7.4: Cat's Advice and Her Favs

Whew! Cat’s a Busy Designer!

I’m not going to list all of the places we’ve been with Cat. From OZ to design for the Queen is enough said. Tonight questions are a little closer to home.

Cat, What do you do when you’re not sharing your great links and ideas at Successful Blog?

I still have clients in the wings (the last ones before taking off into
unemployment), I keep Designers who Blog running. IÃ¢â¬â¢m project manager for NO!SPEC which means I deal with design orgs when spec competitions come up, I send out letters of protest and galvanize people to send out letters, etc. As project manager for Creative Latitude I confer with my team before we update, deal with new authors, come up with angles, etc. As the president of Proscodi I put together committees to deal with each element of setting up a design org, I meet other heads of design orgs, go to meetings, etc.

What advice do you have for new bloggers and young designers?

Bloggers – it always takes more time than you planned so be sure to write about something you love. And be prepared to walk away if itÃ¢â¬â¢s taking up too much of your life.

Designers – there is not enough room here for all the advice IÃ¢â¬â¢d give to a young designer, so the top priority would have to be:

– Get a degree. The best one you can afford. And then some.
– Learn about business, accounting, dealing with clients,
communicating, public speaking, hiring, etc.
– Learn to write. The majority of the designers I know have appalling
grammar. Myself included.
– Latch onto a mentor.
– Never stop learning.
– Get a life. Preferably your own.

What design work online do you point to as well done?

Illustrator: (Von created the icons for Creative Latitude) –
http://www.vonglitschka.com/
Web designer: (Nigel designed the Creative Latitude website) –
http://www.commonsensedesign.net/
Blog designer: http://www.pearsonified.com/

One more part to go. Cat tells her BIG IDEA.

–ME “Liz” Strauss