WORD - Twitter Faux Pas

Not sure about what not to do on Twitter?  Many people starting their Twitter accounts aren’t really sure what to and what not to do with it.  Check out this great article on “Seven Twitter Follow Faux Pas.”  Always try to tweet something of value to others!

WORD - Business Cards

Do you all have a business card yet?  If not you really should consider getting one made.  Many places like Vistaprint offer free business cards, you just have to pay for the shipping.  Your business card can say a lot about you.  Try to create something unique and different so that people will really remember you when you hand over your card.  Check out this article on “4 Excellent Ideas for Business Cards.”  Also, here are “15 Tutorials for Designing business cards.”  

WORD - SEO & Flash

Many designers like to put Flash websites together for their portfolios because of the ease of adding animation, sound, and video to your site.  Did you know that it’s a little tricky to get search engines to find your Flash sites?  It’s not at all impossible though.  Check out this great article about optimizing your Flash site for SEO (search engine optimization).  Be sure to read up on the other articles on the SEOBoy.com site too!

WORD - Film in Michigan

Despite all the fighting going on in Michigan’s legislature about the film incentives, movies still continue to get shot here.  Raleigh Michigan Studios in Pontiac is still continuing its productions despite setbacks to Michigan’s film incentives.

http://www.onlocationvacations.com/tag/oz-the-great-and-powerful-filming-locations-in-pontiac-in-july-2011/

WORD - Learn from Google+

People are using new social media sites like Google+ to share useful information that everyone can learn from!  Check out Christopher O’Donnell (landscape photographer) on Google Plus for some cool photo tips!

WORD - Thinking Mobile for the Web

When creating your website, do you consider the importance of thinking mobile?  More and more people are now buying smart phones and surfing the internet from wherever they may be at.  Many phones are restricted from displaying flash and other content on their browsers.  Make sure that you include a CSS (cascading style sheet) that can optimize the display of your site for mobile when needed.  Check out this great article on the Importance of Thinking Mobile When Building Your Website.

WORD - Google+ Stats

Have you checked out Google+ yet?  Did you know that Google+ is on the verge of becoming the next FaceBook?  Google+ is still in its beta version and only accepts members by invite.  It is still in its infant stages, but has the potential to become the next big social media platform on the internet.  Check out this cool article on the numbers driving its growth (stats).

WORD - Text Effects Tutorials

All too often I see students create masterpieces with Photoshop and Illustrator, but then they tend to completely ruin their designs by not giving any focus to the text/font in their body of work.  Remember that when including text in your designs, you need to treat the text as part of your design!  Adding text to your design that just doesn’t fit well with your image can completely ruin the effectiveness of your work of art.  Check out this cool link to 37+ Fresh Photoshop & Illustrator Text Effects Tutorials.

WORD - 5 Things Agencies Are Looking For

Do you know that design agencies are looking for people with creativity, experience, time, rates, and communication when trying to hire freelance artists?  Check out this article on the 5 things a Design Agency looks for when hiring freelancers.

WORD - Freelancing Infographic

In our field, people tend to do a lot of freelance work.  Check out this cool infographic that shows the appeal of freelancing.

WORD - Fount

Not sure about a particular font on a webpage?  Try using FOUNT!  Fount will tell you which font in your font-stack you are actually seeing.  It’s a cool plug-in for internet browsers that will allow you to highlight some text and it will display everything from the font type, size, weight, and style.  It’s a useful tool for designers when trying to quickly find out what type of font they are looking at while browsing through a web page.  Try it out!

WORD - State of the Internet in 2011

Take a minute to check out this informative interactive HTML5 infographic that that shows the state of the internet in 2011.  Did you know that our internet browsing habits are generating quite a noticeable economy?  There’s plenty of money to be made on the internet!

WORD - Psychological Manipulation in eCommerce

Sometimes we don’t realize the importance of general education classes when we attend a design school.  Did you know that there is much more thought other than just design that goes into creating efficient eCommerce websites (sites you shop on)?  Check out this interesting article about “Psychological Manipulation in eCommerce Design.”  Psychological manipulation is about as old as commerce itself!  Don’t think that your Gen Ed classes are a waste of time!  Every class you take while pursuing a degree is always connected to your field in some way.  Learn as much as you can from every class you take!

WORD - 25 Great Restaurant Website Designs

As freelance designers, we’re often asked to help create a website for a restaurant, café, venue, or any local company.  Just because a company sometimes doesn’t seem very creative doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t produce something spectacular to help them sell their product/service.  A well thought out design always goes a long way when helping a company market themselves.  Always create mockups of websites in Photoshop first before trying to design a website from scratch.  This will save you a lot of time when it comes down to actually creating one.  Check outthese 25 well designed restaurant websites for some inspiration!