My brilliant design buddy, Kevin Scarbrough (of Robot, Monster, and Ghost Co.), asked me to do a photo shoot with him. Fortunately the photos were not of Kevin, but rather two lovely ladies working with him on his Paper Doll Pinups project. Long story short, Paper Doll Pinups is a burlesque and pinups stationery company. Notebooks, calligraphy and illustrations are all a part of the project, but this photo series will eventually serve as marketing to tie everything together. (Also check out Halloween Pinups, Kevin’s new book project.)

So expect to see more from Kevin and Paper Doll in the future, but for now, here’s a peek at some of my favorite shots. I’m no pinup photographer (at least I wasn’t until now), but we all had a ton of fun putting this together.  I did all of the photography, lighting, and post-processing, but this series was very much a group effort. I’d like to thank Kevin for his planning / organization / awesomeness, and the girls for handling their own makeup / hair / costumes on top of the intense amount of shots we packed into one day at a hotel.

Fun fact: My favorite part of this shoot was me eating an entire bag of cheese cubes while we worked.

Let me know what you think of this shoot in the comments! Stay updated by following @FringeFocus on Twitter, and especially @PaperDollPinups.

I’ve been producing a lot of work this year, and I came to the realization that I needed a more rapid turnaround on updating my portfolio. Cargo Collective is used by a great number of incredible artists, so I decided to bite the bullet and try it out. I was thoroughly impressed by their functionality, and have just finished replacing my entire portfolio with a new one built upon Cargo.

The new design is my customized version of their SpaceCollective theme. The organization may not be original, but it’s dead simple to update, and even simpler to browse. No doubt you’ve seen it before (James White’s Signal Noise Gallery).

From now on, my personal and professional portfolio will reside at: http://cargocollective.com/fringefocus. Exciting! Because Cargo is sexy is hell.

As designers (and developers) we always have the option of building our own system.
Custom code, or a WordPress theme, we sometimes create a more complicated solution. But if your professional life depends on speed and reliability it’s totally justifiable to move towards a third-party system. This new portfolio means the difference between “Eh, I’ll post it next week” and “Hey, I’ll post it now.”

For those of you with difficult websites or dated portfolios: Try out Cargo Collective, Squarespace, or any other third-party if you feel like you need a change. You could even go further and live entirely off of Flickr, Dribbble, Forrst, etc. to show your work. We no longer have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to showing off our work, there are plenty of new outlets that get the job done. If you still dig doing your own thing, stick to it, it’s all good!

Fringe Focus will remain as my blog & portal for everything, but my permanent gallery has moved to Cargo, that is all.

I hope you dig the new work, let me know what you think in the comments!

MVP

If you’re  familiar with basketball, you’ve probably heard the name Derrick Rose recently. Chicago Bulls’ point guard Derrick Rose was recently named the NBA’s 2011 MVP. He’s like Michael Jordan good.

I met up with a great guy here in Chicago a few weeks ago, who wanted to capture the energy and excitement of Derrick Rose in a t-shirt. These are unofficial shirts, so they’re not available everywhere, nor do they contain any official NBA names/logos. They’re for fans here in Chicago.

Not only does Derrick play for the Bulls, he was born and raised  in Chicago. Now that he’s taken his team to the playoffs, you can see why more than a few people here love him. The shirts say ‘Homegrown’ to recognize his local upbringing (and his floral last name…)

Process Shots

When I started illustrating this t-shirt design, I thought it would be fun to take some process shots. I’ve included everything from sketches, incomplete designs, to the finished shirt.

These sketches were done on my Wacom tablet, to quickly figure out ways to organize the imagery. We knew the shirts would say ‘Homegrown’, and that there would be a bull’s head in the shadow of the rose. The rose busting out of the concrete is actually my reference to a poem by 2pac. (I’m not cool, I just happen to know one poem by him)

Derrick Rose was raised on the south side of Chicago. So not only did the shirt need to show an urban environment, I had to make sure the skyline was accurate, and not showing Chicago from some bizarre angle out in the lake. These pictures are early on in the process, where I usually change colors and arrangements quickly. Ultimately I decided a grey shirt worked much better than a red one.

These shots show how each part of the illustration was pushed and pulled. The skyline needed some contrast, so I gave it a red sunset to draw focus to the rose. Later I dialed down the sunset a bit so it wasn’t too bright.

