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 Monday, May 05, 2008
It's Back: HOW Salary Survey
We're all paying more at the pump and at the grocery checkout these days, so our paychecks are stretched thin. If you're wondering how your income stacks up against others in the design field, then you'll be interested in HOW's 2008 Design Salary Survey, which we're conducting now through July 18. And we need your help! Graphic designers, please take HOW's Salary Survey so we can compile the broadest and most accurate report possible on salaries, bonuses and benefits in the industry. It'll take just a few minutes of your time, and it'll help us create a regional snapshot of what designers in your area are bringing home. Plus, by participating you'll be eligible for a drawing to win a free one-year subscription to HOW magazine!
Take the HOW Salary Survey now!
Design Resources | HOW Magazine
5/5/2008 11:02:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Your First Job
Carmen Pease, who writes HOW's email newsletter, is starting a new feature called "Design Question of the Week." Here's the first question: "What was the best and/or worst part of your first design job? What made it memorable?" You can share your answer and see what other designers had to say in the Forum.
Best part:
Design was a new department with
the company, so we got to really make it our own and stretch our design
legs while we figured out what the heck we were going to do with it.
Worst part:
Design was a new department with the company, so they had no clue what
to pay us and thus decided the answer was "not very much".
Memorable:
When we came up with our "no altering photos of anyone with Photoshop
installed on their computer" pact - turnabout is fair play after all.
Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
4/29/2008 8:50:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, April 28, 2008
Everything's Coming Up ... Radishes
If you're a HOW subscriber (or if you've ventured into a bookstore in the past several days), you may have seen the latest issue, with the HOW logo made out of bright green seedlings. Given both the season and the content (the issue's all about nurturing and harvesting your creative energies), the garden theme seemed ever so appropriate. During our cover brainstorm session, we talked about actually growing the logo. Seeing as how I fancy myself quite the green thumb, I offered to give it a shot. Art director Bridgid McCarren and I discussed what kind of seeds might make pretty little sproutlings, and we settled on trying two kinds: grass and radishes. Me, I love the little heart-shaped radish seedlings. We purchased soil, seeds and planting trays, cut templates of the logo that we carefully filled with seeds and set the whole works up in the sunny window in my cube. Then we waited. Turns out, when radishes sprout, they really take off! By the time of the photo shoot, they were way too tall and leggy to "read" as the logo. They'd grown perhaps a bit too well. (The grass seed? A total dud.) So Bridgid, bless her soul, took tiny scissors and tweezers and "planted" just the tops of the baby radishes to form the logo that you see on the cover. It wasn't a Photoshop job, but it did take a bit of creative engineering to pull off. Click on the cover below to see the lineup of creative goodness in the issue. 
HOW Magazine
4/28/2008 11:24:39 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, April 21, 2008
Micro-trends
Over the past three days, the HOW magazine team pored through nearly 3,000 entries in our latest Promotion Design Competition. It gave us a micro-level look at design trends throughout the U.S. and in a few well-represented European countries (Croatian design rocks). The majority of work was solid -- nicely designed, appropriate for the message, with decent production values. But about 125 entries really stood out for conceptual excellence, stellar design and top-notch production. (Stay tuned for HOW's September/October issue for a look at those top projects, or peek at past design competition winners here.) In the meantime, here's a list of the trends we spotted among the entries: HotWood-grain paper (like Gmund’s Savanna line) Vintage imagery, found materials and influences (like these) Screen printing (especially for projects other than posters) Gritty, realistic photography Instead of sending tchotchkes to clients, making a donation in their name and sending a thoughtful and well-designed token of that donation Cloth shopping bags with your logo or message On the way outTiny patterns (though we still love them) Brown/blue or brown/chartreuse color palettes Buttons Greeting cards and wrapping paper as client gifts NotCustomizing a Viewmaster with slides of your portfolio Making your staff pose for a goofy holiday photo Desktop calendars packaged in a CD case Coasters T-shirts with your logo or message
HOW Magazine
4/21/2008 10:56:01 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Design and Music
The HOW staff always plays music during competition judging. Design and tunes just seem to go together. Over on Design Observer, they're conducting an informal poll about what designers like to listen to while they work. The selections are all over the map, but you may discover some good new music. We discovered an interesting CD that was entered in the competition. The design didn't make it into the winners pile, but we did throw the disc on because we were intrigued by the title: Songs For Ice Cream Trucks. The music did indeed evoke a certain ice cream truck quality. We especially like the track "Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go in the Winter?"  Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine | Just for Fun
4/21/2008 10:47:06 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Most Unusual
This morning, I'm offering an unofficial award for most unusual entry. The winner is Lincoln, NE-based the minnow PROJECT for their Heat Activated Urinal Billboards for Spilker Ales. The "billboards" are stickered inside urinals. At first, it looks like there's a big black square in the middle. But add a warm stream, and a fire hydrant is revealed. 
