Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

March 5th, 2008

What is Great Talent?

Warning: May be NSFW
Great talent is taking the hilariously mundane…
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By Rico -- 1 comment

February 29th, 2008

Tapping Your Versatility for Success

It’s true that concentrating on one skill makes quality work more possible, but I’ve recently realized that we can mix and match our skills to provide a more attractive package for prospective clients. For example, if you’re good at website design and know a little search engine optimization, you can combine these abilities for maximum […]

By Rico -- 0 comments

November 15th, 2007

Free High Quality Fonts (Over 40+!)

You’ve probably read my posts on Free Fonts and More Free Fonts, but I’m sure you had a hard time looking through the catalogs I suggested. Especially since finding quality fonts is literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. Good thing Smashing Magazine bothered to compile a list of over forty great fonts […]

By Rico -- 0 comments

November 8th, 2007

Photoshop Brushes and Vector Graphics for Free!

Here’s something freelance designers will like. Check out Brusheezy and Vecteezy, two sister sites that features loads of free Photoshop brushes and vector graphics respectively.

The stuff on Brusheezy and Vecteezy may be free, but much of it is of really professional quality. Both Photoshop brushes and vector graphics are great building blocks for any visual […]

By Rico -- 1 comment

October 26th, 2007

Travis Beckham Provides Great Background Patterns

Nothing struck my fancy today, except for Travis Beckham’s portfolio. Of particular interest is his collection of great background patterns, small images that look seamless when repeated over and over again, yet somehow don’t look repetitive. Check out my favorite:

I’m sure freelance designers would find one or more of the 158 designs available quite useful. […]

By Rico -- 0 comments

August 28th, 2007

3 Skills That Will Pay For Your Retirement

Any freelancer or contract worker should always work towards a desired future. This dream can be as noble as affecting genuine social change, or as basic as financial independence.
In the latter case, it helps to know the right skills. Here are three proficiencies I think will continue to enjoy a high demand from clients over […]

By Rico -- 3 comments

August 17th, 2007

Rest in Peace, Chris Pearson

Since pearsonified.com isn’t updated everyday, I don’t check out Chris Pearson’s blog that much. But more often than not, I leave knowing more about web design and self-improvement—even if they’re two areas I’m not particularly good at. And speaking of the former, Mr. Pearson is good enough to get away with at least $1500 for […]

By Rico -- 6 comments

August 14th, 2007

Be The Ultimate Artist at Low Cost With Open Source

At first glance, Vyoma’s recommendation to get “A PC with as much number crunching power and as much memory as you can afford” and to shoulder the added expense of a tablet doesn’t sound like thrifty advice.
But if you freelance in design, maxing out your workstation budget is the best move you can make, since […]

By Rico -- 2 comments

June 14th, 2007

Sharing Color Schemes the Quick and Easy Way

Sometimes, before a freelancer executes a design project, the client wants to see the color scheme he’ll use. And this is where a scheme swatch comes in handy. A scheme swatch is a small square image containing all the colors in the scheme lined up side-by-side. Here’s an example of a 3-color scheme swatch:

Placing the […]

By Rico -- 0 comments

May 9th, 2007

The Save Button: Saves Your Work, Saves You Time

For all its “evil empire” trappings, Microsoft has some great programs, particularly Microsoft Office. Problem is, that autosave feature spoils me. I end up not saving regularly, confident that if and when something goes wrong, my work won’t disappear. Unfortunately, this habit carries over to other programs, with disastrous results.
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By Rico -- 3 comments