Posted by Bryn
Events | Gifts and Goodies

You can find ideas for color palettes just about anywhere. Wear Palettes looks to street fashion to create fresh palettes you can use to inspire your work.



via Inspiration Resource

Posted by Megan

Presenting Our Top 11 Reasons Why You Should Register for the HOW Design Conference This Week (we couldn't stop at 10):

11. You'll have a chance to stockpile paper samples, stock photo catalogs and tons of other swag in the Resource Center.
10. Airfare to Austin is cheap from just about anywhere.
9. Closing party theme—Keep Austin Weird—is a great excuse to get your funk on.
8. New Designer's Marketplace is a good source for well-made gifts to take back to your colleagues.
7. This year's speaker lineup is especially good-looking.
6. You can totally customize the program to your personal interests. Like, maybe, this session: Freud, Sex and Graphic Design.
5. Mark Randall's closing session will totally fire you up for changing the world through your work.
4. You'll have a chance to meet the HOW staff and pitch to be in the magazine.
3. We have absolutely no idea what Marc English will do onstage, but we're pretty sure it'll be inspiring.
2. You'll be even smarter when you leave Austin, with your brain packed full of new info on branding, Flash, color, fonts, marketing, business, leadership, creativity and more.
1. You'll save 100 smackers if you register by midnight Friday.

Posted by Bryn

Times being what they are, creative professionals are considering any and all outlets for finding client work. But if you're tempted to join the "crowdsourcing" market (where so-called clients post projects and all comers can bid on them) or to take a spec project, think about the consequences.

FOH Jeff Fisher sent over a link this morning to a very smart article about spec work and crowdsourcing. As writer Pamela Pfiffner observes, "Working on spec or posting work to a site like CrowdSpring has appeal, to be sure. Designers feeling the current financial pinch might see these two strategies as a way to get work, any work. Aspiring designers may view spec/crowdsourcing as means to attract attention and build a client base."

But she quickly points out the pitfalls of the two approaches. Among them:

• Crowdsourcing is a total crapshoot: "A recent call for a company logo on CrowdSpring received 1,749 entries -- only one of which gets paid, while 1,748 won’t."

Even better, Pfiffner suggests alternatives for finding work, including:

• Taking on a pro bono project to build your portfolio. She quotes Jeff: "Pro bono work for a cause in which one is passionate is much more satisfying than executing spec work for the chance of possibly being paid by a for-profit business often trying to get little more than something for nothing."

Read the full article on Creative Pro.

Posted by Bryn

We're proud as peacocks of our brand-new issue, which taps into the DIY trend that's shaping design—and provides tons of information and inspiration to fuel your creativity. Among our fave features is the one created by senior editor Megan Lane Patrick, art director Bridgid McCarren, writer Michelle Taute and photographer Al Parrish: a step-by-step guide to printing by hand.

It's fitting that hand-printing can be a real cost-saver; you'll find other budget-friendly tips for paper and printing, too.

Take a peek inside the issue, and watch for yours in the mail (or pick up a copy at your local bookstore or at HOWbookstore.com).