Books

Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting Revised Edition

Average customer rating:

Why didn't I read a book like this ten years ago?
Well-written and informative
Graphics Designers Guiding to Pricing, Budgeting, and Estimate
Most of the book is not about pricing and estimating
Great business resource, carefuly written

Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting Revised Edition
Theo Stephan Williams
Manufacturer: Allworth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines)
Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers (3rd Edition)
Starting Your Career as a Freelance Illustrator or Graphic Designer
The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business
Self-Promotion for the Creative Person: Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do

ASIN: 1581150989

Book Description

6 3/4 x 10 North American Distribution graphic design Whether you're a start-up business or an experienced owner, The Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting, Revised Edition, provides a one-stop source of indispensable, innovative methods for achieving productivity and profitability in every area of a graphic design business. This brand-new and completely updated edition offers practical guidelines for setting rates, dealing with clients' budgets, preparing an estimate, and establishing profitability. Readers will also discover step-by-step strategies for pricing on the Internet, negotiating effective pricing with clients, and developing options to traditional pricing. Plus, the easy-to-read sidebars throughout this valuable guide offer dozens of creative, resourceful success tips for running a top-notch business.

Customer Reviews:

Why didn't I read a book like this ten years ago?.......2007-05-24

In straight-forward, witty and very business-wise language, Theo Stephan Williams lays it all on the line for anyone in or thinking of getting in the design business. She explains exactly how to negotiate, what to say and how to actually make a profit. While all other books dance around the subject of money, she just lays it on the table, giving hourly rates and project break-downs and without having to feel bad justifying prices that will keep you in business, I finally realize that it is a right to make a profit out of what we do.
For ten years I've been operating exactly like the kinds of people Theo knows inside out - thinking that breaking even is good enough, afraid to raise prices for fear of losing work. All that gets, she explains, is a huge, unprofitable client base, all making demands and not paying a good price for the services they receive. Theo provides clear, logical, sensible and highly convincing arguments to turn your business around and make a real success of it, as she has done of hers.
Read it and join the ranks of enlightened designers and design firms who actually make great money out of doing great work.

Well-written and informative.......2006-12-13

Theo's writing style is lively and at times, entertaining. The multimedia section is starting to show its age, but this is still a very worthwhile read.

Graphics Designers Guiding to Pricing, Budgeting, and Estimate.......2005-08-03

This is an excellent book for Graphic Designers starting a business. Los of helpful information and tips and things to consider. It is an easy read. Overall excellent book. I've bought several books starting my business and this one was the best.

Most of the book is not about pricing and estimating.......2004-04-29

The title doesn't really describe this book. Two of the 14 chapters pertain to pricing and estimates, but don't expect a GAG PEG-style list of suggested numbers. In fact, actual fees are seldom mentioned.

This book mostly covers the business of graphic design, from hiring to self promo to client relations. If you're getting the Creative Business newsletter, you're already getting this information. If not, this is a practical guide. Williams is experienced, and her advice makes good sense. Her writing style is casual, and the book is a quick read.

Great business resource, carefuly written.......2002-09-08

Of all the books in my business/design library, I think this one has proven to be the most valuable. While I am not quite to the point where I can reasonably charge some of the prices that Theo recommends, I still feel like this book is a great resource for much of the business of design. If anything, I think this book does a good job of building confidence in pricing and business as a whole. The writing style is very smooth and easy to follow, and her personal accounts help tie in real-world experiences to justify her recommendations.
Theo Williams also does a pretty good job of covering a broader sense of project management and client relations, though not in too great of detail (which is okay, as that is not the point of the book). The end of the book provides us with some rough business forms (invoices, estimates, etc.) which I also found greatly helpful.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a better grasp on how to go about figuring out prices for design projects.

