Summary of Adobe Max 2011 – Announcements that excite the Fashion Designer
After having a week to digest and sort out the “way out” geeky from the need to share information, I decided to talk about the following:
- 1.Today I am sharing a quick video with news about upcoming mobile apps that we can use to increase our workflow and combining it with our creative ”shopping trips”. In the video you’ll see some images and tips for the amazing apps that are coming out and that will be compatible with Android and Ipad in 2012. Read more
Sweepstakes! What would you change in Illustrator or Photoshop? Fashion designers opinions wanted?
Update! I closed the blog entries at this time. Thank you for reading.
Fashion designers! What are the most troubling issues that you have had or are having with Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop? What would you add inside of either software to fix it? Get an answer from the creators of Illustrator and Photoshop the “Adobe Team”**.
Read more
Fashion Tech packs for store deliveries
It’s late at night and I am editing a long overdue session from my live techpacks webinars. The beginning of this session is a great overview to learn what goes into a Fashion Tech packs that factories need that will ship production garments directly to a store with specific requirements. Read more
Sit comfortably
Wandering the classroom, I often cringe at my student’s posture. Their laptop screens are below their eye level and especially during my Saturday class which is 6 hours long, I hear an occasional growl and a see a lot of stretching.
On the job I have had similar experiences myself where the computer’s were setup to fit everyone the same. Sometimes it goes unnoticed for a while, until I find myself feeling sluggish and not very productive. But it does not have to be that way.
I suggest that you can easily adjust your computer screen at home or at work by putting a book, box or any other strong object underneath it so that you can sit comfortably. Ok, you might earn some disapproving looks by your collegues or boss, but hey maybe you inspire them to do the same. They might even thank you ! Below I posted some behind the scene pictures of an office in the garment district in L.A. You can see that I used a box to elevate my screen, the other two pictures are just there to give you a glimpse into a design studio.
Haha: Dear husband says to tell you guys to bring a pillow and a coffee? I guess you can pick and choose which one works for you. On a more serious note: What makes your workday more comfortable? Let us know what gets you through the day?
Negotiating freelance rates for fashion designers
Many times former students of mine e-mail me to find out what they should charge for a freelance assignment?
Unfortunately there is not really a straight forward answer to that question. There are many factors to consider from your side as the freelancer as well as about the company that you want to work with. For example you as the freelancer : Are you experienced? If so, are the companies that are on your resume well recognized companies that make you and your experience more valuable? The company that you work for: Are they a corporation, a start up? A start up that is well funded? These factors just mentioned are some of the easy ones to spot from each side right away, but then there are some more complicated factors that have to do with what to consider when coming up with your freelance rate.I will be brief and hope that this blog post will lead to a thread of comments of experience and advice. Here a some things to think about:
* will you be paid per project or per hour?
* will you be paid on a W2 (employer’s payroll will deduct taxes) or 1099 ( you will have to pay taxes at the end of year and need to keep track of expenses)?
* will you have to work onsite and pay for gas, parking and lunch or will you be able to work from home?
* are any material cost involved? who pays for them?
* what type of job is this? is your creativity wanted or are you given precise instructions and need to ” just” digitize or bring someone else’ s idea to live (perhaps draft a pattern?)
Freelance contract advice:
* I have had one bad experience where I did a freelance job referred to me thorough a person at a trusted freelance job and I ended up not receiving payment. Therefore I decided to not even start a job, before i receive 30 -50% payment upfront. That also means that you need to be able to predict and agree upon how much this job is going to cost.PUT IT IN WRITING!
HAVE IT SIGNED!
* Through the years, I also started noticing that some companies were trying to get many free revisions after they had already paid. That led me to start putting a limit of revision on the assignment as well as a end date and a price for additional work/ revisions.
* Some companies were paying me per project but they were highly unorganized in giving instructions and material needed which leads to a constant waste of time in unnecessary communication and waiting for delivery of items needed.
So here are 2 real emails that I have sent to client that needed Bikini Linesheets, before starting on the QUOTE for the project:
Email 1 : “To whom it may concern, Thanks so much for contacting me. I really appreciate it. My rate is negotiable, but it typically is hourly (rather than project rate) and falls between $? and $? per hour depending on the project, the product category, whether I work from my home office or in house, and the duration of the project (ie. if project is longer than price goes down, if project is quick turn around it will be closer to $? per hour). I have a couple of questions about the Line, to see how long it would probably take me to do it: 1. Are there any Illustrator sketches available as of now? 2. Will some of designs have prints/ graphics? Are those available as Illustrator of Photoshop files? Or do I recreate/ create? 3. 12 styles meaning 1 style = top and bottom? Or is the top counted as one style and the bottom counted as another style?”
Email 2: “Hi there, Good talking to you over the phone, thank you again. Here is a list of items that will help me put this quote together. - photos/ quick sketches of Bodies with style numbers, wholesale, (suggested retail, Fabric content) - label any print or graphic (labeled with style numbers of bodies that they go on) - color swatches of all colorways (labeled with style numbers of bodies that they go on) For color accuracy, I need to print color swatches with the printer that is going to run the Linesheets in the end, on the type of paper that will be used: Please answer the following: 1) What type of paper (glossy, matte?) 2) What type of finish (simply stapled at the corner < very common! or more elaborate such as coil binding with front clear cover < not necessary if she has fancy look-book!) 3) How many copies will she need? 4) What is her budget for the Printing? Here is my address:
?”
So you can see that you need to be highly organized and in a way strict with your clients so that they can respect you and your precious time.
Please use this post as a way to voice your experience.
What are some of the tips and tricks that you have learned along the way?
