I would suggest being honest, you said you would worry you would get found out, surely that's going to impact your work. You may find that your employer maybe happy that you have another creative outlet to develop your skills further which they can use during the day.
Sorry can't help you with the rates but would really suggest putting some time into diversifying your client base. Being beholden to this one client sounds like it is causing you problems.
First off I would be honest about this to your employer, you want to avoid any uncomfortable situations later. There can be a conflict of interest if you end up working for two similar companies within two similar industries on a branding project.
Tax wise, you have to register as self employed, you pay tax on income over roughly £7,000 (This frequently changes year on year) I haven't done PAYE and Self Assessment at the same time but I think you can run both together as there is a section in the tax return form. You can claim reasonable expenses against the income you earn.
You can go down to your local Tax Office and they will take you through it.
Hi Gerry, I think the cube is very generic and and lacks any uniqueness. The jigsaw people doesn't really work as a concept as it implies the business's don't fit together. The gradient effect on the type makes it look a little dated and slightly illegible. The bright blue design doesn't look very business like and I would definitely remove the drop shadow.
Sorry to be so blunt be really none of these designs really communicates effectively. Have a look at logopond it's quite good for inspiration.
Am I correct in thinking you have brought together a hill, paw print and the letter A?
At the moment I feel it lacks character or charm. I would study paw prints to see if instead of going so abstract you can bring it closer to being more authentic, It will allow people to relate to it better. Caring for an animal is based on emotions so it's essential that the logo plays on this as much as possible.
Colour wise I would definitely tone it all down, try something a little more sophisticated and warm.
I wouldn't worry about it, the design is your IP, the deposit was taken to recompense you should they 'pull out' not payment for the work.
It is slightly different if you were working in their offices as it automatically becomes theirs (assuming they pay fully)
They just wrote legal action to scare you into action, if they email you again let them know that it remained your IP as you didn't sign it over as they failed to pay.
I remember having that exact same thought when I started out. I originally had 'Work in progress Design' as I wanted to give the impression that I might be a bigger company able to handle larger jobs and companies. I had that name for over 3 years with a website and all the marketing that goes with it (links etc). All I found was I got a barrage of students asking for placements.
But about a year ago I had a change of heart and renamed it under my own name Richard Baird. This works better for me as when I'm published there's always a consistency regardless of whether the company or designer gets a credit. When I write articles it is my real name that gets published so it ties back nicely to my design work as well.
I'm building me as a brand AND as an individual, they are paying for my passion which is easier to relate too because I'm not hiding behind some meaning less brand name.
Saying all that 'Freelance UK' won't let me change by I.D. here 🙁
As far as I know it depends if you worked in their studio then everything is theirs but otherwise as a freelancer all copyright is yours unless you signed it over. They won't like it but it's your IP, you gave them the right to print it etc but they don't own it.
I would charge them a project fee for compiling all the documents and the rights to use them freely in the future. Go in confident as they are likely to try and frighten you with legal mumbo jumbo.
I sell illustrations exculsivly on istockphoto.com. I have found that two things factor greatly within this industry, firstly you need to be aware of what stock is and what the demand is for, this will change seasonally but knowing what sells all year round is very important. I fail badly at this as I am only happy drawing things I want to draw, so its more a hobby for me and a way to develope my illustration skills. Secondly quantity is paramount, the system is based on micropayments so you need to sell a lot to make decent money. You will have to update your portfolio often as you will find as others add more work you will appear further down the list on the best match search option which factors in age.
I have 167 illustrations now but remember when I had one, it is quite time consuming to get to a decent level of income. I started it when I didn't have a lot of work on at the beginning of my freelance career and it really helped with the rent. Just remember it is a taxable income.
I have been trying to add an image into an e-mail signature which I do by right clicking and inserting an image. My problem is that the image is far from crisp and I am assuming this is down to MS Outlook resizing the image with rubbish results.
My question is, does anyone know the optimum image resolution/dimensions to get a nice crisp picture into an e-mail signature in Outlook?
I can't really give any advice on placements as I have always been freelance but one thing I would suggest is getting your own website. The thing that hits me is your portfolio is on a site with 15 other designers probably in the same situation as yourself. I'm sure they are your friends but they are now your competition!
I noticed that you have a blogspot page but would definitly reccommend getting your own website up and get it well tagged and as high up in such engines as possible. I'm not a web guru but found that having lots of external links to your website helps.
I wrote an article about how I started as a freelancer in Design Week which I put on my website which has a few tips. This isn't shameless piece of self promotion it's just a few people have said it was helpful and thought you might like it.
Most of all keep yourself motivated and avoid getting depressed!
I am also a packaging designer and the way I cost it is to give a project cost which would be worked out by considering how long you think it will take you and times that by your hourly fee and add say a days worth on top to cater for changes (this time will depend on how complex the packaging is and time spent with the printers making sure they get it right). In the quote state how many revisions they get or additional hours on revisions as part of the project fee, then say how much per hour it will cost them beyond the quoted revisions. (Make this hourly a bit higher than usual to discourage them from messing about on continual revisions so you can get on with your next job).
