TECH - Category | Vision Workshop

7 Secrets for Building Great Client Relationships

A colleague recently said to me, “I’ve heard that you’re a client relations guru. Are there any tips or tricks tha...

9 Easy Ways to Deal With Difficult Clients

Naturally, there are bad clients out there, but 90% of the time, it’s not really the client who is at fault. Poor comm...

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Designing the new, fully responsive wired.co.uk article pages

Recently, Condé Nast Digital undertook a complete redesign of the articles published on wired.co.uk. The aim was to pro...

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Moving from in-house to freelance? Read this first

Within the past couple of weeks, I handed in my notice, after spending over fifteen years working in-house as a designer...

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Blast from the Past: The Million Dollar Homepage

Ah, the mid-2000s. A simpler time on the internet. MySpace was still ruling the social media scene, YouTube was a baby, ...

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3 ways to win customers with content

Content marketing is a marketing technique focused on creating and distributing valuable content to attract and retain v...

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6 simple rules for explaining the web to clients

One of our biggest challenges when producing client work is communicating technical information effectively with clients...

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Our Interfaces Have Lost Their Senses — And It’s Time to Bring Them Back!

Technology is speeding ahead at a breakneck pace, but have we lost something important along the way?In a beautifully de...

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4 Tips for Building a Standout Creative Résumé

Most of us are familiar with the saying, “Show, don’t tell.” For those of us working in creative industries, this ...

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How to be found by clients

The number one question I always am asked is, “How do I get prospective clients to look at my portfolio?” It comes f...

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How to succeed with Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangouts have been at the heart of some of the hottest video conferencing technologies since it first debuted as...

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What Even Is Web Design?

The term “web design” refers to the process of planning, organizing, and editing content online. On the surface, it ...

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Freelance mistakes you’ll probably make

Working as a freelancer means that your business is all about you. You’re the sole person in charge of making the toug...

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How to Find Web Design Clients

Do you find yourself stuck when finding new web design clients? Whether you own a web design company or work as a freela...

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The trick to pitching a design without striking out

How you present your design solutions (whether it be to another team member or a client) has an impact on how they view ...

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How to approach usability testing

In order to deliver a clean, fresh, and — more importantly — effective user interface, usability tests are required....

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7 Best Side Hustles

According to some historical records, some people out there have boundless energy, loads of free time, and ambition enou...

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Exclusive Infographic: WordPress by the Numbers

What is WordPress? It began as a simple CMS for building a blog, and it has evolved over the years into a complex ecosys...

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I hate design…now what?

So you’ve been working as a designer for the past few years. You’re good at it. You’re successful. Maybe even real...

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How to Bootstrap a Web Design Business

Starting your own business is a process with a fair share of challenges. Even in the web design world, where you can pot...

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7 lessons Game of Thrones offers designers

Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire book series, has captivated audiences for five sea...

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How to Build a Strong Brand Reputation

Most of us are concerned about our public image, right? It matters a lot how people see and think of us. Export the same...

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Microsoft buys LinkedIn: What it means for designers

On Monday, Microsoft and LinkedIn announced that Microsoft would buy LinkedIn in an all-cash deal for $196 a share, at $...

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Is it time you opened a design agency?

You’ve been busting your ass for years as a freelance designer, taking projects as they come, performing every role re...

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The Latest Research for Web Designers

2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least. And although I’m sure many of you can’t wait until the calendar...

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5 things nobody tells you about freelancing

Starting out on your own as a freelancer is exciting. You’re making your talents available to the world, and are ready...

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How to be a Work from Home Professional

Let’s face it: The web design industry is very competitive. The barriers of entry are low, the technology (platforms, ...

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How to boost your personal brand as a designer

Perception is everything! Many famous creatives grew to fame because people knew about them, more than their work. Shoul...

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8 Domain Name Myths Every Web Designer Should Know

A domain name is an essential element of every project, product, and company. It’s central to a brand and has a dispro...

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InVision reveals design industry stats

What is a design-driven organization, according to designers? What organizations put a legitimate emphasis on design? Co...

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Opera’s introduces a new power-saving mode, continues the browser war

The last couple of months have been nothing short of groundbreaking for the Opera browser and the company. Two months ag...

