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Ready to take your designs and career to the next level?
We, at Design & Thrive, strive to bring balance to all your creative, marketing and business needs. By signing up today, you will immediately have at your fingertips all the information, tools and resources to cover all these needs and more. We want well-rounded designers: at home in design, well-versed in marketing and know how to make our clients profit from our designs -- but make ourselves profit from them too. You'll find hundreds of how-to articles, resources, tips and solutions for all your graphics and business needs. We have a huge download section to meet all your requirements: forms, checklists, contracts, tip sheets, templates, and more. We have also added a brand new forum for our members to be able to interact, network and ask questions.
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 Marketing Calendar 2009
Another year, another calendar. Let's make this the best year yet! Remember: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" The reason this is a popular expression is because it's true. Don't make you success accidental… Plan for it. And then you act on your plan. Simple. Here's where you create it... . . . READ ON >
 Lay out your office BEFORE you go to the store! Use my grid to avoid any hassles!
It always starts with a plan. Just as graphic designers often use a grid to help plan out their layout, then you should also use a grid to plan out your office. Download this file and follow the step-by-step instructions to start designing your office. . . . READ ON >
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 Working With Type
How do we decide what typeface to use? In this article, I examine the topic of typeface selection and all the nuances in type: styles, combining type, and what type is appropriate and when. . . . READ ON >
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Roger's "out of field" publications for designers to read
by Roger C. Parker, Looking Good in Print
Graphic design professionals should make it a point to read analyze publications intended for markets beyond the graphic design field. Familiarity with publications written for graphic design professionals is necessary, of course, in order to keep up with the latest design technology and trends. . . . READ ON >
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Topic ideas for graphic designers who blog
by Roger C. Parker, Looking Good in Print
More and more graphic designers are learning the importance of marketing with blogs. Blogs offer an easy way for designers to keep their web presence fresh and up to date. Unlike articles on websites, blog posts can be very short. Visuals can be added, creating informative "mini-articles" that don't take long to prepare, but help you keep in touch with clients and prospects. . . . READ ON >
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Marketing Calendar 2009
Another year, another calendar. Let's make this the best year yet! Remember: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" The reason this is a popular expression is because it's true. Don't make you success accidental… Plan for it. And then you act on your plan. Simple. Here's where you create it... . . . READ ON >
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8 Topic ideas for client & prospect newsletters
by Roger C. Parker, Looking Good in Print
Experience has taught me that the hardest part about writing a newsletter often is choosing the topic. That's why I encourage graphic designers to create a 12-month editorial plan for their newsletter before setting down to write the first issue. . . . READ ON >
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How to become more attractive to the right clients & prospects
by Roger C. Parker, Looking Good in Print
The most profitable way to market your graphic design services to clients involves becoming more attractive to them. When you are attractive, clients and prospects will come to you. This is far more preferable than trying to master ways to advertise, or "tease" clients into buying from you, or manipulating them into spending money with you. . . . READ ON >
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How to proactively market your design firm
by Roger C. Parker, Looking Good in Print
Graphic designers are often noticeably reticent about taking the initiative with prospects and clients. All too often, at great cost to their creative satisfaction and earnings, the careers of otherwise-accomplished designers are held back by a failure to act proactively. . . . READ ON >
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Adding visuals that communicate at a glance
There is a fine line between choosing visuals that are merrily "pretty" and choosing ones that communicate. They say that a "picture is worth a thousand words". Your job is to decide what you want them to say. Learn how to choose the right visuals for your graphic design job that set the tone and communicate your message visually. . . . READ ON >
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What to check for in your file when you're done designing it
I hate it when mistakes happen. It's inevitable. But I have found that many are avoided if you check over your work. Once the basic layout of your document is finished, use my checklist to go over the things you may have overlooked and make sure that everything is A-ok. . . . READ ON >
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Typography 301: Paragraph style rules
Good typography involves becoming proficient in the 3 categories: text, paragraph, and punctuation rules. Using this as a guideline, I've created this 3-part class on typography. This third part deals with the basic paragraph rules and my other articles will deal with the others. . . . READ ON >
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Essentials of permission-based marketing
Permission-based marketing is a term coined by Seth Godin. It means that you need the approval of the prospect prior to adding them to your list. You need to make sure that it is indeed them that requested it and not some spammer. Build your list by offering prospects an incentive and then market to them consistently with autoresponders. . . . READ ON >
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