Be remarkable: A freelancer's guide to working less and earning more

Matt Essam helps businesses earn more and 'Be Remarkable'.

He studied New Media at university which led him to build websites. When he finished university, he went straight into work and into a company that has a range of well-known clients/companies and started creating websites for them.

A few months after working at a company he decided to be a freelancer. But even then, he felt as though he was lacking the creative aspect of his work and all he was doing was purely creating websites for clients.

He then decided to travel the world and run his business with nothing but his laptop in hopes of finding inspiration. He thought that travelling the world would make him happier but he realised that he was sacrificing his values and lifestyle back at home.

When he got back to the UK, he realised that he needed to recognise his values and put them into his work in order to find his purpose.

Matt's tips on finding your value

• Ask yourself why
• What problem are you uniquely positioned to share?
• What are you solving for? (this would be your niche)
• Be clear and polarise.

People are afraid to be specific because it is a minor audience rather than a mass audience. Identify your niche so that you can solve a problem.

Strategy

To do the work - you must win the work.

• Define your aspirational client
• Add value
• Get in the mind of your consumer

Three reasons why you hate sales

• You haven't unpacked your real values
• You haven't understood the problem that you're trying to solve
• You haven't connected with your why - be confident in why you want to help someone

The buying cycle

Are you taking your customer on the journey? Don't tell them, show them.

Delivery

Some designers do not offer a full solution. People are paying for a solution to a problem, not for your time. It is a product not a service.

Selling a result

What is the process that you take your clients through?

The difference between a being a workers vs. designer/partner is about being part of their business - component.

 Retained clients

• Partners in their business
• Building relationships and partnerships with good clients

1. Define your values
2. Impact your story-find your USP
3. Define your ideal client
4. Add value and create a LNS and (logical next step)
5. Deliver a remarkable solution

On your website, describe how you can help the client.

Phantasm

To celebrate Colours May Vary's 5th birthday, they asked the Lord Whitney studio to design and showcase an exclusive exhibition around the theme of magic. The exhibition featured designs and prints from different designers, illustrators and studio work.

After visiting the Lord Whitney studio in 1st year and listening to their inspiring design journey, it made me want to visit and see their work in real life. The exhibition and theme was very colourful, engaging and witchy. It was an interesting as the theme was unique but fascinating and insightful.

Glug Leeds Does A Christmas Carol - Creatives, Past, Present and Future event

DixonBaxi

Harry has been working at DixonBaxi for 18 months which was founded by Mr Dixon and Mr Baxi around 15 years ago as they wanted freedom, didn’t just want to do projects for the sake of it, they wanted their own clients.

The DixonBaxi studio is now made up of 30 people. They believe that fear is good and it's what drives the studio and have ambitions to try something different and new.

They have a list/Mantra that they use to approach work:

"Change things for the better though creativity"

"Design with optimism"

Their clients include the Premier League and Eurosport. Harry had interviewed Computer Arts for DixonBaxi about how to change things for the better through creativity that featured in a 6 page studio profile.

DixonBaxi are currently working on the advertisement for the Winter Olympics.

HOME 
Phill is a software engineer and works with AIO (artificial intelligence optimisation) which help users find what they’re looking for.

Joe Boyd

Joe is a recent Illustration graduate from LAU. He is a freelance designer and has a work space in Duke Studios.

Joe likes screen printing as the colour overlay of screen-printing shows depth and detail throughout each colour used.

He has had opportunities at D&AD where he has been named as an Illustrator to look out for, he's been asked to exhibit his work in many places, he did some work for Intern Magazine and gets commission by speaking to people and in events.

He said that at Duke Studios, Laura and James have helped mentor him in practical work and how to deal with nightmare clients.

Website Design

For my professional website, the layout is very basic and simple as I currently have not yet updated my self branding and do not want to use my existing design as I don't feel that it represents me anymore.

The homepage features a full-lengh slideshow of my design work so it shows a preview of my design work to the audience.

As this is the first time I've ever created a website, my web design skills are very limited but when I get my self branding sorted out and when I have more experience with digital design, I will be updating my website to fit my personality.

