I’ve never used a creative staffing agency to help round-up work, but I was contacted by one this week who I will be meeting with on Tuesday. I’ve been in business, officially, for 4 years now and have been pretty successful with my work flow and clients. There are times when things can get slow, but that goes with being an independent designer. I have my super busy times as well where things get crazy – it always seems to balance out in one way or another.

Have any of you worked with a creative agency and have advice to offer before I meet with them? I’m not nervous about the meeting, but I haven’t had an “interview” like this in ages and it just feels a bit odd, you know? I’m usually the one screening clients and making sure we’re a good match. Having an agent who assists in that arena is all a bit alien to me. I can’t see how it would hurt though. I think it’d be good to have that extra set of eyes to aid in sorting through them.

So, please share your thoughts and let me know about your experiences, what I should be aware of, and if there’s anything else you think an independent designer should keep in mind when working with a creative staffing agency. Thanks!

My friend, Melissa, who runs a fantastic site called, OperationNice.com, suggested I check out Startup Weekend in Philly (video above from January, 2011). She went to one of their events this past October and had a great time! She says it was a great place to network as well as get her startup idea, Hangplan, off the ground (which you should sign up for, btw).

I think it would be a blast to work with a group of people to aid in the design of a product over an intense 54-hour period. I love creating graphics and helping companies with their branding from the get go. This might be my chance to work with a startup from day one. How much fun would that be?

Startup Weekend happens all over the country – here’s their global home link. Maybe there’s one near you! Have you attended a Startup Weekend event? Any experiences you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them.

This past Monday, I launched the wedding section of my website and received a lot of great feedback! Thank you to all of those who’ve supported me over the past few months while I fine-tuned the suites, contacted tons of print vendors for the best pricing possible, and tweaked everything until I felt it was absolutely ready to be launched.

I will be adding to the collection every 2 weeks so there is something fresh in the collection for couples to peruse. Most of the collections will be able to be edited (colors, printing style, etc) to accommodate your budget. The price sheets included are simply a guideline for the printing techniques and high quality papers I suggest for each design.

For example, the Ingrid suite is priced for 2-color foil stamps on a 130# black stock. As currently priced, the invitation suite starts at $8.50 per invitation (invitation, RSVP, and envelopes). What if that isn’t in your budget, but you really love the design? I offer many options to bring your price per invitation down using different papers and printing options.

Here’s just one idea to show you how to save:
The Ingrid suite is originally printed on a 130# black stock. To save, the color of the stock for would change to a lighter option such as white. For a flat printing option, I offer 120# Mohawk paper which produces a very nice end product. Just have a look at the mock-up below to get a good idea. The colors you choose to print with can change according to your wedding colors (just as is possible with the foil stamping option). Flat printing on white 120# stock begins at $5.50 per invitation (includes RSVP, main invitations, and both envelopes) for the Ingrid suite saving you $3.00! Of course the result won’t be as striking as using the foil stamping technique, but the final result will be beautiful nonetheless.

So, you can see, pricing can change depending on print and paper options used. If you like my wedding stationery designs, please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss your budget. I’m more than happy to discuss every engaged couples’stationery needs.

All graphics ©2012, Nicola Black Design, LLC • All rights reserved.

Here are a few things I’m loving this week from around the web. Makes me want to make holiday food gifts and decorated labels for all of my friends and family! Enjoy!

Syrups, containers and labels:

While I’m on my syrup high, I might as well share this little tidbit from A Beautiful Mess. How cute is the packaging she created for her syrups? I’m loving them! She breaks down a few more recipes for you – vanilla, raspberry and caramel! Add the pumpkin spice syrup above and you’ll have a well rounded set of must have coffee syrups in no time!

More adorable labels:


Photo: creaturecomfortsblog.com

Since we’re already looking at cute labels, how about these? I recently made homemade peach preserves and applesauce from scratch with my mother-in-law and after seeing these labels, I was a bit inspired to make my own. I’ve yet to do so, but I am completely inspired by the style of these by Jamie Oliver’s brand, Jme.

