Working Not Working Partners with Skillshare

We've partnered up with Skillshare, the online learning community with over 5 million members and thousands of classes in the creative industry, to host a 3-week long workshop exclusively for Graphic Designers. The focus is on building an online presence and getting more work opportunities.

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Vote for These Internet-Dominating, Webby-Nominated WNW Members

We're real proud of our Webby-nominated WNW members & have already cast our votes for them. See their nominated work here and easily cast your votes. We're also very honored to be nominated for a Webby again this year. It's up to you, our fervent community, to help us win.

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Annica Lydenberg & Co. Present the 10 Commandments for Clients

Annica Lydenberg & Co. Present the 10 Commandments for Clients

MIKE O'DONNELL / EDITOR

Tell us a bit about your creative background. Who is Annica Lydenberg and how did she get here?

I have been freelancing for 15 years - it wasn’t by choice at first but I certainly made the most of it. I designed a lot of Flash websites in the early 00s that was a thing, but eventually I got sick of websites and wanted to learn hand lettering. I enrolled in the Type @ Cooper program in order to get a proper typographic education and I did a great deal of personal projects to get more relevant pieces in my portfolio. Personal projects both when I was getting started, and still today, have always driven the kind of client work I get.

 

What was the impetus behind building “The 10 Commandments for Clients”?

One of the big things I’ve been focusing on is bringing more honesty into my work, making personal work that is relatable and will hopefully make someone feel less alone. Of course, I relate to the plight of the freelance designer; we’ve all been there through those terrible client moments. So after having written these maybe 7 or 8 years ago I finally moved forward by inviting 10 other badass lettering artists to execute their favorite one. This made it even more of an act of solidarity with others.

 

Throughout your career, have nearly all of these commandments been broken by your clients at one point or another?

Yes, absolutely. And none of them only once… I literally had a client who tried to tell me she showed a packaging concept to a focus group. Upon asking questions about the demographics of the focus group, she finally admitted she had just shown her mother.

 

Do you think it’s ever wise for creatives, either young or well-established, to do work for free? And if so, is that strictly something that the creative should offer, as opposed to the client?

A friend told me recently something that I thought was fascinating; they said the world was made up of ‘askers’ and ‘guessers’. ‘Askers’ just ask for whatever it is that they want with no concern given and ‘guessers’ only ask when they are nearly certain the answer will be yes. As a result ‘guessers’ have a hard time saying no because they fear it was presumed they would, in fact, say yes; ‘askers’ are well aware that no is an acceptable answer. I am a ‘guesser’ and it pains me to say no to people and I have often resented being put in a position where I need to do so. But you practice it and it gets MUCH easier.

All you can do is educate yourself, know your worth, realize your actions impact your peers and don’t be scared to say no. But ultimately only you can make the call. There are other ways a job can have value.

 

Do you have any advice for creatives to make it even easier for clients to follow these rules?

Be clear from the beginning. Always make sure your expectations are communicated early on and also be sure your client is doing the same for you. I ask a LOT of questions at the beginning of a job and always state what is typical in terms of work process, payment process, and where the job begins and ends. Also, don’t ignore red flags. Sometimes it’s best to walk away.

 

Aside from creating “The 10 Commandments for Clients,” what can creatives do to look out for one another and make sure their peers are being treated fairly?

The best thing we can do is listen to one another and help each other see what we are allowing in our lives. In figuring out how to treat ourselves fairly as individuals it makes it so much easier to demand the same of our clients. I find great value in these conversations.

 

The 10 Commandments for Clients

by Annica Lydenberg

I’ve been a freelance designer for well over a decade and have worked with many clients. These relationships have been varied: some phenomenal, some functional, and a few… failures. In thinking about what makes some more successful than others it is clear to me that, just as with any relationship, the rules you establish at the beginning can be very hard to change later. As a freelance designer, you are your only advocate. Be clear about your rules, communicate well, and communicate often.

The 10 Commandments below, adapted for Clients, will provide the much-needed guidelines which, if followed, will make all of you the exceptional Clients we know you can be. The ultimate goal is always to have a relationship of mutual respect for one another’s time, skills and knowledge.

These struggles are not unique to my path as a designer so I reached out to ten of the most talented freelance designers and lettering artists I know to each select and illustrate one commandment. These are people that I believe work carefully, deliberately and deliver the best work a Client could ask for.

 

– 1 – Thou Shalt Have No Other Designer But Me

Dear Clients, When we work hard and give you lovely design files, please do not change them without us. Do not pass them off to your cousin’s roommate for future updates or hire a different illustrator to emulate the style we developed for you.

 

– 2 – Thou Shall Not Covet Design Done On Spec

Dear Clients, We would never ask you to do work for free. All work, including treatments, sketches, mockups, and concepts have value. No one goes to a bakery, asks for a custom made cake, and then says they’d like to eat it before they decide if they want to pay for it. 

