Been a while / Advice on a new direction

[dravenzouk]

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been here on TalkGraphics. Time to reintroduce myself, get back into the community, and seek your collective advice/wisdom.

First the reintroduction and a bit of history:
I'm a Xara software user from "back in the day", and I used to be relatively active here on the forum a few years back. Going back further, I studied/majored in Graphic Design in college (a LONG time ago) but this was in the days of stat cameras, dedicated typesetting machines, hotwax paste ups, etc. I spent a few years in the industry, working in and managing various small graphics/print shops and such. I also did quite a bit of freelance work in logo design, promotional materials (posters/ads/brochures/shirts/etc.), signage, etc. But then I left the profession as my main source of income. Years later, in my capacity as GM for a couple of small business, I used my knowledge and background occasionally to produce all the graphics for these businesses (again - logos, promotionals, advertising, etc.). I also managed to teach myself basic web design and I produced a few websites as well. I continued to do freelance work from time to time as well. Along the way, I picked up Xara software and used it as my main tool. I also use CorelDraw at times, and dabble just a bit with Adobe products, but I'm only really comfortable/proficient with Xara.

But really, I've been essentially out of touch with the industry as a whole for quite some time. I'm not even sure what version of Xara I have, but it's VERY old.

So, here's the thing:
I'm at a point in my life where I need to make a change with how I earn my living. Without going into the specifics, after a lot of soul searching and pondering, it occurs to me that going back to my roots might make a lot of sense. I've got this idea where I'd like to re-enter the profession and set up shop. The concept is that I'd like to "hang up my shingle" as a one-man-shop graphic designer, and focus on developing graphics packages for small businesses, organizations, events/festivals, and the like. My vision is that I'd specialize in developing the whole package, or "overall look", for them - logo design, overall style, font choices, company colors, etc. Once that is established, I would then continue to produce whatever is needed in pre-print artwork for whatever entity is producing a particular end product - be it poster, or webpage, or t-shirt, or magazine advertisement, or brochure, etc. I of course would take on whatever individual small work I could as well. The main thing is that my focus would be on the design rather than the end product - I would leave it to others to actually print/produce the shirt/poster/fridge magnet/whatever.

And so, the main question I pose to you all is: Is this realistic? Do I have a chance?

All the small details are up for discussion - things like: what is the market REALLY like?, what are the expectations of customers these days?, where are the niches that are just begging to be filled?, what do I need to do to promote myself?, are my skills up to the task?, what do I really need to know and have to be successful, and so on.

I'm certainly open to going back to school to get myself up to speed. And I certainly expect to have to invest in up-to-date software and perhaps new hardware as well.

As I see it, my three main areas of weakness are, 1)not knowing the realities of today's market, 2)not being up to speed on the latest tools/software, and 3)needing more knowledge on the marketing and business side of things.
On the strengths side, I've got 1)I've got a good eye and design sense, this is not something I need to learn from scratch, 2)I've got a history and a portfolio in the field (albeit dated), I've "done this before", 3)I have been a sole proprieter of a business before, and I think I have a realistic set of expections on that front, and 4)I'm familiar with the tools of the trade enough, that I believe that learning how to use the newer models will come relatively quick.

So there you have it. Apologies for the very long winded post, but there it is.
I HUGELY appreciate any and all advice or guidance you might be willing to give. When I was active here on the forum, I found this an amazing place to learn things, and I have enormous respect for the members here. I hope to be able to "give some of it back" in time. I'm open to everything from "Forget it, this is a hopeless endeavour in today's market" to "Go for it; the market is ripe and with your skills you are assured of prospering" and everything in between. What I'm looking for is an honest assessment of how likely this idea/path is to succeed or fail.

Thanks to you all ahead of time,
dz

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics

Without seeing your work it is hard to answer your question. But as someone who spent 40 years as a design professional, advertising art director and then graphic designer, I would say yes, this is a good reinvention of yourself utilizing your background and training. And yes, if you are motivated to go after new business (I always felt doing the work was the easy part, going out and bringing the work in was the impossibly hard part), then yeah, you can do it. And Xara Designer Pro is a great all around product to help you accomplish your goal.

Good luck.

