1.2.3.4.5.6.7.7.8.9.10.11.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20.21.22.23.24.25.26.27.28.29.30.31.32.33.34.35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.44.45.46.47.

48.49.50.51.52.53.54.55.56.57.58.59.60.61.62.63.64.65.66.67.68.69.70.71.72.73.74.75.76.77.78.79.80.81.82.

Check out the other great posters they have here.

Motionographer

Montionographer is a blog for inspiration.  I owe this blog a lot for getting me into motiongraphics.  A great source for filmmakers, motion artists, and creatives all around, this is a great place to start for motion graphic research.

Grainedit

Grain edit is a print design starting block.  Great references from all around the web and an archive for good reads and recommendations.

Behance

  Behance may be the home for collective information and inspiration.  Housing design from all genres, this is a great place to share with other designers and post an online gallery.

Dribbble

Dribbble is pure process.  This is where invited designers are given some digital space to show off their work in progress and get feedback from other dribbble users. Great place to see some top notch work.

You the designer

  You the designer, not to be confused with youth designer, is an inspiration blog as well.  Sometimes it’s hit or miss with this site, but good finds are enough to keep me coming back.

The 99%

A parent site from Behance, this is more information than inspiration, but is also my favorite read everyday.  It has positive messages and great ways of approaching challenging situations for designers. Definitely a must read.

Yay!Everyday

Pure, random, inspiration.  A mess of random information compiled together to create some inspiring things as well as some strange stuff as well. You will just have to check it out and see.

Now I realize I probably missed a few other sites, but this should be a good place to get started. Know of some good sites that I missed?  Please post them for myself and others to see!

1) Establish your breaks

Simple enough right?  Sometimes we get so involved in what we are working on that we don’t set aside time in our day to, literally, walk away from our work.  I like to break my day into thirds, give myself a morning, afternoon, and evening shift.  I wake up thirty minutes before I plan to get going in the morning (for breakfast… errr coffee), and then plan on working three hours straight before walking away for lunch (yes, you have to eat).  Then back fro another solid three hours before stepping aside for dinner.  You know as well as I do that your going to work on the project in the evening even if I tell you not to.  The trick is planning for that, and not exceeding that.  Deadlines aside, if your in the middle of a project and the deadline is not the next day, set a limit for how late you work.  I usually say two, maybe three hours max, no more than that.  These small breaks throughout the day give your brain a rest, not to mention you may notice something you had missed earlier on the project. It gives you a fresh look at the project each time you come back to it.

2) The designer workout

You might as well quit that gym membership and save the money, because the further you go in this profession, the less time your going to have to work out.  The important thing is to realize this early and fight that natural  progression with my ‘designer-workout.’  I know this sounds ridiculous, and I will wait for you to quit laughing, but I think this work out plan may just catch on.  It’s simple, get five minimal workouts (I use crunches, pushups, pullups, squats, and curls) and make yourself do a couple of these everytime you leave your desk.  Think of it as a toll you have to pay for walking away from your computer.  Need some water? Do some pushups.  Go to the bathroom? Come back and do some crunches before getting started again.  It seems silly, but if you do this throughout the day, you actually get a little workout by the end of the day.

3) Go Outside

Ever hear the phrase “Walk it off.”  I played baseball the majority of my childhood and anytime I had an injury all I ever heard was “walk it off.”  In all honesty, that phrase means more than ever right now.  You have to step away and get outside.   That’s true for every designer, but especially those who stare at the computer all day.  I make myself take a ten minute walk around the block everyday after lunch.  Simple, but when you combine that with your strength workouts above, it will go a long way for staying healthy.

4) Hydrate

Eight glasses of water a day, who does that?  Well, now you will.  Instead of pounding through coffee all afternoon try drinking water.  Simple enough, it’s something your mom has been telling you your whole life. I swear if you stay hydrated you will feel better and work harder.  If your feeling extra savvy, you can take vitamins and drink a V8 juice everyday.  Seriously? When was the last time you ate some veggies? I need more nutrients than what I get from a Big Mac, fact.