 

– 3 – Thou Shall Not Use the Word ‘Exposure’ In Vain

Dear Clients, As it turns out, “exposure” does not pay our rent and we cannot use “increased followers” to buy coffee or to cover health insurance. This is not an acceptable form of compensation and we both know it.

 

– 4 – Respect the Weekend and Keep It Holy

Dear Clients, No Monday deadlines. As freelancers, it is often expected that we
never stop working, but please respect that we, too, would like to be off the clock on
the weekend.

 

– 5 – Thou Shalt Not Use Opposing Adjectives to Describe thy Project

Dear Clients, Do not set us up for failure. Please be clear about your values, your mission, and who your audience is. Do not ask us to make something for you that is both “whimsical” and “edgy” at the same time. This isn’t a thing.

 

– 6 – Honor thy Designer’s Expertise So thy Project May Be Pure and Wise

Dear Clients, When giving feedback, avoid giving design direction. This is why you hired us; it is what we do, and we are good at it. Instead try to speak to ways in which the design isn’t fulfilling its ultimate aim and we will fix it.

 

– 7– Thou Shall Not Request Work Be Completed “Yesterday, hahaha!”

Dear Clients, Unless you can send us the project request “Last month, hahaha!” then this is not helpful. And it isn’t funny. If you want to be funny please send a good dog meme, and then give a timeline that reflects reality.

 

– 8 – Provide Final Content That Is Final

Dear Clients, Whenever possible please do not change the name of your company after we finish your logo, please do not rewrite your copy after we’ve done your lettering. These are not changes they are a redesign. When a redesign is unavoidable, please expect to compensate accordingly.

 

– 9 – Hold Sacred All Invoices to 30 Days

Dear Clients, Surely if we can get your project done on time, you can write a check in 30 days. Just saying.

 

– 10 – Thou Shall Not Consult With thy Neighbor’s Wife for Design Feedback

Dear Clients, Random opinions and personal preferences alone are not useful. Unless your neighbor’s wife is a designer who sat in on our meetings and read the brief then we don’t want to hear it. If you feel a focus group is necessary then let’s do that together. But your mom is not a focus group.

Are you a WNW Member with new work, exhibits, products, or news to share? Email us!

THE ALL-SEEING TRUMP'S CREATORS WILL SHOW YOU AMERICA'S FUTURE

The All-Seeing Trump's Creators Will Show You America's Future

MIKE O'DONNELL / EDITOR

Plenty of WNW Members have found really creative ways to get involved in tomorrow's election, putting in the hours on their own time with money out of their own pockets. No project better sums up this socially and politically charged artistry and workmanship than The All-Seeing Trump. With a nostalgic nod to the 1988 film Big, in which a wish-making machine named Zoltar morphs a kid into Tom Hanks, the All-Seeing Trump machine comedically looks into the future and offers 30 terrifying misfortunes scheduled for when he's elected into the White House. The concept is inarguably genius, matched only by its execution. 

Below we talk to WNW Members Jon Barco, Andy Dao, Bryan Denman and Nathaniel Lawlor, who together created the All-Seeing Trump. They tell us how the idea was born and why the attention to detail was essential for the intended effect: "From the tiny hands (with one making Trump’s signature 'OK' sign), to the evil glowing eyes, to the 'receive your misfortune' plaque around the ticket outlet, every tiny detail was critical...They’re what separates good execution from great execution, in any medium." The creators also go into the process of balancing humor and discomfort, and how the latter can be an especially effective tool. "It was a lot of trial and error to find the sweet spot where we can entertain and make people laugh, but also stick them with a really dark insight that makes them a little uncomfortable."

You can expect to see the All-Seeing Trump tomorrow outside of Trump Towers, and possibly appearing on NowThis’s Election Day Livestream. After that, the machine will travel to the Joshua Liner Gallery for the final week of their Trump-themed show, which concludes on November 12.

Oh yeah, GO VOTE!

When did you first realize the equally comedic and terrifying potential of a Donald Trump and Zoltar union?

Independently, we had started thinking of what we could do to speak out against Trump, how to put our specific skills to use, and we had a few different creative ideas. But this one rose to the top, because it seemed the most conceptual and potentially viral, because of the nostalgic connection to the film Big. And honestly, there were some misgivings in the early stages of concepting. Was the idea clever enough? Did it make its point clearly? But that's common with creative ideas; you have to work them a bit, and spend quality time pressure testing them. 

Can you give us a little insight into the process from there? Who built this highly-detailed machine? What were some of the specifics that you were adamant about seeing? 