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design

Average customer rating:

I was very happy with this book!
It hurts to read.
Extremely Mediocre
Perfectly Designed for Designers
Mostly Useless Book

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design
Debbie Rose Myers
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Designing a Digital Portfolio (VOICES)
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Building Design Portfolios: Innovative Concepts for Presenting Your Work (Design Field Guides)
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Becoming a Graphic Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design

ASIN: 0471569259

Book Description

How to create winning portfolios
This valuable guide outlines a step-by-step strategy for creating print-based and digital portfolios. Along with successful sample resumes and cover letters, as well as a companion Web site featuring examples of completed portfolios, it demonstrates how to highlight a designer's unique creativity, including tips on redesigning and organizing past pieces and portfolios to impress potential employers.
Debbie Rose Myers, MFA, EdS (Fort Lauderdale, FL), is a graphic design and multimedia instructor at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

Customer Reviews:

I was very happy with this book!.......2006-09-07

I was very happy with this book! I took a Portfolio class in college and it did little to help me build a
digital portfolio. This book covered a number of questions that I had about the various computer
design programs. It also offered ways to create navigations once the digital port is created and some
of the things that can go wrong.

The book is well structured. It is logical and clear. There were tons of examples. In addition to the
chapters on creating a digital, there are some great chapters on how to create a traditional portfolio as
well. I also learned the best ways to create resumes, how to take interviews and what to do when
asked difficult or illegal questions.

This book has plenty of useful information interspersed with just enough technical info to keep you
feeling informed but not overwhelmed. If you are trying to create any kind of portfolio, buy this book!

It hurts to read........2006-09-03

This book is incredibly irritating to read. It made my brain hurt. Another review described her style as "ebullient." I would describe it as "unfocused and unedited."

As I randomly flip open the book, I find typos and simple grammatical mistakes that should have been caught by a decent editor.

Page 14: "Write down answers to the following questions. Don't be modest, but be realistic. Put yourself inside the head of the potential employer as you consider how you will come across during an interview?"

Empty phrases:
Page 23: "A good rule of thumb for establishing the length of the resume is to balance economy with appropriate depth and detail."
How exactly is that a rule of thumb?

Page 49: "Any discussion of electronic design begins with the question, which format should I use to create my portfolio? Should I create a Web site? Or produce a CD-ROM? The answer is, it depends. In fact, there is not much difference between the two formats."
Gah! Really, the answer depends?
There's not much difference between CD-ROM design and web design? That's news to me.

Irritating parenthetical trivia:
Page 49: "For all intents and purposes, a CD-ROM (remember, this acronym stands for compact disc read-only memory) can be considered, simply, a storage device for your designs and resume."

In a word, the book takes a rambling shotgun approach, it's littered with irritating mistakes, and there's not much insight into the subject matter.

Extremely Mediocre.......2005-12-09

I must say I had high hopes for this book, but it didn not deliver. Everything in it was obvious and I didn't feel like I learned anything at all. For instance, Myers goes on for a while about file formats and the different softwares and what they do. If you were a graphic design student and you were reading this book, wouldn't you already know all this stuff about what software like Adobe Illustrator does?

Her design samples are boring, they lack creativity, and they just plain drag the book down. I do not reccommend this book, though unfortunately, there aren't many if any good portfolio books out there... Maybe next time, Debbie.

Perfectly Designed for Designers.......2005-10-08

During my stint as a librarian in a university art school several years ago, I encountered many young graphic design students who were creative and talented; however, they seemed at times a tad clueless about the real world that crouched in the darkness ahead, waiting to pounce. Back then, there was no shortage of materials on the theory and technique of graphic design, but there was not exactly a glut of practical information on how one successfully breaks into the graphic design field after graduation. To accomplish this goal in today's competitive job market, the graphic designer needs an effective portfolio as well as the skills to market it to perspective employers and clients. Debbie Rose Myers gives aspiring graphic designers the vital information necessary to succeed at this daunting yet crucial endeavor.