[dravenzouk]

Thanks Gary for the welcome back and the encouraging words. I remember you were always a great resource on this forum - good to know that's still true.

Designer Pro does look like the way to go - and it's actually quite a bit less expensive than I was fearing it would be. Mayhaps it's time to finally upgrade regardless of whether or not I go back in force. I believe my version is from 2001! Like I said, it's been a while. (that said, I've done a lot of work with that software over the years, and it's been a reliable work horse that always got the job done).

One thing I always struggled with in the past was integrating with what "everyone else" used, which generally meant Adobe products. I was either working with a printer who could only handle those files, or importing them from someone else when updating or redesigning existing work. As well, exporting as PDF was also a problem. As I'm sure you remember, this was often a major hassle and stumbling block. But if I understand this correctly, these days this is much less a problem, and the capabilities of the current Xara version makes this a non issue anyway. Meaning that Designer Pro can import Photoshop files and export as PDF - Yes? I really don't want to have to know my way around Adobe software to be successful in this business. If I have to I will, but I'd much rather just know and work with Xara really well - that's what I'm comfortable and efficient with.

I also definately hear you about the challenges of "bringing in the work". Being in business for myself (as a luthier and woodworker), as well as managing a couple of small businesses, I know full well how challenging it can be. Although I've got quite a bit of experience in this, I still think I could benefit from some real professional training though.

Interestingly (and somewhat related to this), I see that you live north of Albequerque. I'm in Moab Utah myself, and another part of the long term life planning I'm going through is that I'm considering moving to an area better suited to the business. Moab's a small, isolated town and though I'd really love to stay here (I'm going on 20 years now), the cold reality of the situation is that I think I need to be open to relocating. Due to a number of factors, the Santa Fe area is near the top of the list of possibilities. I'm not sure if that's "your turf" or if you get most of your business from ABQ, but I'd still like to hear your take on region either way.

Thanks again, dz

[csehz]

Hi, personally I like the small, isolated towns And as you also writing that love it, maybe could be a perspective to do remote work with logos or designs. I mean this is definitely the advantage of the 21st century, just having the tools on computer with your talent and the internet. Even with this you could be more sure in the abilities, before doing some big change in the life.

[Tabian]

Hi Draven, yes exiting times for you. First of all I must say if that is your choice of occupation then that is a big 10-4. As long as people go into business they are going to need to advertise (good for the likes of us) Architectural signage, posters, street flyers, mail shots, web sites the list goes on. As Gary said getting the work can be a daunting task but if you are going to be advertising for others then yes you can advertise for yourself. Making first contact with other companies can be difficult without it looking as if you are touting for work. My way round this is to draw up a list of companies that you want to target, have a list of questions to ask them about their marketing, advertising, promotions and so on. The main thing is to be talking to the right person in the company and usually a quick call to the receptionist can give you the name you want. The week after ring and ask for that contact, if you get put through to them give them your name and the company you represent and tell them you are doing a spot of market research then go through you list of questions. What ever you do, do not be pushy this will put them off. The following week send out a mail shot addressed to your contact and mark it PRIVATE and CONFIDENTIAL. Not all contacts will be successful but you will get results.
Hope this helps and hope all goes well for you.
Regards Tabian

[gwpriester]

Most of my work comes from my websites, so I could really work out of a bolt hole.

Depending on the types of clients you have, many larger clients will want work done in Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, etc. This is just the facts of life.

But I use my copy of CS5.5 as a pass through filter when a client or publication insists on having a document in a certain file type. And to convert images for book and magazine publication to grayscale and CMYK. Designer Pro 7 can export to CMYK but I have never felt real confident about Designer's CMYK TIFF filter. Other than this everything I do is done in Designer Pro 7. I expect Designer Pro MX to be released sometime before summer if last year's cycle holds true.

The are some limitations in Designer Pro 7 PDF export which I keep hoping they will fix, mainly support for Pantone colors in bitmap images.

I have found over the years, however that a TIFF or PDF/X file is all that is needed for publication.

[Barbara B]

As a one-person shop even if you only concentrate on design and not building or creating what uses the design, you will have customers who will expect/ask you to place their new logo, etc on a web page. So it is important that you have a basic knowledge of web page creation so you can do web page touch-ups or work effectively with the customer's web developer.

