Thanks to Generation Press for printing our lovely new business cards. I'll get better shots to show the foil blocking clearer when I can but the lighting wasn't so great when I shot these. The 2 card designs were printed on 625gsm Dutch Grey Board, with debossed foil block lettering.

We've finally launched a new portolio site for illustrator Andy Ward. Andy wanted a new site, designed to feel more professional and branded. The design needed to be sympathetic to his illustration style, or at least complimentary with an overall feeling of fresh, friendly and clean. Visit the site here.

My flyer design has been featured as a double page spread in the Japanese publication 'The image of business cards today.'

We have a Brown and White holding page! A special mention for Susannah, who spent ages kerning various typefaces for a very long time, well done sweetie. Full site coming soon (depending on how busy we are)...

I just got in from walking the dog and Miss White said she had some very good news. The Skylinehas been featured on Site Inspire...whoop! My favourite site has just featured one of my finest pieces of work which is an impressive achievement for me as I see everything featured on here is the cream of crop of digital design.

This week I've been featured in Web Designermagazine as a CSS All Star!

www.rdbrown.me.uk is the personal showcase for Norwich based freelance web designer Richard Brown. The site was designed in December 08 and launched in January 2009. At the time of the design process I was adamant on staying well away from the sketchy/homemade look which was a very common design trend of the moment. As much as I liked it, I just couldn’t bring myself to design something that had already been done 1000 times before and something I would be bored with after only a few days or weeks from launch. I wanted something clean and minimalist that would allow the work in my portfolio to speak for itself, something that wouldn’t confuse visitors and displays what I do from an instant glance.

The css and scripts used are extremely simple yet effective. There’s a nice jQuery script called Sliding Boxes for the latest portfolio pieces. I’ve also used twitter and flickr badges to pull in my latest social networking feeds.

Sliding Boxes
For my portfolio site, I used a really simple yet effective Sliding Box jQuery script by designer Sam Dunn to display my latest work at a glance. All of the sliding box animations work on the same basic idea. There is a div tag (.boxgrid in my css) that essentially acts as a window where two other items of your choosing “peek” through. I decided upon using just one sliding effect to keep the selections consistent, but there are actually six different transitions you can select from, you can take a look at the options here http://buildinternet.com/live/boxes/.

Using the script itself is extremely painless. Simply insert the script in the header of your page, here you can specify the size and duration of the transition. Customize the css to fit the style of your website, then simply insert a line of code specifying the div class, alter the image path, description of the project if necessary and amend the link path to the correct destination. 

Miss White & I went so see Michael McIntyre last night at the Theatre Royal in Norwich and I have to say it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. We could almost relate to all of his 'middle-class' observational humour, just brilliant. If you haven't seen him before, check out the click below from his Live at the Apollo show.

A couple of months ago I posted a new logo design for my freelance business Zaum & Brown. After many long days (and nights) I finally completed the new site design and build and the new website has finally gone live and is making rather a big splash within the online css and design galleries.

Zaum & Brown was set up a couple of years ago after I deconstructed a myspace page (i wouldn't recommend anyone trying that unless you've got a lot of free time!) and realised I could really make a difference as a myspace designer making it a somewhat prettier place to visit. Since I started Z&B, the company has grown drastically and now has over 20 freelance creatives worldwide ranging from myspace designers, illustrators, flash coders and animators, developers and many more.

We've had some really good projects to work on too including a fantastic new flash site and myspace page for newcomers Sick City Club , a myspace design and artwork for new British Asian hip hop artist Sikanotions , artwork for Delta Rush and a myspace page design for critically acclaimed R&B singer/songwriter Natalie Williams.

Visit the new Zaum & Brown site here

It's been around 5-6 months in the making but today is the launch of Sick City Club's website promoting their new video. The guys wanted an all singing all dancing flash site focusing on their new video, driven my an easily managed cms. Go check it out now!

View Sick City Club website here

I've been working on new branding for my 'side-project' company Zaum & Brown. Here's some early work on the new logo, based on a typeface called Geist Rnd by Frederik Frede, I've customized it to give more balance between the 4 letters, adding more curves for clearer definition and make the letters more illegible. The typeface used for '& Brown' is Avante Garde Book, I really liked the the hard angles combined with beautiful curves of the 'R' and the perfectly round 'O'.

Zaum & Brown has grown since it was launched in December 07, it was originally set up to bring in more interesting work for me, designing cd sleeve's and custom myspace design's. Now into it's second year, we have over 15 highly creative freelancer's to hand, catering for a variety of service's including illustration, branding, asp.net, flash & action scripting, xml, myspace design, website design, SEO, css & javascript professionals.

A friend of mine set up his own builders firm and asked me if I could do him a favour and design a business card for him which was originally called M & S Builders. I took his info and decided M & S Builders means nothing to anyone and is less than memorable so came up with the name 'We Are Builders'. I wasn't planning to design a whole brand for him but once I got into the business card design I came up with a simple yet effective logo and colour scheme which just screamed out the obvious... 'this is what we do, we're good, we know it, hire us'. Although I wasn't involved in the design of the van artwork, they have now got themselves a heavily branded van, hoodies and construction site sign to match. Oh and i did them a quick website too www.wearebuilders.co.uk

I chose to leave my day job after about 12 months consideration. I saved up, put some money in the bank and took out a bank loan to last me 6 months mortgage payments just in case I failed miserable. Luckily, thing have gone very well for me, I didn't need to touch any of my savings and I paid the loan off within 6 months. So why are most designers afraid to go it alone as a freelance web (or print) designer? I can only assume it's a distinct lack of confidence in themselves... not necessarily their ability to do the work but to go out and get the work, have the self discipline, communication skills with clients and day to day running duties of a business.

