We want to extend a big thank you to Rex Davis, Elaine Dai, and Sarah Schwartz for participating in our panel discussion about how to get a creative business started. We learned a lot and appreciate you sharing your time and expertise with us at our meeting last Thursday.
SPDG MEMBERS: meeting notes are now available for you in our Google archive. | |
DON'T FORGET: MEETING TOMORROW!Please join us tomorrow night for a follow up to the webinar at our May meeting. Here are the details.
Panel Discussion:
How to Start Your Own Creative BusinessThursday, May 16, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM At The Berkeley Finnish Hall, (Lower level), Berkeley, CA Featuring:
Accountant – Rex Davis
Attorney – Elaine Dai
Entrepreneur – Sarah Schwartz
We hope to see you there! | | Thanks to all those who joined us for Michelle Fifis's webinar Launching Your Surface Pattern Design Business yesterday! It was an informative hour and the perfect introduction to tomorrow night's meeting topic How to Start Your Own Creative Business.
For those who could not attend the webinar, we will be posting the recording soon. You will be sent a link via Google Groups, so stay tuned!
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SPDG members: don't forget our webinar Launching Your Surface Pattern Design Business tomorrow at noon Pacific Time. This is a free event that we are hosting with Michelle Fifis of Pattern Observer, and it will tie directly into our How to Start Your Own Creative Business meeting on Thursday. If you plan on joining in, please register by following the instructions in the email that we sent out yesterday. For those members who cannot attend, we will be recording the event and posting it for you afterwards.We are excited about the webinar and hope you are too! | |
Are you thinking about starting your own surface pattern design business? Or, have you started but want some advice on how to grow it? If so, you won't want to miss two awesome events we've prepared for the month of May to help all of you budding entrepreneurs!
On May 14th, our webinar series with Michelle Fifis of Pattern Observer continues with Launching Your Surface Pattern Design Business. Michelle will discuss how to launch your business and reach out to industry contacts in a big way, as well as offer tips on building an online portfolio. She will also explain why having an area of expertise is essential to your new business. As always, her presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. The webinar will be live from 12 pm – 1 pm Pacific Time and will be recorded for those members who cannot make it.
Later that week on May 16th, SPDG will be diving further into the specifics of setting up a business by hosting the in-depth panel discussion How to Start Your Own Creative Business. Our panel will feature an attorney, an accountant, and an entrepreneur who will be fielding both pre-selected and on-the-spot questions about the nitty gritty side of a creative business. Want to know what's involved in getting a business license? Does the idea of filing quarterly taxes vex you? Ever want to pick the brain of someone who's climbed the creative business ropes before? This meeting is for you! | |
Yesterday's webinar How to Find Work as a Surface Pattern Designer with Michelle Fifis was a success! We're getting good feedback from members and we hope to host more events like this in the future.
We want to give an extra special thank you to our host Michelle Fifis of Pattern Observer. Michelle generously shared her knowledge about working in our industry and tackled a ton of our questions.
If you missed the webinar or want to view it again, please visit our Google Group for the link and password. You can also find the special SPDG discount code for 25% off Michelle's upcoming Sellable Sketch e-course in our Google Group. The discount is good for either the live course or the self-study.
Thanks again, Michelle! | |
| SPDG members: We will be sending you an email the day before the webinar with specific information on how to log in. Stay tuned...
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Our meeting on March 21st is going to be both fun and challenging! We want to know who you want to design for. Think about your ideal customer and create a mood board around her/him that you can share with the group.
Here's the idea: Create a large collage (poster size or the largest paper size your printer will print on) with found images that you think represent the end-use customer you would most like to design for. Think about who that person is: what does she do for a living, what are her hobbies, what is her home like, what are her favorite colors, what does she value (material or non-material), and so on. Let those questions guide you in your image search. Once you've assembled a good collection of visuals, write a brief description of this person. Nothing fancy or verbose is required. Create a bullet point list if that's easier for you. Just write something that will help you describe your ideal customer when you share your board at our meeting. The sample board to the right was created by SPDG'er Wendy Lin for the e-course The Sellable Sketch. Click on it to see a larger version for more inspiration.
But wait, you say, why a mood board for the end-use customer? Why not for my actual client — the company or employer where I want to get work? Well, every company exists to serve or sell to people. The needs, desires, and interests of those people (i.e. customers) drive the decisions that go into developing the products that the company makes—products that could have your art on them. Given that customers have so much influence on a company, it's critical that you get to know who they are, what they're into, their lifestyles, etc. Ultimately, it's the company's customer that you are designing for, which is why we want to focus on her/him for our March meeting.
We can't wait to see what you come up with! Keep reading, there's more... |  Ideal customer mood board created by Wendy Lin for "The Sellable Sketch" e-course. | | | Now, about that AWESOME APRIL EVENT. Once you've defined who your ideal customer is, you won't want to miss the How to Find Work As a Surface Pattern Designer webinar that Michelle Fifis of Pattern Observer will be holding exclusively for SPDG members on April 9th at 12 PM – 1 PM PT. As a seasoned designer and industry guru, Michelle understands the value of defining the customer we want to design for. She will speak to how doing so sets you up for success in finding work and she will be answering any burning questions you've had about getting a job or finding clients in the surface pattern design industry. Michelle has also generously offered to extend a discount to all SPDG members for her course the Sellable Sketch as a follow up to this webinar. More details will be coming later this month.
The How to Find Work as a Surface Pattern Designer webinar is a free event that we've arranged just for SPDG members, so be sure to take advantage of this special opportunity! |
 Nature's Glory by Peg Conley | Last Thursday's meeting was full of hard-earned wisdom, encouraging anecdotes, and useful tips about selling and licensing art. We want to extend a big thank you to our informative (and very entertaining) speaker Peg Conley. She was fantastic!
Notes for long distance members and those who could not attend the meeting can now be found in our members-only Google archives, under "Meeting Notes and Handouts – 2013." | |
We want to give Brian Wood from Adobe a HUGE THANK YOU for the excellent presentation he gave us at our January meeting. Not only was it informative, but Brian was a dynamic speaker who was able to keep the meeting light and fun.
For those of you who missed it, the notes have been posted in our members-only archive (now in Google Drive). | |
SPDG members: notes from October's meeting along with a written version of Fran's presentations are now available to you on our Archives page. Also, don't forget that you can see and hear her presentations for free during her live webinars over the next two weeks. Please email SPDG if you are interested in registering. Include your name, email, and the webinars you would like to join.
And, last, but certainly not least, thank you Fran Yoshioka for taking the time to talk to our group and for graciously sharing the valuable information that you picked up during your recent travels to London and Paris! | |
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