With an ebullient style, Myers describes the process of planning and implementing all facets of the portfolio. Different portfolio types are explored, from the traditional to the digital. The text examines every facet of the process, including professional resumes, job interview skills, the fundamentals of elegant Web site design and the importance of being prepared for computer malfunctions. Included are portfolio examples, pertinent glossaries and a bibliography. Myers's choice of success stories are sure to inspire the creative personality, such as the artist whose portfolio included herself clad as a 1950s waitress and achieved five job offers.

Though the title implies a small audience, this spirited book will aid job-seekers in a broad spectrum of fields, not just in the arts but in business and the sciences as well. At the very least, The Graphic Designer's Guide to Portfolio Design should be a permanent resident of not only academic art libraries but the designer's personal library too, for this is a work that will be consulted again and again. There is always a place in the world for artists; they merely need to know how to find it. Myers illuminates the path.

Mostly Useless Book.......2005-09-22

I was very disappointed by this book. The design examples, with an occasional exception, are very weak; and the content is so generic and obvious that it yields virtually no valuable insight at all.

A Designer's Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need (Design Field Guide)

Average customer rating:

Put this book in your tool belt.
Clear, very straight foreward
A great service to the design profession and it's clients

A Designer's Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need (Design Field Guide)
Jennifer Visocky O'Grady , and Kenneth Visocky O'Grady
Manufacturer: Rockport Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1592532578

Book Description

Doing research can make all the difference between a great design and a good design. Most experienced designers would quantify this "legwork" with the term research. By engaging in competitive intelligence, customer profiling, color and trend forecasting, etc., designers are able to bring something to the table that reflects a commercial value for the client beyond a well-crafted logo or brochure. Although scientific and analytical in nature, research is the basis of all good design work. This book provides a comprehensive manual for designers on what design research is, why it is necessary, how to do research, and how to apply it to design work. As designers embrace research methodologies, they share a common vernacular with their clients, and establish respect as idea people. In an increasingly crowded marketplace, embracing research practices will ensure a continued viable role for designers in business. No other books address this issue for student and professional graphic designers. Books on how to do research are usually aimed at writers, business marketers, and scientists. The ability to execute effective research methods is as important to a career in graphic design as the ability to build a grid or layout a page. Understanding the needs of the client and the client's market are essential components of creating value.

Customer Reviews:

Put this book in your tool belt........2007-03-08

This book is a must have for any aspiring designer. I have the good fortune of studying under the author of "A DESIGNER'S RESEARCH MANUAL" Mr. Visocky O'Grady. Ken is my 'Design research' instructor; he is a high-energy teacher with a vast knowledge in his field. I recommend to all designers/students that you add this book to your library.

Clear, very straight foreward.......2007-02-22

I had to buy this book for a Design Research class. I like the simplicity of the book and the information it contains. The authors dont bogg the reader down with a bunch of advanced technical terminology. I think this is a GREAT book for anyone just starting to get into design research. Its clear, consise and an all around good read. I've taken a few classes with Ken Visoky-O'Grady and he's an amazing professor. I think the book is a great first attempt and would be an asset for any young designer.

A great service to the design profession and it's clients.......2006-12-12

In my search for structured discussion on design process and research, I was fortunate enough to find this book, "A Designer's Research Manual," at the MOMA bookstore in SoHo. I only wish this had been available and required text when I was still in school. The Authors have done a great service to the design profession, and it's clients. Those of us who are more designers than "artists" would do well to integrate the principles of this book into our processes & methodologies for tackling our clients' business problems. It's thinking like that in this book that will make the case for design's value to the business of our clients. Thank you Jenn & Ken Visocky O'Grady!

