For all of you: Shel Perkins wrote a comprehensive guide to teach you best business practices for your design business. Shel Perkins has a unique take on the design business being a designer, management consultant and instructor.

Book Info

• Talent Is Not Enough: Business Secrets For Designers (VOICES)

• written by Shel Perkins, published by New Riders

  ISBN 0-321-27879-8. 391 pages

• Order? From Amazon UK | Amazon US
• Official book site: www.talentisnotenough.com

I got inspired by reading the book and so I thought why not let the author comment about the topics in the various chapters of his book entitled Talent Is Not Enough: Business Secrets For Designers published by New Riders (VOICES). I hope you enjoy the real-world advice you are about to take with you.

Here is an interview with the author. It acts also as a good summary of the book.

Marketing strategies

A fairly new trend: freelance web developers and freelance interface/web designers also maintain their own blogs that function as part of their own marketing strategy. Would you agree that having a successfull blog is a good strategy to position themselves on the market?

Shel Perkins: Each designer needs to determine the most appropriate mix of marketing activities for his or her own situation. This could include a blog. If so, I would suggest maintaining an editorial focus on subjects that are important to your clients. This positions you as an expert. Keep the content current and relevant. Don’t mix in personal stuff that is off-topic.

Working formula

Working formula: what are the big differences (advantages, disadvantages) between working as a freelancer for a web design firm (per project basis) and working full-time as a in-house designer?

Shel Perkins: In general, freelancing has more variety, but much less security. It’s possible to be happy and do good work in either situation — you have to find what’s right for you.

Client relationships

Communication: often you need to communicate technicalities, design issues to your client, or discuss additional requests. How do you communicate with your client in the best way?

Shel Perkins: My advice is to document important information and talk your client through that documentation to make sure that they understand it. It’s also smart to get signed approval from the client at each important milestone in the project.

Being a succesful team

Team work: an interface designer needs to translate a graphic mockup into code, and develop an accessible and user-friendly website. In a medium to large design firm, how do you communicate with the people on your team about each project?

Shel Perkins: There are many aspects to this. So, in response to this particular question, I’ll refer you to the book itself. There’s an entire chapter on the topic of successful teams.

Portfolio

Self-promotion: in-house designers, freelance web designers working for a firm. Do they have fewer opportunities to promote their work in their own personal portfolios?

Shel Perkins: Whatever the relationship might be, designers must have a signed agreement in place to clarify issues of ownership and confidentiality. In some instances, you’ll need the client’s permission to include a project in your portfolio. This needs to be spelled out in the agreement.

Ethics and social responsability

Design ethic - often business goals have to meet design ethics. Is there still room for a design vision when working in a firm?

Shel Perkins: This is an important challenge — to create great work that produces an intended business result but is also morally and socially responsible. This involves universal design and accessibility. It also involves ecology and sustainability. In addition, it raises questions about the role of designers in the expansion of consumer culture, the increasing power of corporations, and the globalization of trade. In the book, I share some thoughts on these issues and point out many useful resources.

About writing this book

The book: your book offers a good insight and preparation for any designer wanting to start a business or working in the design business. What else did you want to achieve with this book, will you write more books about the design business?

Shel Perkins: The biggest message of the book is that it’s not necessary to re-invent the wheel when it comes to daily business practices. There’s a great deal of flexibility in many aspects of your career — you can seek the clients and creative challenges that are most appealing to you, and you can structure individual projects in whatever way allows you to produce your best work. When it comes to such things as taxes or the fine print on contracts, however, you need to understand some financial and legal basics. These are specific to the country where you’re located and they are not open to re-invention.

For the most part, my writing comes out of my consulting practice and workshops that I’m asked to lead at conferences. Right now, I’m drafting bonus chapters about managing large projects and the interesting business challenges posed by the very rapid evolution of our profession. These will be available for free at www.talentisnotenough.com. There’s already a bonus chapter there on the subject of cash flow.

Copyright

One more question: what can we do to protect our own designed websites, we have copyright but international protection against infringements seems too complex and not covering a 100% protection?

Shel Perkins: Yes, this is a complex issue. It’s compounded by the fact that intellectual property law is national but the Internet is global. The rapid expansion of the Internet has created new enforcement challenges for owners of copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Each Web design firm needs expert guidance from an intellectual property attorney in its own country.

In terms of copyright, here’s how I look at things as a visual designer. The basic layout of the site is something that your client will want to own. Typically, you provide templates and guidelines and assign all rights to them. Beyond that, however, we face the question of specific content that might be placed into the layout. It’s standard for writers, photographers, and illustrators to retain copyright ownership of their work and license it to be used only in limited ways. As a Web designer, you (and of course your client) need to do the right thing when it comes to this third-party content. Negotiate for its use, stick to the terms you’ve negotiated, and include all proper credits and copyright notices.

Why this book

Being a succesfull designer does not only take (creative) talent, or technical skills but in fact a whole lot more. Let’s say you want to have your own design business - instantly you will have a lot to think about.
And you will start to ask yourself many questions:

• How do you turn your artistic activities into a solid design business?
• How do you start a business? And moreover, how do I manage a business?
• How do I apply for a design job? How do I charge my clients?
• What about copyright, or contracts?
• How can I improve my marketing strategies, learn about managing projects?

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