Another Logo to put into the portfolio, Volt Orange! We will have more infos soon about our ecommerce platform, in the meantime, here is a peek at the logo!

Un autre logo à ajouter au portfolio, celui de Volt Orange! Nous aurons bientôt plus d’informations à divulguer concernant notre plateforme ecommerce, en attendant, on vous fait patienter avec un aperçu du logo

Si vous croisez un graphiste, faites cette petite expérience: lancez une éloge à la font Comic sans de Microsoft et voyez l’effet de vos paroles sur son visage Il va sans dire que Comic Sans est la mal aimée des fonts de ce monde, elle a néanmoins maintenant une expo web! Les créateurs de C’est Comic vous proposent de

«(…) faire quelque chose de regardable voir même d’admirable avec la Comic Sans MS.
»

Alors, prêts pour ce défi? Visionnez la galerie ici!

The New Year is a time of reflection, planning and also of (eek!) resolutions that are basically, being aware of bad habits or failure which adversely affect our everyday lives and wanting to change it all.

This is the first part of this series,10 Web bad habits to cut loose in 2012.

1. Make your updates (WordPress, the browser, etc.) when they go out; these updates will not only beautify your web experience, they are often “patch” of security, therefore, especially in the case of WordPress, are super important if you do not want to end up with a site hacked!
2. Make regular back-up of your websites; You’ll thank me if (knock on wood for you) your site or the server onto which it was hosted are hacked. Think about it, how long did you take to write and research your posts? So make a complete backup of your site along with your databases. Also ask your host if it’s something he does regularly. You can store the backup on your computer, on an external disk or on an online service such as Dropbox.
3. For that matter, also make a backup of your computer. If you have a Mac, Time Machine will take care of it for you:) Get yourself a hard drive and you’re good! (Mine can contain a Terra)
4.  Be smart when sending emails, I did a full post on this topic here. No caps, no CC (use BCC for your small mailing lists, otherwise use a service like Mailchimp), use of the images below 200k and check your spelling:)
5. Remove the music on your website. I have music already playing on my computer, the cacophony engendered by the arrival on site with a tune makes me close that page. I’m not the only, I assure you!
6. Change your browser to FIREFOX! Download it here, it’s free,  and put an end to the absurdity that is Internet Explorer. I swear that your web experience will be better.
7. Stop using Twitter as a classified ad for your sales and products. Instead think: conversation, meeting, sharing.
8. Ahem, close your browser if you do not need it to work.
9. 2012 is the year of the e-conversation: do not hesitate to participate in online conversations on blogs do comments, socialize, leave your mark. But …
10. STOP adding impertinent no-use content on the Internet. Content “me-myself and I” is not read, you might even lose fans and follower! Really, no one cares about what you ate for lunch ^ _-

Something I forgot? Feel free to add it in the comments! Next post: getting organized.

To my regret, I won’t be hosting a I heart design awards this year due to a lack of time, mostly I will be posting lost of design-crushes throughout February from fellow designers though, so you would like to be featured, or would like to have one of your fav designer feature, leave a comment or send me an email to vp@roseflash.ca

cheers!

———-

À mon grand regret, je ne ferai pas de I heart design awards cette année dûe à un manque de temps. Je vais par contre montrer le travail de designer que j’admire pendant tout le mois de février, si vous aimeriez que votre travail et vous-même apparaissent sur ce blog (ou proposer le travail de quelqu’un d’autre) n’hésitez pas à commenter ci-dessous ou à m’envoyer un courriel à vp@roseflash.ca

Mici!

La nouvelle année est un temps de réflexions, de planning et aussi de résolutions, qui sont, à la base, une prise de conscience de mauvaise habitudes ou de manquement qui ont des effets néfastes sur notre vie quotidienne.

Voici le premier volet de cette série, les mauvaises habitudes web à mettre au rencart pour 2012.

1. Faites vos mise à jour (WordPress , de browser, etc) quand elles sortent;
   Les mises à jours vont non seulement enjoliver votre expérience web, elles sont souvent des «patch» de sécurité, donc, surtout dans le cas de WordPress, sont super importantes si vous ne voulez pas vous retrouver avec un site hacké!
2. Faites régulièrement des back-up de vos sites web;
   Vous allez me remercier si (je touche du bois pour vous) votre site ou le serveur sur lequel il y était est hacké. Pensez-y, combien de temps vous a pris l’écriture et la recherche pour vos billets? Donc faites un back-up de votre site complets ET de vos bases de données. Demandez aussi à votre hébergeur si c’est quelque chose qu’il fait régulièrement. Vous pouvez storer ces back-up sur votre ordinateur, sur un disque du externe ou encore sur un service en ligne tel que dropbox.
3. Tant qu’à y être, faites donc un back-up de votre ordinateur. Si vous avez un MAC,l’application Time Machine va y penser pour vous Allez vous chercher un disque dur et vous êtes bons! (le mien peut contenir un Terra)
4. Prenez de ce pas de bonne habitudes concernant l’envoie de courriels, j’ai fait un billet complet sur ce sujet ici. Pas de MAJUSCULE, ni de CC (utilisez le BCC pour vos petites listes d’envois, sinon utilisez un service tel que Mailchimp), utilisez des images en dessous de 200k et vérifiez votre orthographe
5. Ôtez la musique sur votre site web. J’ai déjà de la musique qui joue sur mon ordinateur, la cacophonie qu’engendre l’arrivée sur un site avec une trame de fond me fait fermer la-dite page. Je ne suis pas la seule, je vous assure!
6.  Changez votre fureteur (browser en anglais) à FIREFOX! Téléchargez le ici et mettez fin à l’absurdité qu’est Internet Explorer. Je vous JURE que votre expérience web sera meilleure.
7. Arrêtez d’utiliser Twitter comme un service de petites annonces pour vos ventes et vos produits. Pensez plutôt: conversation, rencontre, partage.
8. Ahem, FERMEZ votre fureteur si vous n’en avez pas besoin pour travailler.
9. 2012 sera l’année de la e-conversation: n’hésitez pas à participer aux conversations en ligne, sur les blogs laissez vos commentaires, socialisez, laissez votre trace. Cependant…
10. ARRÊTEZ d’ajouter du contenu impertinent sur internet. Du contenu «nombril» n’est pas lu, vous pourriez même perdre des fans et suiveux! Réellement, on s’en fou de ce que vous avez mangé ^_-