Here you can the next-to-last phase of the design. The colors are finished and I decided against using a separate color for the rose stem. The arrangement is fine, but the design was still a bit too clean. The rose itself also didn’t scream the fact that is was a rose. ‘Homegrown’ found its proper place in perspective on the ground. The previous sketches had given too much attention to the text. The final design solves this by visually pulling you in towards the rose.

Here is the completed design, with tweaks to most of the lines and the rose. The finished illustration uses only 3 colors, each of which would get their own discharge print on an American Apparel t-shirt.

The printing company even captured some great footage of the shirt being printed! Check it out.

The final shirt looks incredible, and is really soft. Great fit, great colors, and it was fun to work on! All work was done through my design company: Collision Labs

Here’s the Adams Barber Shop crew in Chicago wearing the shirts. Pretty exciting to see an idea/illustration take off like this.

One last thing: Derrick Rose himself actually wears my shirt! Although I don’t have any photos of him wearing it yet. Pretty crazy cool though.

I’m not selling these shirts personally, but you can buy them directly from my cool client right here: ThinkingFanDesign.com

Thoughts on the shirt? Drop me a comment, or hit me up on Twitter: @FringeFocus

We’re Project Gluttons

As creatives, we’re always hungry for new ideas, new challenges, and new opportunities. Whether you’re a full-time designer at an agency, an established creative director, or a freelance web developer, your ears perk up when there’s an opportunity to make something new. Not unlike wild beasts, designers learn from their hungry times to pounce on new opportunities when they arrive. But like any glutton, gorging ourselves on delicious ‘new project’ meat can often cause more harm than good.

Time constraints, budgets, creative burnout, and other responsibilities are often reasons for not pursuing new work. Usually, however, new opportunities approach us. Whether it’s a phone call, an e-mail, or a meeting, sometimes you have to tell a potential client: “No.” Even a moderately successful business or freelancer will have to turn down many more projects than they accept, there are only so many hours in a day.

Saying No is Hard

That said, we’re in a service business so “No” just doesn’t cut it. Most people that approach me are really friendly, cool people just looking for design help, so it can be a huge pain to say: “Sorry, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

Even worse are situations where current clients ask for work that you simply can’t do. It could be outside of the current project’s scope, it could be rushed timing, it could be ethically questionable, or just something you hate doing (MySpace designs, anyone?). Since you already have a good relationship with your client, it can be very difficult to jeopardize that relationship by saying “No” to something they really want you to do.

Saying Yes Might Kill You

Abundant opportunities, and our disposition towards rejecting them, usually lead to insane hours and headaches. As a freelancer, I once took on so much work that I was routinely working 16 hour days, and this eventually led to my first migraine. I went blind a little, for real. Turns out barely sleeping – and programming all the time – is what doctors call ‘stress’.

When approached with a new project (however awesome), think about the emotional, physical, or mental stress it may cause. If it’s more harm than good, then a solid “No” is in order. But how do we do that?

Tips to Help You Not Do Stuff

1. Be Honest. This is true for most things in life, but especially in cases where you need to list plausible excuses. Don’t get caught up in lying about why you can’t do something – it’s much easier to remember the truth – and any good potential client will respect you for that.  Is the budget too low? Explain why. Is it creatively uninteresting? Say that you’re focusing on specific project types like album covers, posters, and logos. Say you’re not looking to add [insert boring spreadsheet project here] to your portfolio at this time.

2. Be Nice. If you have to say no, and you have to be brutally honest, then at least be nice and comforting about the ordeal. Some people may be super excited about their project, and don’t want to feel that you believe it’s not interesting. It may actually be a totally awesome idea, so let them know that! A few compliments go a long way in taking the edge off of a rejection (unless that rejection comes after proposing to your girlfriend).

3. Be Firm. You’ve been honest, you’ve been nice, but sometimes that doesn’t seal the deal. It may lead to a compromise proposal: “Well how about we throw in $100 more?” or “What if we promise to put a link to your website on our corporate bumper sticker?” If that fixes it, then you’ve got yourself a new project! Usually though, it just means you have reinforce what you said earlier. Often this is stage where a no can cave into a yes, but if a project isn’t the right fit – or would hurt you financially – you have to be firm. Some examples to throw in: “As I discussed earlier, I simply don’t have enough time available to work on any additional projects this week/month/season.” or “I’m truly sorry, but again, I’m only actively working on 80′s hair band album covers at this time.”

