For the frequent rock dwellers who don’t know Bear or haven’t been able to catch Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel, picture a man that you could drop out of a plane anywhere on the planet (literally anywhere) and he would survive.

Now picture that man waiting for you when you got back to the airport, probably with some dirt on him, maybe with a little bit of something else’s blood. Bear Grylls can tackle any environment with his keen resourcefulness, endurance, and testosterone.

While I am not entirely aware of Bear’s computer skill set, I am going to go ahead and bet the house that he is a better web designer than you are. Where does my confidence come from? Well first, I have never seen Bear fail to do anything. This guy kills things that kill people and then he eats them… I am serious. He eats them. So am I going to say that Bear sucks at web design? Heck no, I don’t want to get eaten. Apart from the threat of consumption, Bear employs several survival techniques that act as pretty solid advice in the web design world as well. In this post, I’ll share Bear’s techniques and explain how they apply to web design.

Know Your Surroundings

Before taming any type of harsh terrain, Bear makes sure that he is familiar with his surroundings. Knowing the pitfalls of the environment you are working in will save you a lot of trouble throughout your journey. Think of the Amazon jungle as Bear’s Internet Explorer, the complete lack of any helpful features forces you to make do with the most basic of tools that you have at your disposal and improvise unique solutions to complex problems.

Along the same lines, whether Bear spends the night in a cave, in a tree, or inside of a gutted camel (seriously) often depends on the kinds of visitors he might be expecting in the middle of the night. There is no one size fits all solution for every type of environment just like there is no such solution for every web project. The targeted user base for each site should guide your design and development.

Start Small

Have you ever tried to start a fire with a stick? I would be willing to bet that less than 1% of the people who read this have ever started a fire with a stick. Bear starts fires with sticks in his free time. It’s what he does to relax at night. Apart from showing how much of a complete bad-ass this would make you, it also shows that a little bit of patience can go a long way when it comes to achieving a desired result. Starting a fire with a stick is not a quick process, but if Bear was unable to start a fire before sleeping at night he would be forced to fist fight snakes, wolves, bears, dinosaurs, and all of the other crazy shit that hangs out where he does.

If you are able to watch this fire starting process without feeling incredibly lame about yourself, you will realize that all of this stick business has the single goal of producing one tiny hot ember. So, if you find yourself starting from nothing in the idea department it always helps to get something small going. We all have trouble starting projects from time to time, as if we have no spark to get us going. Rubbing a stick may be a lot more work than we want it to be, but it can build a fire and sure as hell beats sitting in the dark.

Recycle

Ever wonder how many different uses one climbing rope has? Bear doesn’t. Bear can use one rope to climb a mountain, kill a wild animal, cross a ravine, build a raft, lasso a tornado, start a fire and build a hammock all in one day. When Bear gets his hands on something useful he uses it until it falls apart and then he keeps using the pieces. In Bear’s world, almost nothing he comes across is entirely useless either. Everything can serve some sort of purpose.

So, don’t throw away the work you don’t use right away. Designs that aren’t selected can be reused, either in their current condition for a different project or recycled into something entirely new. Don’t be afraid to use the pieces either. Maybe widget A would look good as a part of this new design or widget B could provide a huge improvement on that design. Using work that you have already done is a huge time saver and a very resourceful way to ensure that a limited amount of the work you do goes to waste.

Rest Is Important

Bear may not take a lot of things lying down, but he knows it’s important not to wear yourself out too much. Sure, tying yourself to the edge of a 50 foot cliff so you don’t fall off in the middle of the night and get killed by coyotes (or the fall) may not result in the best night’s sleep, but it’s better than nothing. Does Bear really need the sleep? It’s hard to say…

In the web design world we may find ourselves buried in loads of work and tempted to run a marathon without stopping. However, taking some time off or getting some rest will keep you from getting burned out on your project and often will result in higher productivity and quicker results anyway. Having 40 energetic hours of work a week is often much more productive than 60 or 70 hours of overworked malaise.

