Be sure to update your bookmarks so that you continue to see new posts.

Thanks so much!

Alyssa

Right now I’m loving this series from Los Angeles photographer Dan Busta. Striking colors and compositions!

Just drag your favorites to a folder on your desktop and then connect your iPhone to your computer to sync. In iTunes, go to the iPhone’s Photos tab to choose the folder you saved them in and add them. It couldn’t be easier!

Be sure to update your bookmarks so that you continue to see new posts. To read the write-up on this past Friday’s CreativeMornings with Michael Bierut, you can continue below or click here to read it on the new and improved Hyperfocus blog!

Thanks so much!

Alyssa

“Bad clients lead to more bad clients… Doing good work for good clients will lead to more good clients!” — Michael Bierut

This morning I forced myself to get out-and-about very early for January’s CreativeMornings event hosted by Tina Roth Eisenberg, also know to bloggers and designers as Swissmiss, the “Swiss designer gone NYC”. Tina hosts the CreativeMornings breakfast lecture series each month right here in NYC but this month particularly interested me. The speaker was Michael Bierut, partner in Pentagram’s New York office.

Mr. Bierut gave an invigorating talk about clients. And we’re not just talking client horror stories, here. Today’s discussion touched on how clients can be the best part of the design process, what makes a client good or bad, how to effectively profile and work with clients, and finding the right designer/client fit. But given the current economic state and some very real issues I’ve been noticing, what really struck me about this point of discussion was the declaration that in order to do good work and continue getting the opportunity to do more good work, designers should only work on good projects with good clients.

As a freelancer who is fairly new on the scene, coming from a 9-5 full-time job, it is painfully obvious to me that right now many of the jobs I come across or am presented with are coming from a client who wants quality design work for their not-so-quality project from an educated graphic designer for one-third of that designer’s price. Because things are tough right now. I get it. But what most non-creative potential clients don’t seem to get is that this business of graphic design is our livelihood. Not only do we not want to spend our time doing bad work that will not represent us well in our portfolios; we especially don’t want to spend our time doing bad work for a fraction of the market value. And yet, given the economy and the current struggle to land any client, many designers may be considering taking on bad work for bad clients at whatever value!

Mr. Bierut advises against it. “Bad clients lead to more bad clients,” he says. “[And] doing good work for good clients will lead to more good clients!”

In other words, while it may be tempting to take on a crappy project for some extra cash, or even for a large paycheck, resist the urge. If you want to do good work and keep doing good work for the right kinds of clients, you need to avoid the crappy stuff — no matter what. There will never be an instance where a crappy job will lead to a good job. Crappy jobs only lead to more crappy jobs.

So it’s up to you: Do you want to be a designer who gets by doing crappy jobs, or do you want to be the kind of designer who is asked to speak at an event like CreativeMornings? The choice is yours. And I know the economy is making it difficult for us, but still: if you want to be doing good work, don’t succumb to the pressure to take on bad work just because work seems hard to come by right now. It will only hurt you in the long run.

“Five good clients,” says Mr. Bierut. All you need is five and you’ll be set for life. Do you have your five? If not, what are you waiting for? Go get them!

For more about CreativeMornings (which, by the way are free), visit creativemornings.com and for more about Tina Roth Eisenberg, visit swiss-miss.com. This month’s sponsors were Behance and Blurb, so a big Thank You goes out to them for helping to keep this event free for NYC’s graphic design community. For more on today’s speaker, Michael Bierut, and Pentagram, visit pentagram.com.

Not only am I terrified, I can’t stop looking at this group of amazing work by Ashkan Honarvar. Each one is more frightening and fascinating than the last.

I keep hearing from my peers that I need to focus more on web and interactive design now. That, and I need to move out of editorial design. Because magazines and newspapers are nearly dead.

I got into editorial design because I love it. Well, let’s face it, the first job I was offered fresh out of art school was at a small niche newsmagazine. But still, I love editorial design. I always have. There’s just something about the way laying out a spread for a feature makes me feel. I love playing with blocks of body copy and breaking them with headline text, drop caps, photographs, illustrations and graphics. And then I love getting a copy of the magazine and studying the final outcome — my work printed perfectly atop creamy white paper.

I still tear out particularly stunning magazine layouts and hang them above my work desk — for reference. I still save entire magazine issues (those copies of the now defunct Blueprint are still among my favorites) and I still see myself always having some sort of future in the field of editorial design.

But? The field is changing and growing and in order to stay relevant, we as designers must adapt. I don’t believe magazines and newspapers will ever be gone entirely — just changed. So instead of whining and complaining and admiring the problem, we, too, must change.

I met with an Art Director for a very well-known brand-name New York City print media outlet a few weeks ago. Walking into the office building and through the newsroom was like a dream. And I felt such joy in seeing how this media dinosaur is still stalking, surviving, doing what it has always done in mostly the same way it has always done it. But a part of me was scared, and I’ll tell you why.