This weekend at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, Celeste Giuliano, is celebrating her Retro Lovely Magazine release! With an amazing line-up to celebrate, this is sure to be an amazing party! I can’t wait! There will be burlesque performances by former Hellcat Girls Burlesque performers; Candy Mayhem, D’Arcy D’Lux, Kiki Berlin, and Little Darling as well as an appearance by The Infamous Miss Mae! Pin-up girls will fill the landscape who also appear in the pages of Celeste’s edition of Retro Lovely Magazine! And we can’t forget about the cocktails — Sailor Jerry Rum is providing their delicious rum and rum cocktails throughout the evening! There will also be door prizes and raffles galore! Oh, and a little birdie told me that Dr. Sketchy’s Philly is involved and will be choosing one lucky lady in attendance to be one of their future pin-up models! All you have to do to enter is come to the event in your best pin-up attire. I assure you, this is an event not to be missed!

The Trocadero is located at 1003 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. This is a 21+ event and doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are on sale now. See you there? Details on flyer, designed by David Seidman, below.

Thanksgiving is on its way! One of my favorite holidays! Get togethers with friends and family, time for cooking and baking, filling the house with yummy aromas, indulging in yummy food, and of course, a bit of relaxing!

To celebrate and give thanks to all of my wonderful clients, followers, and friends, I’m running a custom design special for all project bookings received from Tuesday, November 22nd through Tuesday, December, 6th! Any orders I receive* between 11/22 – 12/6 will receive 20% off of design services on their final invoice! To be eligible for these savings, you must:

1) Contact me (contact form is at the bottom of this page for your convenience) about your project between 11/22-12/6 and reference the holiday discount code: TURKEY2011.
2) Send your 50% deposit (within 5 business days of receiving your project quote).
3) Sign and return the design agreement (within 5 business days of receiving your project quote).
4) Fill out and return the creative brief (within 5 business days of receiving your project quote).

The 20% discount will then be applied to your invoice! This special covers any design project even if it’s one you were thinking of working on in February or June next year! That’s right! If you have a project on your mind that you know you’ll be ordering in the future, but would like to apply this discount to it, you are welcome to do so! We’ll discuss your timeline and project in detail and reserve a spot for it in my project queue for your projected due date. All you’ll have to do to secure the discount is send the 50% deposit, return the design agreement and creative brief, and voila! You’ve just saved 20%!

This special also applies to all of my online store items as well! All you need to do is input the savings code: TURKEY2011 into the “discount code” field when checking out. I have holiday cards, Dr. Sketchy’s Philly posters, Desert Wind posters (collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Molly Crabapple and Neverwear), and Dr. Sketchy’s CDs that could be yours, but now with a 20% savings! Visit my shop and grab some gifts before the sale is over!

So, if you have a special project coming up you’d like my design help with, please do not hesitate to contact me. Now’s the time to save! Happy Thanksgiving!

*This offer is only good for projects with email project inquiry date stamps that fall between 11/22-12/6. You must reference the holiday discount code: TURKEY2011 in your email to receive the discount. Jobs in quoting phase prior to 11/22 are not eligible. Discount is applied to graphic design services only. Printing costs are separate as they are separate vendors. All inquiries will receive one full week (5 business days) to return the creative brief, contract, and 50% deposit required to begin the job. Offer is not good towards any projects that have already been reduced and can not be combined with any other promotions. You may order as many projects as you’d like between 11/22-12/6 to receive the promotion, but also realize that due dates will be staggered and agreed upon via email to give your project the proper attention required. This gives you a chance to receive the discount on future projects that you’d like to order, but weren’t going to begin until a later date. As long as the design agreement, creative brief, and deposit have been received, the discount will be applied to your invoice.

Contact Form

It’s important to reflect and re-evaluate your business from time-to-time. What’s needed that you may have overlooked? What are some things you’ve put on the back burner that you’d really like to achieve? Are you stuck in a rut?

These are all questions I’ve been asking myself lately. With my recent wedding in October, I cleared up all jobs in queue and close shop for a few weeks. I had a great time relaxing and taking time off with my fabulous new husband, but found that when my vacation came to an end, I was stuck in a bit of a rut waiting for the next job to land in my inbox. I did what most business owners would do when booking their calendar with work. I sent out a few emails, touched base with some of my favorite clients, and scheduled a few face-to-face meetings with new potential clients to get the ball rolling again. During this time, though, I had a bit of time to reflect on what else I’d like to do with my business. It was time to re-evaluate and figure out what else I could do for my business to take it to the next level.

From previous posts, you already know the direction I’m currently exploring regarding the wedding invitation suite design — while it may seem simple to dive into, it’s one of those things that takes time planning and preparing. Which brings me to the importance of setting goals.