4. Be Smart. Think about your decision long before you give your answer. If you’re flaky, you’ll tend to err on the side of “Yes”. If you think taking the project might severely hurt your current clients’ timelines, or might cost you thousands of dollars, or might cause you temporary blindness, weigh that against the benefits of actually doing the project. I have never ever regretted saying no to an opportunity, but I have definitely regretted saying yes. There’s always more fish in the sea, but there’s nothing worse than a big annoying fish that makes you design PowerPoint presentations. If you’ve put a lot of thought into your decision, you will be more likely to stay sane and firm in your rejection.

5. Pass the Buck. In very sticky situations, being honest, nice, firm, and smart still won’t help you. The potential project could be from a very close friend or family member, it could be from co-worker down the hall, or it could be for a good cause that would make you feel bad for not doing it (unfortunately you may feel even worse if you did do it). If you work at small company like me, you can always blame your partner, boss, etc. Note that I think this is somewhat disingenuous, and should be used as a last resort. Freelancers, you can often cite deadlines imposed by other clients as legitimate reason that seems out of your control. Again I don’t think this is a great option, but if circumstances are out of your control, then that would be a good thing to remind your brother/girlfriend/dog-sitter/client of.

6. Be Selfish. In an effort for these tips to get progressively less professional and nice, I’ll leave you with selfishness. No matter if you’re an illustrator, a typographer, or a developer, you’re probably in your profession because you love it. If you have a passion for your work, and a potential project just isn’t lighting that fire, then say no. You’re talented, but that doesn’t mean you owe everyone favors. If you don’t want to do something, then don’t. Even one bad project can cause loads of stress that can ruin creativity across the board. I know that personally, I need to be in a pretty good mood to come up with great ideas. If a project will hurt your heart, your mind, or your wallet, you’re always justified in (politely) saying no.

Can’t tell if you should be saying no or yes to a project? Be sure to read my 8 Ways To Get Shitty Clients article.

Remember, be nice, be honest, but it’s important to stick to your guns.

Or check these articles out for additional advice:

Just Say No to Clients – Think Vitamin

Learning To Say “No” Nicely — How to Keep From Burning Bridges – Freelance Folder

How To Say No To Spec Work Requests – Grace Smith

Why the NO SPEC Movement Isn’t Working. And, Why That’s so Awesome! – Greyscale Gorilla

Hiring a designer: a client’s perspective – David Airey

Have any ‘No’ stories you’d like to share? Drop your tips / thoughts / comments below!

If you know me personally, or follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I’ve been working on a big personal project recently. This project is actually much more than just a website, I’ve actually shifted entirely away from freelancing and now own my own design company. I co-own the venture with my incredibly talented design partner, Lisa Bun.

Plans for starting this studio began in 2009, or possibly in 2008 when Lisa and I worked together at a small web design firm. It wasn’t until early 2010, after having both freelancers for quite some time (and going a tad insane after being home alone 24/7), that our discussions reached a fever pitch and we decided to just roll with it. Lisa is super smart and independent, and I’m not comfortable unless I radically change my entire life every 12 months or so.

Our official name is Collision Labs, Inc. and we’ve technically been operational since March of this year. We’ve even had few great projects already come through our door, all before launching our website. As we all know, personal projects can suck every ounce of time and energy that you have for what seems like forever. Fortunately, forever is over:

You can visit Collision at www.CollisionLabs.com

Collision is a full service design studio, or more accurately: an awesome world where I’ll get to continue my graphic design, web design, photography, and motion work… except in a kickass office. An office where I recently drew a T-Rex DJ:

I’ll keep writing articles on Fringe Focus about freelancing, but it’s really interesting to learn the ins and outs of owning a real business.  I’ll give you a hint, it’s boring! Well, the paperwork is boring, the work is fun as hell.

By the way, if you’re in Chicago, come pay us a visit.  We have a killer office with brick walls and such.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Kill It With Fire.

You already know what I’m going to say. You’re thinking about that work you did two years ago, that project you just had to throw up onto your portfolio. You might have thought “This isn’t the best website/logo/poster/thing I’ve ever done, but it’s alright.  Besides, I need more work to show clients.” Or maybe your first thought was “This is awesome, everyone will want to see this.” Except a few months or years later, you can point out a dozen things you could have done better. Maybe the shadows are too dark, maybe the textures are weak, maybe your attention to typographic details was lacking; for whatever reason, this just isn’t your best piece of work.

