Reading time 4 min

Ibn Renders

Let’s begin this blog post by remembering embarrassing memories from our past. Remember when you called your teacher “mom” in kindergarten? Or that huge zit on your forehead on your first day of high school? Let’s have a look at a picture from a couple of years ago. Those clothes… those hideous clothes. Why did you think you’d rock those super tight pants forever? Well.. you’ve changed and so did those fashion trends. Trends also seem to change quite rapidly in other kinds of design. In this blogpost, I’ll walk you through 3 tips to modernize your handout design and improve an old print design to fit in the modern world. I’m using a recent redesign of a handout made for our mobile team as an example. 1. Go digital The biggest change in this redesign is that we’re actually stepping away from print and moving towards digital media, such as a PDF file. A couple of advantages go hand in hand here. You no longer have to worry about how you’re going to jam all your information on two A4 pages, since you aren’t limited to a certain page size . This gives you more freedom with both your structure and information placement. As you can see in our example (click the picture on the right), this results in a lighter design that’s much more enjoyable to read because of extra whitespace between sections. Another big improvement is the ability to make use of links . You don’t have to write a full URL anymore, because you can just click on a shorter one or even add a button like you’re designing a webpage. Try adding links to logos or pictures. By doing this, you’re changing a completely static object into a link to even more information. Your handout is no longer limited to just the information on your two pages. Be careful you don’t forget to add links to anything that seems ‘clickable’ though. If your user tries to click on something that should’ve been a redirect to for example your website and it doesn’t work, you don’t make a good impression. 2. Add more whitespace! First things first, whitespace doesn’t need to be ‘white’ space. Whitespace refers to empty breathing room in your design , not a white colour between design elements. Imagine getting a page to read and everything is cropped in the first half of the page. I’d rather gouge my eyes out than try to read that. Space out your information and use that empty space to improve the reader’s experience and even guide them to parts you want them to read. In other words, empty space makes your content more readable. When your focus is to inform your reader, readability is top priority . In our old design, we used an abstract background. Pictures or patterns can be used as whitespace but aren’t ideal if you’re going for a professional and clean look. We simply changed to a white background instead. This way, we structured our design in a couple of ‘information containers’. The whitespace makes sure each of those containers gets the focus it deserves. So don’t just read whitespace and see it as unused space. Think of whitespace as a guide for your reader . 3. Don't overdo it You want to tell your audience something, so get to the point . Don’t try to over-explain and don’t use words you even barely know to sound smart. The same goes for showing pictures and using design elements. Nobody wants to scroll through 10 pictures which all show the same thing to find information they need. Say what you need to say and show what you need to show. Also, try using a number instead of an icon when speaking about a certain percentage for example. People love numbers (just look at all those infographics floating around on the internet as proof). Try to have a nice balance between icons and percentages when designing something. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with using icons as a visual too. They can break your wall of text, make it more enjoyable to reed and keep the reader interested. Last but not least, your design isn’t a child’s coloring book. Don’t use all of the crayons available! We went way overboard in our previous design. Now we’re only using red as our main color because it’s also the main color of ACA’s corporate identity. If you really want to use more color in your new design, be consistent . Don’t give your first title a blue color while giving your other titles a purple color. It’s pretty basic really, but often overlooked. 🚀 Takeaway Print design isn’t exclusively for just print anymore in today’s digital world. If you want to update your previous print designs so they fit in our online lives as well, here are some things you should take into account: Forget strict page size limits. Include clickable links in your design. You can even add buttons like on a website. Use as much whitespace as you need to help your reader ‘breathe’ for a second and rest their eyes. Be brief! Include visuals, but stay consistent in your color palette.

