Graphic
Design/About Forum
When you absolutely, positively need an answer right now! Plenty
of design expertise at your fingertips.
Creative
Latitude A worldwide community that unites various creative
disciplines for collective promotion, education and ethical business
practice.
Kitchener
Waterloo Design Hub An online network of creative professionals in the
Kitchener Waterloo region of Ontario.
No Spec Too many clients ask for free design work, promising to pay if the
designer produces something they like. This is called "spec"
or "speculative work" and it stops now! Any designer with
integrity and a true sense of their
own worth would just say "no". For the record, I never
have done and never will agree to do spec work, so don't even think
of asking.
Meetup.com
The online hub to meet like-minded businessfolks around the World
and close to you.
Ecademy
Online exchange that connects people to knowledge, contacts, support
and business.
Blogs and Podcasts
Inside
The Marketing Mind
Ohio-based Noo Yoiker Neil Tortorella's blog on how to market your
business effectively.
The
Prepared Mind A series of interviews and debates on various design-related
topics, hosted by US designer Chris Gee.
Designers
Who Blog
A collection of the best design-related blogs from around the world.
Communication
Skype
Free online phone calls (VoIP), enabling you to speak to other members
via their computer. It recently added an excellent video/webcam
facility.
DropSend A free and subscription-based service for sending large
files (much more efficient than emailing them).
MailerMailer
Free newsletter subscription service for your Web site. Sign up
for my newsletter here.
Blogger
A free weblog service for producing an online journal. Check out
my Small Business Toolkit blog.
Books and Magazines
Web
Proposal Writing
My eBook that shows designers how to write a Web design project
proposal.
The
Savvy Designer's Guide To Success
Highly acclaimed US-based logo designer Jeff Fisher's 2004 book
about starting and maintaining a successful design business (I even
get a mention on page 80).
Fast
Company
Inspirational US business magazine. Hey, if you only read design
mags your focus is way too narrow!
Don't
Make Me Think
Steve Krug's book on designing Web sites focusing on usability.
Web
Proposal Writing