On Monday night, I was invited to be part of the Creating A Killer Portfolio panel discussion at PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art) and shared my experiences with creating a portfolio and building a freelance design business. The conversation was moderated by Kelly Coller, the founder of OFFICE PDX, a business specializing in portfolio [...]

Photo by stickathing Often, I receive questions from my readers resembling the one below: I am a graphic designer that recently graduated and I just got a design job a few weeks ago. Eventually, I hope to be able to freelance. I was wondering how one should go about freelancing. What was your transition like [...]

I am currently in the beginning stages of formulating the look of my 2010 Identity. I’ve decided to drop Helvetica and switch to DIN for a sans serif typeface. And for a serif, I’m considering Bodoni Ultra. The black and white palette will most likely shift to a series of grays. Some older elements like [...]

I just received a copy of Super Identity, an amazing new book of branding concepts. Published by All Rights Reserved out of Hong Kong, it features nearly 300 pages jam-packed with the branding of top companies including American Apparel, Saks Fifth Avenue, Maison Martin Margiela, House of Holland and Uniqlo. It’s no secret that I [...]

A solid resumé and a portfolio are standard issue these days. What can you do to push the boundaries, to go that extra mile? In my case, I was doing media kits for companies fairly regularly and then I had a light bulb moment; why not make one for myself? From what I can tell, [...]

I’ve just finished my 2009 media kit, What is Nubby and below is the final outcome. It’s been coming together over the last few months and though the layouts started out very simple, I later decided to add some more drama to a few of the pages. The pages that are packed with advertising details [...]

Have you ever considered how you can use color palettes, logos, trademarks, typefaces and page layouts to make your brand come alive? If you have, you’re touching upon the building blocks of a corporate identity. According to Wikipedia, “A corporate identity comes into being when there is a common ownership of an organizational philosophy that [...]

I just realized that my business cards are getting low and excitedly placed an order for the updated design today. Did I mention that graphics for the new version have been finished for over a month? When reworking a pre-existing Corporate Identity, one of the most common misconceptions is that all of it will go [...]

Find a way to humanize your brand, use your personality, and take your brand from good to great. -Guy Kawasaki Do you envision your blog as a brand? If you do, try embracing the concept of brand personality. To understand what brand personality is, envision your brand as if it were a person. It would [...]

If you run a blog, do you consider yourself a blogger? Or, do you feel like the term is too limiting when describing what you do? Last week, Dave Allen and I got into a discussion about the term ‘blogger’ (a contraction of the words web and log). I wondered, is it still considered cool [...]