Posted by Megan
Designers | HOW Magazine
4/17/2008 8:42:09 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Promotion Design Awards
Live from the HOW Promotion Design Awards judging. Here's one of the largest categories, Client Promotions.  Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
4/16/2008 8:42:36 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Save $50 on the HOW Conference
If you're considering attending the HOW Design Conference in Boston next month, here are two reasons why you'll want to jump on that today: • If you register by midnight tonight, you can still score 50 bucks off the registration price. • Space in the conference hotels and in goodies like the Studio Tours is filling up fast. Linkage: See who's attendingGet scoop on all things conference-relatedCheck out the fantastic speaker lineup (Charles Anderson, Debbie Millman, Michael Bierut, Julieanne Kost, Katherine McCoy, Joe Duffy, etc., etc., etc.) Find out about sessions, tours, workshops and more
Events | HOW Magazine
4/11/2008 12:00:11 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, March 14, 2008
HOW Are We Doing?
We'd like to know how the design community connects with the various
aspects of the HOW brand, so we can develop new ideas to help you be
more creative and more successful. Please take our short survey and
you'll be entered to win a free subscription to HOW (if you already
subscribe, we'll extend your subscription for one year). The
15-question survey should only take about 5 to 7 minutes to complete.
Please be assured that your responses will be treated in absolute
confidence and used only in combination with those of other readers.
For official sweepstakes rules, visit
www.howdesign.com/SurveySweepstakesRules. Thanks for taking the survey and giving your input! 
HOW Magazine
3/14/2008 10:33:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Poster Children
HOW Magazine
2/26/2008 10:52:15 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Win A Free HOW Subscription
Stock photography is a key component of every designer's toolbox. So we want to know how you use stock images and which stock-photo companies you like best. Then, we plan to share that information with HOW readers in our August 2008 issue. Please take our short survey and you'll be entered to win a freer subscription to HOW (if you already subscribe, we'll extend your sub for one year; open to U.S. residents only). The 16-question survey should only take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Please be assured that your responses will be treated in absolute confidene and used only in combination with those of other readers. For official sweepstake rules, click here. Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
2/12/2008 10:24:29 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Welcome To The New HOWdesign.com
Be sure to poke around our revamped site and let us know what you think. The goal of the project was to make content much easier to find (and to update).  Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
2/5/2008 1:53:53 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wicked Cool
We're absolutely lovin' the poster that Clifford Stoltze and his team in Boston have created for this year's HOW Conference. Keep an eye out in the March/April issue for a full-size pull out. 
Events | HOW Magazine
1/17/2008 9:11:24 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Wednesday, January 09, 2008
HOW Online Exclusive
Great Expectations by Todd Henry For some artists, our expectations of ourselves and our work form a
subconscious barrier to full, free creativity. In my work with creative
pros, I've uncovered three main sources of potentially unhealthy
expectations.