The Interior Designers Guide to Pricing Estimating and Budgeting

Average customer rating:

Great book for pricing - not just for interior decorators...
Good Advice from Someone who's Been There Before

The Interior Designers Guide to Pricing Estimating and Budgeting
Theo Stephan Williams
Manufacturer: Allworth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1581154038

Book Description

Provided here are practical guidelines on how to value the cost of designing commercial or residential interiors. From the designer's creative input to the pricing of decorating products and procedures, this guide allows interior designers to establish prices and budgets that satisfy their clients and make their business profitable. Interviews with experienced interior designers, case studies, and sidebars of projects highlight professional pitfalls and how to master them.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for pricing - not just for interior decorators..........2006-05-12

This is a phenominal book for pricing and structure in any business. As an independent consultant one of the most difficult things when starting out is finding the right pricing structure. This book covers that as well as many suggestions on how to effectively organize and run a business. I have already recommended this book to my husband who is in Home Improvement and a friend who has a curtain business. I think it is so well written that it could be of value to many types of businesses small and large.

Good Advice from Someone who's Been There Before.......2005-08-08

One of the hardest things to learn about interior design, or any other service industry is that the only thing you have to sell is your time. To do this in a profitable manner, you need two sets of skills.

The first is the one you know about. You've got to find customers, you've got to do the job they want done and you've go to make them happy. This is probably the job you've trained yourself to do through experience, through training, and through the basic aptitude that you had to get into that business in the first place.

The second job is harder. You've got to realize that you are a business manager. You need accounting (to keep your business partner the IRS happy). You need to develop a busines plan, budgeting, etc. You need to know how to prepare and send out bills and how to handle the money when it comes in. And the most critical of all, telling the customer what your effort is going to cost him.

In this book Mr. Williams gives an excellent introduction on how to do these critical things. He also includes enough war stories from his past to give you the understanding of how he learned these things.

I really enjoyed his page one story of starting his own company: sold his car so as to eliminate the payments, crammed his office into his bedroom, paid off all credit cards, in general reduced his expenses to a minimum. When I started I did almost exactly the same: I had a very tiny kind of dumpy house in not too good a neighborhood - but no payments. I had an ancient vehicle - but no payments. Like with him, I was profitable the first month, but you had best not bet on it.

Mr. Williams has been there, done that, walked the walk. His book makes excellent sense.

Fantastic Folders and Exceptional Envelopes: A Designer's Guide to Custom Carriers That Open Conversations and Seal Deals

Average customer rating:

Fantastic Folders and Exceptional Envelopes: A Designer's Guide to Custom Carriers That Open Conversations and Seal Deals
Patricia Belyea , and Jenny Sullivan
Manufacturer: Rockport Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 159253175X

Book Description

Every graphic designer works diligently to make his or her creative impressions exceptional and long lasting. Achieving this goal can make first impressions extremely important. Every aspect of a piece must be thoughtful and well laid out to communicate the pertinent information and, most importantly, draw attention. Whether working on a full-blown media kit or a custom envelope, the packaging is what sets the tone of a project and provides the intended audience a perspective with which to view the materials.

Through inspired designs, Fantastic Folders and Exceptional Envelopes relays the secrets behind each of the wonderful examples presented and covers all the technical details that can make or break a job, including ideas for unique closures and flap styles, not to mention glue and paper choices. This book provides all the vital information needed to create the perfect folder or envelope that is innovative, eye catching, and functional.

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Creative Marketing: Finding & Keeping Your Best Clients

Average customer rating:

The ABCs of marketing for every design professional
A practical, chatty, well-informed guide to selling design.

The Graphic Designer's Guide to Creative Marketing: Finding & Keeping Your Best Clients
Linda Cooper Bowen
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business
Inside the Business of Graphic Design: 60 Leaders Share Their Secrets of Success
Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting Revised Edition
Self-Promotion for the Creative Person: Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do
Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients: How to Make Clients Happy and Do Great Work

ASIN: 0471293148

Book Description

You know you've got the talent, now let them know it-your complete guide to finding, winning, and keeping good clients Written by a graphic designer and successful marketing consultant, this book is the most complete guide available to marketing your services, with clear, practical, step-by-step instructions on every aspect of graphic design marketing, including:
* Developing and implementing a marketing plan
* Researching prospective clients
* Creating effective marketing materials
* Cold calling and follow-ups
* Effective communication
* Dressing for success
* Resumes, cover letters, and portfolios
* Proposals, bids, and contracts
* Keeping good clients-account management
Also included are sample business forms, contracts, proposals, letters, and checklists, along with stunning full-color examples of successful self-promotion campaigns for every budget. Throughout the book, there are fascinating and instructive interviews with clients as well as graphic designers from across the country who share what they've learned about marketing and managing graphic design services.

