Hello, my name is Jhames

This weekend was made for walks along the waterfront and relaxing in the park. Seattle may get its fair share of cold, grey skies, but we citizens (Vinnie included) are handsomely rewarded when the sun shines brightly on this fair city. Hard to believe summer is 21 days away.

…in real-world situations: The stylist’s story is particularly telling and can be better understood at NO!SPEC.

On Tuesday California’s Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 which bans gay marriage—but the marriages of 18,000 same-sex couples before the ban took effect are still legal. If there is any silver lining to be found, I suppose it’s the divorce rate of these same-sex couples will not be 50%. But what about all the other same-sex couples in California that deserve the same federal rights as married heterosexual couples? Between now and the next regularly scheduled election June 8, 2010, Californians – even the slacktivists! – have social media working in their favor. Here is a how-to guide for gaining the necessary momentum for overturning Proposition 8.

Last Saturday evening I received an e-mail from a friend: I wonder if you have already developed, from lots and lots of years of cohorts asking you stuff like this, a primer  à la So You’re Thinking of Freelance Web Design for Weensy Could Be Micromanager Clients! laying around. As it just so happens… no. Mostly, my friends/cohorts ask questions about contract language or how much should they charge for their services. Project management is one of the many hats a freelance designer must wear whilst working but, to date, no one ever asked me how to manage a project. I had to think about my friend’s request: I have an approach to project management but nothing officially captured in a formal process. So I sat at my desk and typed a response to my friend—and a mutual friend who works in print for her … Continue reading →

The biggest mistake any designer can make is committing to work without a written agreement between oneself and the client. A verbal agreement provides little to no protection in a business transaction since physical proof of what terms were mutually agreed upon by all interested parties cannot be verified or upheld in court. The best protection for everyone is a written agreement that states the services which will be provided by the designer to the client in exchange for compensation and promotional use. Seems easy enough: a contract with outlined terms of the project and signatures from all vested parties. That couldn’t be more than 1-2 pages, right?