Unhealthy Expectation No. 1: Our heroes
Many of us began making art because we were inspired by others to
do so. If we're not careful, however, our "hero worship" can become a
creative noose. We can easily begin to think that our work is sub-par
because it doesn't seem to measure up to the invisible standard we've
unknowingly set. In his incredible book "Free Play," Stephen Nachmanovich
writes, "It's great to sit on the shoulders of giants, but don't let
the giants sit on YOUR shoulders! There's no room for their legs to
dangle."
In other words, we can carry the weight of our heroes on our
shoulders and feel the burden to carry their work forward. When we do
this, we're denying our own creative skills and passions and trying to
live up to someone else's standard. We're also discounting the
failures, doubts and missteps that our heroes made on the way to
creative success. It's great to strive for brilliance, but it's also
important to be patient with our own growth process.
Read more. Posted by Megan
Creativity | HOW Magazine
1/9/2008 2:40:16 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, December 21, 2007
Behind the Scenes: February Cover
 So, just how passionate are you about type? Like it enough to pay eight dollars for a two hour movie about one font? Love it enough to get your favorite typeface permanently tattooed to your skin? This is the excitement and enthusiasm for type which we set out to illustrate on our February cover. Our photographer, Deogracias Lerma ( www.dlermaphoto.com), and I set out to see what the father-son duo at Designs by Dana ( www.danatattoo.com) could show us about a traditional approach to tattooing. Turns out Dana, owner and tattoo veteran, and his son, Jason Brunson, tattoo artist and illustrator, are as passionate about tattoos as we are about type. They were excited to create this old-school, customized tattoo of our logo complete with traditional tattoo motifs like a swallow, rose and arrow. After spending about three hours creating this artwork on our lovely model’s back, it was time to shoot. Check out some behind the scene shots from this issues cover shoot below.  
Posted by
Bridgid
Creativity | HOW Magazine
12/21/2007 12:14:27 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, December 10, 2007
HOW on the Go
So your colleague routinely snags the office copy of your favorite design mag. Or you'd like to have all the HOW design annuals right at your fingertips. Voila: The DVD edition of HOW. We're releasing all 2007 issues in a fully searchable, totally portable format. The DVD includes a full year's worth of ideas, information and inspiration about staying creative, running a successful design business, surviving in-house and managing your design career. Oh yeah, and lots of eye candy, like 300+ winners of this year's HOW design awards. The DVD starts shipping December 17 but you can pre-order now!  All this great content in a tiny little package. 
Design Resources | HOW Magazine | Industry News
12/10/2007 9:31:18 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, December 04, 2007
In-HOWse Winners
HOW's upcoming Jan/Feb issues features the winners of our first annual In-HOWse Design Awards, but you can see the Honorable Mention winners right now on HOWdesign.com. Each category includes a slide show of winners along with credit information and insight into the projects.    Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
12/4/2007 1:14:29 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Just Say No: How To Set Work Boundaries
by The Creative Group
You plan to spend your entire morning doing research for an advertising
campaign, something you've already had to put off for more than a week.
Just as you're digging into your work, your manager swings by to ask
you to proofread a client e-mail. This request is followed by one from
your co-worker who wonders if you want to have a "working lunch" to
brainstorm ideas for her upcoming project. Do you, as is typical, agree
to all these requests?
If you want to move ahead in your career, the answer should be
no. It may seem counterintuitive, but spreading yourself too thin means
that the quality of your work suffers. Setting limits at work will
prevent you from being overloaded and help you do your best on the
projects that are most important. Following are some tips.
Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
11/30/2007 10:15:38 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, November 16, 2007
Greeting Cards
The Nov/Dec issue of HOW features a roundup of well-designed business cards. You can see the cards and read the stories behind them in an online exclusive: Hey Good Lookin'.   Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
11/16/2007 10:00:26 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007
HOW Gets Blogged
This week's guest blogger on Design*Sponge is Emily Martin, owner of OrangeBeautful, a small design shop that specializes in invitations and cards. In her first post, she ruminates about running a small business and staying true to your ideals. And she mentions HOW's brand new business issue. Tune into D*S this week for more thoughts from Emily on being a creative entrepreneur.  Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
11/13/2007 10:44:55 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Thursday, November 08, 2007
Help Plan An Issue Of HOW
We need your help to plan a future issue of HOW. We've grouped our story ideas under four different themes and want to know which one you like best. Please take our short survey and you'll be entered to win a free subscription to HOW (if you already subscribe, we'll extend your subscription for one year). Plus, you'll have a direct hand in influencing an upcoming issue of HOW! The 6-question survey should only take about 5 minutes to complete. Please be assured that your responses will be treated in absolute confidence and used only in combination with those of other readers. For official sweepstakes rules, visit www.howdesign.com/SurveySweepstakesRules.pdf. Thanks for your input! Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
11/8/2007 1:43:37 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, November 05, 2007
More from MYOB
Picking up from this report, a bit more info from HOW's Mind Your Own Business Conference in San Diego, which wrapped up yesterday (November 4). The big highlight of Day 3 -- and of the conference overall -- was Deborah Dawton, CEO of London's Design Business Association. Our peers across the pond are beginning to get their collective heads around the massive challenge of measuring (really!) the bottom-line value of design. Like, in terms of goods sold, or dollars saved, or reputation enhanced, or effectiveness increased. Dawton didn't have all the answers, but she DID have all the questions: specifically, the questions designers must ask their clients in order to measure design's effectiveness and, in turn, to define their work's worth. She noted that "The businesses you work for aren't all that different from the businesses you work in" -- in other words, the very same business challenges a design firm faces (profitability, staffing, efficiency, differentiation) are the ones the client faces, just on a larger scale. So it's imperative for designers to understand their OWN businesses as well as their clients'. The first step to measuring design's value, she noted, is to determine the client's current business state before the project begins -- it's impossible to peg increased sales to a brochure design when you don't know what sales were before the brochure. And it's critical to then define, "How will we know if this project is successful?" and, finally, to get as much information from your client about business results. Afraid they won't give you that info? Ya gotta ask. After some late-night discussions and early morning roundtables, the conference wrapped up on Sunday with " Crucial Conversations," in which Ron McMillan outlined some tools to use when we're engaged in touch conversations where emotions, stakes and differences of opinion run high. Thanks to all the principals who participated this year!
Events | HOW Magazine
11/5/2007 4:44:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, November 02, 2007
Live from MYOB
Here in (now) sunny San Diego, we're with 300 design-firm principals who are super-focused on sessions geared toward improving their business success. It's a pretty intense group; people are deep in discussion in between sessions and during breakfast. One underpinning (and unintentional) theme of this year's MYOB conference is differentiating your firm with a unique, distinctive positioning. As an editor who sees a ton of capabilities packages from design firms of all stripes throughout the country, I'm continually amazed at how, well, the same all of them are. In fact, opening keynote speaker Tim Williams read positioning statements from real agencies, and the audience chuckled at how cliche and lame they all were. Clearly, designers need to turn the mirror on themselves and define their own brands. The same kind of discussion continued today, when Brent Hodgins started his presentation by acting out a typical pitch presentation, and again the audience laughed at how silly it all sounded. In what's become a tradition at MYOB, conference partner David Baker conducted a real-world, live business analysis with a principal who volunteered his firm as a case study. Fascinating.
Events | HOW Magazine
11/2/2007 8:11:09 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, November 01, 2007
Choosing A Digital SLR Camera
In time for Christmas, HOW tech writer Paul Mormack has put together a review of affordable, quality digital single lens reflex cameras. Need quick, quality, custom photos for a project? Ready to supplement
the stock photos you're buying now? Getting the photos you want with a
digital SLR camera is easier and more affordable than ever. But
selecting the right DSLR has never been tougher. Prices are lower,
image quality is better, hardware is faster and feature-rich—and
there are more choices. That's great news for buyers.
