Working at a coffee shop

If you work remote you may crave an occasional switch up in the scenery. We’ve found the best place to do this is by visiting a new or local coffee shop. Working remote, there will be some things you need to bring with you to ensure productivity and keep all your projects moving forward. We love exploring coffee shops so we have a few tips to make your experience more enjoyable and productive.

NO. 1: Charge your laptop the night before

We’ll admit it: We’ve sat down at a coffee shop, opened our laptops ready to get our track pad clicking only to see a dead battery warning. You know what comes next…the great performance of untangling the gnarly laptop charger, scoping out the scene for the nearest outlet, politely interrupting your neighbor to see if you can share electricity and then awkwardly ducking under tables to plug into the power source. Avoid all that. Charge your laptop the night before.

NO. 2: Talk To The Baristas

Chances are you’ll be working at the coffee shop for a few hours, possibly coming back another day in the work week if the vibe is right. As someone who works remote, we may not be overly inclined to be social, but this is your chance! Ask the baristas how their day is going and start up some convo, you may have more commonalities than you think. You may also find out that your barista is an amazing illustrator who could help you with your next collaboration. They may be in charge of the tunes, and can share with you a solid playlist. Show them some love for being the coffee plug!

NO. 3: Pack a solid pen (or a few)

Call us old fashioned, but a good ol’ handwritten note works for us. A to-do list in penmanship on paper seems to arrive checked to completion before a hurried typed list in our notes app on our phones. Let be real, we also like our mindless doodling. Power of the pen! We love the perfect milky texture of:
OOLY Color Lux Gel Pen. If you’re a 90s kid Gel Pens will forever ever be nostalgic. Trading colors with your friends, and the metallic ones?! OOLY Color Lux Gel Pen is essentially a Gel Pen for grown ups. These beautiful colored pens offer a smooth writing experience you have to try

Shop OOley pens
NO. 4: Bring A Notebook

Take the pen you enjoy writing with and write some notes or a to-do list. The notebook we love: XYark Dot Grid Notebook. It’s A5 paper size, not too big, making it perfectly portable for working remote. This notebook is perfect for jotting notes and doodles because of its repeat dotted print and it comes in a pack of 12! If you’re anything like us, you have a notebook for journaling, a separate one for to do lists, another for work projects and one for personal ideas

Shop notebooks
NO. 5: Good Tunes

A good playlist is key because we can’t alwayyyyys trust what the Barista wants to play. Here’s a playlist we have on at the studio most days that we can’t stop listening to! Click the link below to listen to Creative Squeeze, a playlist to get the juices flowing with some chill artsy vibes. 

Listen to creative squeeze
NO. 6: Bring Headphones

Speaking of your own tunes…don’t forget your noise cancelling headphones. Coffee shops can get a bit noisy at times, which may make it hard to hone in on your project or to-do list. What we love about the AirPods Pro are the cancellation feature which blocks out all the surrounding sound and makes you feel like you’re in a little bubble. There is also a Transparency mode on the AirPods so you can still hear your surroundings but more as background noise. Perfect if you are lucky to work at a coffee shop with live music or if you like the wssssssssh of the espresso maker but just at a lower volume.

NO. 7: Guzzle Water

While coffee is stimulating and can give you an energetic buzz needed to get your work done, it is dehydrating. Avoid getting headaches or the shakes by drinking lots of water.

NO. 8: Find A Coffee Shop That Suits You

We love exploring coffee shops. There are so many different vibes. You may need a brightly lit open space to be productive or you could prefer a cozy dark space. You may want to work inside or if the weather is nice an outside patio. You could prefer a coffee shop with laid back couches, or a space with more structured furniture. Find a coffee shop that works for you! Our team loves a coffee shop that is intentional with their design, visually creating a cool scene for remote workers to be productive in. Nothing screams cool more than the coffee shop at Deus in Venice located at 1001 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. It is a coffee shop for surf, bicycle, motorcycle, and car enthusiasts. We love it because it opens early at 7AM, has indoor and outdoor seating options, and the vibe of the space is rad. The folks that hang out at Deus Venice have a respect for the honesty and enjoyment of the machine, so don’t be surprised if you see a 1974 Lamborghini Espada in the parking lot. 

4 Type Foundries We’re Into

As a creative, we are suckers for good type. What can we say? A font with purpose can create a mood, an atmosphere, a vibe.
We read text all the time, on our phones, signage, packaging, but do you stop to wonder about the letters themselves? Could the letter ‘S’ be a masterpiece? Could an interesting typographic “&” change how the entire design piece is perceived? 

A Type Foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces created by themselves or by accumulating talented type designers works. Historically (back when type was mainly printed and we didn’t have digital screens) type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers.

There are hundreds of brilliant type foundries, (we plan on sharing even more soon) but to start, we’ve rounded up 4 of our current favorite. In a world wide web of digitized fonts which are your favorites?

No.1 : GOOD TYPE FOUNDARY
It could be the black and white website we are attracted to, or Kosmos, Kubik, or Soya typeface, either way we keep coming back to Good Type Foundry. Thanks for the brief information on the type’s inspiration, we love it!

Font Cost : Around $40-$70 per individual type style (standard license)
Check out Good Type Foundry

No.3 : Klim Type Foundry
A type foundry website with video movement on the main page? Despite the amazing fonts, their site is also fun to look around on. This New Zealander Foundry is artsy and mysterious. Klim Type Foundry believe typefaces reflect a culture’s priorities and aspirations. Which is probably why they keep designing new evolving typefaces, the job is never done. Klim also are active on Twitter, Instagram, and run a design Blog on their website so if you’re looking for some killer inspo- check them out!