Customer Reviews:

The ABCs of marketing for every design professional.......1999-07-28

Linda Cooper Bowen's guide to creative marketing is an essential step-by-step tool for any design professional -- at any level -- seeking to generate new business and improve their image. With such diverse and relevant topics as the role of the marketing manager, positioning your image, and successful promotion programs, she presents solid methods and easy ways to grow even an established design studio. I particularly appreciate the chapter on finding (and keeping) the best clients. It's the most important part of my own job, and I can sense the ways my firm will benefit from Cooper Bowen's expertise.

A practical, chatty, well-informed guide to selling design........1999-06-04

Cooper-Bowen, much-published writer on the business of graphic design, usually addresses designers who are more comfortable with art than with profit-making. This book is no exception, but from that don't assume that the contents are either condescending or superficial. You should also not assume, if you already think of your practice as a sophisticated business, that this text will tell you nothing new. While we're not talking advanced economics here, the best advice Creative Marketing offers may be its frank assessment of when to rely on outside experts, and when to trust yourself. In plain language, the book tells you all the things you never learned in school about building a design business, with as much consideration for the artistic and personal rewards as the financial. Far from trying to force designers to fit a cold, big-business model, Cooper-Bowen's approach has everything to do with knowing exactly who you are. She encourages directness, individuality, and honesty as the best tools for long-term success. She presents experience-based (as opposed to theoretical) outlines for business plans, marketing plans, prospecting, and sales: explicit, 1-2-3 checklists structure a process most of us approach intuitively. That structure can help you stay objective as you define your own strengths, weakness, and goals-one of the hardest tasks of entrepreneuring. These nuts-and-bolts proceedures are illustrated by case studies of actual studios, showing Cooper-Bowen's ideas in action. The situations and personalities sound very familiar, and the solutions may elicit a few sighs of relief from those who've been struggling to remake themselves in some corporate mold. Creative Marketing gives great attention to personal and written communication, an area in which many visual communicators tend not to shine. Her clear guidelines for good letter, telephone, and personal presentation, backed by relevant and convincing examples, set realistic goals for effectively polishing your own image. Although I have to admit that, as an editor, I wish the author had given her own text-particularly her punctuation-another round of revision, the content itself is unusually realistic, and so precisely tailored to its audience as to be well worth the small investment for any small studio owner who suspects they could be doing better. I wish I'd read a book like this-and taken its advice-when I was struggling to make my freelance business fly. (from Nancy Bernard, Managing Editor of Critique Magazine.)

The Graphic Designer's and Illustrator's Guide to Marketing and Self-Promotion

Average customer rating:

The Essential Guide
Artfully Done
Great Coverage of a Neglected Area

The Graphic Designer's and Illustrator's Guide to Marketing and Self-Promotion
Maria Piscopo
Manufacturer: Allworth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Business of Art | Reference | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Starting Your Career as a Freelance Illustrator or Graphic Designer
Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines)
Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting Revised Edition
Self-Promotion for the Creative Person: Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do
Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators (Business and Legal Forms)

ASIN: 1581153635

Book Description

Providing an in-depth guide to the latest industry trends, technologies, and business secrets of marketing, this book will help designers and illustrators create and implement a sophisticated marketing and self-promotion system for long-term success. Step-by-step instructions are provided on such topics as finding new (or better) clients, portfolio presentations that work, and much more. Interviews with real-life clients and case studies bring each topic to life.