Something else to keep in mind is that you may not be the only one who needs a break from a project. Much like the world needs a break from Bear at night your client may need a break from you. While web design or development projects may be what you do day in and day out, they are what your client does day in and day out. Keep in touch with your clients and make sure they are happy, but be careful that they aren’t overwhelmed with project updates and feedback requests; most of the time 90% of their day is devoted to other tasks.

A Man’s Gotta Eat

By far the best thing about Bear’s adventures into the wild places of our planet is the fact that this guy will kill and eat anything. Actually… I take that back. He doesn’t always kill things. Anything small enough to fit in his mouth like spiders, slugs, insects and deer, he just eats alive. Of course, he can’t eat everything because a lot of the plants and animals he comes across will freaking kill him if he eats them.

So, while it’s important to know which meals are going to be poisonous you also need to have something on your plate. When you are starving for work, it’s important that you are capable of reaching outside of your comfort zone or taking some jobs that wouldn’t always appeal to you. When large projects are scarce, smaller ones can be a life saver. It’s up to you if the work is dead or alive when you get started.

Brand Yourself

In a recent episode, Bear was strolling through the Texas desert and stumbled upon a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Of course he went through this speech about it being one of the most poisonous snakes in the world, but I didn’t listen to any of that because I knew full well that this snake was about to get its ass kicked and of course, be eaten. Bear has built up such a personal brand of bad-ass that I actually feel sorry for all of these terrible creatures that could kill me in their sleep.

Bear builds this brand by walking the walk. So, keep in mind that your personal brand is a representation of who you are and who you are can be made up of what you do. Bear would not be so awesome if he was known as the guy who sometimes kills poisonous snakes and sometimes they kill him. Along the same lines, you can’t build a personal brand of being a good web designer if sometimes you put 100% into a job and sometimes you don’t.

What About You?

We’ve translated the survival principles that Bear Grylls uses in the television show Man vs. Wild into principles for web designers (and by extension, other freelancers as well).

How well does your freelancing business stack up against the principles in this post? Can you think of lessons that freelancers can learn from other celebrities?

Share your ideas and thoughts in the comments.

Image by gregor_y

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to sharpen your skills as a vector designer, a photoshop designer, a website designer or if you’re just looking for resources, inspiration and freebies (like brushes & icons), the websites below will give you everything you’re looking for. I’d definitely suggest checking them all out and subscribing to each of their RSS feeds (I’ve got them all in my feed reader).

Vector Design Blogs

Below are some great blogs specifically written for those of us who are looking for vector tutorials and resources.

AI Burn

Vectortuts

Vector Diary

Vectips

Photoshop Design Blogs

Below are some great blogs specifically written for those of us who are looking for photoshop tutorials and resources.

PSDTuts

PSD Vibe

PSD Fan

General Design Blogs

Below are blogs that will help you move forward in every aspect of design – photoshop, vector, web design, ect

Abduzeedo

You The Designer

DesignM.ag

Naldz Graphics

Six Revisions

Think Design

Smashing Magazine

Tutorial9

Vandelay Design

 
Web Design Ledger

Web Designer Depot

Design Newz

Spyre Studios

Arbenting

Design Shard

My Ink Blog

1st Web Designer

The Design Cubicle

 
What do you think? Do you use read any of these blogs regularly? Do you know of other Must-Read blogs for designers that should be added to the list?

Share your recommendations in the comments.

Given the major elements at play, there’s no reason for this swing to stop, or even slow, in the next few decades — and pretty soon the majority of designers are going to be freelancers.

What leads to this conclusion, you ask? Here are three major reasons that most designers are going to be freelancers within the next 20 years:

The Costs of Freelancing are Plummeting

The trend of working at home, or working freelance, has been greatly bolstered by the lower costs of technology and communication.

It’s possible nowadays to build an office at home, for only a few thousand dollars, and still have the technology to work and communicate around the globe. Technology costs are so much lower than they were years ago, and the result is that it’s easier now to set up an effective freelance business for much less money — which means more people are going freelance.

