A while back I wrote an article for Design Informer. It’s now been published, please visit Design Informer and give it a read.

It’s titled “Ignorance is Bliss for a Creative Mind.” It’s all about not being afraid to say those three magic words: ‘I don’t know!’ Then making sure you follow through by finding out.

Jad Limcaco has done a great job of styling the article, plus there is a small bonus comic strip to help illustrate the points made.

One of my ‘blog-ject‘ articles has been republished on the excellent Creative Network: TAXI. They asked me last week if they could use my post on forming a design brief. You can re-read the article here, if you wish!

While you’re there it’s well worth having a good nose around the TAXI site because it contains plenty of helpful resources for creative professionals.

I’ve had an article published on Inspired Mag. The article is called “The disadvantages of having too many ideas.”

I hope you’ll take a look and give it a read, while you’re there please take the time to give Inspired Mag a good look, as there are many fantastic articles there that I’m sure you’ll find helpful.

This is another exciting landmark for me as a blogger. I’ve had an article published on Smashing Magazine. The article is called “There’s no such thing as a bad client.”

I hope you’ll take a look and give it a read, while you’re there please check out the fantastic design resource that is the Smashing website.

I’m pretty excited because I’ve had my first article published on another blog! Callum Chapman over at Circlebox, very kindly accepted my article entitled: “Living with a Freelance Designer”.
Please take a look, and while you’re there check out the great things Callum is doing with his blog.

Recently I got thinking about the pros and cons of ‘Trade’ work, probably because I have done a lot of it – both personally working with other designers and within various companies I have worked for.

So what am I talking about when I say ‘Trade’ work?
I am not talking about working for brick layers, carpenters or electricians, I am referring to work within ‘our’ trade – design, illustration, photography, web development and print. This is work commissioned by another design/print/web company (or individual) who will then invoice their client in the same way they would have had they completed the work themselves ‘inhouse’.

I guess the other kind of work we do could be called ‘Direct’ work. You have your own clients which you usually meet through marketing or word of mouth. You will speak to them on the phone, travel to meetings with them, take briefs, provide quotations for print, advise on hosting and either produce all the work yourself or put elements of the job out to others.

It’s worth spending a moment reminding ourselves why ‘Trade’ work exists and pointing out that most designers or developers would have passed on some elements of their work before.

What I imagine to be the most common form of ‘trade’ work would be, as a designer, sending your work to a printer which of course, is perfectly acceptable. After all you are a designer, your client (probably) wouldn’t expect, for one minute, that you will print it yourself.

Another common form of this (and one that I benefit from myself) is a designer working on a website for his/her client but they either don’t code websites at all, or the build is too complex for them so they outsource it to a web developer who will then code it.

Things can then break down a lot further – designers > illustrators, printers > print finishers, front-end developers > back-end developers and so on.

Once put into perspective it seems almost impossible to function without ‘Trade’ work.

Trade work as you can imagine has its good and bad points – here they are as I see it…

Good points (pros)

Contact with the client is either minimal or non-existent.
I know we’re not socially incapable but you can potentially avoid lengthy meetings and allow you to spend less time on the work.

Clear and Concise brief.
In theory the brief has already been vetted by someone else in the ‘Trade’ to become clear and concise.

Deadlines are well managed & realistic.
Not always in practice but its fair to say that the company/person passing work to you will normally act as a barrier, softening the blow.

Reliable & prompt payment.
In my experience you will be working with someone you have worked for many times before. If payment terms were not acceptable on both sides you wouldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) still be working together.

Work remotely.
You have the brief, you’ve got the files, you have internet access, you’ve got your phone, as long as the works getting done it doesn’t matter where you are, your client doesn’t need you to have a water cooler and meeting room.

Future benefits.
A good working relationship with someone in the ‘Trade’ is healthy for business it means you are likely to receive ‘Trade’ prices for their services in the future – for example if a printer uses you for design you are likely to receive a very good price for your own stationary, in return you should expect to do the same for their personal materials.

Not so good points (cons)

Less cash.
When doing ‘Trade’ work you shouldn’t expect to charge as much as you would direct to your own client, of course do not leave yourself short, but remember it has to be worth their while too. I would say usually about two thirds of your normal rate is appropriate provided you have a good working relationship.

A wise man once told me ‘you should make something out of everything you do‘ that works both ways, no one works for free.

Beware of ‘farmers’.
At some point you may come across a company that outsource ALL of their work, essentially these are just sales companies. They would often have their clients believe the work is completed ‘in-house’ and projects are normally very poorly managed.

In my experience you should avoid this work at all costs, you will end up doing all of the work for their profit. Loyalty is rare and you should expect to see them move on as soon as someone cheaper comes along or you ask them to pay your invoice.

Potentially no credit for the work.
This can vary but essentially you should be aware it is unlikely you will be credited, if this concerns you discuss the issue prior to starting work and if necessary adjust your price accordingly.