Z’en avez d’autres? N’hésitez pas à les rajouter aux commentaires! Prochain volet: habitudes d’organisation.

Si vous m’avez envoyé un courriel, je vous répondrai dans les plus bref délais!

Pantone a officiellement sorti sa couleur chouchou pour 2012, Tangerine Tango, un rouge-orangé racé et energisant! Voyez toutes les couleurs tendances pour le Printemps 2012 ici. Z’aimez?

Pantone’s 2012 color is out, a blazing Tangerine Tango, an reddish-orange looking HOT! Discover all of the Spring 2012 colors here.
You like?

Ok, this post was first supposed to be called «How can you stay in business when you price your services so low!», but instead I decided, when I was calmer, that a bit of education was better than an actual rant.

I both sell services and products and have been doing so for a fair time, so I’ll tackle both.

How to price your Services.

First, you need to understand that YOU ARE NOT YOUR TARGETED MARKET, so don’t be afraid of numbers. Also, you are probably your worst critique. With that in mind, you need to stay firm when it comes to your rates. And to be firm, you have to actually CALCULATE what it cost you to be in business. So if somebody wants a custom logo for 50$, you can simply say no because you’ll know that it’s simply ridiculous. How do you calculate your rates then? Simple!

(BTW, I’m not inventing this, I gotta give props to The Freelance Switch and their convenient Hourly rate calculator. Try it for a big time-saver!)

1- Calculate your business cost for a year:

• How much is your annual Office Rent?If you work from home you may wish to write the percentage of home rent that is for your office space.
• How much do you spend annually on Travel? Think about airfares, taxis, buses, gaz
• How much do you spend each year on Computers, Furniture and Equipment?
• How much do you spend each year on Software?
• How much do you spend each year on Communications – Mobile Phones, Telephone, Faxline, Internet?
• How much does your annual Insurance cost?
• How much do you need to spend on Legal Fees?
• How much do you need to spend on Accountancy Fees?
• How much will your Office Supplies cost annually?
• How much will you be spending on Advertising and Promotions? (printing cost, banners, graphic or web design, etc)
• How much will you be spending on Anything Else? For all those expenses that don’t fit under any other heading like Couriers, Business Taxes, Association Fees etc

2- Calculate your personal cost for a year:

• How much is your annual Rent / Mortgage payments?
• What is your annual budget for Daily Expenses?
• How much do you intend to save for your Retirement Account?
• How much do you spend each year on Occasional Expenses? These might include things like servicing your car, holidays and so on
• How much will you be spending on Anything Else For anything that doesn’t fit under the other headings

3- How many hours can you actually Bill? Be more in the downside here!

• How many days a week do you work on average? For Example if you worked 4 full week days and three half days you’d write 5.5
• How many days of vacation do you need annually?
• How many sick and personal days do you need annually?
• How many public and religious holidays?

Knowing all these facts will help you in the long run. This said, don’t forget to add a % for your savings/profits, because yes, you DO want to make a profit!

(image credit: from I am designer)

Stop under evaluating yourself.

Ahem, I have been working with business women and mom-preneure for some time now, and I feel very sad when I encounter an artist/maker/business gall that sells her wares for almost nothing. This is sad because by under evaluating your work for fear of «not selling», you end up in the same band wagon: not making any decent money.

When selling your services, you need to make researches about your targeted markets, who is buying your goodies, or who SHOULD be buying them. And believe me when I say that «everybody» is NOT a good targeted market. The smaller the niche, the easier it will be for you to prepare a decent marketing strategy.

Keep tract of your time.

When I started doing freelance gigs, I was charging by the project. It was the right thing ti do at that moment because I had no idea of the time it took to design a whole website, code it, install it and do the happy dance afterwards. I had lot’s of learning to do also, so I felt that my errors due to my lack of education should not have been charged to my clients.

My methods have changed since then: I am now tracking my every billing hours trough a time tracking app which allows me to know exactly what time I am spending and thus charging to my clients. When I quote a certain amount of time for a project, it’s based on facts from previous jobs, so I’m pretty confident in my assertions. So you guessed that I now charge by the hour, and I have been happy to do so for 3 years now.

Got questions? Feel free to ask!

Available at BHLDN