So in other words, Fuck you, pay me and don't be a bottom :)

http://vimeo.com/22053820?utm_source=swissmiss&utm_campaign=695af0e1fe-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

Price is really relative to what your market can afford as well as your experience. I may be a novice freelancer (only been at it for a few years) but I've been designing for the while. The knowledge and experience I've accumulated allows me to charge what I do. Just in case you are curious my hourly rate is ~ $70/hour.

Yes I have, and you can also find other html + css templates over at http://themeforest.net/ that would be a great starting point for digging into web stuff.

hi at nikibrown dot com :)

I've been using dreamhost for... well.. since the internet started for me. I've also used media temple as well. Shared web hosts are a dine a dozen so whatever works for you!

Theres no absolute answer to this. I brand myself as my name. My company is called Niki Brown Design. I'm not pretending to be a big company, I dont refer to myself as 'we'.

Admission: I've done the opposite in the past. I previously branded my freelancing as Tiny Mouse Design http://tinymouse.biz . I believe that clients can see through this - don't pretend to be something that you are not.

That being said - if you want to go by something other than your name that is all find and dandy! Just don't pretend you are some big company. Honesty and transparency goes a long way with clients.

Outside!

Seriously! I live in Boston so theres all sorts of strange old stuff around the city. I have an iPhone and I'm on of those n00bs using instagram like crazy taking pictures of things that inspire me. I also like to look at other design disciplines: industrial design, interior design, typeface design etc. I usually keep a catalog of this stuff on one of my blogs: http://dailydesignbits.com

Thanks for the question!

I've never worked for family, but I have done free work for friends when I was a student. I didn't approach the subject of money, but at this point in my design career I would. Money is always awkward to discuss (although I never understood that) so there's no getting around that.

I would treat family or friends like you would treat a client. Be professional send estimates and contracts. Your rate is up to you. (I would probably give a discount but thats just me).

If you treat them like a client, they will hopefully see the value of your work and time. Let them know what it would have cost (if you give a discount).

On a related note I have done pro-bono work for a non-profit. I treated them just like a client. (which is what they are!) and send then an invoice for all the time spent with the total of what things would have cost. I believe you can write this off on your taxes as a donation.

Thanks for the question!

Not sure what constitutes 'real' in your book, but I've worked since 2005 as a web developer, freelancer and front end designer at several agencies, and in house design departments.

With printed projects I usually give the clients a PDF file just incase they want to get things printed again, but I keep the original indesign files. My contract does not specify a specific 'use' for the design, but I would be open to letting them using the design on the web, or a social networking site etc. Again this is not normally an issue for be as most of my clients are small businesses so I try to be as flexible as possible for them.

I've also never had a client ask for source files, but if this happens in the future I would charge an additional fee. Some designers charge for source files, others don't. I think this is another 'hot button' issue in the design field.

Thanks for asking a question!

I've never really had a 'client from hell' but I do have clients that need some more 'hand holding' and convincing than others. I'd say that the majority of the few freelance clients I have (I freelance on nights and weekends) are great clients. I'm also pretty picky about the projects I take on so weeding out the non-interesting projects and spotting unreasonable requests and personality conflicts early on helps.

A little ramble on 'bad clients':
I think the picky, inflexible clients just need a bit more time. I've had clients that demand more attention, but I've found that explaining everything and anything really helps. I'm really open with my freelance clients about my design process. I snap pics of sketches to run by them. I remind them when their feedback is due. I'm upfront about time schedules, delays etc. I think 'bad clients' are due to a combination of lack of knowledge, understanding and communication.

The only icons i've purchased recently are @gedyrivera 's social media icons: http://lifetreecreative.com/icons/ and the glyphish pro icon set + font for iPhone app designs: http://glyphish.com/ Both are great sets of icons that serve a lot of different needs and are pretty cheap! Thanks for asking !

HAHAHA - I'd have to see your idea to comment on it :) Sounds... interesting.

The first thing you need to do is contact the 'designer' that stole your work and send them a copyright infringement letter. Von Glitschka has a good blog post about this with a sample letter: http://artbackwash.blogspot.com/2009/04/writing-copyright-infringement-letter.html Other than that, you need to ask them to remove the artwork or design from their website, portfolio etc. If they don't you need to get in contact with a lawyer.

I haven't had that many problems with people stealing my work (aside form a few things on logopond.com) but I have run into other websites stealing my blog content. It's progressed to the point that I don't do anything about it anymore. I have better things to worry about at this point in my design career.

Thanks for asking a quesiton!

I use the same basic contract for all design/dev/illustration work I do. It's a modified version that originally came from rookiedesigner.com You can download the text file of my contract and modify to your hearts content: http://nikibrown.com/sample-contract.txt

*Note that this hasn't been reviewed by a lawyer and I'm not responsible for anything in the contract. That being said I've never had a problem with the contracts language.*

hah... I hear jQuery mobile has a data-transition called 'pop' http://jquerymobile.com/demos/1.0a2/#docs/pages/docs-transitions.html :)

In all seriousness you have to think about the visual hierarchy of your content and make sure that your call to actions stand out. This way its clear to the user what they are supposed to do/see/react to. In my mind this is making things 'pop'.

Hey - All designers (myself included) have the 'self-doubt' problem. The trick is to not let this stop you from making work. Do your best. Put your work out there and ask for critique on twitter/dribble/forrst etc. You can never get better unless you try. If you'd like my feedback on your work shoot me an email at hi [at] nikibrown.com

I did't know much about PHP when I started using wordpress - I just jumped right in and tinkered and learned. The thing I've run into the most is simple syntax issues. For Drupal the same thing applies - I'd say jump right in and figure it out as you go.

Also - I've found the Diving into php video tutorial series on theme forest to be extremely helpful http://blog.themeforest.net/screencasts/diving-into-php-video-series/

Best workplace perk I've encountered so far is a fridge with beer in it... at my current job :)