No new leads from your work.
As you are not dealing with a client directly you will not be recommended by them to their friends and colleagues, although hopefully any future work of the same nature will remain outsourced to you.

You are building someone else’s business / reputation.
This is where it can become a heavy weight on your shoulders. You are essentially building another person’s business for them. If this worries you it certainly means you need to address your balance of ‘Direct’ and ‘Trade’ work.

In our ‘Trade’ outsourcing work is both inevitable and essential. The more skills you have inhouse the better but it is not always the most profitable way to work & sometimes you simply may not have enough time on your hands. Having a small network of ‘Tradesmen’ who are skilled and you trust is key.

Perhaps the single most important thing I have to say is get the balance right. The right mixture of ‘Trade’ and ‘Direct’ clients will make for a very healthy business. Trade work rarely goes just one way, if the relationship is right you end up working with people, not for them. In the times when your business is slow and your income from ‘Direct’ clients is down the ‘Trade’ work may just be what gets you through.

What are your views?
Is it better to carve out a niche for yourself as a specific ‘craftsman’, or should we all provide the ‘full service’?

Can you get away with higher rates if you specialise in one area as a ‘craftsman’ and become an expert?

What are your opinions on ‘Trade work?’ have you experienced it yourself?

Andy Kleeman is a graphic designer and web developer (aka the boy who cried fox) living in Camberley Surrey, you can see his website here.
“Thanks to Ken for including this post!”

Welcome to the first guest article on the Ken Reynolds Design Blog, this came about from a conversation between Ken and myself (Andy Kleeman) – which we thought could turn into an interesting guest post… hopefully you’ll agree!

I’ve been aware of (and a user of) twitter for some time now and have a pretty empty looking home page on my twitter account. As much as I’ve tried, I’ve never really got into twitter and at times have struggled to see the point… especially when text updates stopped in the UK.

For those of you who were never aware of the SMS updates… until around a year ago twitter would text you the updates of those you follow free of charge! Obviously you had to be a bit pickier on those you received updates from in order to stop your phone becoming like a vibrator with no off switch.

In fact twitter has always been very focused around mobile updates – which I guess is in part, where the 140 character limit comes from.

It’s that focus on mobile phones that became a big problem solver for me last week!

Last Wednesday I met with two friends who needed a website sharpish for a “charity kayaking-gig-busking tour” – www.honkykayaktour.co.uk

In short it is their intention to kayak from Goring in Oxfordshire to Godalming in Surrey over the course of a week with their musical instruments aboard, stopping along the way to busk in the name of Charity on behalf of the Phillis Tuckwell Hosipce & camping under the stars.

Being the disorganised chaps most of my friends tend to be we had one week and two days until they we’re setting off, their meeting with the Charity was the next morning and to date they had no gigs lined up!

How would anyone know where they were going to be without things planned in advance?

How will they raise any money busking if no one can find them?

That’s when it hit me – twitter!

We can set up a twitter account that the guys can update by texting, which in turn also updates their website – brilliant!

Twitter is an excellent solution in this case! – by pulling the tweets into the honky kayak tour website content is kept fresh and it gives visitors a reason to repeat visit in the same way a blog does. The tweets are easy to update from a mobile phone simply by texting twitter & in this scenario I see no feasible alternative for Dan and Dave to update their website on the move. Thanks to twitter we’ve very easily incorporated dynamic content into an otherwise static page!

Twitter can also be massively helpful for businesses. Why? well when somethings wrong scandal/rumour/outright mistreatment – twitter has become the young internet’s voice, the word can be spread (it could be argued) quicker than in any other medium – a message can spread to followers of followers of followers in next to no time so it would also be a sensible and quick way to address the situation for the business in question.

In the past few months two such situations arose; when some Dominos pizza employees posted a damaging video on youtube and when all of Amazons homosexual listings completely disappeared from their searches (source .net magazine). Dominos were quick to respond using their twitter account, Amazon chose not too.

Again this week speculation quickly spun through twitter that this had been top gears last season based on Jeremy Clarkson’s end of show comment.

“Twitter was soon awash with fans wondering whether Clarkson was referring to the Aston Martin cars or to the series.” (the guardian)

Thursday – created logo.

Friday – designed & built the website, set up a twitter account / just giving page.

Job done! – now I can sit back and watch the tweets come in!

Please feel free to go and check out the honky kayak tour, follow honkykayak on twitter where they’ll be posting their whereabouts once their trip begins this Friday. Any donations (which can be made via justgiving) you would like to make to their very worthy cause would be greatly appreciated!

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks as I will be producing another guest article, this time a quick tutorial on including twitter on your website!

Andy Kleeman is a graphic designer and web developer (aka the boy who cried fox) living in Camberley Surrey, you can see his website here.
“Thanks to Ken for including this post!”