Free Fonts Available Online

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Free fonts are available for download on a number of websites. Fonts are the cornerstone off all effective communication design elements so an excellent font library is essential for all graphic design professionals. Designers need a good range of fonts ranging from serif, sans serif, classic/traditional, script, decorative, serif, sans serif, etc.

I recommend that designers start with a good set of original classic fonts. The free font sites will not have original versions of classic fonts. These fonts will need to be purchased from font sites like ITC (International Typeface Corporation), Fonts.com and Linotype. Several fonts come pre-installed on many computers or installed at the time a software application is added, as in Microsoft Office. Check your computer’s font list to be sure you don’t install duplicates. Purchasing fonts from these premium websites can be expensive, but well worth the investments, since these fonts will contribute to  the majority of your design efforts.

Once a collection of classic fonts is established, use the free font sites listed here to add to your collection. Look at the different categories of fonts and make selections. Also be sure to read if there are any usage limitations for the font. Some fonts are full public domain/shareware and can be used for commercial purposes. Other fonts may be limited to personal use only. Some excellent sources for free fonts are:

1001 Free Fonts
Acid Fonts
Ace Free Fonts
dafont
Font Squirrel

Take a look at your font collection. Chances are that you will benefit from having some additional font options. As with any font, readability is essential. Even though some fonts are free, it does not mean you should spend time downloading all of them. Be selective with your font collection. Free fonts are fast and easy to preview, download and install and a great way to add secondary fonts to your collection.

Filed Under: Freebies Tagged With: ,

Email Marketing Is A Great Way To Stay In Touch

May 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

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Filed Under: Online Marketing

Free Tool For Managing Social Accounts

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

HootSuite is a powerful free tool for managing social accounts. FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Ping.fm. HootSuite manages multiple accounts in one interface. There’s also an iphone app for HootSuite. The full version app for iPhone costs $2.99

Powerful features such as RSS feeds to your posts, post scheduling and url shortening make this free application a must have for anyone managing multiple social accounts.

Filed Under: Social Media

Combine Facebook And Twitter Accounts

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Combine your Facebook and Twitter accounts to optimize your social media exposure and to save time. There is no denying that Facebook and Twitter offer graphic designers a great way to network and search for work opportunities. Build your fans and followers gradually and you will be rewarded with a valuable social team.

Here’s how to combine Facebook and Twitter accounts:

While in your Facebook account go to http://www.facebook.com/twitter/

Follow the steps and log into your Twitter account. Enter your twitter username and password in the required fields to link Facebook to your Twitter account.

You’ve combined your Facebook and Twitter accounts! Now you can make Twitter updates to show up in your Facebook account. You have options to display only certain Twitter content. Status updates, photos, links, notes and events can all be synced. You selected categories from your Twitter account will now display in your status on your Facebook account.

This simple process makes your social network more united and will drive more traffic from one account to the other. The time savings are huge in terms of saving the duplication of effort.

A great free tool for managing social accounts is HootSuite. Set up a free HootSuite account and your social media world will feel much more organized.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Back Up Your Digital Files

May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Backing up work files is a must in any business. I had a nightmare of a situation when my dog (yes I know) ran past my computer cables and dragged my work hard drive crashing to the floor. 500GB worth of work, gone. I tried different recovery methods, but they failed. The worst part of the story was that I had no current back up of the files contained on the hard drive. I was a victim of the “it will never happen to me” syndrome. I was able to recover all of the data, but it was expensive and I had to do with my files for a few days. If this happens to you, take your damaged hard drive to the best recovery lab in the business: http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/. They calmed me down and did a great job of recovery. When you rely on the files as much as graphic designers do, you want to go with a company you can trust.

Now I back up my files on a regular basis. I still use external hard drives for my work files. I like to keep my work files and operating system files on different drives. I can also take my external with me between my studio and home. For my back up, I have additional hard drives which back ups are copied to and I use a remote back up service. The remote back up service is the ultimate peace of mind, since there is no hard drive to fail or DVD to scratch.

The online service I use is SugarSync. You can try their service for free. They have automatic sync and you have control over sharing your online files with clients and collaborators. This feature comes in handy with the large nature of graphics files. They even have a free mobile app for your phone.

Which ever method you choose for back up, just do it. It will save your sanity and give peace of mind.

Filed Under: Productivity Tools

Create Your Graphic Design Website

May 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A website is mandatory for every self employed graphic designer. Even if you’ve never created a website before, you can create a professional looking website using the WordPress  platform. Many people think that the WordPress platform is strictly for blogging. The fact is that a WordPress site can be created to look like a non-blog website. Once a WordPress website is created, updating is very simple. Just log into your administrative panel and add or change content.

There are thousands of WordPress Themes to choose from to get you started. Many of them are free! I’ve learned from experience that most of the free themes are not properly structured for optimal SEO and some have functionality limitations. However, if you’re interested in free themes, you can start here. Premium, or paid WordPress themes have built-in features and offer better SEO structure. Most are very affordable, under $75.00 which is a small investment in a tool that will generate endless promotion for your business. To explore the best premium WordPress themes click here.

WordPress plug-ins are widely available to extend the functionality of your WordPress site. Portfolio or photo plugins allow a gallery type display of your portfolio. There are also contact form plugins, anti-spam plugins, mapping plugins and many more that will add valuable tools to your website.

Filed Under: Graphic Design Business

Create Graphics For Merchandise For Money

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Take advantage of the online surge of create your own apparel. Design and market t-shirts, shoes, caps, and other items and sell them on supplied e-commerce sites. This is a booming industry with sites like this one leading the way.

Filed Under: Make Money, Money Making Opportunities Tagged With: ,

Make Money With Online Freelance Websites

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

With the popularity of the internet, there are more opportunities than ever for designers to make money using their talents. Designers that once were looking for full-time employment, are now enjoying the flexible schedule of working on freelance jobs. Not many design firms are hiring full time designers now anyway. There are many online freelance site who are looking for talented designers to create designs for clients.

Designers can bid on projects and work directly with clients. Make sure you do your best work and keep the clients happy. When they have a good experience, they will request you again. This is a great way to build your freelance graphic design client base. Check out oDesk, they are easy to work with and guarantee a quick payout. Also 99 Designs is a great resource for work.

As designers we are in a great position to reap some financial benefits from our talents. Take some action and start earning today.

Filed Under: Make Money