Time to get online

Create a website/online portfolio where potential clients and other designers can find and view your work in a professional space.

Images
Crop the images on the page so that they are in full-view.

The image source should be less than 1mb.

Cut down the image file size.
Place images insitu when necessary.
Avoid repetitive images.

Mail to link
create a hyperlink so that it opens a new window with your email address.

Bugs 
Test out the website in as many browsers as you can to see if it works.

The Pop-Up Agency's 9 Golden Rules

9 Golden Rules:

1. Goals
2. Make sure you're on the same page
3. Expectations
4. Agenda
5. Don't force stuff
6. Talk less, do more
7. Keep it simple
8. Be present
9. Don't focus on the detail, see the bigger picture.

Collaborate and have an open mindset when working with clients or other designers.

How to write about your own work

In order to write effectively about your work, you need to be clear about its meaning.

What is it responding/trying to solve/communicating or trying to prove?

Pick your favourite project and use the elevated pitch to talk about it:
Once seance about the work - what, how any why?

• What is the creative idea?
• How does it work?
• Why does it work?

Task:

Trackpoint is an app that allows online shoppers to track their parcel in one place. Users can manually input their settings of availability or 'safe place' option in one app, where courier drivers can view. It is easy to use and efficient for both user and driver.

You've got (real) mail presentation

Sarah Thorne is a freelance designer and art director. She designed for Topshop, Mulberry, Jack Wills and Burberry. Her design work is simple and unique and clear, and never complicated. She designs mainly in the luxury, beauty and fashion sector. 

Inspired by her invitation design for Mulberry and Topshop which is 3D and trendy/unique. I also decided to create something 3D and fun. It is an A5-size navy blue, metallic pop-up card that is made by G.F. Smith. The gold foil and the navy blue gives it a luxurious and high-quality look, just like her clients.

Proof of postage.


If I had more time, I probably could've thought of something better or at least improved on the stock and layout of the design to make it more unique.

You've got (real) mail: Sarah Thorne

For the 2nd year creative report, I had contacted Sarah Thorne as one of the designers that inspire my own practice. She was unable to do an interview as she was on maternity leave but I still wanted to show appreciation to her and her work.

I created a simple A5-size pop-up card, which was made using G.F. Smith Peregrina Majestic in King's Blue and with foiled writing. The reason I did this is because she has created various invites for her luxury client, Mulberry. Each invitation design she had produced was unique and interactive therefore, I wanted to do the same and personalise it to her. The navy blue and gold foiling gave the card a luxury feel/experience which reflects her work.

You've got (real) mail task

Present documentation of the artefact and proof of postage. 

The aim is to make a meaningful, lasting impression.

Explain the rationale for sending to the person in question.

Let the context of who you choose inform the design.

Studios/designers to look into for 'You've got (real) mail':

Kati Forner
Knoed Creative

AesopStud.io London

Anagrama Studio

ContentFormContext

Urszula Krasny

Arithmetic

Lotta Nieminen
Sarah Thorne

Agency lg2

STUDIO CHAPEAUX

Gosia Perkowska

Maria [sin acento] Romero

DekoRatio Branding & Design Studio 

Szani Mészáros

Experience, contacts and mentorship

No experience? Make your own.

Examples:

The Cool Bus - A group of 5 friends who converted an old school bus into a design studio and travelled the US rather than working unpaid internships in NYC.

Søren - He created his self-branding using animation which went viral. It had reached and gain the interest of design studios and magazines.

The Pop Up Agency - The aim is to solve briefs for clients within 48 hours of being given the brief.

They also challenged themselves to do 15 different briefs whilst travelling to 15 different cities, within 15 weeks.

If you're going to take risks, make sure the rewards are truly worth it.

All these designers tap into their creators interest and passion.

Talk it out

How do I establish myself as a professional?

• Stop calling yourself a student online.
• Don't call yourself a recent graduate.
• Sell yourself - play up on your strengths and not your weaknesses.

Fill your portfolio with projects that can something to you. Not competition briefs. Your portfolio is supposed to tell a story. It should show that you are a problem finder, not a solver.

Do some projects that have real world applications and test them.