Customer Reviews:

The Essential Guide.......2006-09-15

Many books of this ilk have an attention grabbing title, yet are poorly written with basic concepts repeated to fill up the chapter. Not so with Maria's book - she succintly describes the strategy and process of marketing and promotion for the creative professional. In doing so, she breaks down the feeling of being overwhelmed by the tasks to create visibility and thus business, and you are inspired to create a plan and act. Thank you Maria - this was the book I've been searching for.

Artfully Done.......2005-03-19

The quality of the writing here is just great. Some really lucid explanations of subtle concepts.

Great Coverage of a Neglected Area.......2004-10-06

Too little has been written about the business side of graphics and, unfortunately, much of what exists is too theoretical or academic to use. Maria's book "cuts to the chase" and tells the graphic arts professional what they need to know to succeed. Corporate contractors can benefit, too, in learning how to maximize "win-win" situations with their creative professionals. This is a user-friendly handbook for the busy commercial artist - or the artist who would like to become busy by tapping the insights of a seasoned professional.

Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients: How to Make Clients Happy and Do Great Work

Average customer rating:

Very Misleading title
Review from Design In-Flight magazine, July 2004
Motivational For The Business Owner
the same old thing
inspiring and helpful

Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients: How to Make Clients Happy and Do Great Work
Ellen M. Shapiro , and Allworth Press
Manufacturer: Allworth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines)

ASIN: 1581152760

Download Description

"Here is the perfect volume for graphic designers who want real-life advice for long-term success. Renowned designer Ellen Shapiro reveals time-tested tricks of the trade-for making sure the clients you want to work with know about you, become your clients, and work with you productively. Then, in a series of one-on-one interviews, leading designers such as Milton Glaser, April Greiman, Mike Weymouth, Drew Hodges, Marc Gobé, and partners in Pentagram reveal their personal experiences and insights on how to uphold creative standards while fulfilling clients' needs.Their advice will help you: identify what is distinct about your services; market yourself effectively; meet and court clients; learn the lingo of corporate strategy; make effective presentations; believe in the work you do and sell the work you believe in; obtain referrals from existing clients; keep clients coming back for more. CEOs and design managers from nineteen marketing- and design-savvy clients-such as Klein Bikes, The Knoll Group, Barnes & Noble, and Harvard-offer their own candid perspectives on the challenges, solutions, and triumphs of working with designers. Whether you are courting your first clients or seeking fresh insights for achieving even greater success, you cannot afford to be without this crucial resource."

Customer Reviews:

Very Misleading title.......2007-01-20

The title suggests that this books provides "guidance" and advice on client management for graphic designers. It however, is a very long collection of conversation style stories (told via interview questions) with client and designer (all very big names at that). The books does not contain any real collection of practices, principles, and/or tactical steps one can use. There's also no real organization to the book which definitely makes it "not a guide". It really feels as if the author is just showing off that she knows these big designers/clients well enough to chat and have coffee.

Review from Design In-Flight magazine, July 2004.......2004-09-10

As designers, creating solid, thoughtful solutions to design challenges is only part of the battle. While we spend time in school and on internships learning about design fundamentals, software packages and the printing process, its nearly impossible to gain an understanding of the complex designer/client relationship without the experience of a few successes and missteps.

Ellen Shapiro's The Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients aims to speed that learning process by giving experienced and novice designers alike an insider's look at some of the most successful designer/client collaborations of the past few decades.

Following the maxim that creatives learn best by following in the footsteps of the masters (an approach that is the basis of most fine arts programs), Graphic Designer's Guide shows us how the masters of our generation have perfected the art of successful designer/client collaborations.

Beginning with her own experiences, Ms. Shapiro shares with the reader her own techniques for getting, pleasing and keeping clients. Following this five chapter prelude, the meat of the book begins, with a series of 17 interviews with well-known designers (and clients), including: Milton Glaser, April Greiman, Rick Valicenti and others.

Whether you're looking to land your first client, or want to generate some referral business from your fifth, Graphic Designer's Guide is one book that will surely have some good advice to offer.