Think about Skype, for example. It alone has created the opportunity for thousands of freelancers and clients to do business across the globe. Because of Skype there many people who started a freelance business that would have been unable to otherwise.

The cost of setting up this global communication? Maybe $25 for a decent headset.

These new tech improvements, and constantly lowering costs, are creating what amounts to the perfect storm for starting a freelance business. All of the things we freelancers need to get started are not only improving, but are also becoming less expensive. In the coming decades this will draw many people into freelancing.

Corporations Are Hiring Freelancers Instead of Employees

As the global recession continues, more and more corporations are cutting costs — and laying off employees. These companies need to cut expenses, and maintaining an office with full-time employees has a lot of overhead.

Hiring freelancers, on the other hand, has no overhead at all. Freelancers can be hired extensively for a big project, and then not paid a thing when a company has no work. It’s the most scalable and on-demand solution for many situations, and a lot of companies are coming to the conclusion that freelancers are the least expensive option.

And when the world economy starts to recover, as is typical with post-recession economics, there is going to be a severe shortage in man-power due to the extensive lay-offs. Guess who fills in the gaps? Freelancers.

Typically these “stop-gap” freelancers convert back into normal employees after awhile, but given the lower costs of freelancing, the differences in the newer generations, and the increasing risk associated with large overhead, it could be a very long time before that swing happens.

Based on these trends, the number of freelancers will be exploding over the next several years.

Younger Generations Love Freelancing and Independence

The final trend at work here is the average age of the design community, which is somewhere in the 25-34 year range, and rapidly getting younger.

This age group no longer sees a job as secure. After watching (or experiencing first-hand) the number of lay-offs and firings that have happened in recent years, most younger people are more apt to rely on themselves than the promises of a big company. Add into the mix the promises of independence and potential prosperity, and it’s clear why this generation so distinctly favors freelancing over getting a job.

With the nearly non-existent technological barriers to entry, the perfect catalyst in the global recession, and an age group that prefers freelancing to a job, it’s clear to see that the design industry is in for a significant change over the next years and decades.

In 20 years, it looks like the vast majority of designers will probably be freelancers.

Are You Prepared?

Are you prepared to deal with a significant number of new freelancers in the coming years? Have you created a business that can handle the incoming competition, and the new business when the economy improves?

Are you ready for more and more of your business to come from other freelancers?

Or, do you disagree with this prediction entirely? Do you think I made a mistake or missed something significant in the post?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

top image by Trekkyandy

In this article, we’ll show you a simple 5 step process that can make finding the right image much easier. It’s a process that’s been used to find hundreds of great images on this site, and it’s been used to find thousands of images for various other projects.

Step 1: List Your Constraints

Before you can begin looking for the right image it’s critical to gather and list all of the constraints you’ll face when using this image. Almost every project has certain limitations on the imagery that will work best in the final use, and it’s important to know these limitations before you begin to spend time searching.

Here are a few common constraints to watch out for:

• Exact Dimension (e.g. must be 3″x5″, can’t be wider than 600px)
• Aspect Ratio (e.g. must be 8:10 aspect, must be portrait orientation)
• Quality and Type (e.g. must be > 300dpi, must be in vector format)
• Color (e.g. image needs to be predominantly blue, image should be light)
• Misc Other Limits (e.g. image must be cut-out of background, etc…)

Once you have the exact details and requirements for your project, put them into a list or some other format that’s good for quick reference. This will help to easily cut out images that won’t work, as well as help you save time and guarantee that the final choice is perfect for the project.

Step 2: Find The Exact Purpose

Every image should have a specific reason or purpose for being included in your project. Some images are there to grab attention, others are included to make something more friendly. Some images need to set the mood of the audience, others just need to look pretty and take up space. Whatever your project, it’s important to figure out what this image needs to do.

Really think about the final resting place of the image, carefully consider your audience and placement, and then do your best to come up with a detailed purpose for it being there. The more details you can decide on for the image’s purpose, the better — it will make finding an image much easier and will significantly improve the final result.

