RegardingDesign

Going Solo Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Part of a Team (a great habit from a good friend, Jeni Herberger)

“Isolation is not the most creative situation for an independent designer. If you look in the mirror and realize you haven’t taken a shower in a few days and can’t remember when you last missed the Ellen Degeneres show, it might be time to get out and work in a team environment for awhile.
 
When working solo, you don’t have the complexity of dealing with others, but you miss out on some of the collaborative coolness of being on a team.”
 
Here are a few ideas about how you can inject some teamwork into your freelance work:

• Introduce yourself to specialty shops that might need design help from time to time, such as interactive-only studios, or an agency that just landed a big client.
• Remember that larger agencies often need freelance help; build a relationship with a local firm and you may get not only steady work, but steady opportunities to go into an office with better equipment and interesting designers.
• Bring in another freelancer on one of your projects. Even if you simply buy a few hours of their time to give you feedback on your design concepts, you might come up with some invaluable inspiration.
• Create a monthly lunch or dinner or other outside-the-office events for yourself and other independent creatives. Have a topic to discuss, bring in a speaker, or just hang out and talk shop.

Cleaning up the office...

I recently got a promo package from Neenah Paper and when I opened it, I saw that it contained the well-known, well-distributed, well-publicized big box of the Eames Giant House of Cards. Great fun, wonderful promo for sure, enjoyed playing with the first set I got ages ago, but been there, done that, gave them to my little nephews to play with. So I closed the box.

Then I discover hiding under the Eames cards a folder with a press release and even more interesting -- as well as useful and less space consuming -- a sheet of the beautiful Eames commemorative stamps! The collection was designed by Derry Noyes of Washington DC and includes a bunch of images of the iconic Eames items that have drilled their way into our collective consciousness. Chairs, cards, storage system, artwork, coathooks ... it's all there in 16 different stamps available from your friendly local post office or online.

This little bonus drove me to the Neenah paper site where I discovered something almost as interactive as the Cards, but much more personal, adorable, and sweet, in the very best senses of those words. It's a copy of a pictographic letter Charles wrote. I've inserted below a poor copy of the letter, but if you go to the Neenah site, you can see the drawings in all their glory as well as roll your mouse over the rebus as you try to sound out what the drawings depict and watch as words and letter combos pop up to guide you through the letter. The drawings are completely charming -- my favorite is the way he uses a campfire and some burning "Ls" to sign off.