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How To Take Your First Steps in Web Design

Are you a creative person looking for the perfect career path to take? If so, there are not many more creative professio...

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Side Hustles for Web Design Professionals: How to Make Some Extra Cash

A career as a web designer can be extremely lucrative. The average web designer in the US makes around $50-55,000 per ye...

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How to Pick Your Next Tech Focus

Every day, people are asking themselves things like, “React or Vue?” “VR or no VR?” “CSS Grid or Flexbox?” T...

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Does Your Choice of Web Host Affect Your Website?

When you design a website for a client, you’re in charge for the most part. You’re the one that’s mastered the art...

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The secret to surviving an unresponsive client

Why do some clients stop communicating with us all of a sudden? Is there any way out of this crappy situation?Picture th...

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How much should you charge for design?

How many times have you asked yourself this question?A potential client wants your proposal for a design project. You’...

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Getty Images and Shutterstock Merge in $3.7 Billion Deal

In a seismic shift for the visual content industry, Getty Images and Shutterstock have announced a $3.7 billion merger, ...

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Grow Your Design Business with Lead Magnets

All of the work you do to grow your web design business requires an investment of time and energy. And if you do this so...

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Infographic: What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented Reality is everywhere. Everyday, we read about it in the news. And even though Virtual Reality initially seeme...

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Reddit Unveils Reddit Answers: A Smarter Way to Search and Explore Discussions

If you’ve ever used Reddit to dig for answers or insights, you know how much gold is hidden in its threads—but findi...

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5 clients that will destroy your design business

Have you ever had a customer from hell? The kind of customer who abuses you, spending as little as they possibly can whi...

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How to attract a never-ending supply of clients

Your business is starving. You’re struggling to get the clients and projects you need to keep your business going. Som...

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27 Best Small Business Ideas for Designers

It covers the market size, earning potential, estimated startup cost, the target audience, and the value they bring to t...

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Building effective web design teams

When you are just starting out in a web development business, it can be really tempting to try to handle most (if not al...

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3 successful ways to get paid by a client who has “no money”

Every freelancer has heard the pitch from clients about “no money now, but there will be later”, “help start my bu...

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How to Build Client Loyalty

Web designers are some of the hardest working people I know. Which is why I don’t envy them having to design websites ...

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Blast from the Past: Grumpy Cat: From Viral Fame to Cultural Icon

Remember Grumpy Cat? That famous feline whose face could rival the grumpiest of Monday mornings. Born with a perpetual s...

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Aqua Is Back, Baby: Run Early Mac OS X Right in Your Browser

Miss the days when your computer made cheerful chimes, folders had faces, and ClarisWorks was the peak of productivity?T...

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Web Tech Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

It hardly seems possible given the radical transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades, but the web design la...

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Certifications for U.S. designers to become law in 2015

The much talked about step of creating professional certification for graphic/web designers looks like it will become a ...

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Who Owns the Web Now? Centralization vs. Decentralization in the Age of AI

The web is going through a slow-motion identity crisis.It began as a decentralized playground of pages, links, and raw h...

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How to build a reputation in the design community, and why you should

Time for a harsh truth: You can be the best designer in the world producing stunning user interfaces, but it doesn’t m...

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5 Tips for Working with Clients When You’re at Home

For those of you working from home right now (willingly or unwillingly), you can’t allow your surroundings to have an ...

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Why Zero Experience Designers Need A Chance

Moving from studying design into the big wide world of web design is a daunting process. It’s a competitive and dynami...

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The Web Can’t Go Home Again

It’s far too easy to look back and imagine that everything was better then than it is now. God knows I miss being a sk...

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10 Ways to Avoid Designer Burnout

It’s going to happen at some point this year; you will face designer burnout.One of the reasons that burnout is so com...

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Sunlight, Fresh Air and Exercise: How to Stay Creative

The autumn air is fresh and clear, the light is soft and uplifting and the autumnal forests are at their most beautiful....

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Latest Research for Web Designers

In today’s roundup of the latest research for web designers, we’re going to look at a variety of topics, from 2020 h...