If you can’t find any specific purpose for including the image, then it might actually be worth leaving out.

Step 3: Turn Abstract Ideas Into Concrete Search Terms

Now that you’ve got a very good overview of the requirements and purpose of this image, it’s time to translate this information into concrete terms that you can actually use to find some images. Trying to find an image that represents ‘difficulty’ is going to be a lot harder than finding an image of a ‘rock climber’ or even ‘hurdles’, so you want to brainstorm as many concrete terms as you can.

Some good things to consider are objects, actions, specific situations (e.g. ‘business meeting’), places, or anything else that could be used to label an image. You want to do your best to convert the abstract requirements of this image into concrete ideas that other people might use to label a stock photo, or that you could use to send a description to a professional photographer.

Here are a few examples of this translation:

• Luck can become four-leaf clover, gold, or bingo
• Freedom can become sitting on the beach
• Difficulty can be hurdles, narrow staircase, or rock climber
• Inviting can be open door, outstretched arms, or embrace
• Growth can be a little plant, plant in hands, or a financial chart

As you can see, there are many different specific terms that can represent a single abstract word or feeling. It’s up to you to find as many of the specifics that could fit, and from there to choose the terms that best fit your project.

Step 4: Start The Search

It’s finally time to start looking at images — and now that we’ve done all of the prep-work, this stage will go a lot faster and should be a lot easier.

From the last step you should have a list of very specific terms that describe the image you’re looking for, so now the goal is to find as many images as possible that fit those terms. The easiest way to do this is by searching various stock and image websites. Here are a few good options:

Free stock/image websites (be careful of copyrights)

• Flickr
• Compfight
• Stock.xchng
• Stock Vault
• TurboPhoto

Premium/paid stock image websites

• iStockPhoto
• Fotolia
• Dreamstime
• Depositphotos

The best way to handle the image search is usually to create a lightbox or other way of gathering the images you’ve found together. This way, you can look very quickly and save anything that could possibly work for review later. The object of this step is to find lots of potential images, and not necessarily to find the perfect image. We’ll get to that part in a minute…

Step 5: Review Options and Select The Final Image

It might seem like a good idea to combine this step with the last one, and just review and critique the images as you’re looking through the search — but that can actually hurt things. If you combine the search with the review it’s easy to miss images that could work, or to select an image that isn’t really that good. Splitting the search and review into two separate steps will make sure you can compare all of the good possible images together at once, and then make the overall best pick for the project.

When you search and review at the same time, what you’re actually doing is grouping the images in your mind, and then comparing each one to the selection you’ve already seen. This does sometimes work well for small image searches, but for any larger projects it will actually slow you down as you’ll end up looking over the same image group multiple times to try and remember everything you’ve seen. So, always remember to split the searching stage and the review/selection stage.

When you’re reviewing your images, it can sometimes be very difficult to select one because so many would work well. In other cases, it can be tough because none of the images really fit what you’re looking for. In both situations, I recommend one thing: give yourself leeway in image choice. The image you select doesn’t need to explain everything exactly, that’s why there is text. Let yourself pick an image based on feeling, abstract ideas, and overall impression — not necessarily on very specific details.

In the end, the final selected image should be the one that closest matches your purpose for this specific image. It should convey the right feel, it should attract the right amount of attention, and it should get across the point that you need it to make. If you can do that, then chances are you’ve found the perfect image.

How Do You Find Images?

That’s it for this process — but there are still a lot of little things that we didn’t cover. Do you have any tips you’d like to add? How about horror stories about trying to find the right image?

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Images in this article were found on Flickr by using Compfight. Credit goes to: Sergie Arsenie, 416style, Ella’s Dad, and Andreq Ciscel.

Luckily for us, in this digital and open source age, there are quite a few resources floating around the web that make the search a little easier. There is an ever growing number of websites that focus on nothing but free vector graphics. Some of these sites are gold mines, while others aren’t worth visiting.

Below is a collection of websites that are definitely worth checking out — sites that have high quality free vector files as well as showcases of other free vector resources.