HOW Magazine
11/1/2007 11:09:27 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
How (Not) to Enter a Design Competition
Sheesh! I'm post-happy today, no? On the heels of last week's judging, here are some sure-fire ways to be sure your entry to (any) design show gets a fair shake—or not: • DO fill out the entry form neatly and completely. If there's a typo in the show annual, it's probably the result of the entrant's sloppy handwriting. Make sure that doesn't happen. • DO include a paragraph that tells the judges about the project: its particular challenges, why it succeeded, how you developed the concept. • DO consider how you assemble or package your entry. If the judges need a box cutter or jackhammer to extract your project from its wrapping, they'll give up. • DO use design competitions as an occasion to assemble your body of work from the past year in a sort of self-critique. Look at everything you've done, note what worked and didn't, and learn from it. • DON'T let your competition wins go unnoticed. When your work appears in any design show, book, publication, whatever, by all means send a letter or press release to your clients telling them about it. • DO make design awards part of your regular marketing efforts. Going into 2008, consider all the places you'll want to enter your work, make note of entry deadlines, budget for the fees and plan for the follow-up. And good luck!
Call for Entries | HOW Magazine
10/30/2007 10:44:30 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Observations on Design
After spending five days last week in the company of thousands of design projects, we came away with some broad observations about the scope of work. As judges Debbie Millman, John Foster and Nathan Hendricks paced among the tables of entries, scoring pens in hand, we asked them to keep track of what they saw. Generally, some of the trends we've seen repeatedly in recent years seem to be on the wane: tiny patterns, cute wildlife, palettes of brown matched with spring green or pale blue, prettiness. The work that rose to the top was a bit sharper, grittier. The handmade aesthetic is still strong, but it's rougher in a deliberate way. The judges noted that they could imagine a designer sketching an image on paper and then, instead of bringing that sketch into Illustrator for refinement, deciding that the sketch itself was appropriate for the project. No need to sand off the rough edges. As in all competitions, the judges bemoaned inconsistency: a dynamite book cover whose lackluster interior pages shot the project all to hell, good ideas poorly executed, great executions of crappy ideas, well-designed annual reports with rotten photography, huge budgets that allowed for reckless production values with no meaningful payoff. Foster especially noted challenges with printing and paper: "The printing gap has widened severely. It seems as if you either have a massive budget and you throw tons of bells and whistles at a piece, or folks are legging it out, digitally printing parts like a belly band or even running stuff off their color laser. On both counts I just caution to never let the printing get in the way of the design. If it's overly extravagant with no purpose other than to spend money it becomes a turnoff, and while I appreciate the ingenuity of using economical resources I hate to hold a piece in my hands and think it feels cheap and thrown-together.
"Paper choices are still amazing to me. I would say a tenth of the work turned me off the minute I felt the gross stock the designer had chosen. Get samples and 'touch' your work beforehand."
We'll publish the results of the trio's deliberation in HOW's March/April International Design Annual. Meanwhile, if you're looking for inspiration, check out the gallery of past HOW winners. 
Events | HOW Magazine
10/30/2007 9:29:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, October 29, 2007
Passing Judgment
You'll (hopefully) forgive the lack of blog posting last week; we spent the entire week setting up and then managing the process of judging HOW's biggest annual design awards. It's a ton of work, and it involves thousands of numbered stickers, about 5,000 feet of white butcher paper, two cases of diet soda, a bagful of red Twizzlers and three colored pens. Among other things. The process is this: Take 100 eight-foot tables, laid end-to-end in a cavernous public-event space; roll out white paper over the tables, lay out entries by category, add stickers to label each entry, roll out white paper over the entries, repeat. Until you have maybe six layers of paper/stickers/entries. Like this:  From there, the judges, each with a colored pen, walk among the tables and enters a score of 0 to 3 for each entry. Entries that meet a minimum score make it into the awards annual. Sometimes, the judges feel free to add their own commentary as they go along:   We'll post more this week about the judging process and the judges' observations, so stay tuned ...