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Santa’s High-Tech Holiday Logistics: A UX Fairy Tale

It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is preparing for his busiest night of the year. But have you ever wondered how San...

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Take a Stress-Free Vacation This Summer (and Keep Your Business Running)

An OnDeck Vacation Study reported that only 57% of small business owners planned on taking a vacation last year. Further...

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6 steps to charging what you’re really worth

Most designers struggle with putting a price on their services. Many end up using a pricing model that leaves them run r...

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Branding 101: Creating the Visual Identity for Your Business

There are so many things to think about when first starting a business. What will your business offer? How will this dif...

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Is it time to go freelance?

There’s a tendency within the design community to depict freelancing as a goal to be achieved. Who wouldn’t want to ...

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Should You Become a Web Designer?

If you’re here, then you’re thinking about becoming a web designer and wondering if it’s a smart move.Honestly, it...

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Ghost founder on how to grow a successful design career by blogging

It’s been 5 years since I last wrote, but it’s an absolute pleasure to be back once again.I’m doing a great deal m...

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Quiz: Could You Become a Design Consultant

According to a recent QuickBooks survey, the #1 reason freelancers go into business for themselves is because it lends t...

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The Myth of Incognito Mode: Why “Private Browsing” Isn’t So Private

Incognito mode, often marketed as a digital cloak for anonymity, has become a trusted tool for countless users seeking t...

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The right way to increase your freelance rates without losing clients

You aren’t being paid…Scratch that. You aren’t being paid what you’re worth. You bend over backwards for your cl...

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Don’t be a douche bag! A simple guide to being an ethical designer

The creative field, which encompasses design, illustration, photography and anything else that is a commercial-based ser...

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Compilation: 15 Hilarious Google Flops

When it comes to tech, Google has been synonymous with innovation, success, and world domination (hello, Android and Chr...

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3 Effective Ways To Improve Your Site’s Carbon Footprint

At the dawn of the web-era, there was much focus on how environmentally friendly websites were: we’d chop down fewer t...

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4 Predictions for the Web

The start of the year is always a good time to reassess priorities and consider new approaches, but 2021 is more of a re...

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Branding 101: How to Get Your Design Business Online

You’ve named your business. You’ve sorted out the visual branding piece. Now, it’s time to get your business onlin...

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Gigs Going Global? What Freelancers Need to Know About Classification

Freelancers go by many names these days. They can be “non-traditional workers” in Canada or “autónomo” in Spain...

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In Defense of the Humble Desktop

The desktop computer is the underdog of the tech world—a bulky box that screams “1999” while the rest of us flex o...

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Should creatives be unionized or earn certification?

Every now and then, on some blog or design group, someone brings up the question of designers unionizing or having some ...

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Case Study: 10 lessons from a successful startup

Building a product from scratch isn’t easy, but it can be a very rewarding process. When I had the idea for Revue, I d...

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Are Design Pitches Worthwhile?

For most designers – freelance or in-house – generating new business can be a dreaded part of the job. But it necess...

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The Freelancer’s Guide to Success and Happiness

In 2016, 34% of the US workforce worked as freelancers, and by 2020, it’s estimated that number will rise to 43%. Free...

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10 Questions You Must Ask Before Hiring a Web Design Agency

The obvious place to start looking for a web design agency is by asking friends, family, and colleagues for personal rec...

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The freelancer’s guide to outsourcing

When I quit my job 7 years ago to go freelance as a web designer, I thought I was finally free. But what I soon realize...

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Are Design Conferences Dead?

Hubspot estimates that a 400-person conference on the level of something like Hustle Con could realistically cost around...

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13 crazy freelancing myths debunked

A lot of designers have wild misconceptions about freelancing and what it’s actually like. Despite what many people th...

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The Slow Implosion of WordPress: 2025 and the CMS That’s Losing Its Soul

WordPress, the behemoth that once empowered a third of the internet, stands in 2025 as a paradox. On one hand, it’s st...

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Want to be a designer? Learn the secret handshake

The Secret Handshake is a fabulous project, aimed at helping young designers (18–25) find their way into the industry....