Free Blank Vector Clothing

 
The Ultimate Collection Of Free Vector Packs

 

Snap 2 Objects

 

Do You Know of Other Resources?

Are there any other free vector resources out there that we missed? Tell us your favorites in the comments.

In this list, we’ve compiled some of the best brushes, patterns, textures, fonts, and vectors that will help make your graphic design life a bit easier. Read on for more.

Photoshop Brushes

60 Most Wanted Photoshop Tutorials, Brushes, .PSDs and Resources

Another collection of collections, but there are some great brushes listed in the brushes section… you’ll find some other great Photoshop resources as well.

350+ Retro and Vintage Photoshop Brushes

All vintage and retro designs in this post, but it links to DesignM.ag’s other brush resources, including flowers, space brushes, and more!

20+ Photoshop Painted Inspiration and Brush Resources

Includes a section of great Photoshop Brushes as well as other Photoshop resources.

Illustrator Brushes

80 Best-Of Adobe Illustrator Tutorials, Brushes, .EPSs and Resources

This is noupe’s illustrator counterpart to their “60 Most Wanted Photoshop Tutorials, Brushes, .PSDs and Resources.” Once again, a long list of useful information.

45 Excellent Sets of Adobe Illustrator Brushes

A ton of paintbrush-like brushes, with some floral and geometric brushes as well.

28 Free Illustrator Brushes for making Swooshes and Swirls

The title says it all. More BittBox illustrator brushes, photoshop brushes, patterns, textures and more can be found here.

81 Amazing Argyle Illustrator Brushes

If you’re looking for argyle brushes, this is definitely the right resource – COLORBURNED also has a ton of other illustrator brushes here.

Textures

50+ High Resolution Textures, Tutorials and Resources

This post showcases some great textures, including some grunge, paisley, geometric designs, natural textures, and more.

101 Free Rock and Stone Textures

Includes textures for both natural and colorful rocks and stones. A great place if you’re looking for either.

Design Resources Pack #1: The Grunge Pack, Brushes, Fonts, Textures etc…

Includes textures, fonts and brushes — all in the grunge style.

Arbenting’s Texture Freebies

This lists all of the site’s free textures, including stones, grunge, fabrics, wood, and abstracts.

Patterns

The Showcase of Brilliant Pattern Designs

A great showcase to get your creative juices flowing.

450+ Abobe Illustrator Patterns

A lot of beautiful patterns for any design need.

The ultimate photoshop resource list part 2: patterns + textures

Links to lots of different patterns and textures, plus some tutorials.

Fonts

80 Beautiful Typefaces for Professional Design

The title says it all: lots of different typefaces with a preview of each so that you can easily see if the font is a perfect match.

40+ Excellent Free Fonts for Professional Design

This is a follow up to SmashingMag’s other extremely large font presentation, except these are all free!

50+ Fonts for Big, Bold Headlines

If you’re looking for some bold fonts, here’s the place to go. Includes font previews and links.

30 Fonts That ALL Designers Must Know & Should Own

It’s always good to get back to basics – here are Just Creative Design’s suggestions.

Icons

35 (Really) Incredible Free Icon Sets

Dinosaurs, sunny-side up eggs, and elephants are just some of the great free icon sets showcased here.

Tools Icons, Horror Icons and Twitter Icons

Three great icon sets provided free of charge by Smashing Magazine.

VECTORTUTS Freebie: 17 Exclusive Web Icons

A great set of general icons.

Free Icons: Function Icon Set, 128 Completely Free Icons

You may have seen this collection before, but it had to be included in this list of icon resources!

Freebies: A Social Media Icon Set Just For You!

Arbenting’s icon set for social media – also includes 15 Photoshop brushes.

Free Hand Drawn Doodle Icon Set for Bloggers

Some really neat, hand drawn icons.

Vectors

The Ultimate Collection of Free Vector Packs

This features 60 free vector packs, from ribbons and circles to dinosaurs and birds. There’s just a load of good stuff here.