Ikigai

 

How do I secure  placement, internship or junior position?

Make a real effort to stand out.

Show interest in their work, explain why it interests, influences and parallels with what you're working on. 

Never ask if you can work unpaid.

How can I put myself out there?

Networking is being open to meeting new people whose ideas you admire and goals you may share.

Do it on your own terms.

A list of people whose work you admire, who you think could open doors and who you think you'd like to meet. Contact them.

Visiting Professional - The Design Kids (Frankie Ratford)

Frankie Ratford was originally born in the UK and moved to live in Australia. She founded 'The Design Kids' where she has a team of 31 people to manage. TDK was set up as when she was a Graphic Design student herself; she saw the struggle that came with being a Graphic Designer, in and out of studying. She herself was unsure about what to do after uni, how to contact professionals, studios and how to get work as a designer, this then inspired her to help others. The concept of TDK is to help aspiring student Graphic Designers put their work out there and help them get in contact with the designers that influence their design practice.

Frankie and her team are looking to travel to different countries and talk to Graphic Design students about her work and how the TDK could help them too. TDK have a host in every city with events, workshops and exhibitions where Graphic Design students can attend and show their work, get into contact with likeminded people, learn new skills or to learn more about the industry.

TDK website allows design students to browse events, workshops or exhibitions in different cities that they can get involved in, help them find internships/placements and how to overall expand their portfolio and design knowledge.

Frankie also has a TDK Instagram page where she allows students to submit their work, to in which TDK will share to their followers to help the student be known and seen by people in the design industry.

Frankie has travelled to different cities in her infamous van(s) where she lives whilst on the road, travelling to different countries. Frankie goal is to be the biggest design resource in the world.

Packaging inspiration

Since packaging is something that I want to specialise in, I'm always looking for unique and extra packaging design.

http://www.progresspackaging.co.uk/

Creative report

For the creative report that I created in 2nd year, I was able to send Jess a copy of the report and thank her for allowing me to interview her and I hope to stay in touch with her in the future.

Evaluation of Level 5

Looking back on my Level 4 PPP presentation, I have achieved the the things I wanted to learn for for this year such as lino cutting for my Marks & Spencer design, screen print which was also for the Marks & Spencer design. I did help out with letterpress even though I didn't really set anything out as I did it for the invites for last years exhibition, 'Money is?' and at Galerie P98a where I got to learn more about type. It was inspiring to see designs made by letterpress as it allowed me to understand and learn more about the process and technique but are yet to try it out.

I also never thought that I would put my work out there on Behance and on Instagram since I always feel like my work isn't good enough but now that it is, I don't hate my work as much as I think.

Another exciting thing that I never thought would happen is that I could interview someone like Jess Williams since I feel like she is too busy and is a successful woman in the design industry. It almost felt surreal since my self branding was inspired by Birchbox and having Jess as the Creative Director at Birchbox US allowing me to interview her was the most thrilling thing to happen. I also interviewed her via Skype which was intimidating but also such a positive experience for me and my design work.

This year, I also visited Berlin which was an inspiring trip to see such a creative city around on the streets and the history of the art schools/museums.

I have also realised in Level 5 that I want to specialise in packaging and pattern design since the responsive briefs had allowed me to achieve and push further my practise. Since I have drawn more this year, I am a more confident drawer and I would maybe show people my work.

A Social Media Presence

From the presentation I did, even though I have mentioned how insecure and not confident about my work, I was given the feedback to have an online presence because my work is actually good and that this would be a way for me to get into the design industry. After debating wether or not to actually do it, I decided that I should just go for it because I'm not helping myself if I just keep my work to myself. Having a social media presence would potentially help me to show my work to potential employers, clients or other industry professionals. It was nerve-wracking but I am glad that I have put my work out there as I see more and more of my work in one space and I don't think they're half as bad as I had originally thought. I now have a Behance and Instagram page dedicated to the work I produce.