While I still buy and save magazines and newspapers mainly for artistic inspiration, I will admit to getting most of my news and entertainment information online. And now that I have my own two blogs, a Facebook page, a Twitter account and an iPhone, I don’t really need much else to grab and share content with an enormous number of people. It’s that easy. News of the Haiti disaster spread via Twitter well before any traditional media source could release it. This is the new world we live in.

So I walked through that newsroom and met with that Art Director, who was doing everything right and creating a beautiful printed product, on time and on budget. And yet? He didn’t know what Twitter is! It was clear that this art department is still stuck in the prehistoric ages of print. I asked myself: Is this really where I want to be? What does the future hold?

And I concluded that working for a semi-prehistoric print media outlet (which by the way is still very much thriving and does have a web department with a Twitter account) suits me just fine… As long as I can keep my iPhone with me, update my blog sometimes and tweet my Foursquare check-ins whenever I make a coffee run during the day.

Do you know about 8 Days a Week? This “premier event calendar for the New York City design community and all those who work, think and dream design 8 Days a Week” is a valuable tool for learning about upcoming events in one simple, easy to navigate spot. Valuable for all designers but especially for those in the NYC area who like to frequent local industry events. Bookmark it, if you haven’t already!

I’ve been scouting iPhone cases like a madwoman over the past few days. Because I finally traded in my trusty old Motorolla for an iPhone. And while practicality and functionality ultimately guided my case purchase, the designer in me found these cases I came across yesterday by tovicorrie for sale at the Beautiful Skin Etsy store to be irresistible. I, myself, opted for a case that protects the phone while still allowing me access to all ports and functions but if you prefer a beautiful protective case to simply slide your phone in and out of, these may be a perfect fit for you!

There is no right or wrong way to use Twitter. Each individual is free to use it however he or she sees fit. But if you’re looking to use it as a marketing tool to aid in promoting yourself as a freelancer or brand, I believe there are some things you should generally keep in mind.

Let’s face it. Most people are not going to follow some unknown individual who is only cranking out links to blog posts and other self-promotional materials, I don’t care how amazing your blog posts and self-promotional materials are. Think of it this way: Would you follow someone like that back? I know I wouldn’t. I don’t!

The best thing about Twitter is that it’s a community. Most people are there to market and promote themselves and this is no shocker. But I believe that the most successful users are those who remember that Twitter is a community and show a genuine interest in and good will toward others. It’s not much different from a sales call. Imagine that someone just called you in an attempt to win new business for his firm, and imagine that person spent the entire call talking about himself and his work. Imagine he just kept talking forever about how great his work is and never even addressed your needs or asked what he can do to help you; never offered anything other than a steady stream of talk about himself and his firm. Would you hire him? Or would you hang up?

My personal follower community is 300+ and still growing and I follow just over 550, and so far I have been very pleased with the way my use of Twitter is connecting me to worthwhile people in the design industry as well as related industries. So, keeping the basics of community in mind, here are three more tips that have been working for me, for effectively creating a larger following on Twitter — not just an audience, but your own community of likeminded tweeps to share and interact with as well as market yourself to.

1. Always respond in some manner when someone (who is not a spammer) DMs you, replies to your tweets or asks you a question. Always, and as soon as possible. This says that you care — that you’re available, listening and you really do care. And it’s a no-brainer that this will convince people that they were correct in deciding to like you. I’m a big believer in that you shouldn’t feel obligated to follow everyone who interacts with you. But I do believe that you should respond to them at least once. Although, a nice and worthwhile interaction will usually earn a follow-back.

2. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and ask questions. Everyone on Twitter is a stranger, for the most part. But assuming that most people you want to connect with are following tip number one, they are also happy to talk to you. Setting up your personal Twitter page and broadcasting your work on it is not going to win you an audience or many connections unless you’re already famous and have tons of fans. But reaching out to those whom you’d like to connect with and starting discussions almost certainly will.

3. Don’t be afraid to show some of your personality by sharing parts of your life other than your work, and links to things you find interesting but may not have written or created yourself. Find your voice and stick with it. And the more personable (and less robotic) you are, the more likable you are… And the more followers you will earn!

Handpicked by me! These are some great gift and stocking stuffer ideas for creative family members and friends. Starting from the top left in the photo above, left to right:

Ork Neighborhood Posters | Natural History Glasses | PixelBlocks |
15 Uses for Newsprint | Greetings from Greenpoint Postcards (For my fellow Greenpointers!) | Type Tote | Preening Pen | Katrina LaPenne Snake Hoops in Vermeil | Message in a Bottle | Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities | Naïve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design | Animal illustrations by Ryan Berkley (Urban Outfitters sells framed versions here, or purchase from the Etsy store and get creative with framing on your own!) | Type Coasters | Well, if you’re going to use them, might as well be honest about it: Trees Were Killed Sticky Pads | Eskucheme Headphones | Ultraviolet: 69 Classic Blacklight Posters from the Aquarian Age and Beyond | Gig Posters Volume I: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century | 3-D DRAWING PAD | Hand Embroidered Tiger Hat, for the mini creative-in-training | Liquid Bookmark