Outlaw Design Inspiration Launches!
January 29, 2008
We did a survey a while back about how we could make Outlaw Design Blog better. One of the questions on the survey was asking if t you liked the daily inspiration post. For those of you who dont know what this was, it was merely an inspiring piece of graphic design, photography, illustration, etc.
About 50% of you liked the posts and 50% didnt. That said, we decided to create a separate blog just for inspiring work. If you were one of the readers who like the Daily Inspiration posts, check out our new sub-domain at Outlaw Design Inspiration. It has a separate RSS feed so be sure add it to your readers. There is also a preferment button right above the “tags” in the side bar.
34 Resources for Free Icons
January 28, 2008
Free icons, they’re like trading cards for designers. I personally have a folder with hundreds of awesome icons in it. Most of them I will probably never use, but they’re pretty look at. The art of the icon is something I definitely don’t have, maybe thats why I find them so amazing. This post is a collection of my favorite spots to browse for icons, both for projects and as a way to waste time. Many of the free icon website on this list you may know, but there are a few that are fairly new so I suggest checking them out
Markos Place - Use these sets of grey, blue, green and red gif/png images in your web sites for admin buttons or whatever
Even more resources for free icons!
27 Photoshop Resources
January 27, 2008
Looking for some new filters or plugins for Photoshop to help make your work pop? This list is a collection of various websites that offer all the photoshop resources you need. Find plugins to help you make your own photoshop filters, get free brushes, or photoshop actions to make your life a little bit easier.
Many of these photoshop resource website are constantly growing, so check back to them often. You never know when you’ll come across that perfect filter or plugin.
- Grunge Style - A ever growing list of grunge style rsources for photoshop and other design programs.
- Deviant Art - Huge collection of PSD files, actions, stock photos, and more.
- Good-Presets – Huge collection of growing Photoshop files, presets, and tutorials.
- Mehdi – Lots of Photoshop Plugins and FX
- Filter Meister – A plugin for photoshop that lets you create plugins for photoshop
- Richard Rosenman - Free and paid filters and plugins for Photoshop
- Plugins World – Website featuring plugins and filters from photoshop users.
- Xero Graphics – A collection of good plugins for Photoshop.
- Twisting Pixels – One of the most popular makers of photoshop plugins.
- Brushes.net.tc – 400 + brushes for photoshop.
- Brush Find – Website with thousands of photoshop brushes from all over the web.
- The Imaging Factory - Commercial use photoshop plugins.
- Brusheezy - A sheezy site, a new and growing site full of trendy photoshop brushes.
- Redfield Plugins – Backgrounds, tutorials, and plugins for photoshop.
- Filter Forge – Tons of filters made by users of this free plugin that lets you create filters.
- BrushFed – 1000’s of photoshop brushes.
- SiteGrinder - Paid plugin that terns PSD files into website ready images.
- GrafNet - Preview and download tons of great photoshop filters and plugins.
- PhotoshopBrushes.com - A collection of photoshop brushes that are free to use for personal or commercial use.
- Void Brushes – Over 800 free photoshop brushes.
- AV Bros. - Paid filters and plugins for photoshop.
- Action Central – Exchange and download photoshop actions with other users.
- PS Brushes – More free photoshop brushes.
- Filter Factory – Use filter factory to create your own filters or download other users home made filters.
- Wetzel & Company – Collection of backgrounds, textures, and images.
- The Plugin Site – Good collection of plugins, edges, and filters for photoshop.
- Action Addiction – Good amount of photoshop actions for download.
- New York
- San Fransisco
- Los Angeles
- Charlotte
- Providence
- Boston
- Atlanta
- Seattle
- Chicago
- Houston
- Longer Time off
- Better Medical and dental insurance
- General Insurance
- A Retirement Fund
- More Pay (woohoo)
- Financial benefits and family care
- Personal development and health
- Transportation and mobility
- Need I say more?
- 25% deposit, 50% half way through or upon delivery of proofs, and the remaining 50% upon completion.
- A discount for paying 100% upfront.
- Monthly billing is always a huge favorite for small business owners.
- $100 worth of SEO on the sites home page
- A free black and white friendly version of the logo design
- A free business card layout
Free Vector People
January 24, 2008
Looking for some free vector people? Why not look around Deviant Art to find some? There are a ton of great free vector people in the resource section of the site. Many fo these free vector people are high quality and some of the are free to use for your own projects.
These free vector people are contributed by the Deviant Art community. Please make sure not to take advantage of their generosity. Please follow their requests if they ask that you don’t use these free vector people for commercial use. Also, if you like these free vector people, let the artist know on thier own site. Thank, and enjoy!
Vote for Me on “ForWebDesigners”
January 20, 2008
Just asking our regular readers for some help on raising our status on the For Web Designers website. If you don’t know about the For Web Designers website, you’re missing out. Its a really cool, ever growing list of quality resources for web designers. I suggest checking it out.
Please vote for Outlaw Design Blog here.
Top 10 Places to Work as a Graphic Designer
January 19, 2008
Find out where to work in the USA if you want to earn the most money and have the most benefits – that’s if you can get the job!
