If you've been on the internet for some time, you've probably read a client from hell story. While some clients are just that impossible to work for, I sometimes look at the stories and wonder how often it was communication that sent things off the rails.

For a number of years. I never put much stock into joining professional networking groups. Starting out in my career, I knew just enough people in my hometown to make things work and find a job after I graduated from school. However, as my career progressed, I realized I couldn't keep relying on the same people all the time. I needed to stretch my wings and find new people and other designers.

Once upon a time, I made the big decision to move away from where I grew up. Leading up to this, I had a decent job at a studio, but I was looking to move to a larger city and bigger opportunities. Naturally, my boss didn't take it the best when I told him that I was leaving. Not that many would. Rather than wishing me luck and being done with it, he did something a bit different. He asked if I'd consider working as a remote freelance designer, continuing to do the work I was doing as an employee. Rather than a paycheck every two weeks, I'd send an invoice.

Anytime you start working with a client, it's pretty obvious that both parties want the project and the relationship to succeed. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way every once in a while. In (hopefully) rare instances, you might be forced to re-examine working on the project. If things are going south, it could mean cancelling the project and not working with them again.

Adobe won't relinquish its grip on our industry anytime soon, but already there's a few apps out there worth giving a look to. In the past, Inkscape and GIMP have tried, and Pixelmator had a moment of glory a few years ago too. Sketch and Figma are really popular in the web and UI design circles. I tried Sketch in the past, but I don't do enough web work to have a solid opinion. But for this trial, Affinity caught my attention.

Most of the topics on this show revolve around designers who are working in an agency or as a freelancer. This time, I want to flip that around and talk about what it's like to work in an in house design role.

One of the most frustrating things when you're a young designer starting out or you're beginning your freelance business, is getting clients to take you seriously. It can be difficult trying to figure out your career and how you want to work with people on top of getting respect from them all at the same time.

One of the most exciting parts of starting a freelance business is naming. Conversely, one of the most nerve wracking parts of starting a small business is naming it.

At some point in your design career or owning a freelance business, you're going to run into a client that doesn't want to get back to you right away. They might be lagging on agreeing to a contract or getting assets to you. No matter what the case is, it's super frustrating to be in that position of having to wait. There's nothing worse than feeling like you have no control over the situation.

Whether you're starting out as a graphic designer, or you've been at it for a few years, like me, you're always looking for ways to improve your craft and improve your design.