The 10 Commandments for New Designers

Monday 13 December 2010 | Keith J. Hamilton

Welcome to Mycroburst.com! – A place that many of you will come to regard as their online sanctuary, their office and for the exceptionally talented ones, their most lucrative full time work from home freelance venture to date.

Being a successful graphic designer isn’t just about creating breathtaking designs. Part of it also involves adhering to specific design guidelines laid out by the client and following up on any client feedback.

Important Designer Guidelines

This post will focus on some designer guidelines that all designers must abide by to in order to get the most out of their online participation. Doing so will make things less frustrating for clients, and make the entire competition process smoother for designers as well.

1. Thou Shall Read The Design Brief Very Carefully – A design brief contains important details pertaining to the design process and draft submission. Read it carefully. Do not miss any details.

2. Thou Shall Submit the Designs Correctly – Guidelines for submitting drafts properly can be found here. Attach all relevant images. Fill in all relevant details. Be sure to agree to the designer guidelines.

3. Thou Shall Submit Design Drafts in a Timely Manner – Pretty self explanatory and this is especially true for expedite projects. The sooner you submit, the sooner your work gets noticed by clients.

4. Thou Shall Not Use Clip Art – The whole idea of online design contests is to come up with something that is unique. Don’t Use Clip Art. Enough said.

5. Thou Shall Not Use Stock Images – Logos are typically trademarked. Hence it cannot have an image that has been used by someone else. As a general rule of thumb avoid using stock images.

6. Thou Shall Follow up On Feedback – Carefully follow up on any client feedback regarding your submission or about the contest in general. Make changes to your drafts accordingly and then submit them.

7. Thou Shall Submit Final Source Files Properly– If you have won a competition, there are specific instructions for source files submission for each type of contest. Read them carefully.

8. Thou Shall Not Copy – And if you believe that your work is being copied by another designer, notify us immediately with the designer’s name along with details as to how they are similar.

9. Thou Shall Keep it Professional – Part of being a good designer also entails being professional and courteous to both clients and fellow designers. Give them respect. It will be returned to you.

10. Thou Shall Use Valid Payment Procedure – You must have a valid PayPal account in order to get reimbursed for your work. For more details about payment protocol and deadlines, read the FAQs here.

These design guidelines are specifically written to aid designers with their projects. I hope you find them just as useful as many other designers did before you. They will help you immeasurably in the future as you take on more and more design projects. Good Luck!