Surviving with your reputation—and your dignity—intact

Shit happens. It may be trite, but it’s true. You can be the most organized, thoughtful, and thoroughly prepared businessperson in the universe, but eventually, somewhere along the line, things will spiral out of control. Suddenly, your meticulously planned project has turned into a beast: a mess of missed deadlines, a slew of thwarted expectations, […]

Why you can’t call me cheap (anymore)

Four years ago, when I started out my business (or whenever it was—I always get fuzzy on the dates) I was charging all of $10 an hour (sometimes less, as was the case in my first job). Looking back, it’s no surprise, really, that by the end of my first solo year I was so […]

How to win your designer’s eternal love

Bad clients are notorious among designers. We complain about them constantly, we’ve devoted a hilarious-yet-heartbreaking website to them, and we swap horror stories like badges of honour, rolling our eyes in empathy and disgust. We spend so much time complaining about the bad clients that it’s sometimes easy to overlook the good clients. Lately, I’ve been working […]

A good man is (not really all that) hard to find

Thank you to everyone who responded to my hiring notice; I’ve selected a candidate and am looking forward to being able to tackle new projects in the very near future, including the much-anticipated (by myself) and much-required overhaul of my website. More details to come soon! I received an absolutely phenomenal response, and was able […]

Some thoughts on design

I was recently contacted by a design student at Loyalist College looking to interview a designer for an essay she’s writing. Ego-bloat aside, I do really like it when young(er), just-starting-out designers ask me for a “worldly” view of the industry. (Amazingly, it’s happened more than once!)

The Cat Days of Summer

Everything seems to be in a bit of a lull. I have so many projects that are almost finished, but need that last little bit of content or that last cycle of feedback. I’m told that this is normal for the design industry in the summertime. Regardless, it makes me feel as though I’m not […]

This Is a Lot of Filler

Thanks to combined incompetence at Apple and at my “local” (see: an hours’ drive away, only open when I’m working) Apple retailer, I haven’t had a computer all month, which has seriously curtailed my design activities outside of the gaming industry. I’ve got a few projects on hold and a few nearing completion — expect […]

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