I was talking to someone who asked about work/life balance as a freelancer. It's something that's usually seen as a worthwhile goal, yet people aren't sure how to achieve it consistently, nor are they completely sure when they've achieved it.
Even a regular employee for a company faces this balancing act. But the challenge is usually assumed to affect freelancers more. The thought is that if you're a freelancer working from home, you'll have more difficulty separating your work life from your home life.
Of course, this assumes you actually want to separate it. I'm going to go against the conventional wisdom which says that, as a freelancer, you should set aside time only for work, and set aside time that is only for family or personal endeavors.
Balance is absolutely necessary. But I think some people take it a bit too far and stifle what should be one of the most important parts of being a freelancer, especially one that requires creativity like design and copywriting: flexibility.
For me, it's more of an easy flow between the things that I do whether it's working or spending time with my family. I might move back and forth between the two multiple times a day. That kind of goes against the usual advice of having fixed hours for your working time at home. And once you're done for the day, you don't come back to it until the next day.
But that's part of the joy of freelancing... moving between work and personal life as needed and on your own terms, not putting things into fixed hours or a set schedule. That's just a normal job where you're an employee.
I'm not a designer for X number of hours a day and a husband/parent for another set of hours a day... I'm all those things all the time and I focus on each aspect of what I need or want to do as appropriate. For some reason, that solved any problems of chasing after some undefined goal of "work/life balance".
I think people end up feeling too guilty (or made to feel guilty) if they can't have their life broken down into these very clear sections of time where they're either working or they're not.
I'm all for saying 'no' and not taking on more than is reasonable when it comes to work. I'm definitely not someone who over-books himself. And if you feel you're most productive by spending fixed time or hours handling certain tasks, by all means continue to work that way.
But as someone who works with people in different time zones or countries - and gets inspiration for projects at unexpected moments - I don't get hung-up on thinking that I should only be a business owner at fixed times of the day or only on specific days.
As the saying goes, "Your mileage may vary."
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Designers: You're not a restaurant!
Not unlike the views I shared about rush fees, today's topic is likely to tick some people off.
A question came up in a discussion forum about whether designers should give clients their source files. For example, you do the layout of a magalog. The client approves it and you send it to the printer for printing. Then, the client asks for the files used to create the magalog. That might be your InDesign or Quark files, and any Photoshop or Illustrator files.
What do you say to that request?
Surprisingly, to me at least, some designers say no. I've tried to figure out why they say no, but I have yet to come up with anything other than fear.
Even worse, they use this "logic" as justification: Does a restaurant give you their recipes just because you bought the meals?
This has got to be one of the most baffling reasonings I've ever heard. Here's a little secret for designers... you're not a restaurant. You're not a mechanic either. Or a bank teller. You're a designer. So don't buy into this notion that what is done in some other occupation is what you're required to do.
If you're going to compare yourself with another occupation, you're obligated to take it all the way. Do you only offer some design services at certain times of the day like restaurants that have different menus for lunch and dinner? Do you offer Happy Hour pricing for your services if people hire you between at certain hours of the day?
Honestly, I think any excuse for not handing over your source files to a client is, bottom line, fear. Fear that the client will take those files and use them to do future jobs without you based on your work. Fear that they'll take those files and mess something up.
One of the joys of freelancing is not having to work with people again if they do things you don't like. So if they take your source files and mess things up before it gets to the printer, don't work with them again or have a clear understanding that source files are just for their archiving purposes, not to make changes.
Even worse than the "no source file" policy is when designers actually hand over the files if the client pays more to get them. So much for standing by your beliefs that source files are sacred.
Let me give you some reasons that I think you should be willing to hand over your source files.
1. With some jobs, you'll have to give the source files to the printer. You can't always just provide a PDF. At that point, if you've given the files to the printer, what is your justification for not giving them to the person who paid you to create them? Plus, your client could just get the source files directly from the printer if you're not going to provide them.
2. There are times when the client wants you to do about 98% of the work with the rest being handled internally. Are you going to turn down jobs like that? I've worked on a number of projects, totaling thousands of dollars, where I'm doing the majority of work with some details handled later by an in-house design team. Wouldn't it be silly of me to refuse to hand over the files? And it's not a valid argument to say that it's a different situation if you're hired to only do part of the work.
3. I've worked on many projects where the original designer is no longer available or has lost the files, yet the project needs to be updated. If I don't have the source files, I have to start from scratch. If you were in that position, wouldn't you hope that the original designer had made the files available to the client?
4. Sometimes, last minute changes need to be made to the layout once you've sent them off. This happens frequently in the financial arena. You've done the work for some project where the numbers being quoted in the copy are time-sensitive. Right before printing, the numbers need to be changed. These changes may need to be changed by the printer or the client. How often do you think the client is going to want to work with you if you have a "no source file" policy?
5. Your time is valuable. Let's say you do the layout of a book. A year or so later, the book needs to be reprinted with a different printer. Wouldn't it be nice if the client could forward those files to the printer instead of contacting you, making you stop whatever projects you're working on, dig up those files and get them sent off. A surprising amount of time can be spent revisiting past projects. (A topic I hope to tackle here on the blog in the future.)
