FullBleed

It’s resolution time, friends, and whether you’re a chronic breaker or never maker, 2010 is a whole new ball game. I realize that we’re 3 weeks in to the new decade but it’s never too late to make your annual vow to self improve.

All too often we make resolutions in order to change a life style or habit that is considered socially unacceptable. There’s the go-to resolution of quitting smoking, something my husband and I did on New Years in 2007 only to go back to smoking in October the very same year. Or working out more, which often ends up in an expensive yearly gym membership that you only go to in the first month.

I make a resolution every year. Some I’ve kept, some I’ve almost entirely blown off. Though statistics show that only 40-45% of people make New Year’s resolutions and 46% of those same people actually keep them, people who do make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their life goals than people who don’t. Think about it.
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In Part I of Marketing for Designers, ADCMW’s own long-time member Deane Nettles shared how he has learned to leverage the web as a foundation toward promoting his creative work. In Part II, he discusses social media’s role to other ADCMW members who, like him, have found themselves asking, “What are all these social media tools about?”

Social media tools provide people with ways to reach a large number of contacts while establishing individualized relationships, too. Through these tools, you as a creative can talk about your interesting new clients, the things your clients are up to, the new work you are doing for them, the photographers and illustrators and copywriters you’ve gotten to work with on that project, the techniques you’ve learned in the process, and the fabulous awards you’ve received. It’s also a way of getting worldwide exposure for your work — without a world-class budget.

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Photo courtesy Sean McCormick

Russell Heimlich is a lefty. And an only child. And he knows a thing or two about computers.

“My parents really wanted me to be good at computers, so there has been a computer in our house for as long as I can remember. My first computer was a Commodore 64; my parents wrote DOS commands so I could play games,” he said. “As we upgraded computers I learned more and more about them. My dad worked for the government, and he once took me in so I could use Gopher, a pre-Internet computer network.”

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In Part I of Marketing for Designers, ADCMW’s own long-time member Deane Nettles shares how he has learned to leverage the web as a foundation toward promoting his creative work. Stay tuned for Part II, which will include his recommendations on how he has used social media tools to build upon his website and email marketing efforts.

Let’s presume that there is an inside world and an outside world. The inside world is your studio where you live, and the outside world is where your clients live. If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve built up a client base. Those clients recommend you to other people, and there is this buzz in the outside world … which provides you with new business.

But, to build buzz in the online world, where do you even start? Here’s the answer: with a website.

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Wisconsin-native Jen Fose admits to being the black sheep of her large, mid-western family. Of her 25 cousins, she’s the only one who “stayed the somewhat uncertain course of a creative professional.”

Now, the 25-year-old is living in DC and working with the Creative Studio team at Ogilvy; not necessarily your black sheep of design leaders in the industry.

“My family members have all selected very practical career pathways and have become either accountants or engineers,” she said, acknowledging that she’s always received widespread support from her family for her creative pursuits. “I’ve proven that you can make a living doing something a bit less conventional.”

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Featured Illustrator: Christa Smith

Fall is a great time for meditation and reflection on what went well this past year. For this month’s “Three” our selected ADCMW members share with us: “What was your favorite project ever?”

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Since graduating from McGill University in Montreal, Claire Manibog has been working as a philanthropic advisor — and she loves it.

“Basically, I help people like Bill Gates make smart choices when they donate their wealth to charity. I work with an incredible team of smart, young people and their energy, optimism, and brains keep me motivated every day.”

Though, Claire doesn’t seem to be short on motivation.

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Jessica Avison wishes she could tell her younger self to stop worrying. “Don’t be afraid to try new things. Things will come together, as long as you keep trying.”

So far, her life has been following that advice (although with *some* fretting, after all). For examples, she just started a new career in design, she’s about to be married (on Saturday), and she’s getting involved with DC creative groups (even if she doesn’t initially know anyone in them).
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Illustration courtesy Britt Irick

This is the third of three questions we asked for August’s “Three” series. Check out what several local creatives had to say, then share your own insight via the comments below!

We want to know: How do you fight the economic downturn (personally or professionally)?

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Andrew Cohen abandoned a computer science degree program at George Mason University to pursue a graphic design degree, instead. It was a transition that happened naturally — from his playing “Oregon Trail” on an Apple II GS using disks that needed to be flipped halfway through the game to learning photography from his mom and sister to creating websites in Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

Now, the 24-year-old Old Town resident and suburban-Richmond native spends his time designing for the web; that is, when he’s not playing soccer, mountain biking, running, snowboarding, reading, hoarding music, drawing, photographing, catching up with his sister (who’s studying in Buenos Aires), or complementing his rewarding job at Brightline Interactive with freelance design — an endeavor he’s thought about doing full-time.

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