I love being a freelance designer. I work on my own schedule and enjoy the privilege and freedom to be creative in a variety of different formats and genres. As my design work is diverse, so too are my clients. As any freelance designer will tell you, no two clients are the same and dealing with them can be trying at the best times and exasperating in the worst.

I love all my clients…even the difficult ones.

Who wants to work for someone who quickly accepts everything you send over to them? I truly enjoy defending my design choices and get an immense amount of satisfaction from winning over a difficult client.

I recently clicked a link and it led me to this interesting blog article from Forbes magazine, on integrating design as an integral part of an overall business strategy, particularly for start-ups.

Forbes blogger Tomio Geron, who writes about  start-ups, the social web and various other Silicon Valley topics, quotes Facebook’s Kate Aronowitz, Director of Design and User Experience in the article:

“These days the best designers are not just doing one small part of the design process. They can do visual design as well as code and build much of a website themselves. To find and keep top talent, it’s important to give designers a ‘seat at the table’ so they have influence on decisions and are not just implementing designs.”

The iPhone has becomes as ubiquitous for designers as a sketchpad and pencil and when you are in transit, at a meeting, or at lunch, having your iPhone with you affords you a chance to get some design work done when away from your computer. These apps for graphic designers will help you learn, organize, brainstorm, or research different aspects of your design work. As a bonus, most of these apps inspire creativity all by themselves.

I am constantly trying to keep my eyes open to designs that inspire me, and I am very partial to looking back to mid-century designers and illustrators whose work I find endearing and elegant.   I think this aspect of design history is important to new designers and artists.

Design by Olle Eksell

Recently, I stumbled upon the design work of Olle Eksell, one of the most respected and distinguished Swedish graphic designers.  He passed away in 2007 at the age of 87, leaving a legacy of advertising posters, logos, postcards, illustrations, products and more – all charmingly beautiful and interesting.  A book celebrating his work was just published in April, 2011.

Christopher Wool, Studio, New York, 1993, via http://www.wool735.com

I have been looking at the work of American painter Christopher Wool a lot lately.  Wool’s work references process, abstraction, advertising, contemporary culture and reproduction.  He uses a range of media, incorporating photography, screen printing, stencils, spray paint, hand painting, text, and other industrial processes and materials to make his work.  Wool has also designed skate decks for Supreme and collaborated on various projects and publications with  other artists, including painter Josh Smith and poet/musician Richard Hell.

Check out these links to read and see more:

Christopher Wool at Gagosian

Christopher Wool at Luhring Augustine

Part I:

The premium of versatility in today’s creative workplace.

The job market for designers in today’s workplace is fierce. Where once it was satisfactory to have focused skills in one medium, most employers are now looking for designers that can do it all.

As a designer (or future designer), we all have a responsibility to both ourselves and our clients to be as educated in our craft as possible. We should be driven to increase our knowledge and understanding of design, whether it be through the consumption of blogs, print reviews or exhibitions.  You’re never too old or too late to learn something new.

Free lecture with photographer Amy Stein

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PPAC) is hosting a free lecture with photographer Amy Stein on Saturday, May 21 from 6:00 – 7:00 pm at Crane Arts.

# 4 in Stranded series by Amy Stein (copyright to Amy Stein: http://amysteinphoto.com/stranded4.html)

The recipient of numerous awards, Amy Stein focuses her work on  isolation from our community, culture and environment. For the Stranded series, Stein traveled the US by car to find people caught in between freedom and survival at the side of the road. In many ways the work speaks to the ability to interact with strangers and also acts as a document regarding a  specific climate in American history. Images from the Stranded series are included in PPAC’s current exhibition East of Eden, running until May 21, 2011.

Pictured left to right: Nanita Barchi, Erin McGee Ferrell, Erik Summa, Alicia Lazur, Kevin Riley, Maria Jose Silva, Tremain Smith, Dale Varga, Susan Goodman Jackson, Rachel Kolber

April 27^th saw 18 of our hard working students receive their certificates at a special reception in recognition and celebration of their academic achievement.

Certificates were awarded to students who completed their course of study in the Teaching Artist Certificate, Print Design Certificate, Web Design Certificate, and the Web Design + Development Dual Certificate.

Continuing Education faculty member and Print Design Certificate Capstone instructor, Joe DeCerchio (left) poses with two of his Print Design students, Maria Jose Silva (center) and Kevin Riley (right).

There is much to love at the Italian Market Festival – the sights, the sounds and of course, amazing food.

I usually go every year (I’m right in the neighborhood) to see the accordian player on the corner and the giant pastry bags filling up cannolis, and to grab some amazing cheese (from beloved DiBruno’s, of course).  I always run into a ton of friends and enjoy the energy of our amazing city.  There are also local artisans selling their wares.  The festival is held Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15, 10 am – 5 pm.