If you don't already have JavaScript, CSS and HTML skills or if they need brushing up you might want to check out Codecademy.

It is free, they send out a new lesson each week. It is geared for newbies, even NYC's mayor Michael Bloomburg said his New Year's resolution was to learn how to code JavaScript at Codecademy this year.

And of course if you have the inclination and the luxury of developing a small business website, you really should look at what Xara Web Designer MX has to offer.

[rpc9943]

I'm making a fulltime job living doing graphic design with xara at our wildly successful button company. Go for it, follow your dreams, because there's nothing else ultimately.

[dravenzouk]

Wow, thanks so much for the excellent advice so far. Barbara - the tip about Codeacademy is a good one; that seems like just the sort of thing that would be useful to me. Gary, the quote below is exactly the sort of advice/guidance I'm looking for - thanks.

Most of my work comes from my websites, so I could really work out of a bolt hole.

Depending on the types of clients you have, many larger clients will want work done in Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, etc. This is just the facts of life.

But I use my copy of CS5.5 as a pass through filter when a client or publication insists on having a document in a certain file type. And to convert images for book and magazine publication to grayscale and CMYK. Designer Pro 7 can export to CMYK but I have never felt real confident about Designer's CMYK TIFF filter. Other than this everything I do is done in Designer Pro 7. I expect Designer Pro MX to be released sometime before summer if last year's cycle holds true.

The are some limitations in Designer Pro 7 PDF export which I keep hoping they will fix, mainly support for Pantone colors in bitmap images.

I have found over the years, however that a TIFF or PDF/X file is all that is needed for publication.

So - a specific query:
How do most folks (those who are working pros here) find most of their business comes in? Through your website? As a result of face to face outreach? Repeat customers? Word of mouth? Via organizations or networks you belong to?
For the type of work I'm proposing to do, where do you think I should concentrate my efforts as far as "bringing in the jobs" goes?

thanks, dz

[Gamerprinter]

Well, you don't know me, as I am only a 2 year member here, with most of my posts in one thread. However, what you're considering is what I do now. I run 2me Studio, Inc., a small graphic design/digital printing shop in a small midwestern city (in Illinois). I cater to all though, homemakers, businesses, attorneys, local government - whatever comes my way. I do a lot more of course - reprographics (large format reproduction of engineer drawings/copying/printing), vinyl sign making - vehicle, building, window graphics, and banners, large format anything printed, though I specialize in full color photo graphic work - inddor signs, displays, mounted prints, forensic graphics. All typical design - logos, presentations... everything graphic.

Xara Xtreme Pro 4 is the current version of the software I use, and though I use Photoshop and other programs too, Xara is my go to application for all my services.

And from my other main thread, Fantasy Maps Created Using Xara Xtreme, my primary side 'gig' is that I am a professional fantasy cartographer who create maps on commission for various publishers in the Roleplaying Game industry - I am also a startup publisher/author/game developer. (This I'm sure is too niche for what you're looking for)

Now on to your question, how do I generate most of my business? My website does draw in customers, mostly for my niche fantasy map designs, but I do get a few customers for my daytime graphics shop from online, but really most of my business is through typical business promotion - periodic ads in the local paper and radio, membership and attendance in varying community organizations, since I'm the only person in the shop, I don't get out on cold call sales much, but anytime I introduce a new specific service or bring in a new printing system that expands my capability, I do go out on blanket sales, with display sheets and business cards and go knocking on doors.

Mostly word of mouth, is how my customers find me. I do good work for one guy, and he spreads the word.

I even do some photo restoration work - scanning old photos, digital cleanup and alteration then printing to letter size, large format - whatever the customer needs. I initially did this upon request from a the local historical societies and geneaology group. I never advertised doing this, but now, ten years later, I get consistent photo restoration work form museums up to 70 miles away from shop. This has been via word of mouth only, as said, I never advertise outside my area, beyond my website, and I don't mention photo restoration there, but I get lots of photo restoration work, despite that.

This is my 18th year as a small city graphic design studio, and though the last 5 years has been a struggle (since the dotcom blow up and fall of the housing market which both affected my business), I'm still going strong.