The machine was fabricated by Characters Unlimited, the company that makes Zoltar and other fortune-teller machines you see at places like Coney Island and Fisherman’s Wharf. We initially spoke to some other production companies, but for authenticity, which was highly important to us, we decided it would be best to start with the people who already make these. Why fake it when you can have the real deal? We see this a lot in our industry, like when directors will use a Red camera and then affect the footage in post to make it look like a VHS camcorder from the 80s. And it never does! We're much more of a fan of just using an actual camcorder from the 80s. So we used Characters Unlimited, and we may have been the most particular customers they’ve ever had. From the tiny hands (with one making Trump’s signature “OK” sign), to the evil glowing eyes, to the “receive your misfortune” plaque around the ticket outlet, every tiny detail was critical. We hired our own sculptor to sculpt the head, and lots of other specialists and friends for all the other details: the custom human hair wig, the SFX paintjob on the face, the handmade curtains and tiny MAGA hat, the hand-painted lettering on the cabinet. We could go on and on about the details. Details are so important, they’re what separates good execution from great execution, in any medium.

“There are 30 ‘misfortunes’ in total and the set-list can be customized depending on the location we’re in. For example in front of Planned Parenthood we played a lot of misfortunes having to do with women’s issues and Supreme Court nominations and ‘disgusting dogs.’”

How many pre-recorded answers are housed inside of the All-Seeing Trump? Was it fun coming up with them? Any surprises or challenges?

There are 30 “misfortunes” in total and the set-list can be customized depending on the location we’re in. For example in front of Planned Parenthood we played a lot of misfortunes having to do with women’s issues and Supreme Court nominations and “disgusting dogs.” Writing them took quite a while, with many drafts and rounds of revisions, just like writing anything else. We watched WAY too much Trump footage in order to learn his cadence, his rambling manner of speaking, and his (very limited) vocabulary. It was a lot of trial and error to find the sweet spot where we can entertain and make people laugh, but also stick them with a really dark insight that makes them a little uncomfortable. Everyone laughs when Trump says, “I build the best deportation trains, I really do.” But then they wince when he follows it up with, “My trains are so much better than the ones the Germans used.” Making people uncomfortable was always part of the goal. It’s a really powerful tool that we can almost never use in the commercial world.

Obviously this was a great idea with equally impressive execution. But did you expect the amount of media coverage that the All-Seeing Trump ultimately received?

We spent so much time and put so much love into the idea, our ultimate fear was that we’d put it out into the world, and then… nothing. It would just fizzle out. But in reality we expected at least something would happen. And we got lucky. A journalist was walking to get coffee past our very first location, and she immediately wrote up the story for Gothamist. From there, it escalated, and by the next morning, we were getting press requests from tons of outlets, big and small. So the makeshift PR plan we had in place actually got usurped organically, which was great. We didn’t have to do much PR work in the end.

“Even the Trump fans got a kick out of it. Most of our time has been spent in friendly territory, and if we learned one thing, it’s that Manhattan really hates Trump. What a bizarro world when rural America gets behind a rich city slicker, and the city he’s from can’t stand him.”

Any surprising reactions? Any angry reactions? Did you worry that someone might try to assault the machine?

We definitely worried about angry people trying to assault the machine, especially when we took it to a Trump rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We actually hired two bodyguards to stand next to the machine, dressed as Secret Service. But ultimately even the Trump fans got a kick out of it. Most of our time has been spent in friendly territory, and if we learned one thing, it’s that Manhattan really hates Trump. What a bizarro world when rural America gets behind a rich city slicker, and the city he’s from can’t stand him. 

 

What are the most important messages that you want to send with this project?

The All-Seeing Trump pretty much speaks for itself—a future with a President Trump is a bleak future. Initially, the little fortune tickets that pop out were going to act like an end card on a TV spot, reading “There’s No Future In Trump. Vote, Volunteer, Spread the word.” But then we realized that was our advertising training getting in the way. We asked ourselves, what would Banksy do? And the answer was obvious: Keep the experience dark all the way through. Don’t talk down to your audience. People will draw their own conclusions. That’s how we landed on putting “misfortunes” on the tickets, too. From that point on, the whole idea really gelled.

Have you ever dabbled in guerrilla art or politically-charged work before? 

Yes, members of our group created Occupy George to highlight wealth distribution inequality, Good Day Blimp, which raised money for Ice Cube’s charity, and a few other projects as well. 

 

Will the All-Seeing Trump be making any appearances on Election Day?

Yes, we’ll be out, probably at Trump Towers, and possibly appearing on NowThis’s Election Day Livestream. After that it’ll go to the Joshua Liner Gallery for the final week of their Trump-themed show, which ends on November 12.

 

What’s next for you all?

All four of us are back freelancing, with no immediate plans for the next idea. This project was a ton of work, but it was really fun and it definitely made us want to work more on our own projects, so we’ll see what happens. Let’s just get through this god-awful election first.

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

We’re lucky to work in an industry with so many smart, talented people all around us. We called in many favors and so many people stepped up to help us. Heard City, Cosmo Street Editing, and Future Perfect Music each volunteered their resources, rallying behind the idea and the cause. And so many others, from producers to business affairs to PR. The project really made us think, if we spent half the effort we spend selling soda and cellphones and cars on our own creative endeavors, we could make a lot of really cool stuff.

Are you a WNW Member with new work, exhibits, products, or news to share? Email us!