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It’s Time to Talk About Testimonials

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best ways to get new business — and high-quality business at that. But unless yo...

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What has your website done for you lately?

How do designers use their own websites to promote themselves online? What are some good ways to set up an online presen...

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Why Algorithms Are Ruining Your Web Experience

The internet was once a place for discovery. A space where curiosity could roam free, where you could stumble across som...

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The UX Nightmare: Why Tech Is Becoming Unusable for Everyone Except Cyborgs

Remember when technology was supposed to make life easier? That dream is long gone. Instead of simplifying our lives, mo...

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How CentOS Became 2020’s Final Victim

If you were paying close attention to your IT department around the 8th of December, you might have heard some quiet sob...

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Design Your Website to Sell While You Work

Design work is very time consuming. But it’s not just the labor you put into building websites that takes time and con...

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Are you sure you’re ready for your website to go live?

I recently witnessed a startup website train wreck. It was an extreme failure because the owner launched too soon and th...

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4 Founder-Led Brands That Are Done Right

When you hear the word “leadership,” do you think of a particular person?If you’d been asked that question anytime...

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Internet Censorship is Here: How Far Will it Go?

Within hours of the recent mass shooting at a New Zealand mosque by a far-right terrorist, the country’s authorities w...

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How to design for non-profits

I ought to know a lot about charities and non-profit organizations. My parents are career missionaries; and I grew up in...

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Are Your Lack of Client Boundaries Costing You Money?

It’s every business owner’s goal to provide a fantastic experience for every client or customer and ensure that each...

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6 Ways Designers Can Avoid Infringing Intellectual Property Rights

As the managing attorney of a commercial law boutique practice, I am asked several times per week some variation of the ...

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10 Ways to Recover from a Design Disaster

It’s going to happen — a design project or website launch will go poorly. What you do in the first hours, days, and ...

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Improve Your UX With a Niche Approach

Mass appeal is a myth. I know that goes against what we’d all like to believe, and your eternal optimist inside probab...

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Find out if you’re undercharging

One of the hardest parts of starting your business or freelancing is trying to figure out what you should charge. Years ...

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9 ways to organize successful creative projects

Getting your project organized and easily manageable is always a challenge when working as a part of a team. The problem...

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Goodbye Bitly… New Preview Page is a Major Step Back

For years, Bitly has been the go-to URL shortening service for marketers, creators, and businesses alike, offering a qui...

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How to get noticed by major brands

We’ve all dreamt about working for big brands. Microsoft, Google, Apple, McDonalds, Coca-Cola…they all have one thin...

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8 Ways to Keep Your Startup Positively Aligned

When companies become misaligned, different departments may be working toward entirely different goals – in some cases...

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The designer’s secret weapon: an account handler

I’m a lucky person. Every day I get to do what I love, which is helping clients work out what their web project is goi...

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Should You Sell Website Support or Maintenance Services?

By now, you’ve likely encountered and worked your way out one of the more common problems freelancers face. In moving ...

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How to Become a Full Stack Developer

Much has been said about the skills and capabilities of a full stack developer: On one hand, there are people who believ...

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10 Things Every Designer Hates to Hear

It’s happened to every designer at some point: A client or co-worker makes an absolutely cringe-worthy comment about y...

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Generate Hilariously Bad Christmas Movies

If you’ve ever thought Hallmark Christmas movies couldn’t get any more over-the-top, Xmas.Piclooks.com is here to ...

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The secret to happy clients

Sometimes, being a web designer is more than just creating a beautiful, functional website. You may have to play differe...

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5 Ways to Communicate With Non-Visual Thinkers

Many, if not most designers will at some point encounter this scenario: they’ve just completed a digital wire-frame fo...

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How to find clients who’ll fight for your attention

“How do I get more clients?” It’s a question most freelancers struggle with. It’s tough to attract great clients...

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How ProductHunt.com Became Overrun with AI Products

If you’ve ever been a fan of Product Hunt, you probably remember the excitement of finding something genuinely cool—...

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Stop defending design, start presenting solutions

If you do any client work, you understand that success or failure depends on meeting expectations; one of the hardest th...

