All Graphics & Design Blog 12-13-05

Welcome to All Graphics & Design Portal's First Web Blog. This Blog will be a journal of the best Graphics & Graphic Design Sites that I find on the Internet. Although this is exactly what our site lists, this blog will be used as a journal of Newly added sites to our directory, as well as a way for webmasters and visitors to suggest new resources. We will also list articles submitted by fellow graphic designers, web designers, and digital artists. Below is an article posted by Katrina Rauch by of KaTasidy  - Solutions

A Typical Day As a Graphic Designer

by Katrina Rauch

A typical day in my life as a graphic designer doesn’t really exist. Each day can be quite different. Owning my own graphic and web design business is challenging and exciting at the same time. To be frank, I get up each day around 6am and hit the gym. After I get home eat some breakfast and shower it’s near 8:30am. I walk into my office, which is in my house, and check my email. I typically get about 30 a night from existing clients and new ones who are inquiring about my business. After answering emails I’ll make a list of the things I need to do that day ranging from projects I need to work on as well as phone calls and meetings I need to go to. Since I’m a business owner, I know I’ll always be in the process of growing my business so I have joined my local Chamber of Commerce and am part of numerous Leads Groups and business networking lunches. I have about five of these networking meetings each week and I find new clients and new business contacts each time I attend a meeting.

After I’ve organized my day, I get to work on my “To Do” list. Today for example, I’ve been working on two different company logos, a brochure, and web site. I try to make sure I give ample design time to each of my current clients and continue to make consistent progress on their design project. By 1:00pm if I’m home, I’ll grab some lunch and return any phone calls or emails I’ve received during the day thus far. Once that is complete I’ll try to focus on some marketing opportunities to help grow the business for an hour or so each day. Today I’ve spent some time writing some articles to submit online as well as gather info for our upcoming free monthly eZine that I send out to all our clients and mailing list each month. I’ve also spent some time developing a direct mail campaign for our business. When the afternoon mail comes, I’ll catch up on the business bills, incoming accounts receivable, and send out new invoices. As the day winds down, I’ll continue working on client projects and then send out proofs via email for my clients to view. As you can see, being a business owner and graphic designer is hard work, but if done well, can lead to a successful business.

Some Valuable Graphics & Graphic Design Sites That I have Found:

Tutorials Search Engine - A Graphics Software and Web Development Tutorials Search Site that has about 9,000 tutorials in its database and still growing.

All Web Design Resources Directory - Our sister site, All Web Design Resources, is part of the AllGraphicDesign.com site. Here you will find web design resources, tutorials, tools, and more.

Cloford - A huge color resource, including Web-Safe Diagram, Web-Safe Colors
by Hue, Named Colours, and a List of 500+ Colours

Color Scheme Generator - Use this for either your Print Design or Web Design Projects. You just insert the hex or rgb codes from or into Adobe Photoshop or any other image editing software and voila you are on your way to a great color scheme! Or instead use The Corcell Website to find Color Combinations that work together well.

Guidebook - website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces, as well as various materials related to them.

What the Font? - Ever wanted to find a font just like the one used by certain publications, corporations, or ad campaigns? Well now you can, using our WhatTheFont font recognition system. Upload a scanned image of the font and instantly find the closest matches in our database.

Is it Fake or Foto? - Today we're presented with images in movies, on TV, and in the press that are of such good quality we don't even think to consider whether the picture is of something that exists in reality or if it was generated by computer software. Spend a few minutes with our reality check and see if you can tell the difference...

Simply the Best Fonts - Browse through the alphabetical font listings or the font categories to view the available free fonts. Each font has a full preview page with proprietary details.