Events | HOW Magazine
10/29/2007 12:15:59 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Art Spotting
HOW Magazine | Illustration
10/29/2007 9:05:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, October 19, 2007
HOW Judges Speak
We just got a PDF of the cool postcard designed by Joe Napier, AIGA Cincinnati’s Communications Director, for an event next week where HOW International Competition judge Debbie Millman will interview fellow judge John Foster. (FYI, we'll be slammed with competition duties next week, so expect light postings.)   Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
10/19/2007 3:37:19 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, October 18, 2007
Inspiration Afternoon
Yesterday, the HOW staff took the afternoon off and went searching for ideas, trends and cool stuff in Cincinnati's design-y stores and galleries (yes, there are such things here). Here's a bit of what caught our eyes: Carmen was fascinated by gorgeous, elaborate chandeliers, like the ones we saw at High Street (by far our fave stop):  Megan, ever the science and nature fanatic, loved the insect specimens encased in blocks of resin. (Sorry, couldn't find a photo.) Bridgid and I were drawn to the new trend in wallpaper: flat patterns rendered in huge scale on colored backgrounds, in amazing color combinations, like this scheme from Designers Guild:  Sarah was keen on all the eco-friendly goods at a shop called Park + Vine in Cincinnati's burgeoning Gateway district: 
Creativity | HOW Magazine
10/18/2007 9:37:34 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Dealing With Work Demons
by The Creative GroupIt's the time of year when ghosts, goblins and maybe even a few Britney
Spears look-alikes are preparing to hit the streets for Halloween. The
timing is right to consider what spooks you at work—aside from the
unidentifiable food at the back of the office refrigerator, that is.
By overcoming your career-related "gremlins," you'll have more
on-the-job treats than tricks to look forward to in the year ahead.
Here are some tips for turning common fears into everyday successes.
Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
10/10/2007 1:32:22 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Can We Ask a Delicate Question?
Mom told us it's impolite to talk about money, but we're curious: What do you (or your firm) charge for design services? Designers frequently ask us what the going rate is ($50 an hour? $150), and so we're conducting a national survey to report on average hourly rates for design and related functions. And we need your help! Take HOW's online survey (it'll take just a few minutes of your time), and contribute to this comprehensive report on rates, which will appear in the March/April issue. Plus, you can enter to win a free one-year subscription to HOW. Thanks!
HOW Magazine
10/10/2007 10:14:34 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, October 01, 2007
Hooray For HOW
HOW Magazine
10/1/2007 11:21:47 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, September 20, 2007
R U There?
There's little doubt that instant messaging will continue to invade the
workplace and change how people interact. Knowing the most appropriate
ways to use it will help you take advantage of its convenience and
efficiency while avoiding common gaffes. Here's some good advice from the Creative Group. Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
9/20/2007 12:18:48 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Charm School
Looking to brush up on your business communication etiquette? Check out two brand-new articles, courtesty of The Creative Group, that will help you make the most of teleconferencing and instant messaging.
HOW Magazine
9/11/2007 4:23:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
What Not To Ask
Nobody wants to end up with their foot in their mouth while dazzling a
prospective new hire during an interview. But embarrassment isn't all
you risk when you conduct these meetings. It's not too hard, in fact,
to mistakenly ask a discriminatory question. Even a seemingly innocent
query such as "Where were you born?" can result in legal problems for
your company. Anti-discrimination and consumer-protection legislation
passed since the 1960s restricts the type and scope of pre-employment
questions that you can ask. Moreover, court decisions and
administrative rulings have refined what you can and can't ask, and—if
things weren't already confusing enough—standards vary from state to
state. Click here to learn which specific questions could cause problems. Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
8/28/2007 9:46:30 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Make Your Mark: GO!
