GREAT GRAPHIC DESIGN ON A BUDGET is a cost-cutting primer and a sourcebook of ideas for creating first-rate designs on minimal budgets. It teaches you simple tricks of the trade and reveals innovative and unexpected ways for designers to cut the costs, but not lose on the quality, of their designs. An international showcase of eye-catching and memorable campaigns—all created on tight budgets—shows how successful these ideas and techniques can be. This invaluable manual will provide you with resources for free fonts and art, explain how to maximize print runs, profile inspiring ways of using recycled materials, and demonstrate dynamic alternatives to art. It even offers tips and techniques for achieving professional printing jobs in your studio.

Learn how to price creative work with confidence. Win more bids. Make more money. When it comes to pricing their work, far too many freelance designers and agencies merely guess what to charge their clients. As a result, profitable projects have as much to do with luck as they do anything else. In The Psychology of Graphic Design Pricing, you'll learn how to take luck out of the equation by calculating the cost to produce your work, understanding its market value, and extracting your client's budget. These three variables are used in a pricing spectrum, empowering you to price your work with confidence and profitability in every project opportunity. This book will teach you how to calculate your production costs, understand market value, extract your client's budget, bid with the right project price, and increase your profitability.

Creating Great Graphic Design on a Budget is both a cost-cutting primer and ideas sourcebook for creatingtop-of-the-line designs on razor-thin budgets. Design and marketing budgets are getting slashed across the board in every industry around the globe. At the same time customers are spending less, so both businessesand their marketing tools must work harder than ever. This leaves designers in the difficult position of trying to create eye-catching and memorable campaigns on budgets that are a fraction of what they once were.Great designs don’t need foil finishes and die-cuts to be effective and memorable, but in today’s high-gloss world designers must find innovative ways of connecting with their audience and standing out. Packed with countless ways for designers to cut costs from their jobs, this invaluable primer/sourcebook provides resourcesfor free fonts and art, discusses ways to maximize a print run, profiles unique and inspiring ways of using recycled materials, discusses ways of both maximizing art and using dynamic alternatives to art, and offers tips and techniques for printing jobs in the studio.Throughout the book full-color images of high-concept and beautifully executed designs both inspire readersand clearly illustrate that cutting costs does not mean the work must suffer as a result. In fact, what designersoften find is that stronger concepts and more unique designs are achieved when they don’t rely on production “bells and whistles” for impact. Less really is more!

In Made by James, top graphic designer James Martin shares techniques, information, and ideas to help you become a better logo designer.

You know you've got the talent, now let them know it-your complete guide to finding, winning, and keeping good clients Written by a graphic designer and successful marketing consultant, this book is the most complete guide available to marketing your services, with clear, practical, step-by-step instructions on every aspect of graphic design marketing, including: * Developing and implementing a marketing plan * Researching prospective clients * Creating effective marketing materials * Cold calling and follow-ups * Effective communication * Dressing for success * Resumes, cover letters, and portfolios * Proposals, bids, and contracts * Keeping good clients-account management Also included are sample business forms, contracts, proposals, letters, and checklists, along with stunning full-color examples of successful self-promotion campaigns for every budget. Throughout the book, there are fascinating and instructive interviews with clients as well as graphic designers from across the country who share what they've learned about marketing and managing graphic design services.

A funny, colorful, fascinating tour through the work and life of one of today’s most influential graphic designers. Esquire. Ford Motors. Burton Snowboards. The Obama Administration. While all of these brands are vastly different, they share at least one thing in com­mon: a teeny little bit of Aaron James Draplin. Draplin is one of the new school of influential graphic designers who combine the power of design, social media, entrepreneurship, and DIY aesthetic to create a successful business and way of life. Pretty Much Everything is a mid-career survey of work, case studies, inspiration, road stories, lists, maps, how-tos, and advice. It includes examples of his work—posters, record covers, logos—and presents the process behind his design with projects like Field Notes and the “Things We Love” State Posters. Draplin also offers valuable advice and hilarious commentary that illustrates how much more goes into design than just what appears on the page. With Draplin’s humor and pointed observations on the contemporary design scene, Pretty Much Everything is the complete package.

With real-world projects, this authoritative book shows how successful sourcing, creation, and use of imagery can be applied to professional graphic design.

"The Business Skills Every Creative Needs! Remaining relevant as a creative professional takes more than creativity--you need to understand the language of business. The problem is that design school doesn't teach the strategic language that is now essential to getting your job done. Creative Strategy and the Business of Design fills that void and teaches left-brain business skills to right-brain creative thinkers. Inside, you'll learn about the business objectives and marketing decisions that drive your creative work. You already have the creativity; now it's time to gain the business insight. Once you understand what the people across the table are thinking, you'll be able to think how they think to do what we do." -- Provided by publisher.

Introduces students to the various aspects of the graphic design. This title provides a fresh introduction to the key elements of the discipline and looks at the following topics: design thinking, format, layout, grids, typography, colour, image and print and finish.