I want you take that work and place it carefully into your arms. Embrace it tenderly. Take it out back, and whisper “I’ve never loved anybody but you.” Then shoot it in the back of the head. Burn the evidence. If anybody ever asks you about that work again, just say “What work? I never made anything like that” or move to Canada as a fugitive.

Portfolios & Donuts. A Dozen is Enough.

You wouldn’t walk into Krispy Kreme and ask for 29 different donuts. Your clients won’t visit your website and look at 29 different projects.  12 is often enough.

The amount of work any freelancer or company should display is also dependent on your field. A motion graphics artist might get away with five or six pieces, due to both the length of time it takes to produce them, and having the luxury of compressing work into a 30 second to 2 minute demo reel. A print designer, however, could get away with 15 or 16 pieces, if some were smaller projects like business cards or flyers. Ideally, small pieces of larger projects should be combined. If you designed business cards, letterhead, and condom wrappers for a client; show them all in one shot or page. Ultimately, 12 projects should suffice.

Why?

Let’s say you had 29 projects.  A potential employer or client might spend time taking an honest look at five or six of them before either deciding to contact you or moving onto another designer’s portfolio.  What if that person were to look at your WORST five or six projects? Sure they’re probably not terrible, but you want to increase the likelihood that they’ll view your best projects.  So cut it down.

Killing the One.

Most of your portfolios are likely already a good size.  If you have a broad range of services, you may need 12-15.  If you’re a specialist you could show 6-8. The subject of this post is about finding the single, worst piece of work you currently have online (or on paper), and killing it in cold blood.

You most likely already know which piece I’m talking about.  If not, look at your portfolio right now. One of those pieces is lacking behind the others. It could be old work that doesn’t reflect your current skill level, or new work that just doesn’t feel right, or was rushed.

Delete it.

If you have an easily updatable website (WordPress, Squarespace, Cargo Collective, anything with a CMS) this should be easy. And if you built something more complicated from scratch, don’t worry about building a whole new portfolio right now.  Just spend time today deleting the images, the page, and every link or reference to it.  Never speak of it again.

Remember!

Just because you deleted a page, doesn’t mean the internet has forgotten.  There may be blogs, websites, or tweets linking to your project! If you remove a linked page, be sure to set up a 301 redirect for it. If you don’t know what that is, it essentially is a bit of code you place on your site that automatically redirects users on missing pages to a proper one.  So if they click a link to the old project they’d be redirected to your homepage (or portfolio page, etc.)

You could also simply delete links or reference to the project, but LEAVE the actual page intact. No new visitors would see it, but old links wouldn’t be broken.  But it would be like being haunted by the ghost of your dead project.

Enjoy the Funeral.

Delete the project (or rip that page out of your printed portfolio), and feel better knowing that the rest of your portfolio has just improved. Finally freed of the scourge that was a kind of shitty project, your new portfolio will soar to grand new heights of… whatever, thanks for reading. Have fun killing.

Tell us what you killed! Leave a comment!

1. Use Craigslist

2. Show Old Work

3. Lower Your Rates

4. Offer Discounts

5. Be Shy

6. Do Spec Work

7. Work for Family

Doing work for family members is an easy first step into working with shitty clients. The close relationship or love you may have for your family member allow you to easily get taken advantage of both creatively and financially. You often know each other’s addresses (or may even live in the same house), so details like proposals or contracts aren’t even necessary!  Be careful not to work for a successful entrepreneur in the family (they may end up being a good client).  Ideally you should only work on projects involving their recent idea to launch an ‘e-book’, or something with ‘candle making’.

8. Say Yes to Everything

Last but not least, always say ‘Yes’. Every client, every budget, every revision. Being confident enough to say ‘Yes’ to a bad proposal is a good first step, but don’t stop there!  When confronted with low budgets and endless revisions, always say ‘Yes’ to keep your shitty client happy. This will ensure you an endless network of shitty clients that you can work with in the future!

If for some reason you prefer ‘Good Clients’, check out these links…

Freelance Folder - Ten Characteristics of a Good Client

Clients From Hell - Clients From Hell

Freelance Switch - 12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them

Greyscale Gorilla - Seven Rules for Building Online Portfolios

Just Creative Design - Why logo design does not cost $5.00

What do you think?  Leave a comment!