From IStock Photo
Last month I wrote an article on how much does a graphic designer earn however I didn’t mention the places that earned the most money, hence this article.
According to the design salaries survey carried out by AIGA in 2007 to 11,000 graphic design firms over the USA, these are the places to work if you want to earn the most cash and have the best benefits.
Top 10 Places (in order)
The Benefits
Not only can you earn the most in these places you also get other awesome benefits such as:
Job Openings
However in saying all this, these places are generally a lot harder to get a job. If you need a bit of a hand, you may want to check out how to get your first job or get some outlaw design inspiration.
The Rest of the Survey
For the full survey and a break down of the numbers and locations I highly recommend you to view the pdf salary survey results of 2007. Sorry to the other countries out there, I haven’t come across a survey for any other countries. Thanks to Danny for the opportunity to write a guest article on Outlaw Design Blog.
All comments are welcome 
Add Powerpoint Templates to Your Arsenal
January 19, 2008
What skills do you market?
A few days ago, I was approached by a small business owner about creating a short Powerpoint presentation. Until this encounter, I had never really explored the idea of adding power point designs to my bag of design tricks. The proposal got me thinking, after all, a Powerpoint presentation is nothing more than a mix of great graphic design and a simplified website.
Later on that evening I went home and decided to look up powerpoint designers. I was actually surprised by how many paid and FreePowerpoint templates and backgrounds there were out there. Obviously, many of the free ones lacked serious design, but this just goes to show how much potential there is in this niche.
If you are interested in learning a little more about Powerpoint presentations, check out Presentation Trees list of Powerpoint tips.
Other Niche Markets
As I said before, this whole Powerpoint thing got me thinking; how many other niches are there that the average graphic designer over looks?
What are you thoughts on this?
3 Way to Seal the Deal
January 19, 2008
Learn how to seal the deal.
Just like designers, small business owners are a unique breed of people with their own special quirks. Unfortunately for us as designers, some of those quirks includes being cheap and bull headed. The combination of these can making sealing the deal with a small business owner a frustrating experience.
So how do we deal with these eccentricities without going postal on the client or giving them more than they paid for?
Landing jobs with small business owners is a lot like hunting. The more you understand your prey and how they work, the better chance you have to be successful on the hunt. Below are three problems you’ll often run into when dealing with small business owners (SBOs) and how to deal with them.
1. SBO’s don’t like paying large, lump sums of money.
No big surprise there. Small business owners usually have a lot of expenses and a strict budget at the start of their operation. Unfortunately, many of them don’t know how to justify paying hundreds and thousands of dollars at a time for design or code work. The solution to this problem is simple, offer them options.
Small business owners like options, especially when it comes to billing. With so many online invoicing and payment tools it shouldn’t hard to find a way to keep track of payments and clients. Here are a few billing option you can offer:
2. SBO’s always know someone who will do it cheaper.
Everyone knows someone who is or claims to be a designer. Small business owners think that all designers are created equal and that if their brothers son can design a logo or website for $100, that they shouldn’t have to pay any more than that. Because small business owners are cheap and like to haggle, they will milk this for all its worth. Don’t fall victim to this and simply lower your prices. Instead, think of ways you can out perform “their guy.”
Rather than lower your rates, offer to add on some “free services.” These of course shouldn’t be things that will consume a lot of your time, but will seem beneficial to the owner. Some great examples of freebies include:
3. SBO’s always want more revisions.
One thing you need to understand about small business owners is that they are always thinking. Because their mind is always running at 100%, they tend to change their mind and ideas quite regularly. What this translates into in the design world is unlimited revisions. Unlimited revisions can quickly turn into a nightmare and is something I never do for anyone.
The best solution here is to create a clear definition of how many initial concepts you will offer and the number of revisions that will be included. After that, create a price that seems fair to you to charge for additional revisions. This way, you won’t be stuck doing hundreds of revisions for free, but the owner will feel like they have the option for more.
Vote For Me on “ForeWebDesigners”
January 19, 2008
Just asking our regular readers for some help on raising our status on the For Web Designers website. If you don’t know about the For Web Designers website, you’re missing out. Its a really cool, ever growing list of quality resources for web designers. I suggest checking it out.
Please vote for Outlaw Design Blog here.
Graphic Design Contest w/ Prizes
January 19, 2008
We decided to jump on the bandwagon and create a Flickr group for Outlaw Design Blog. To get the group jump started we decided to hold a little graphic design contest. All you have to do is add a few of your best designs, artwork, logos, etc. Read on for the details…
The Rules:
Add as many designs as you want to our Flickr Group. Anything that falls in the realm of design will be accepted. Categories include, but are not limited to; logos, graphic design, 3d design, graphic art, Photoshop, vector illustrations, etc.
Previously published work is fine, but if its original you’ll get extra points!
Judging:
The judging will be done by the Outlaw Design Blog staff. Sexual favors will not increase your chances of winning unless you are a hot MySpace girl. A piece of advice, we like cool “outlaw” stuff and pirates.
Deadline:
The final deadline for entries is March 25, 2008
Prizes:
1st Place
Graphic Design Portfolio Builder
Color Workbook
2nd Place
Launching the Imagination
3rd Place
A Type Primer
