3 Must-Have Resources for Designers
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I’m SO effin’ excited to talk about these resources today! You just don’t even know. 😂
One does all the logo exporting FOR you, in #alltheformats, saving a shitload of time.
Another makes it super simple to video chat with customers, –no more downloads for them to join the call!
The last one is maaaaybe, my favorite: a genius way to share our work with the client, stay sane, stick to the rules & still be organized.
Can I get a hell to the yeah, ladies?! Ok. I can’t wait anymore. Let’s dive in!
3 Must-Have Resources for Freelance Graphic Designers
If you run your own business or deal with clients remotely, these resources are friggin’ GOLD. Not. Even. Kidding!
I literally just found these this year! They were so good that they HAD to be shared.
I do have AND use all of these myself, as well. I’m not an affiliate for any of these resources; they’re just really, REALLY valuable, so of course I had to share them with you!
01 | Logo package express
Game. Changer.
Go download it now; like, right the hell now. Seriously. 😂 This is an AMAZing Adobe Illustrator plugin.
It will literally export all the variations of your branding project’s final files in 1-2 minutes flat, FOR you.
And let me tell you –so you don’t feel like you’re alone in this– that part of the project took me waaay too long. Always. Because you’d have all this & more to do for each logo once it’s ready to save everything out & export it for the client:
One single 1-color greyscale/black logo, shown in:
black vector
pdf
eps
svg
black raster in jpgs & pngs
black with a background color
black on a transparent background
Now switching over to the 1-color white logo, shown in:
white vector
pdf
eps
svg
white raster in jpgs & pngs
white with a background color
white on a transparent background
Full-color logo, shown in:
vector
pdf
eps
svg
raster in jpgs & pngs
with a background color
on a transparent background
using only Pantone spot colors for print
using only RGB colors
using only CMYK colors
Now do the same set of exporting for just the icon, just the tagline, just the alternate logo, etc.
It was honestly all hard to keep up with; I mean, if done correctly it could easily be 30-50 files and take a couple hours.
Not anymore! Take a look at my example here:
02 | Getting easy feedback from clients on proofs
Can I say “Game Changer” again?! Because this literally changes the remote-design game, and I’ll show ya why.
If you’re a remote designer or freelancer & you send digital proofs of some kind to someone else for, well, ..proofing. 😂 Then you’ve been looking for something like this FOREVER and ya didn’t know it existed or even know you were looking for it.
Markup.io allows you to upload images or even websites to a central dashboard area, and share those assets with anyone via a link where that viewer has guest access (no account required for the client-end). Once they enter their name & email they can access it from anywhere, no downloads necessary, –and here’s the best part– leave feedback directly at the spot where they want the change.
All they have to do it click on the spot where they need to leave feedback, constructive criticism, etc, and a popup appears where they can type & leave a comment on that exact spot.
This means, NO MORE BACK & FORTH!
Me: “I see that you mentioned wanting to change some text on the Services page, which section/paragraph were you referring to there?”
Client: “Oh, let’s see… the part that says X, Y, and Z. It’s in the middle of the page.”
Me: “In the section titled X?”
Client: “No, the next one with the…”
Never do that again. 🥳
You’ll be more efficient in getting feedback, save time & money.
READ MORE: The easiest way to get client feedback on digital proofs
03 | Whereby
This one I just found this week and it wasn’t originally planned to be part of this post.
However…
When I realized what it was, I had to include it here!
Think Zoom, without the downloads & special links and all that extra stuff that can be a little confusing or irritating for our clients.
It’s just a Chrome Extension, but only I have to have it added to my browser in order for it to work for both parties!
All the client needs is the simple meeting room link, which is “locked” by default.
Since we only have 1 room on the free version, the link doesn’t change and if we leave the room Locked the client has to “knock” to get in. Basically that just consists of them pressing a button to ask me to let them in & if I’m already in the room waiting on them to arrive, I’ll see both the request & who’s asking on my side before I have to accept their request. So it’s all VERY easy to operate, and that is exactly what I wanted!
You can get started for free over here or you can upgrade to Pro for less than $10/mo.
On the free version, you:
get 1 chat room that allows up to 4 people to join (including yourself)
get an easy to remember/use room link (whereby.com/example)
desktop AND mobile access
they do have an iOS app, but the client will not need the app to join a meeting from their phone. NICE.
security
can screen share
can choose locked rooms vs public access
chat box for typing comments, etc. during the meeting
add reactions to the meeting like you can on Facebook (with similar emojis too)
see the list of people in the meeting
display a time-stamp to show how long the meeting has been going
have a YouTube integration
All of that pretty much covers what I was using Zoom for and I really didn’t like that my clients had to download it in order to video chat with me. Plus the links could be confusing, etc.
On the paid versions, you:
everything in the free version, plus:
can record the meetings
get branded rooms (logo + background color of choice)
premium support
presenter-style screen sharing where your screen share shows up on auto-full-screen for the attendees
Added Trello + Google Drive integrations
and even more features in the Business version (which is more expensive too)
I’m not including a tutorial video for this one, but you honestly don’t need one anyway. It’s so simple and easy to use so just try it out yourself & see. 🙂
