and which ones don't?

Do you see gorgeous font combinations other people have done, but when you make an attempt yourself, it never looks right?

Today I'm going to give you a few tips on how to pair different fonts and what not to do! Whether it's in your Powerpoint, your resume or images for social media, you can choose like a pro too.

The 'how' is simple if you understand the the basic rules of thumb used.

+ download the FREE Guide to help you Choose & Pair Fonts Like A Pro!

Ever noticed there are certain fonts designers don't use? Have you ever wondered why that is? Keep reading for the answer, and grab your FREE How-To Guide so you can Choose Fonts Like A Pro!

Are you a new designer entering the workforce or starting your own freelance business? 

Maybe you’re a new designer and you've already landed your first design job (Congrats!!).

If so, here are 7 tips I've learned through my own experiences over the years while in college, working in the professional world as a student, freelancer and landing my own design job as an in-house designer.

Make sure you grab your FREE Ai Key Command Cheatsheet too! 😉

I think when people hear the word "designer" they sometimes think of one (or several) of these descriptors: nerd, techie, IT person, hard to communicate with, quiet, introvert, not personable, weird, unorthodox, etc.

While some of those things may be true, the main purpose of today's blog is to provide tips on how to communicate effectively with your designer, despite the personality differences that may exist.

Designers end up having sooooo many fonts. It really gets ridiculous!

If you have 500-1000+ fonts and you’re scrolling through them constantly searching for certain styles or that one you JUST CAN’T REMEMBER the name of… then you need my help!

It’ll take some time to get this system started, but if you do this now it will save you so much of it later on as you continue to collect them.

Most people (outside of the design industry) don’t know there is a difference between these 3 terms and that’s 100% understandable. If that’s you, it’s unlikely you’ve ever had to ponder the meaning behind any of those things. You likely use them in terms of what brands you like, such as Starbucks or Old Navy.

In terms of services rendered however, Branding, Logo and Design have very different meanings for those of us doing the creative work and I’ll explain it in regular ‘ol words so you don’t get hung up on industry jargon or terminology that confuses you further.

You probably have a vague idea of what type of design services you need, and maybe you even know who you want to work with. But maybe you have no idea how much (if any) work you’ll need to put in or how much it’d cost to hire the help.

That goes for pretty much anything in the service industry, right? But there’s Angie’s List & HomeAdvisor for those kinds of professionals. So where do you go to find out more about design services? (Please don’t say Fiverr or Upwork. 😄)

That being the case, whether you have/haven’t worked with a graphic designer before, I’d be willing to bet you’re not sure what to expect, especially in a remote work or freelance situation.

It can be scary to hand over your trust & money to a stranger you’ve never met in person & don’t know. Right? I totally get that!

Because I know that there are a lot of you out there who have no idea what to expect, I’m gonna share my process since basically it’s industry standard.

I've been a graphic designer since 2006. That's more than 10 years! This field is full of people who are both self-taught, and college educated; some who have the natural instincts and some who only know how to use the tech.

Because of the variety of designers out there, I see a lot of mistakes being made, either from a lack of innate skill or inexperience/knowledge.

But I'm definitely not here to bash anyone; just the opposite, actually. I'm here to help! 

So here are some branding no-no's I see a lot, and some suggestions on what to do instead, to make your brand even better.

If you suspect your current branding falls into this category & want to know how to fix it, I've also included a MINI BRANDING AUDIT DISCOUNT CODE for you! Just purchase through my shop & apply the code at checkout, then I'll take a look and provide some personalized feedback to help get you out of the design-gutter.

I sent out a reader survey recently, because I wanted to know what kinds of specific things you wanted to hear from me, so I can serve you better!

Several of you mentioned that you needed help with your branding, so today I'm tackling how to figure out what you need in your business branding!

I've got an example, sample questions to ask, and of course,...

+ Don't forget to grab the free client workbook:
'Unearthing Your Brand'

When a client has come in to peer over my shoulder and watch me make a quit change to their art, they pause, seeming fascinated with whatever I’m doing, or waiting to see how I make the changes they asked for. Then they’ll say something like: “I could never do that,” or “Sitting at a computer all day would drive me crazy,” or “That is so cool!”

Hearing other people’s perspective is fascinating to me, whether a seemingly negative statement, or a compliment on my skill set. I absolutely love what I do, and it’s frankly funny to hear a client who may be a farmer or a owner of an accounting firm, or whoever they may be, come in and say they couldn’t do my job, because I absolutely can’t imagine doing anything else (including, probably, whatever they do for a living too)! 

I love what I do! Plain & simple; and I’m going to share how I came to decide on this career field, and 8 reasons why I love it.

I've been using Adobe products for years now (all versions since Ai 10, up to the current Creative Cloud). I learned a lot in my college education, and even more through experience working in the field for last 10 years, but these programs are so large and expansive that I still find I'm learning new things about the Adobe software! 

When you've been using something for a long time and you learn something new and useful about it, it's exciting; and that's why I'm sharing these tips with you today!

The one complaint I hear most about the Apple operating system is that it isn't as customizable as Windows. While that's an accurate assessment, it doesn't mean it isn't customizable at all (if you know the some simple tricks)!