Although there is a significant increase in the number of graphic designers offering freelance design services, I don't know whether it's down to the recession or they are realising they are truly underpaid and freelancing potentially provides better opportunities and higher pay. I thought it would be worth writing a bit about things I have learned so far and if you decide to follow me in the realms of freelance design, then here's some important rules for you to follow to achieve success:-

1. I learn't this in my previous place of employment when they sent me on a time-management course... you have to learn when to say 'No'. It is important to be able to say 'NO' if you disagree with the clients brief. Don't be afraid to re-write the brief of you have a legitimate reason for doing so and be confident in explaining your reasons. After all, you are the professional, you're not an artworker and there's no point in being a doormat if you believe the clients requests could have a major impact on the output of the product (which they will blame you for later on). If the client resists, be polite, be positive, hold your ground... if they really won't accept your changes, try to compromise but make sure they are aware of your concerns. In worst case scenarios, don't be afraid to pull out of the project but because you may encounter trouble that is not worth your time or effort and there are many more clients out there appreciative of your skills
   
   
2. Communicate well with your client, don't be afraid to ask questions. I tend to find clients speak to you with the assumption you know everything about their product or service and majority of the time I haven't a clue what they are talking about. So I find it imperative to get as much information about them and their services or products, make notes, offer suggestions, ask about competitors, what they like, what they don't like. Always be polite, positive, and persistent.
   
   
3. Whilst working as a freelance designer, make sure you always push yourself to research, lean and enhance your working skills and keep up with modern trends and styles. It's a never-ending process, and to fall behind puts you behind.
   
   
4. Relax! Find the time. I have a puppy which forces me to go out every day for a walk, even when i'm up to the eye-balls with deadlines. It gives you some breathing space and refreshes you. Sometimes I find I can waste 30 minutess looking at my screen thinking.. 'my god i'm tired'... I would be much better off stretching the legs for 30 minutes, returning fresher, more relaxed and more awake!
   
   
5. We have to enjoy what we're doing or what's the point? Even when you get those jobs that seem never ending, and the clients always changing everything. As designers, I think we were born to moan, and moaning is healthy as long as you don't do it to your client and you can it as a positive challenge. Ideally the challenge is cracking this job that's just not working, and when it's right you'll be much happier for it. If all else fails, just think of the paycheck if that's what it takes to get you through it, but whatever it takes, enjoy it.
   
   
6. The importance of a relaxed personal life. I left full-time employment because of the stress of day to day work which reflected badly on my overall personal happiness, which then reflected on my enjoyment of working. As a freelance designer I've found my work is much more enjoyable, it's in my own time and my time is managed by me. I do find more time to myself where I can either work on my own creative projects or if I wish simply hit the playstation at 2 in the afternoon, or if I wish to do these things all day and not actually start my work until 8pm is my choice, it's a case of freedom which I find very valuable to a happy life.
   
   
7. Good working relations is vital as a freelance web designer or graphic designer. It's very important to build good working relations with anyone and everyone. Even those that aren't necessarily repeat customers... ask yourself... will they be back next year with design tweaks, or a new website or a new brochure. There's also good word and mouth which is more valuable than anything, it's how I get most of my work and rely on it heavily. Implement ethics and honesty, do not commit to promises you can't keep, it's always better to be truthful and meet expectations.
   
   
8. Take the time to learn about business and finance. As a freelance designer, you are managing a business of your own. Just because you have no employees or office space, it doesn't make it any less of a business. You are the boss of your company and you have to learn the ABC'S of business, learn about tax, invoicing, retrieving payments, tie management, project management, talking to clients, meeting deadlines, everything is done by you and is your sole responsibility.
   
   
9. Do not take rejection or criticism personally. Not every client will appreciate how long you've taken on kerning your type or even know what it is. Not all client's will appreciate a pantone isn't used in web design, not every client will appreciate your experience in laying out a user journey. Because of this, they will come out with some brash ideas, some of which a just not viable, but you have to consider one thing, they know their clients better than you do, so if they want to make the 'SAVE MONEY' offer bigger, brighter and flashing... it's not because they don't like your work, it's because they know their clients well.
   
   
10. Hit your deadlines! Whatever you're freelancing in, whether you're a freelance web designer or a freelance graphic designer it's important to hit deadlines. Be professional and committed. If you can't hit the deadline don't take the job on, one missed deadline could result in bad word and mouth and the results could be a lot worse for you than one unhappy customer.

 

Our puppy Chloé was spayed a couple of weeks ago and yesterday we took her for her first walk in the park since the operation. It was a hot day, she got tired very quickly but loved every minute of it. Here's a couple of photos of me and Chloé enjoying the sunshine.