Logo Tools 1 (remix)

A great, free set of vectors with lots of different silhouettes.

Free Vector Swirls and Twirls Pack

Just Creative Design’s free vector pack.

Share Your Favorites

These are only a few of the many resources available out there. Let us know which you use the most, and which are your favorites!

If you think about the iconic movie director Alfred Hitchcock, the psychological movie thrillers The Birds and Psycho probably come to mind.

There’s a good reason for that. Not only were those two films made late in Hitchcock’s life (making them more recent), they also contain unforgettable scenes that will leave you riveted to your seat. Who can forget the shower scene from Pyscho?

Alfred Hitchcock had the well-deserved reputation as a master of suspense because he was also a master of branding.

If you look at how he earned his reputation, you’ll see that he did a lot of things specifically to enhance his brand. As a freelancer, there is a lot of value in examining what he did.

Here are a few branding tips that we can all learn from the “master of suspense.”

1. Specialize and stick with it. Alfred Hitchcock was a master at creating movie thrillers partially because he made so many of them. During his long career, Hitchcock directed over fifty films. During that time he was able to hone and perfect has skill at building suspense. He had a specialty, and he built on it.

2. Surround yourself with talent. Reading the slate of actors who starred in Hitchcock films is like reading a “Who’s Who” list of Hollywood stars in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Hitchcock films featured such luminaries as Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Gregory Peck, and Ingrid Bergman (to name just a few). Branding by association is a great way to get your name known.

3. Know your audience. Hitchcock cleverly let his viewers fill in the details of many of his most effective films. He understood well how the imagination worked and how his plots and special effects would impact his audiences. He understood who he was writing for and crafted his films accordingly.
4. Take credit for your work. Alfred Hitchcock was not shy about his work. He was famous for having a cameo appearance in each of his movies. He also hosted the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which subsequently became one of the most popular shows ever aired and contributed greatly to making his name a household world.

5. Let other promote you, but don’t be afraid to promote yourself. Hitchcock was a favorite of the critics. Although he never received an Academy Award for best director, he was the recipient of many other types of recognition. Queen Elizabeth also recognized him as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Effectively developing your brand takes a combination of skill and persistence. It can also be hard work. Name recognition doesn’t come over night (or even very quickly) but for those who possess the right mix of talent and determination, it will come.

Actually, offering consulting services is probably the best decision I’ve made in my freelance career so far (after going full-time freelance of course) I get more requests for design projects now than before I started offering it. Why?

There are 4 main reasons why I do consulting and how I think it helps my design business. Keep in mind that these can also be applied to any other business like writing, blogging, programming, etc…

1 – It Positions You As Someone Who Knows What He’s Talking About (an expert?)

Offering consulting services tells potential clients that you actually know your stuff. Hey, if you can design and code a website and offer advice and personalized tips and tricks on top of that, tell me why I shouldn’t hire you? (especially if you offer a package that includes both design and consulting)

There’s a huge difference between being able to just do a job and being able to suggest improvements and ideas based on your experience while doing the job. One thing I’ve learned from blogging is that you should never assume the information is already out there when you write something. It’s the same with consulting except the information you give your client is very personalized.

2 – You Can Learn A Lot By Consulting

Every single time I have a new consulting client I learn something new! Everybody wants something different and have different needs. You can learn a lot by offering consulting services, it’s a win-win thing! You learn from your clients and your clients are happy you can suggest improvements, share your ideas, give advice and help him/her build a better business.

You’ve been designing for years, you sure know a thing or two about design and usability, right? Well chances are your client doesn’t. When you work with clients in different industries you learn a a lot each time, and that knowledge and experience that you gain can help you run your business better and help other clients in the long run.

3 – It Gives You A Break From Designing

I love to design websites and blogs, but sometimes it feels good to take a little break and do something else. Consulting gives you this, it helps break the routine and then you can go back to designing with a fresh perspective and new ideas. It’s like going for a walk when you got a nasty case of writer’s block, except you get paid for it!