Writing out goals for myself, whether on a piece of paper or digitally as I am doing now, helps me to see the bigger picture and achieve said goals. The process of setting timelines or due dates for myself for specific projects is incredibly important to staying on track. It can be a bit daunting, sometimes, though. That idea you thought would be easy to execute might require a lot more time to achieve than you originally thought. That’s why seeing your goals written out can be so valuable. It can show you just how much you are trying to achieve in a a particular timeframe. It may look like a bit too much. But if you break it down into small projects, I can pretty much assure you that you can achieve almost anything you set your mind to.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post. I have a 3-month goal for myself to build up a basic wedding invitation/stationery area of my site. One that can go live, but be built upon whenever I introduce a new suite design. When I break down that goal, the reality is that I have to design at least 3 separate suites to sell on-demand as well as create a section to showcase the fact that I will also offer custom design. When breaking it down further, the design of each suite includes 10+ separate pieces! So, you can see that each suite design will take some time to perfect. It’s not just a matter of designing one look, posting an image, and hoping people will order. As a consumer ordering wedding invitations, I’d like to see a detailed preview of what I’m getting in that 10-piece invitation suite – not just the basic “look.”

So, each suite in itself is a project that must be broken down into smaller projects. I am giving myself 3-4 weeks for each suite’s design. Those designs will include the basic invitation, save-the-date, reply cards, directions cards, events/itinerary card, accommodations card, thank you cards, envelope liners, menus, escort cards/charts, programs and favor tags. While all elements will be offered in each suite, customers will be able to order separate pieces and customize their orders.

It’s important to give yourself personal projects that will in-the-end help your business flourish. I’ve put my goal out there and once it’s out there… well, I have to complete it! Goal setting can make those projects a bit more doable for those of us that are busy running a business. All you need is a little scheduling and you’re good to go! But stick with it! Otherwise it’ll just be another project building up dust on that old back-burner. Do you have any tips or tricks that help you in your project planning? I’d love to hear them! Of course, there’s always my little friend, caffeine, that helps me through. What about you?

I’m back! What a great break!

I recently closed shop to take care of the final few weeks of planning for my recent wedding and let me tell you, it was truly the most wonderful day! My husband and I are a little bit (well, a lot) untraditional and different. So, our wedding was a mix of old Hollywood glamour, speakeasy, and burlesque! Yes, that’s right. Burlesque! We had our favorite troupe, The Peek-A-Boo Revueof Philadelphia, PA perform at our wedding. It was SO MUCH FUN! In addition to the outstanding performance, we riddled the day with lots of fun elements of the era; bottles of absinthe as the favors, our top hat wearing emcee/DJ full of personality, Mr. Joey Martini, an art deco cake, as well as popular music of today performed in the style of the 20s/30s. I’ll remember it forever.

Which brings me to what’s going on with Nicola Black Design. I enjoyed planning our wedding and designing for it SO MUCH that I’d like to offer my services to all of you planning your big day! Soon, I’ll have a section on this site dedicated to all things wedding design. I’ll focus on invitation suites, but will also offer items such as help with designs for favors, seating chart displays, escort cards, thank you cards, menus, etc.! Please feel free to contact me about your upcoming wedding invitation suite design while I’m working on that section of the site. Even though that section of the site isn’t up just yet, I would be happy to discuss and get started on your custom design.

My goal is to have the wedding section of my site up and ready to go by January 1, 2012. Keep checking back! And if you have any suggestions of items you’d like to see included in the wedding section, please let me know.

It’s been ages since I’ve posted! I’m currently planning our wedding and it’s just under one month away! I’ll have tons to post about afterwards – projects I’ve been working on, wedding stationery, and lots of other fantastic stuff. But I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that I’m still here. Just busy, busy, busy!

I also wanted to post about an event I support full-on, Dr. Sketchy’s Philadelphia! Since Candy Mayhem has taken the reigns, there have been some extra special sessions happening and there are some coming up you WON’T want to miss! Here are a few of the upcoming listings. Hope to see you there!

Friday, September 30th at 7PM
Dr. Sketchy’s and Zuzu Studio Gallery present, A Tribute to Elvira with Kiki Berlin!
BUY TICKETS HERE!.