Motivational For The Business Owner.......2004-02-22

If you agree that doing great work for great clients is one of those things that you love about being in the design business...then this is a book you should read. I appreciated the keen client insights as well as the wisdom Ellen Shapiro provided on keeping and growing a design business post 9/11. The second part of the book interviews many of the greats in design highlighting their successful client relationships and work processes. It's a terrific behind the scenes review of how the big firms made their way. Some of the problems we may face as business owners in this field have, at one time or another, been faced by others who've gone onto further their own company's success. A good resource for the graphic design professional and business owner!

the same old thing.......2004-01-03

I was disappointed in the book. The first part of the book was good. Being new to the business end of graphic design, I was looking for was information on how to deal with clients and start building a client base. It started with good information but then switched to an advertitoral for very big successful companies. I want info on the how to build a relationship with clients, not how the big got bigger.

inspiring and helpful.......2003-11-18

Ellen Shapiro's The Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients is as fun to read and inspiring as it is helpful and informative. Why wouldn't it be? Shapiro herself is so passionate about design and the business of design, pointing out early in the book that we become designers because "...we love type and images. We love print media and ink on paper as well as electronic media and moving images. We love to change minds and influence people and add joy and interest to the environment. We want people to be better informed, have an easier time finding their way around, and be visually delighted..." She adds, "It's a life's work that can make a difference." And Shapiro knows that in order to accomplish what we want to achieve as designers-to truly make a difference--we must choose our clients judiciously and then wisely navigate our relationships with them. More than a decade in the making, and comprised of a remarkable assortment of interviews and anecdotes, amazing interests and knowledge her book shows us exactly how to do this. The Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients is thoughtfully provocative and a must read for every designer and student as it opens up a world of possibilities and potentials.
Hank Richardson, President, Portfolio Center, Atlanta, Georgia

Hank Richardson is President of Portfolio Center in Atlanta, one of the most renowned schools for the communicating arts in America. A chronic insomniac, he spends the wee hours conjugating the verb "charette," and preparing for his 5 a.m. classes, events famous for their heated debates and hot Krispy Kremes. In addition to being one of the country's most respected design educators, he is an AIGA Fellow and a founding member of AIGA/Atlanta. His students have won more than 4000 design and advertising awards.

Creativity for Graphic Designers: A Real-World Guide to Idea Generation - From Defining Your Message to Selecting the Best Idea for Your Printed Pie

Average customer rating:

A great book about how to practise as a graphic designer
A real world book
definatly not a picture book
The book of all books
great starting point for formalizing/mainstreaming process

Creativity for Graphic Designers: A Real-World Guide to Idea Generation - From Defining Your Message to Selecting the Best Idea for Your Printed Pie
Mark Oldach
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Reference | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Graphic Design School, Third Edition
Thinking Creatively: New Ways to Unlock Your Visual Imagination
Principles of Two-Dimensional Design
Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography (Designing With Type)
The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type

ASIN: 0891345833

Customer Reviews:

A great book about how to practise as a graphic designer.......2006-03-09

I love my mac, but I also love not using it. This book tells a lot about a designers prosess outside the mac. I found this sentence in the book: "Designers have a responsebility to do what they are paid to - design .... To many designers use the (mac) for a substitute for thinking". So right!

A real world book.......2004-07-09

Unlike design books filled w/ eye-candy & no direction on processes, Mark Oldach steers the reader through well defined concepts & thoughts. An excellent book for all designers who wish to communicate through design.

definatly not a picture book.......2003-12-12

I found this book to be very helpful in getting you to think of the box. Instead of being like a picture book with not much information, it tells you how to come up with ideas and explains the process of making a good design. This is a great book to have if you already have those picture books with just designs and need something to help you with actually creating your own designs.

The book of all books.......2003-02-26

I had been looking for a book about creativity, I wanted to understand the process more, and hopefully increase my productivity. This book was one of 12 that I bought related to the design and creativity area, and was by far the best I've read yet. It gives so much information about the process of idea generation that even I understand it more now (and I've been doing it for 4 years). I have already used the advice on handling clients to great success, and I'm reading the book a second time round.