Now there is at least one area to be aware of when it comes to handing over source files: font copyrights.
It's generally accepted that you can send the fonts with source files to a printer. It's not so clear-cut when it comes to sending those fonts to a client. So if you're going to provide source files, you'll either need to exclude the fonts, or make sure the client has the fonts you used on their own computers. You might even buy the fonts for the client and add that to the cost of the project. If there are other parts of the project that are copyrighted by a third-party, don't ignore those copyrights.
If you're going to have a "no source file" policy, fine. Just do yourself a favor and have a legitimate reason to give the client if they ask for the files. Please don't embarrass yourself by responding, "Do restaurants give you the recipe just because you bought the meal?" That kind of answer appears to make sense on the surface until you dig a bit deeper and realize that the two situations aren't the same in any way.
And if you have a reason for not providing source files that don't translate into fear, e-mail me. I'd be happy to include your thoughts in a future article here.
A question came up in a discussion forum about whether designers should give clients their source files. For example, you do the layout of a magalog. The client approves it and you send it to the printer for printing. Then, the client asks for the files used to create the magalog. That might be your InDesign or Quark files, and any Photoshop or Illustrator files.
What do you say to that request?
Surprisingly, to me at least, some designers say no. I've tried to figure out why they say no, but I have yet to come up with anything other than fear.
Even worse, they use this "logic" as justification: Does a restaurant give you their recipes just because you bought the meals?
This has got to be one of the most baffling reasonings I've ever heard. Here's a little secret for designers... you're not a restaurant. You're not a mechanic either. Or a bank teller. You're a designer. So don't buy into this notion that what is done in some other occupation is what you're required to do.
If you're going to compare yourself with another occupation, you're obligated to take it all the way. Do you only offer some design services at certain times of the day like restaurants that have different menus for lunch and dinner? Do you offer Happy Hour pricing for your services if people hire you between at certain hours of the day?
Honestly, I think any excuse for not handing over your source files to a client is, bottom line, fear. Fear that the client will take those files and use them to do future jobs without you based on your work. Fear that they'll take those files and mess something up.
One of the joys of freelancing is not having to work with people again if they do things you don't like. So if they take your source files and mess things up before it gets to the printer, don't work with them again or have a clear understanding that source files are just for their archiving purposes, not to make changes.
Even worse than the "no source file" policy is when designers actually hand over the files if the client pays more to get them. So much for standing by your beliefs that source files are sacred.
Let me give you some reasons that I think you should be willing to hand over your source files.
1. With some jobs, you'll have to give the source files to the printer. You can't always just provide a PDF. At that point, if you've given the files to the printer, what is your justification for not giving them to the person who paid you to create them? Plus, your client could just get the source files directly from the printer if you're not going to provide them.
2. There are times when the client wants you to do about 98% of the work with the rest being handled internally. Are you going to turn down jobs like that? I've worked on a number of projects, totaling thousands of dollars, where I'm doing the majority of work with some details handled later by an in-house design team. Wouldn't it be silly of me to refuse to hand over the files? And it's not a valid argument to say that it's a different situation if you're hired to only do part of the work.
3. I've worked on many projects where the original designer is no longer available or has lost the files, yet the project needs to be updated. If I don't have the source files, I have to start from scratch. If you were in that position, wouldn't you hope that the original designer had made the files available to the client?
4. Sometimes, last minute changes need to be made to the layout once you've sent them off. This happens frequently in the financial arena. You've done the work for some project where the numbers being quoted in the copy are time-sensitive. Right before printing, the numbers need to be changed. These changes may need to be changed by the printer or the client. How often do you think the client is going to want to work with you if you have a "no source file" policy?
5. Your time is valuable. Let's say you do the layout of a book. A year or so later, the book needs to be reprinted with a different printer. Wouldn't it be nice if the client could forward those files to the printer instead of contacting you, making you stop whatever projects you're working on, dig up those files and get them sent off. A surprising amount of time can be spent revisiting past projects. (A topic I hope to tackle here on the blog in the future.)
Now there is at least one area to be aware of when it comes to handing over source files: font copyrights.
It's generally accepted that you can send the fonts with source files to a printer. It's not so clear-cut when it comes to sending those fonts to a client. So if you're going to provide source files, you'll either need to exclude the fonts, or make sure the client has the fonts you used on their own computers. You might even buy the fonts for the client and add that to the cost of the project. If there are other parts of the project that are copyrighted by a third-party, don't ignore those copyrights.
If you're going to have a "no source file" policy, fine. Just do yourself a favor and have a legitimate reason to give the client if they ask for the files. Please don't embarrass yourself by responding, "Do restaurants give you the recipe just because you bought the meal?" That kind of answer appears to make sense on the surface until you dig a bit deeper and realize that the two situations aren't the same in any way.
And if you have a reason for not providing source files that don't translate into fear, e-mail me. I'd be happy to include your thoughts in a future article here.
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