Zuzu Studio Gallery
577 Haddon Avenue
Collingswood, NJ 08108

Graphic © 2011, Madcow Designs, LLC

Join Dr.Sketchy’s Philadelphia at our new venue, The Little Bar, for an evening of glamour, gore and the scariest puppets in Philadelphia! The libations will be flowing and the kitchen offers a full menu until the witching hour. Bring your own art supplies and get ready to draw! Special Guests and a multitude of monsters!

Melissa Bang Bang — one of the finest classic burlesque performers in Philadelphia! This raven haired beauty will make your jaw drop with her endless legs and stunning beauty.

Mr.Deadguy aka “The Daper Cadaver” — comes with an arsenal of creepy puppets such as Baby Cheezewits, Icky, Scabby Hansen the leper boy…and more!

Friday, October 14th at 8PM
Art is Social – Dr. Sketchy’s Philly at the Delaware Art Museum!

Delaware Art Museum
2301 Kentmere Parkway
Wilmington, DE 19806
www.delart.org<

Every once in a while, things drastically change in an independent contractors world. You may lose a client or two due to uncontrollable circumstances who provide a significant part of your income. While you weren’t laid off or fired from a full-time gig as it would be if working solely for that specific company, it still affects your bottom line and it’s time to change gears… quickly.

I’ve been in business now for just over 3 years. Before that, I supplemented my in-house career with freelance here-and-there finally taking the plunge and opening my business once my client base was big enough. That was step one. Although nerve-wracking, it went relatively smoothly for me. Included in my start-up client base were 2 different clients that paid a significant chunk of my salary. I feel it makes the design business a bit easier to navigate to have at least one steady client who supplies regular work so you can gauge how much extra project time you’ll need to fill to meet your necessary income target. While I have always been aware that I could lose one or both of those steady clients at any time, it was very easy to get comfortable and not market quite as much as I normally would for new client work.

Yesterday, my comfort turned quickly into a panic when one of those clients made that dreaded call. I knew straight away what was going on. While I was initially shocked, I found myself focused on the fact that my friends/clients who I’ve worked directly with for the past few years were being laid off and I became worried for them. I’ve built a great relationship with them and although I didn’t work with them face-to-face in their office, they’ve become a large part of my day-to-day. Not only my clients, but my friends. I was nervous for them. It’s a scary feeling to be laid off — it’s happened to me before. I was concerned for their well-being and wished them the best. I will truly miss working with them and hope that, one day, we will have the opportunity to work together again.

Naturally, I took the next few hours to figure out my situation. Then it happened. I became nervous for myself. The timing wasn’t the best (then again, when is it?). I’m getting married in less than 3 months and still have some big wedding-related bills to pay so losing this client so suddenly put me into a bit of a panic.

What am I going to do?
Am I going to have to postpone the wedding?
Will I have to take a loan out to help us through this bump in the road?

It was a bit daunting, but after speaking to a few good friends as well as a long talk with my fiancé, I realized some important things I was forgetting. Any major steps I’ve taken in my life regarding my career have come out of an unforseen bump in the road. Those bumps are what inspire me to take things to the next level. Whenever someone or something implies, “nope, not happening…” or “…that’s too difficult. Do something else that’s easier.” I have always responded, “says who?” and I MAKE it happen and turn the situation into something that works for me. If it’s something I want to do, I feel that it’s something I can do. I just have to focus and keep on.

Which leaves me with my current challenge:

Either research and contract another significant client who has regular work to pad my income with OR evaluate my career and think of what’s missing. Is there anything that I’ve been wanting to do that I’ve put off because I haven’t had the time? Is there another avenue I’d like to explore to change things up a bit? The answer to the latter is a resounding YES!

This situation that originally sparked panic, is now generating excitement for what’s to come — the next chapter in my career! I’ve always had an interest in creating a line of cards, invitations, etc. And now that I’m in full-fledged design craziness for our wedding, it’s all come full circle.

I want to create wedding invitations, save-the-dates, and stationery.

While I’ll still be designing anything that can be printed, be it conference banners, logos, post cards, posters, etc., I’d like to add a full collection of pre-designed wedding stationery as well as work with couples on custom designed stationery to fit their themes and needs. There’s nothing more fun than creating a piece that will be sent through the mail to make someone smile and give them their first impression of your big event! It all seems so positive and the step that makes the most sense for me right now.

So, I’m ready for the challenge! Stay tuned for more info. It will probably be a little while since I am in full planning mode for our wedding, but be on the lookout sometime after October! I’m going to make this happen and I’m SO EXCITED!