Business Practices Features

Free For All: Harvest These Freebies

Summer has officially given way to fall, and in the northern hemisphere, that means it's harvest time. Fill your basket with this delectable sampling of free tools, fonts, and services.

Free For All: Free for Web Designers

In this all-Web installment, you'll get a massive Photoshop Web elements kit; thousands of Twitter, RSS, and UI icons; CSS compression; Website spell checking; analytics; and uptime monitoring -- all free!

Free For All: Put Away Your Wallet

Convert files, change your wallpaper, get things done, restore missing Photoshop features, and try fonts. As always, they're all free.

Spec Work and Crowdsourcing: Gambles that Don't Pay Off

The economy's in the toilet and you're hungry for jobs, so you're working on spec or posting designs to sites like CrowdSpring. It's understandable. The problem is, spec and crowdsourcing can lower your value and hourly rates so far that minimum wage looks like a fat paycheck. Here's what to do instead.

Free For All: This Stuff's Worth Paying For, But You Don't Have To!

There's something for everyone this month: designers of iPhone Web sites or iApps; type lovers; business owners; and people who just want to compress the heck out of online images.

It's Play Time!

While it's sometimes necessary to put your nose to the grindstone, the magic happens when you just let go. Here's how one workaholic does it.

10 Tax Deductions Freelancers Can Make

Despite paying estimated taxes, many freelancers still have to come up with money for April 15. Whittle down that amount with these deductions.

Free For All: And So It Begins

Take your pick of Photoshop brushes and fonts you'll love, t-shirt design templates, and a portable password manager. They're all free!

Your Ticket Out of the Recession

Small- to medium-sized businesses are a huge client pool you can't afford to ignore. Here's how to convince them to hire you, and then to deliver what they need.

Ten Free Online Tools Every Designer Should Know

These free resources help you manage your business, store files, find stock images that aren't copyrighted, explore color, and more.

How to Follow Up with Potential Clients

What your prospects say, what you hear, and what they mean are often three very different things. Here's how to know what's really going on and when to follow up to clinch the deal.

Why You Need a Different Kind of Scanner

No, not another scanner for artwork. An automatic document feeder can clean up your life -- or at least your office.

Learn Wedding Photography from the Pros

What gear do you need? What settings are best? What shots are must-takes? And how do you protect your media and your business? Three professional wedding photographers spill their secrets.

Translate Your Print-Based Design Skills to the Web

When you move from static design to Web design, it's like tennis players trying racquetball. The problem isn’t that they don’t know how to handle the racquet; it’s that they don’t know all the rules and techniques. Read this article and you'll come out swinging.

Thinking Outside the List

Want to think and communicate more clearly in a wide range of situations? Try mind-mapping.

The Tricky Side of Photo Model Releases

You may think that model releases aren't necessary for photos used in editorial contexts, but the truth is actually much more complex. Read this in-depth exploration and you'll know exactly what to do to sell your shots without worries.

HerGeekness Says: Screen-Share with Your Clients

Letting far-flung clients see your screen makes online proofing as good as in-person proofs and online collaboration a cinch. Recent technology improvements free you from worrying about routers, firewalls, computer platforms, or browser compatibility.

What to Do When a Prospective Client Doesn't Respond to Your Proposal

Persistence is welcome -- a pest is not. Here’s how to stay on the right side of that line.

The Art of Business: Design on a Shoestring

The mark of a good designer is not what can be done with a large budget, but what can be done with a small one. Here are tricks for closing the deal, managing your low-budget client, and creating a winning design.