Feel like all you’re doing is scratching your head when it comes to marketing your design services and getting new clients? In our October issue (which just hit newsstands yesterday), we included a handy-dandy, yearlong calendar just for you: It tells when and what you should be doing when it comes to marketing. And that includes whether you’re new to the game or have been at it for some time. Lucky for you, we’ve also posted a copy on our website that you can download, print out and tack up—marketing made easy!
Posted by Carmen
Design Resources | HOW Magazine
8/22/2007 11:47:22 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Training Someone To Take Your Place
With summer arriving soon and vacation planning in full swing, it's a
good time to contemplate who can assume your responsibilities when
you're out of the office. If you're like many managers, you may think
nobody can take your place. In fact, in a recent TCG survey of
advertising and marketing executives, nearly four out of 10 (39
percent) felt uncertain that someone in their company could fill their
shoes if they had to suddenly leave their positions.
But the truth is, you are replaceable. More
importantly, it's your responsibility to train someone to fill in for
you—whether you're leaving for the short- or long-term. And a formal
succession-planning program has benefits that extend beyond crisis
management: Companies that create structured succession programs and
provide leadership training help their employees grow professionally,
which can boost loyalty and productivity. Following are some tips for
developing an effective succession strategy. Posted by Megan
HOW Magazine
8/14/2007 9:14:17 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, August 08, 2007
How To Enjoy Your Vacation
Posted by MeganVacation season is in full swing, but if you're like many creatives, you may have difficulty relinquishing your work duties while you're out of the office. Nearly half of the advertising and marketing executives polled by The Creative Group said they check in at least once a day while on vacation; only 13 percent of respondents said they never attend to business when taking time off.
Though touching base occasionally while on vacation is often unavoidable, you risk spoiling the benefits of being away from the office if you check e-mail during a helicopter tour of the Kauai coast or when dining at a hotel's best restaurant. Indeed, vacations are a time to disconnect from the job, unwind and re-energize. Here are some tips to help ensure a stress-free one.
HOW Magazine
8/8/2007 10:03:07 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, July 30, 2007
No Crystal Ball Required
Posted by Bryn
If you subscribe to the HOW e-newsletter, you know that we’ve been thinking a lot lately about the future of design, thanks in large part to all the insights we gathered for the magazine's current issue. For one article, we tapped some of the brightest minds in the biz and asked them what they think design will be like in 2025. Among my favorite quotes from that extensive piece: Tucker Viemeister: “Eighteen years from now, design will be even more important than it is now … Clients will comprehend that customers don’t distinguish the fragments of their offerings, but that they live in a total experience called the ‘real world,’ which means that design must be conceived holistically, too.” Bruce Sterling: “By 2025, ‘green design’ will go away, because today’s unsustainable ‘brown’ design will be vanishing. If ‘green‘ is all that’s left, it’s not alternative anything; it’s just what there is.” Debie Millman: “By 2025, there’s the potential that for every human experience there will be a corresponding brand. There will be branded relationships, branded sexuality, branded religion, branded war, even branded children …” In addition to the extensive commentary published in HOW’s special Future of Design Issue, we’ve compiled additional responses online. And we've posted a query to the HOW community in the Forum, where you can share your own predictions about where design is headed.
HOW Magazine
7/30/2007 9:56:16 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
What Do You Think Of HOW?
Posted by MeganWe need your help! We want to make HOW magazine your most valuable graphic design resource, so we're conducting a survey to learn more about your reading habits and interests. Please click on the link below to complete the short survey and you'll be entered to win a free subscription to HOW (if you already subscribe, we'll extend your subscription for one year).
The 18-question survey should only take about 5 minutes to complete. Please be assured that your responses will be treated in absolute confidence and used only in combination with those of other readers.
Thanks for your input!
Click here to take survey.
HOW Magazine
7/24/2007 4:00:39 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, July 20, 2007
Do You Want To Own Your Own Firm?
Posted by Megan
Do you dream of starting your own design shop someday? Why or why not? Take our new Web Poll by August 24 and register your vote. Then watch for the results in HOW's December issue.
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