Terry Stone on Felt & Wire – The Creative Brief

Terry is excerpting her Managing The Design Process books on Mohawk Paper’s site: Felt & Wire. She starts with the Creative Brief. Check it out! Be sure to frequent this blog for more important news items like this – these are great resources to help you throughout the semester!

LEGAL BUSINESS STRUCTURE

It is likely that when you first start your career, you will be doing some freelance work. You may find success and want to establish your own company. At some point, whether solo or as a company owner, you’ll need to understand legal business structure.

If you are a freelancer then legally you are a “Sole Proprietor” or “Independent Contractor.” If you and a friend decide to go into business together you may form a partnership. Often this is just for one project, so you may decide to stay sole proprietors who are both working for the same client. If you want the partnership to be longer lasting, you may decide on a “General Partnership.” There are a couple of other types of partnerships, but from my experience, creatives usually don’t formalize that way. Once the firm is more successful, creative companies will often choose to become a Limited Liability Company ( LLC). Some take the step of becoming a Corporation (an “Inc.”).

The reasons for morphing from one type of business entity to another mainly has to do with two big factors:
(a) Liability
Does your practice result in things that can hurt/kill people? If yes, you personally may want to be protected from being sued and have your company take the hit. LLCs and Corporations shield you personally.
(b) Taxes
At certain income levels, and considering the types of assets you have, it may make sense to become an LLC or Corporation. Why? Because these entities are taxed differently than individuals. It may be to your advantage financially.

How/when you evolve your business structure is a conversation to have with a trained tax professional or accountant, or even with your business attorney. Please see the charts attached for a quick comparison overview of business structures so you can begin thinking about this issue.

Please click the following images to view them at full scale:

How drunk can you get at your office holiday party?

Knock Knock Fall Catalog!

Click on the image above to check out Knock Knock’s fall catalog full of goodies. Leave a comment on this post if you have questions for Jen!

Jen Bilik of Knock Knock is our guest speaker this week!

Jen Bilik of Knock Knock is our guest speaker this week. She’ll be sharing “10 Lessons From Being an Employee, a Freelancer and a Boss.” Knock Knock is the home of well-designed, interesting, unique gifts and stationery. They make fun notepads, cool stationery, funny books, and more. Jen also talks about how she created Knock Knock and how her company does business. You’ll find some of her company’s business forms here.

Setting Up a Contract for Design Services

Take a peak at this oldie but goodie from your teacher. Read Article.

EXTRA CREDIT: Internship Preparation Workshop for Graphic Design Students With Petrula Vrontikis*

A workshop to help every graphic design student develop a great internship strategy.

Monday, November 21st
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (Please be on time!)
Room 228 Find out:
• why you need an internship

• where to look for the best opportunities

• how to apply

• how long it should last

• what to expect to do when you are an intern

• how to follow up when you need samples and recommendations.

*Petrula Vrontikis is a designer, author and educator. She is creative director and owner of Vrontikis Design Office (35k.com).

Since 1989, she has taught senior graphic design classes at Art Center.