Reading time 5 min

Stijn Schutyser

“Do I have the right qualifications to become a freelancer?” This is a popular question for people who are thinking about becoming their own boss. Perhaps you’ve asked this very question yourself. In this blog post, we’ll go over some stats, as well as some different approaches to education as a freelancer. Is formal education as a freelancer necessary? Let’s start by looking at some data. Freelancermap conducted a survey in which they asked freelancers from their community to tell them their highest obtained degree. They found that from a sample of over one thousand freelancers, 42.5% held a university degree. An additional 4.5% of participants held a Master’s degree. Moreover, 28% of the survey participants had finished a technical college degree. That means that in this case, 76% of freelancers have had some form of higher education . So, should you pursue a degree? Looking at these numbers, it certainly seems like you should if you want to be competitive. However, there’s no right or wrong answer to this question. A degree isn’t a holy grail. While it does increase your chances as a freelancer, it’s no guarantee. So if you don’t have a degree, no reason to panic. A lack of education and experience is not a barrier for freelancing. However, you can’t expect clients to just drop out of the sky and trust you with large projects from the get-go. You’ll need to network and create a portfolio full of excellent examples of your work, even if you have a degree . Depending on your major, your degree may enable you to specialize and charge a higher rate for your services. Ultimately, if you want to become a freelancer, you have to take a few other things than a degree into consideration as well, such as: education and training required by your niche. If professional licensing or certification requirements demand a degree or other training, that’s simply unavoidable. You’ll need to research what education and/or training is absolutely required. your own feelings about getting a degree or any type of education as a freelancer. Do you feel like you’ll be more confident with a degree to your name? Or is obtaining a degree an important accomplishment to you? Or perhaps you just really want to closely study something you’re interested in? What about intrinsic motivation? The value of higher education isn’t solely wrapped up in earnings power or career success. your desire to be free, to be your own boss and your entrepreneurial spirit. You gotta want it and dare to go for it! Continuing education as a freelancer So: while education as a freelancer is always a good thing, there are no formal requirements to start freelancing. But what about continuing education as a freelancer? While there’s no definitive answer to the question whether freelancers should pursue a degree, we can be unambiguous when it comes to the question of continuing education. The key to sustaining freelance success is continuing your education, both in your chosen field and as a general businessperson. There are numerous reasons for this. First off, technology advances at the speed of light. It’s a cliché, but it’s true: what’s cutting-edge one day might obsolete the next. Clients don’t need developers for iOS 4, Android 2.3 or Windows 95 anymore. It’s vital that you stay up-to-date with current technologies and understand where your niche is moving to in the near future. Additionally, while it might not happen quite as quickly as with technology, business practices and methodologies are changing too. Secondly, education investing in personal and professional development makes sense from a business point of view. And what do you know: as a freelancer, you’re a business too. If you want to compete with the big boys and increase your hourly fee, maintaining a current level of education and certification is a no-brainer. Thirdly: taking a workshop, signing up for a seminar, or attending an industry conference are all easy ways to expand your professional network as well as your knowledge base. If you want to be tapped in to the pulse of your profession, you need to be talking, sharing, and learning from other freelancers and industry leaders. Taking workshops is also a good way to keep yourself interested in your field. Lastly, continuing your education will help you keep producing high-quality work. It’s just easier to keep the quality of your work up when you’re up-to-date with what the market expects from you, be it a new version of an operating system, tips and tricks to complete assignments faster or an entire new skillset. There are a few good e-learning platforms you can register for to continue your education: Skillshare offers over 23,000 classes in design, business, tech and more. It even has a separate freelance section! We’ve written about Skillshare before in a whitepaper about the 10 tools for growing a successful freelance career. You can download the whitepaper down below. In it, there’s a link that allows you to try Skillshare for free for 2 months instead of just one! Udemy offers discounted courses starting from €10.99 for graphic design, writing, web design, editing, photography, and running a freelance business. Coursera provides certification for courses that last about 7 days on average. The platform offers language, writing, marketing, advertising, business, and academic material from top universities across the United States. Perfect for freelancers looking to hone their skills! 🚀 Takeaway While education is always a good thing, there are no formal requirements to start freelancing. However, you can’t expect to become a successful freelancer if you don’t possess the necessary courage, an entrepreneurial spirit, a high degree of motivation and a skill in which you really excel. Also take into consideration education and training required by your niche and your own feelings about getting a degree. When it comes to continuing education, there’s no doubt about it: do it as often as you can! Continuing your education is key to sustaining your success as a freelancer for a number of reasons, ranging from keeping up-to-date with current technologies and practices to challenging yourself.

Reading time 4 min

Stijn Schutyser

Summertime is traditionally a period of ‘dry time’ for a lot of freelancers. That’s okay: a lot of people are on vacation and there’s usually just less work overall. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use this dry time to your advantage. In this blog post, let’s look at dry time in a positive way and discuss its 4 benefits. 1. Dry time can push you and your business further Dry time means less income and more pressure to ask around for work in your network. You might feel a bit ashamed for asking for work, but you really shouldn’t. You’re just letting people know your skills are available to them. There are a couple of ways you can ask for work. The simplest way is to just contact some of your (previous) clients and tell them that you’re open for new work. You might also ask them to recommend you if they spot an opportunity in your field of work. Another approach you can try is asking your network (clients, colleagues, partners, …) if they have any info or recommendations on who to check out to score a new gig. Don’t forget to check out groups on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, either! You can also make dry time ‘you time’. If your business has predictable slow periods (post-holidays, post-taxes, post-wedding season, postschool year), prepare a financial cushion during your busy time so you can take that down time for rest and personal development: your vacation, a class, or anything you want. Planned dry time keeps it from being so dry. 2. Work can come from anywhere We can talk about clients on four levels: major clients that provide a regular source of income, new prospects a.k.a. growth investments for your business, opportunistic gigs that fill time or income gaps, and new ventures and growth for long-term future income. Dry time reminds you that work can come from clients on any of these four levels. Level 3 deserves some extra attention during dry time, since that level holds the opportunistic one-shots and long shots that fill time or income gaps. You’ll usually find work like this from online job boards and professional association job boards listings. Alternatively, dry time may prove to be the perfect opportunity for you to reach out to some of your ‘colder’ contacts again, or contacts that have ‘cooled’ over the last period. Remind yourself that during dry time, work can come from anywhere, so don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. 3. Tend to your portfolio Being struck with some dry time puts a lot of freelancers with their two feet back on earth. Suddenly, there’s the realization they haven’t really thought about a long-term plan yet. Hitting a slow time may make you think more about planning, strategy, and diversifying your client list . Treat your dry time work days like any other, but this time your portfolio is the project: touch base with former clients and potential long-term customers, prospect, do some cold-calling, seek referrals, follow up with new contacts, go to events where you can network, and checking job boards and work exchanges. You can also do pro bono or volunteer work. It feels great, and you’ll find new friends, connections, and community. 4. Re-evaluate the market and your business model Have you been working all the levels of your portfolio and still no gigs coming in, or too few? A prolonged dry time may point to market changes. Perhaps the demand is changing, and you need to add new skills to your bag of tricks? Maybe you need to seek clients in a broader range of businesses, or make alliances to expand your offerings? Perhaps the gaps in your work are the result of a business model that’s not optimal yet. Are you delivering the right amount of value for the right price ? Research where your fees fall on the spectrum for your profession and check whether your daily rate is still up-to-date with your current spending . Takeaway Dry time sucks, but why not see some of its benefits as well? The good news is that you can use dry time to work on yourself and your business, your client list and re-evaluating the market you’re in and your business model. Still, it’s best to avoid dry time as much as possible. We might have got you covered there! Check out all our available opportunities for exciting projects and the right challenge for you!