The Honest Designers Show

In this week's episode we take a question from listener Andy Thompson, about how to get paid on time by your clients. There is literally nothing worse than a client holding out on you. At best it can be frustrating and at worst it can be financially devastating. We talk about how to take back some of the power and ensure you get paid in full and on time by your design clients in the future.

In this week’s episode we take a question from Lisa of Lisa’s Balcony, a super talented designer and regular listener of the show. Lisa asked us about how to plan ahead for your creative business, in particular how to create an effective annual plan that you can actually stick too. We dig into a ton of actionable tips in this episode, which we hope you’ll find very useful. 

In this week’s episode we talk about how to best sell physical products as a designer. From posters to t-shirts, this is an in-depth look at how to bring in some additional income by utilising your creative skill set.  Just to caveat that none of your hosts are experts, but we do come at this from the same perspective as many of our listeners, trying to just figure out, brainstorm and work out the best course of action for selling physical products. 

In this week’s episode we take another listener question, this time from Meg who’s asking whether she should follow her true passion or stick with what she knows. This is a great discussion that hopefully every designer at home can learn something from.  

In this week’s episode we talk all about competition in the design industry. There will always be other designers bidding for the attention of your current and potential clients, and it can be really easy to let this stress you out. However, it can also be empowering to realise that you’re ultimately in control of how much competition you encounter and how you react to this.

In this week’s episode we talk about the serious issue of people stealing your work. From Lisa’s terrible experience with a big corporation illegally sharing her work to the day to day theft that occurs in the design industry, we discuss how to keep a positive mind set, how to avoid losing your motivation and what legal steps you may have on your side.

In this week’s episode we answer a question from regular listener Dave Clayton. Dave wants to better understand what makes a winning design product. Whilst we dig deep into our experiences selling design resources and the nitty-gritty of what’s behind a best-seller, there’s plenty of food for thought when it comes to selling virtually anything with the aid of good design.

In this week’s episode we look at bearing your soul and putting your true authentic self into your design work. This is of course much easier said than done, but when you start being truly unfiltered in your creative work it can lead to some pretty amazing stuff happening.

In this week’s episode we look at how external stresses can impact your design work mindset and even your creative business. From depression to recession, there is a ton going on in your world and the wider world, and it’s important not to underestimate the impact this can have upon your creativity.

In this week’s episode we discuss how to get out of your own head and see the wider picture. In design, it can be really easy to get blinked in your work, but it’s so crucial to get inside the head of your clients and those people experiencing your design work. This week we look exactly at how to do that, and ultimately how to make yourself a better designer in the process.