5) Study

Well, read mainly.  It’s important to take your eyes off a computer screen as often as possible.  Yes there are plenty of good blogs to read (thanks for picking mine) but get back to some good ol print, or print your favorite blogs out.  It’s important to give your eyes a break from the incessant glow of technology.  Do this on one of your major breaks in the day (lunch and dinner) and especially before you go to bed.  Having eye troubles from starring at the computer all day, I talked to my eye doctor who suggested abstaining myself from screens (tv, computer, ipads) right before going to bed. I started reading more, sure enough it helped.

I realize this is a random list, but I encourage you to try a few of these or modify them to fit your life a little more. The main idea behind all of it is just to give yourself a rest.  This career path is a hardworking one,  it’s important to make the health deadline, not just the project deadline.

Regardless of the fact that the economy blows, you are going to do some sort of freelance work in your life and it’s good to know some basics of why contracts are a must, even when designing for friends and random family.  I’ll start you off with a story about a guy fresh into the creative world of freelancing who believed in the good character of people over contracts.  We’ll call this guy Tom. Tom was lucky enough to land one of his first big design gigs with a nice local company named Company X.   At first, the design work was minimal, only about 8 – 10 hours of work one week, so Tom didn’t feel the need to have a contract.  At the second meeting the client liked the direction so much that he wanted to put another 10 hours into the project, and then another, and then another ten.  Pretty soon the initially small project had become one of Tom’s biggest yet, and he still had no contract or money to show for the work he had done yet.  Then came an email that no designer likes to see: Company X was pulling the plug on the project.  There was disagreement with the management of Company X on the direction the designs were going, and even though Tom’s client liked the project his boss didn’t, and the funding stopped.  So Tom sent an invoice for the work he had done up to that point, and didn’t hear anything back. He sent another email, and then another, and still no response or money. It’s pretty clear where things were heading.

Fortunately, Tom eventually did hear back and did get paid, but not without a hard lesson in the business of design.  Believing in people and their good nature as well as ethics is the right thing to do, but ALWAYS get a contract to accompany those ethics.  It’s easier to deal with that on the front end of a project rather than scrambling at the end of one trying to get paid.

So what are some basics that should be included? First, always have a project brief. Explain why and what the project is about. This clearly establishes what the client wants in writing so there is no confusion as the project moves forward.  It’s then important to explain what your going to do in order to accomplish that brief, and what your final product is going to be.  This eliminates any confusion on what the client views as a final product.  Make sure you have the right to showcase your work.  Most people thank that is given, but it is always important to add a clause in the contract stating that you will be showing their work on your portfolio, blog, ect…  Always give your client a due date.  Don’t leave these things open ended or allow yourself too many revisions.  They can drag on forever if your not careful.  And always allow more time than you think to complete a project. Usually, if your new at freelancing, double the amount of time you think it will take.  Clients would rather see something early than late.  At the end of all my contracts, I usually include this little brief:

The place of this agreement, its sites and forum, shall be Wake County, North Carolina, and in said County and State such matters, whether sounding in contract or tort relating to the validity, construction, interpretation, and enforcement of this Agreement, shall be determined in accordance with the laws of the state of North Carolina.

Feel free to substitute your local governing body and add it to your contract.  This just allows things to be dealt with locally in case your freelance work begins to spread nationally or across other state borders.  Hopefully this helped or at least reminded you of the importance of contracts.  Just like design, there is never one right way to write these things up, and I’m curious if there is anything you think I left out.

1) Experience Zero Gravit by betty wants in

2) Avalanche Cliff Jump with Matthias Giraud

3) Noisia Vision Teaser by noisiavision.tv

4) Ten Things I Learned About Mountain Biking by Filme von Draussen

5) Pikes Peak 2011 by Monster Tajima