Hi pault107, yes you can start freelancing straight away, on the self employment form there is a start date which you can back date from. As long as you pay your taxes on all freelance activity their happy.
I would suggest you get everything in order first before starting. I duplicate all my invoices and banks account statements as soon as I started as you never know if and when Inland Revenue want to do an audit and you have to provide copies of everything. Remember to keep reciepts as well, I staple them to A4 sheets for each month for easy reference. I also have an accounts book which at the front has all the invoices sent out and then a monthly record of invoices paid, NI paid and expenses. Believe me it's vital that you keep track of everything from day one.
Hi chudy-stuey, the way I get around not being able to publish certain work is to create a PDF porfolio and load at the back end of your website. Email potential clients with a link to the portfolio, this way its not published on a website but accessable to the people you need to see the work. At the end of the day it's important to have non-disclosure on certain projects but you still designed the work and have the right to say it's yours.
If you signed a NDA then I would avoid showing anyone until it's released as you might show it to competitors and then your in trouble.
Another idea is to show the 'concepts' not the final design.
Hay Mike welcome to the site, I have just bought a Pantone Colour Bridge Swatch and although they are quite expensive if you just started out they are a bit of a must to avoid dissapointing results. It gives the Pantone colour and the closest CMYK value both printed side by side.
I would go Pantone 485C or CMYK value C0 M96 Y100 K0
I am a freelance graphic designer, when I havent got any work in I illustrate for stock photography sites (they do illustrations and video these days) and it provides a good monthly income. The illustrations dont have to be complex, just stock worthy and I have found people also contact me for more detailed bespoke work. Hope this helps.
The general public through high profile distribution roots such as Waterstones, Amazon etc. People often use these as reference books including large consultancies as a way of finding a designer who suits the style of there company or next job, so the easier it is to get the higher the chances of achieving work from it.
Obviously I dont know how much it is to publish a book but I think your idea of funding it privately is a really good idea.
I would be interested in helping and contributing.
I would say it would better as an online distributed book, from my point of view colleges and universities hold no benefits for me as a business prospect.
Sounds like a promising idea but I think it would be quite expensive to create a quality looking publication. Would you just put everyones work in regardless of quality? I wouldnt buy a book if it contained a low standard of work just because I had an image inside. The other consideration is that although it was published it wouldnt get any significant exposure, just among fellow freelances and thus wont provide any sinificant benefits.
The reason I feel quite strongly is down to the fact my work was to feature in and as the cover artwork of a book called Branded and it got pulled because the market is consumed by big companies publishing many design books.
I would have to agree with Hellosmithy it is imperative that both parties have agreed a fee and that you give them a rough idea as to how long it will take. Keep an eye on exactly how long you spend on it to make sure you are making a good turnover. I wouldn't of thought you would get away with charging much more than a days work but that depends on whether you submitted more than the design in your post.
With regards an hourly fee, what I did when i started was to work out how much I wanted to earn a year and worked it down from that. I then added a couple of extra pounds to make up for the fact I wouldn't be working all the time.
Another trick is to quote for the entire job and do it as quickly as possible (obviously retaining a high standard) this way you can make more money and your hourly wage will be much higher than usual.
I have had a brief through with details of a new project, the company seems ligit but is based in California I was wondering what to do about recieving payment. Should I ask for a deposit before starting work? I dont want to put them off, does anyone have any advice?
Regards websites and portfolios, I would always suggest a website first and would avoid the freewebs thing as the ads really reduce the quality of a website especially as a designer. I only use the portfolios to track people back to my website to help with rankings and traffic. I tend to put just a taster of the work on the portfolio site to try and hook them into my website where I can express my style more concisely.
I have had work from these portfolios so I think they are quite important but would only email out links to my website as the design is completely mine rather than conforming to the layouts of the portfolio sites and these restrict your ability to express your style.
I see portfolio websites as nets, the more nets you have the more fish you will catch. Some nets are bigger and more popular than others but I believe in volume over quality.
...this is a tough subject, people often have lots advice to give but its usually the successful ones who never take their own advice. But from my personal experience (its up to you as to wether you think im successful or not) here a few things I have done in the past.
Word of mouth - its a cliche but its true, this isnt necessarily clients but family members and Uni friends who cant take a job because they are busy.
Drive traffic to you website (a must) - posting on on sites not just design sites (everyones doing it) but on other things like craft fairs, business start ups etc.
Track where your website traffic is coming from - use google analytics if your a beginner - it will give you an idea of which portfolio websites are driving better volumes of traffic.
Make sure you have every free website portfolio account available and keep it upto date - try, coroflot, view creatives, portfolio city
Blog - I havent done this yet but am told its a good way to get your name about.
Write articles - dont be affraid to e-mail the editor of creative review or design week with a good idea you never know (I got lucky).
Get your work published in books - good level of exposure and people often reference these books when looking for a suitable designer.
Keep positive, give the impression to your first client that your a popular designer, dont look desperate and dont under sell yourself!
I have an article on the front page of my website about freelancing if your interested, hope this helps.
Hello, I have just signed up and thought I would post my website for review. I currently in the process of a rebrand the index and first page are the new designs while the rest are the old site, im not really planning on changing much just updation the logo on each page and maybe another video header.