OUGD505 Marks & Spencer Screen Print

After the failure of the lino print, I went back to screen print which I have tried before and like. The only downside to screen print is that it is ridiculously time consuming and theres a lot of faffing around in terms of the drying and washing. But in the end, the screen prints always turn out great and just as you want them if you do it right. Screen print can give you different effects depending on how the design is being printed. It really allows you to mix your own colours, choose your own stock as screen print is quite limitless and gives you a broader spectrum of design capabilities. I would screen print again if I had the time to do so and if I want to achieve something specific.

OUGD503 Reflection

The module itself was stressful as there was too much to manage as well as the final briefs. The module has overall significantly helped in my drawing skills since all I did was illustrations. As the briefs were broad, it allowed me to design what I wanted and in a style I wanted. The Papyrus brief intrigued me as it was for a good cause and the final outcome of the design worked better than expected since the requirements were simple and allowed me to think input my own experiences on the design. As the brief was for a colouring book, I didn't have to think about colours decisions which made this brief fairly quick and easy to do.

The Stratford Literacy Festival Book Jacket design was more difficult to do as I didn't gather as much information as I could. I knew the book would be about Sharing Stories but I feel like I could've done with more insight and information. The final design turned out very simple and not as effective as I would've liked but again, I wished I had more information.

The YCN UK Greetings design was one I was excited about since I've always wanted to create some sort of stationary and the greetings collection allowed me to do so. The UK Greetings brief was very broad and so allowed me to design a greetings collection that was influenced by a real life issue and actually support a charity. Each design was inspired by a real life endangered wildlife creature so that people become aware of the issue and could potentially help to reduce the threat of their endangerment. The illustrative designs allowed me to experiment with different media and skills so that I could best represent the animals/insects and has helped me to further improve my illustration and drawing skills. As the greeting cards were made for everyday occasions, it really did make an impact of the serious nature of the issue. Creating all the physical designs were stressful, time consuming and infuriating as it was getting tedious repeating the same action again and again but at the end it was the most rewarding. Having seeing greetings collection as a set really made me feel positive and happy that I could produce a whole collection. The coming up with the collection name 'ENDangered (Wild)life’ was not difficult at all as I had obviously written and said the words a few times but adding in the capital letters and punctuations emphasises the whole meaning of the collection. This brief really showed me the power of design and how influential it can be and how it can impact on people.

OUGD501 Reflection

This brief has helped me understand more about packaging and the consumer appeal. It has helped me understand the mixed options and attitudes people have towards packaging and how it makes people feel. It has taught me how mens products are suppose to be seen as more manly and so use masculine connotations/beliefs and colours and women products are seen to be 'girly', bright and 'soft'.

The final outcome of the practical work was to showcase a unisex product that shows the product for what it actually is and what it is for rather than be aimed at a certain gender. The final outcome allowed me to develop my drawing skills more as well as packaging design skills.

OUGD505 Marks & Spencer Lino Print

As I had said in my 1st year presentation, I wanted to experiment with more traditional printing methods so I chose to print my design for Leeds Public Spaces in lino as I had already used screen print method for last years tradition print design.

As this is my second time doing a lino print, it wasn't as bad as I had thought. It is very time consuming and it is really easy to accidentally cut through the design but it did turn out to be easy as I remembered. It was more difficult to cut around the designs that has smaller elements such as a smaller typeface or design but in the end it did print fine. However, the final design of my print did not turn out as well as I wanted it to because of the lino elements that I had cut out did not turn out as planned and just did not look good.

In the future, I would still like to experiment with lino because I think that if it is designed by something that you created digitally and really have an idea, and then transfer onto lino, it can really turn out how you want rather than having to use other work to try make things fit together.

Creative Report Publication Evaluation

The final design of the digital and print publication, they are both laid out different and I prefer the layout of the digital design as it is how I originally wanted my print to be. The overall publication did turn out as well as I hoped as it shows Jess' personality through the publications with the colours and the designs. The stock for the print publication also isn't the best as the final design had cracked on the edges which makes it appear slightly unprofessional. All in all, the final outcome turned out as well as I hoped and it had allowed me to create the final outcome just as I wanted but it to be also about Jess. 

I wanted to create a publication for the final outcome as I would be able to send Jess a physical copy and to also be sure about my decision to not specialise in editorial design after the OUGD504 brief. I can now say that editorial design is really not something I am good at or what I want to specialise in as it is too complicated and confusing to me with the layouts and the printing process of it all.