This book is a MUST for all designers at all levels!!

Enjoy

great starting point for formalizing/mainstreaming process.......2000-07-14

A lot of time is wasted in the creative business just doodling and waiting for one's muse to pop in and show us the light. This book takes the sloppy creative process and pretty much streamlines it into a more productive method of thinking things out and solving problems.

While there are examples of real creative work, the book focuses more on process than one product. If you're constantly living on mental post-it notes and flying by the seat of your pants when coming up with new ideas, this book might just be the ticket for you to get the creative process more organized. I have seen a few reviews that cited a problem with the size of the font used in the book... I held the pages of the book up to my computer monitor and find that the font used on this webpage is actually smaller than that used in the book... so if you can read this page, you can read the book. :-)

The Business Side of Creativity: The Complete Guide for Running a Graphic Design or Communications Business (Norton Books for Architects & Designers)

Average customer rating:

A Creative's Must Have!
Very helpful for a new freelancer
Foote's books address different business models
Worth $20.00
YOUR BUSINESS BIBLE

The Business Side of Creativity: The Complete Guide for Running a Graphic Design or Communications Business (Norton Books for Architects & Designers)
Cameron S. Foote
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Public Relations | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Marketing | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Graphic Designer's Guide to Pricing, Estimating & Budgeting Revised Edition
Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines)
Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers (3rd Edition)
The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business
Self-Promotion for the Creative Person: Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do

ASIN: 0393730093

Book Description

Tips, techniques, and procedures for starting up and running a successful creative-services business. The most comprehensive business companion available for freelance graphic designers, art directors, illustrators, copywriters, and agency or design-shop principals, this book guides creative entrepreneurs step-by-step through the process of being successfully self-employed. It answers their most-asked questions and provides sample forms that will save time and help them run their business more professionally.

Customer Reviews:

A Creative's Must Have!.......2006-10-20

This book is a wake up call to the Creative! It completely opened my eyes to the many things to think about and plan for when leaving your secure job, and going out on your own. Extremely well written, with a plethora of knowledge on the subject. A complete eye opener. A MUST HAVE for the Creative who is planning on going freelance, or starting their own business. Very informative and necessary to read in order to succeed on your own. Very exciting, I could barely put it down!

Very helpful for a new freelancer.......2006-08-24

I'm starting a sole-proprietor (one-person) freelance design business and I have found this book to be extremely helpful. It manages to be realistic about what to expect while also providing encouragement that if you prepare well and work smart, you have the opportunity to reach your financial goals. The book has made me consider contracts carefully and has given me valuable suggestions (for example, setting up standards such as "I can't accept jobs for which I can bill less than 8 hours' work"), thinking about what kinds of clients I want to attract in my business, and so on. It has important points to consider if you are locating your business outside a large metropolitan area. I recommend it for anyone who is starting out - or considering starting out - on a solo creative business.

Foote's books address different business models.......2004-08-28

According to the author's website at http://www.creativebusiness.com/books.lasso The Business Side of Creativity addresses freelancing and the basics of pricing, selling, and running a SMALL design or marketing communications business. The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business focuses on the management of a MULTIPERSON organization. The website gives a summary on the various chapters of each book.

Worth $20.00.......2004-08-09

I started out excited about this book, then quickly realized much of what the author had to say was outdated at best, not the best advice on numerous occasions, but yet the book contained some valuable information. A bit stoneage as far as business marketing practices. One hundred pages on setting up your own studio/small business with personnel (No, thank you). If working as a freelancer in the graphics or copy arenas is your thing, its worth paying $20.00 to get something out of it.

YOUR BUSINESS BIBLE.......2004-03-26

This is such a comprehensive book. If you have any question about how to run a business, let alone a creative one, this book is the only one you'll need.

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