4 – Build A Strong Ongoing RelationShip

Ok, so you can design a website, great! But why stop there? Why not tell your client about your consulting services? It’s expensive enough to acquire new clients (advertising, marketing, etc…) why not try to keep the ones you already have?

Sure some clients just want to get the job done and you’ll never hear from them again, but others will be more than happy to spend a little more and hire you as a consultant! If you can build a strong working relationship with your clients there is a good possibility you won’t have to work as hard to find new clients in order make ends meet since you’ll have money coming in on a regular basis.

Your Turn To Talk

What do you think? Have you ever considered offering consulting services? I know consulting is not for everyone but try offering a free report or something like a 1 hour Skype consultation and see where it takes you. I’m sure you’ll like it! :)

******

image in this post: Thomas Rockstar

Jon: Hi Adelle, can you please tell our readers a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do?

Jon: Have you studied anything in particular or are you self-taught? What’s your background and how did you get started?

Jon: You have your own portfolio site (adellecharles.com), did blogging on Fuel Your Creativity helped you get new clients? How did blogging helped your design business?

Adelle: Funny that you ask that – I have been thinking about that for a little while. When Fuel Your Creativity started out about 6 months ago, I had no intention of ever mixing my portfolio with my blog. The main purpose of my blog was to help others “fuel their creativity” and engage with other creatives in the community, to network and to get my name out there as a blogger. I never thought twice about getting my name out as a “designer“. Strange as it may seem!  I’ve been thinking about incorporating the two more and have been working on a site design (fuelbrandstudios.com) hopefully set to launch by January – maybe sooner.

Jon: Please tell us, what are the tools you simply couldn’t live without? (software, web-app, etc…)

Jon: What would be your single best tip for people looking into a graphic design career?

Jon: Do you have any idols or mentors in the graphic design field? People you look up to and that inspire you, who are they and why do you like them and their work?

Jon: You already have over 8 years of design experience, but where do you see yourself in, let’s say another 5 years from now? Do you have some sort of exit strategy, or you can see yourself designing and working in this field for years to come?

Jon: The infamous question: Mac or PC?

Jon: Now the question I have to ask everyone I interview: What’s  in your iPod? :)

Jon: Thank you so much Adelle or taking the time to do this interview, really appreciated!:)

Jon: I hope you enjoyed this interview with Adelle. We will have more interviews soon, if you know someone who you would like us to interview, drop us a line.

Yes this is a sponsored review, but I can honestly say I’m 100% happy with my new cards! :)

Of course in order to write a review of a product or service you need to try it first, or at least get samples. So I designed my cards and then ordered 1,000 from UPrinting.com (just like any customer would) and received my cards via UPS about a week and a half later. Ok, before I go on, here’s what they look like:

The Ordering Process

Once I had my design, it was as simple as uploading the 2 files (front and back) via their online form and waiting for the PDF proof, which they sent about 15 minutes after I’ve uploaded my files! Talk about fast service! Oh and you can also order a free sample kit, in case you want to see the actual paper stock your cards will be printed on before you order..

The PDF proof (low resolution sample here) includes:

• Bleed and trim marks
• Registration marks
• Color bars

If you design your cards yourself you gotta make sure you’re in CMYK and also take into account bleed and trim. Here’s a great tutorial on PSDTuts which U-Printing is partnered with in their international design competition.

Of course if you’re not a designer you can select a template and just add some text.

So, once you got your design it’s as simple as uploading your files, waiting for the PDF proof, approving it, paying for your order, and voila! :)

Here’s a screenshot of the upload form:

Conclusion

I’ll definitely order from UPrinting.com again in the future! No doubts there. Especially since they offer more than just business cards. You can get calendars, envelopes, flyers, greeting cards and a lot more!

With all that said, if you’re looking for a company to print your business cards (or other material), I’m sure you’ll love UPrinting.com! I certainly do!

Cheers
Jon

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About the author: Jon is a full-time freelancer, blogger and designer, he loves WordPress and plays guitar in a heavy act. He’s also the founder of Freelance Folder.