Creative Report Printed Publication

  

The final printed publication didn't turn out as well as I hoped as the cover had cracked on the sided of where the cover has been folded. The publication has been perfect bound as it looks professional and clean.

Leeds Print Festival 2017

Leeds Print Festival 2017

Dr Me

• Collaborate with different artists around the world who specialise in different areas in print 
• Don't print on A3 and patch it all together 
• Shop called 'seven' asked artists around the world to create a piece for seven so that they can sell their work there
• Mike perry asked them to curate an exhibition funded by kickstarter retrospective show - 3 shows - they were the 2nd show. NYC
• Wondering around wandering 
• 365 days of collage - sold online £10
• Inspired by staying at an air B&b which their walls were filled with art 
• 2nd - Collected a lot of collective matter from places such as NYC 
• Cut that out - colours may vary
• Book of collective collages of contemporary graphic design - 500 illustrations - KK Outlet
• LPF - Shoulda woulda coulda 
• Gratuitous type 
• Rob bailey - TLF posters 

After uni - mike perry internship - sent portfolio - went to NYC for an interview and now have a studio outside of Manchester now.

Ali Hanson - It's Nice That

• Studied at LCA & Chelsea college of art - art director at It's Nice That 
• Will founded its nice that in 2007 as a project at uni in Bristol - website. 2008/2009 started to get interest - got help from friend called Alec Beck - now a team of 39
• The graduates programme started in 2009
• Over 1 million people visit he website every month
• A Load of Jargon 
• Local characters 
• Channel 4 
• Arjowiggins 
• 12 monthly talk events a year
• 2 issues of printed pages 
• Ali worked in print publishing before INT - rollercoaster, wonderland and man about town
• Enjoyed putting the magazine together but the content wasn't for him - liked the idea of INT online content 
• Made INT in-house publication - printed pages
• A/W 2015 - Kanye west was announcing that he was running for president - legal matter - have to have face 13 times removed to avoid getting sued - celebrate the graduates they have each year
• S/S 2016 issue - Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 
• A/W 2016 - john Morgan - work and family 
• Jack Davidson - took images of his kids, his home 
• Olympic Games - famous faces 
• Nice commission - Andy Roter 
• Design process usually takes 2 weeks 

Pat Bradbury

• Graduated in Brighton 2011
• Specialises in hand drawn/realism designs 
• Wanted to be a skateboarder and jungle explorer when younger 
• 3rd year - abstract/expressionism 
• Vietnam art intern to teach lessons to kids 
• Created mural in playground 2-3 year olds 
• He works in collage a lot 
• Teaching qualification and goldsmiths 
• Personal work - abstraction 
• Group residency in Iceland - meet people of different practices 
• Wrapping paper for wrap magazine 
• Print for MH jeans 
• Raymond Pettibon
• Likes to create lighthearted and fun designs

Marcroy Smith - People of Print

• People of print - studied illustration at Brighton university - Brighton university - year below people from ITN
• Has a department store on their website to sell their publications and now sell other people's work 
• People of print book for Thames and Hudson 
• In perpetuum 
• Kick starter for print isn't dead 
• Worked with a company called cool print 
• Kickstarter for the 2nd publication so that they could fund the screen printed covers 
• Hand screen printed

The main reason why I attended Leeds Print Festival is because I've never been before and I also wanted to know more about print rather than digital design as I wasn't as keen on print design. Having gone to the Leeds Print Festival, I have realised it is not for me as I feel like my work is more neat and precise and I feel like it would be more difficult to achieve that by doing print. I think I am more of a typical modern designer and the speakers have work that are more edgy than my own style and I don't think I fit well into the category. 

However, it was inspiring to hear talks about how people specialise in different fields and how they have made their way into the industry after university as it shows that everyone has a struggles and different ideas of design.

Exhibition at Colours May Vary

To see different designs to what I produce or what I have seen is always interesting as it shows how broad design can be and how their is a field for all types of design. It was inspiring to look at the styles through the design and how it can reflect on the artist themselves.