I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how I want to work this little blog o’ mine. Part of me wanted it to be geared towards small businesses who were looking for tips on design–how to hire a designer, where to find a designer, what good design can mean for their business, etc. Another part of me said to make it focus on starting a freelance design business since that’s exactly what I’m doing. And the last part of me said to write and post about things that inspire me, things I love and what I’m working on. What to do, what to do?
I’ve been getting a ton of questions lately from fellow designers and others who want to start working for themselves, and I came to realize that in the last year, I’ve developed a wealth of knowledge that I would love to share. But I think it needs its own platform. I’m going to be starting a blog dedicated solely to offering information on how you, or anyone else, can go into business on your own. I’ll be sharing things I’ve learned the hard way and things I’ve learned from other, incredible talented, individuals. I won’t be claiming to be an expert, because I’m not, but I would love to share my journey into this life and hopefully inspire others to do something similar. As soon as it’s up and running, you’ll be the first to know!
I’m turning the blog here on melissaottdesign.com into a place for me to share projects I’m working on, inspiration I come across and links to things I think are super interesting. I want this to be a personal look into how a designer (ie me) works day to day and month to month.
Depending on how all of this blogging goes, I’m hoping to set up another one to focus on design in relation to small businesses sometime within the next year or so.
To kick off this new way of doing things, I wanted to share an illustration that I just wrapped up for Pittsburgh’s very first Sangria Fest. The brainchild of Chris Momberger of Pittsburgh Marshmallow Factory fame, Sangria Fest will be a big gathering in the park for people who love fruit with (and in) their wine. An event like this requires a shirt so that the attendees will remember that they went to it, right?
You definitely have a lot of great information to share. You mentioned creative inspiration at the beginning of the post and that’s definitely an area I think a lot about whether I’m creating new content for a client, or writing my own blog posts. One of my favorite sources is a picture of Rick Rubin–a music producer who has worked with just about every recording artist under the sun including the last few albums from Johnny Cash. What I like most about him is that his work transcends genres–no two albums ever sound the same.