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Everything web designers need to know about #VATMOSS

Sell ebooks, software, courses or music online? If you or any of your customers live in a European country then a piece ...

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A Beginner’s Guide to Using BlueSky for Business Success

In today’s fast-paced digital world, businesses are always on the lookout for new ways to connect with their audience....

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Reputation Management 101

I really don’t need to explain how important your reputation is, do I?Short version: if people think you suck, either ...

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2 essential rules for working with remote clients

As a designer, you might go through school or online training with the expectation of working face to face with your cli...

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Stop Billing By the Hour, Right Now

If you are a web designer/developer who currently bills per hour, I hope I can persuade you to change your pricing metho...

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How to design a pitch deck: lessons from a seasoned founder

Successful startups are known for their disruptive approach, so it’s interesting to see how so many innovative compani...

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6 Simple Steps to a Career in Web Design

If you’re a half-decent designer or a relatively competent developer, then there’s no reason you can’t make a livi...

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5 Signs That Web Design Is Reaching Its Own Industrial Age

The Internet as a concept, and as a community, is much like a teenager: it’s struggling to establish its identity, eve...

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Fluid teams: the way you’ll work for the rest of your career

This is not a management article. Well, it kind of is, but please leave your agile-lean-workplace-organization-human-res...

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Googling Is for Old People: What This Means for Web Designers

For decades, Google has been the cornerstone of how we navigate the internet. Whether you’re searching for the best pi...

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Why CEOs Don’t Care About UX and How to Change Their Minds

“UX design doesn’t work…And it won’t make us money.”Business executives aren’t all that fond of UX design, o...

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The Fast Way from Freelance Designer to Design Firm

Picture it: New York City, 2010; you’re working full-time as a digital designer for one of the world’s largest adver...

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Face facts: You’re replaceable, and there’s only 2 things you can do about it

Let’s say that co-owners of a business who know nothing about creating a website (except that they need one) are in th...

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The Rise of 3D Web Design: Innovation or Just Another Flashy Distraction?

The web is getting deeper—literally. Flat, static designs are starting to feel stale, and the rise of 3D elements and ...

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The ultimate guide to freelancing

There are a ton of different reasons people choose to freelance. Sometimes it’s born of necessity: you decide you need...

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Is it Time to Redesign Your Portfolio?

For many professionals looking for new work opportunities, they know that prospective employers are going to ask for pro...

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Does Your Web Design Business Need a Rebrand?

How long ago did you start your design business or side gig? Three months? Three years? And how long has it been since y...

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How You Can Compete Against DIY Site Builders

How does the little guy compete? How do you win against these giant companies? It’s inevitable right? The big guy alwa...

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From Fireworks to Framer: Is Software Choice Good For Design?

It wasn’t all that long ago that web and product designers were presented with a choice: Fireworks, Illustrator, or Ph...

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What Is The Independent Web And Does It Matter?

Today, I want to look at where the term came from, what it refers to today, and why it’s something that all of us in b...

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How to develop the perfect web skillset

Understanding the true value of the work we do is one of the first lessons many of us learn. Turning away spec work, foc...

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The ultimate guide to design meetings

The basic idea of a meeting is simple: it’s when two or more people get together to discuss one or multiple topics. It...

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The Witches’ Guide to Design

No, no. I didn’t go researching modern-day witchcraft or anything like I did with Taoism. No, I’m taking web design ...

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Myth-Busting NFTs: 7 Claims Fact-Checked

You probably know by now that NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token; what is perhaps less clear is what “Fungible” actua...

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Research yourself first

Every time we begin a web design project, we do research. We research our clients, their customers, the website’s targ...

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Freelance to Agency: Hiring Your First Employee

Which Roles Do You Need to Fill?This really depends on why you’re hiring someone as well as the direction you see your...

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What is a full-stack designer, and should you be one?

Being able to quickly and efficiently one-line our skills and the focus of our professional life has a lot of value. The...

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4 essential steps before you launch your design startup

Many of us dream of being our own boss, being able to set our own hours and choose what kind of work we take on. But ach...

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How to get TOUGH with clients

I recently received a call from a young designer who I met when she was in art school. I reviewed her portfolio and seve...