Issue #76
May 08, 2008
Welcome to Inside Freelance Design (IFD), your free, bi-weekly e-letter from American Writers & Artists Inc. Every other week, you can receive this special alert with secrets, tips, and insights from AWAI's graphic design pros to help you improve your skills and reach your goal of becoming a professional graphic designer in the fastest time possible.
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Finding Opportunity Where You Least Expect It
- Quick Tip: Protect Your Ideas by Password-Protecting Your PDFs
- Font Tips: A Sans Serif Font With International Flair
- EXTRA! EXTRA! News and Job Opportunities
So You Worry That Companies With an In-House Designer Won’t Hire You? Don’t!
By Mike Klassen
When I started my freelance career, I marketed my services to every business I could think of. Many times, I’d get a response like this: “We do all our marketing design in-house. Thanks anyway.”
So I’d scratch that business off my “contact in the future” list. After all, if they already had a designer on payroll, they didn’t need a freelancer like me, right?
Wrong!
Three things can happen.
First: Times and circumstances change.
While it’s nice for a company to have a designer (or a group of designers) on staff, if the business starts generating less design work, they may not be able to continue justifying the cost of equipment, health benefits, and a host of other employee-related costs. Instead, they may decide to start outsourcing their design – and even copywriting – work.
If that happens, you’d at least like to be in the running for future projects. But you’re not going to be in the running if the company doesn’t know you’re available. So when you run across a company that has an in-house designer, keep them on your contact list. Every six months or so, send a postcard or some other reminder to let them know you’re available.
A well-respected copywriter once asked, then answered, the following question: “How long should you continue to contact a potential client who doesn’t appear to need you? Until they tell you not to contact them anymore!” (And I can tell you from my experience that rarely will anyone tell you to stop.)
Second: Businesses can get… busy.
Another reason to keep sending companies regular reminders that you’re available is that, even with in-house designers, they can be overwhelmed with work from time to time. And when that happens, they’ll bring in a freelancer for the overflow work.
Working on a temporary basis gives you a chance to make a great impression... and get paid for it. The person you do the job for might give you a testimonial in addition to a check, and might even recommend you to other people in his industry.
Plus, there will come a time when an in-house designer quits. Though the company may be looking for a replacement, there’s likely to be a period of time when they have to outsource projects to a freelancer. Or they just might decide to add a dependable off-site freelancer like you to their design team.
Third: They may need a fresh vision… yours!
This opportunity may not seem as obvious as the first two I mentioned, but it comes up more often than you might think. To illustrate, let me tell you about a job I’m working on now.
The company is based in Washington, D.C., and works on a variety of marketing projects for various businesses. (By the way, I live in Washington State... clear across the country from them. Never restrict your self-marketing to your local area.)
Because of the amount of work they do, they have their own in-house designers. So why did they call me? Because they wanted a totally fresh perspective on one of their marketing efforts. It’s not that their in-house designers aren’t talented. But when you’re in the same trench week after week, year after year, you can lose the ability to look at the same client in a completely new way.
This company’s solution to this problem is to bring in someone from the outside – in this case, me – and say, “We’d like to have you look at this from a different angle and come up with some ideas.”
Now here’s the secret: An idea you’ve seen a dozen times in other projects may, in fact, be a fresh idea for this client. You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. Since you’re coming at the project without the baggage of what has been done in the past, even an old idea may be the perfect “new” one.
As I looked at the company’s current control, I could see things that I wanted to change. In talking to the marketing director, I found that some of my ideas had been tried and failed. But others hadn’t been tried before. They were ideas I had seen applied elsewhere, so it wasn’t like I was coming up with anything brand-new. But by applying them in a new way for this client, I was bringing something fresh to the project. And that’s what they were hiring me – an outsider – for.
So when you’re self-marketing, don’t ignore companies that have in-house designers. Their situation can change in the snap of a finger, and you want to position yourself as the first one who gets the call when it’s time to bring in a freelancer or a designer with a fresh idea.
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Quick Tip: Password-Protecting Your PDF Documents
By Kristin Schwarz
PDF documents are a great way to share your work with clients and potential clients who might not have the same graphics software or fonts you have. But its biggest benefit – that many people can view it exactly as you intend it to look – also presents a potential problem.
What if you don’t want anyone but your client to see your design? What can you do to protect your work from prying eyes?
The solution is really quite simple. You can restrict access to a PDF by adding a “Document Open” password. Here are the three simple steps:
- Click Secure on the toolbar, and choose Password Encryption on the drop-down menu. If you are working in Acrobat 8 go to Advanced on the menu bar and choose Security (padlock symbol). Then choose Password Encrypt..
- A dialog box opens asking: Are you sure you want to change the security on this document? Click Yes.
- Select Require A Password To Open The Document (about halfway down the box) and type a case-sensitive password in the text box.
If the PDF already has security applied to it, you may need to supply the Permissions password that lets you change its security settings
Important warning: There is no way to open the PDF if you forget the password.
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Attention Graphic Designers!
If you’re just starting out, you might be wondering…
- What’s the fastest way to get new clients?
- How much should I charge?
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- How do I set myself apart from the competition?
Now you can get the answers to these and over 300 other questions in The Ultimate Guide to Building a Highly Profitable Graphic Design Business.
Learn more at: http://www.thedesignerslife.com/landnewclients/
Font Tip: Frutiger Makes Your Headlines Pop
By Kristin Schwarz
In the last issue of IFD, we introduced a new series: Font Tips. And we introduced you to the serif font Janson Text. In this installment, let’s look at the sans serif font Frutiger.
Frutiger is a sans serif typeface by the Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger. It was commissioned in 1968 for the newly built Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Roissy, France.
The typeface was originally called “Roissy,” and was made available for public use in 1976. Its simple lines proved to be extremely flexible and appropriate for many different applications. The font quickly became popular in the advertising industry, and is frequently used in directional signs around the world.
Since this is a sans serif font, you do not want to use it for body copy in a direct-mail layout. But it is an excellent choice for headlines, subheads, or even outer-envelope teaser copy.
EXTRA! EXTRA! News and Job Opportunities
- Designer Needed With Print and Web Design Skills: The Davies Murphy Group, Inc. in Burlington, Massachusetts is a leading public relations and marketing agency. They need a skilled graphic designer who can move easily between online and print projects. You must know and have mastered the key differences between both types of design. You must have excellent project management skills, as well. Send your resume, work samples, references, and salary requirements to careers@daviesmurphy.com.
- Put Your Design Skills to Work in the Printing Industry: Alwan Printing, a printing company in Bridgeview, Illinois, seeks a designer to join their team. You'll use your InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to create designs for menus, postcard mailings, and magazines. Send your information to alwan@aol.com or mail it to Alwan Printing, Attn: Berj Khaleel, 7549 W. 99th Place, Bridgeview, IL 60455.
COMING NEXT ISSUE:
- Save Your Clients Valuable Time… and Money… by Guaranteeing Your Images Print Right the First Time
- A “Yearly” Gig You Can Build Your Career On, Month After Month
* ABOUT INSIDE FREELANCE DESIGN *
Inside Freelance Design is a FREE bi-weekly newsletter from American Writers & Artists Inc., available to AWAI members and friends.
© 2008 American Writers & Artists Inc.
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