Tag: business

  • A few thoughts on passive income

    My answers to a few questions about Amazon Associates and passive income, asked by Tom May for a piece on the Shopify blog. Pilea peperomioides, aka Chinese money plant, via. When did you get involved with Amazon Associates and what first prompted you to do so? It was 2008, most likely because of ProBlogger (I…

  • What Clients Think 2017

    In association with the DBA, Up to the Light conducted telephone interviews with 455 design clients to produce the What Clients Think 2017 report. Interesting read. Here are some things that stood out. 44% of clients believe that their design agency should ask more questions. “Asking questions is a good habit. Agencies frequently ask lots…

  • Design in Tech Report

    For the third year running, John Maeda released his Design in Tech Report.

  • Bowie on design ideas

    “If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you feel that your feet aren’t quite touching the bottom you’re…

  • Outgoings in design self-employment

    It’s good practice to keep track of your monthly outgoings to help determine the minimum amount you need to charge to make a profit. Here’s where most of my business funds are spent. There are the standard utilities — mortgage, electricity, heating, phone and broadband. If working from home, you can reclaim a percentage of…

  • We could really do with £50k

    Written by John Scarrott of the Design Business Association in London. Photo by worldoflard I was chatting to one of our ‘experts’ at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards when he recounted the following story to me. I’ll tell it from the expert’s perspective. “One of my clients, a small design agency of five people, was…

  • Measuring design’s return on investment

    How do you measure the success of a design project? That’s an occasional inbox topic because companies often see design as an expense rather than an investment.

  • Originality in design

    Emilyn Cheong, a student at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore, asked me a few questions for her final year project, titled “Originality Trouble.”

  • On communication between designers and clients

    Web Designer magazine asked me a few questions about talking to clients. When communicating with a new client, what advice do you have to ensure that all parties understand what they expect to be delivered? Projects run more smoothly when everyone involved asks what the others expect. It’s also helpful when working terms are agreed…

  • More on unpaid internships

    An internship is not where the intern does the work of a normal employee without getting paid. Photo by Nick Loyless. We talked about unpaid internships back in 2011, and the topic generated a fair bit of chat in the comment thread. Here’s a question from a recent commentator. “I worked at a social enterprise…