Font Cost : Around $60-$90 per individual type style (standard license)
Check out Klim Type Foundry

No.2 - Displaay

This independent type foundry and design studio is based in Prague, Czech Republic with numerous collaborators around the world. Displaay aim to develop distinctive typefaces that are missing in the market. The website has type categorized into: Sans, Serif, or Other. Displaay’s website notes they do consider new typeface admissions via email if you are interested in publishing your work.

Font Cost : Around $70-$90 per individual type style (standard license)
Check out Displaay

No.3 : Klim Type Foundry
A type foundry website with video movement on the main page? Despite the amazing fonts, their site is also fun to look around on. This New Zealander Foundry is artsy and mysterious. Klim Type Foundry believe typefaces reflect a culture’s priorities and aspirations. Which is probably why they keep designing new evolving typefaces, the job is never done. Klim also are active on Twitter, Instagram, and run a design Blog on their website so if you’re looking for some killer inspo- check them out!

Font Cost : Around $60-$90 per individual type style (standard license)
Check out Klim Type Foundry

No.4 : Sumotype
Based out of Bogota Colombia, Sumotype provides high quality fonts from Latin America. Their main goal is to offer typefaces with a strong historical background. Sumotype released Gregor, A display type family inspired by old brand fonts and advertising graphics used in the US during the 60’s and 70’s. 

Font Cost : Around $75-$90 per individual type style (standard license)
Check out Sumotype

Can you justify spending money on a more unique font to set your work apart from others? Some fonts are cheap, like $5 or $10 but when you invest in fonts that are a little more expensive, you tend to be more ownable to your brand and less flooded in the market. Most paid fonts come with personal and commercial license, make sure you read the licenses and understand which one you need before purchasing the font. 

We would love to leave you with a font joke, but we are afraid we are not bold enough!

Looking for more great design resources? Check out these few worth bookmarking, or follow along on TikTok!

Why I Use Dubsado

If you’re going to become a freelance designer, the first tool I’ll say right off the bat is worth the investments will be Dubsado. Dubsado is an online CRM (customer relationship management) platform built for freelancers to help increase productivity, streamline systems, create a professional client experience, and grow their business.
 
Is it worth the investment? Absolutely.
Here are my top three reasons why:
No.1 : Streamline your process
When you become a full time freelancer, you’re wearing 30+ different hats, it’s tough swtiching from creative, to account, to bookkeeper, to sales rep. Dubsado makes it easy to get back to doing what you do best.
 
Lead Capture Forms:
You can use Dubsado to create a lead capture form and put it directly on your website. When potential clients fill out their information on your form, it automatically gets inputed into the CRM system so you have all of their details and contact info.
 
Workflows:
Once you have your process worked out, you can create custom workflows to handle onboarding, proposals, contract signing, and off boarding. Another task taken right off your plate (which alone is well worth the money).
 
Reporting:
Set monthly financial goals to track against and see how you are doing month-to-month on your own project dashboard. Your dashboard will show you an overview of where your income is coming from, your expenses being paid out, your net profit and your successfull sales.
No.2 : Elevate the client experience

You want to charge more money for your services? Well, you need to make sure you are delivering on that quality service to justify the cost. Dubsado allows me to create user portals for my clients to log in where they can access all of our documents and information. Every time I send out a user portal to a client I had such positive feedback saying how easy and professional it was to have a set up like this.

Online Portal: Every client get’s their own unique log in where they can access all of our documents shared, sign contracts, view proposals, answer questionnaires, schedule meetings and pay invoices. 

Canned Emails: I set my CRM system up to send professional reminder emails automatically when invoices are due or late. This takes the daunting task of chasing down payments off my plate and relieves the awkwardness of me personally sending follow up emails reminding clients about their bill.

Payment: Create flexible payment plans to break down the overall bill of your projects. Clients can log into their portal and make payments using credit cards or paypal, Dubsado even provides users an option to leave a tip if they wish.

No.3 - Support and tools

I get it, it can be overwhelming learning a new program on top of all of the work you’re doing. I was in this same boat and it was what made me so hesitant about signing up at first. But I am SO glad I did because now I am saving so much time and money, and really focusing on what I love the most about my business- creating! What’s amazing about Dubsado is they will give you a three client maximum trial (rather than timed) so you can really take as much time as you need to learn the ins and outs.

Customer Service: The Dubsado team has one of the best customer support systems I’ve experienced. They are very informative and quick to respond with any questions I have had. They also provide numerous videos and articles on everything as broad as setting up your system, to specific as editing a payment schedule.

Facebook Group: There is a wonderful community of entrepreneurs always asking questions, seeking and sharing advice/tips, as well as wonderful resources.

Endless Resources: I didn’t realize how huge Dubsasdo was until I was in the weeds of googling everything I wanted to know about it. It seems like there are ENDLESS resources online, lots of videos, lots of templates, and lots of coaches who are happy to help set up your program, custimize it, and teach you what you need to know along the way. 

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Looking for more great design resources? Check out these few worth bookmarking, or follow along on TikTok!

Fonts I’m Using : December

How is it December already?! Here we go with again with some new favorite fonts for the month. This months round up is a little different, I’ve included a few that are on sale (literally under $10!!) which I haven’t used yet, but want to get the word out so you can but them quick!

NORD

If you don’t know about Brandon Nikerson, you need to stop what you’re doing and check out his work and especially those fonts. He has a huge collection of gorgeous fonts at a really low price. 
Nord is a display typeface with a modern take on a classic contrasting sans serif alphabet.

Where to get it: BNICKS
Price: $15 on sale for $7

BASIER square mono

I’ve been in a huge mood lately with using these monotype fonts for little details. I think it adds such a gorgeous little touch. Basier is available in circle and square. The result is a modern and neutral font family that is ideally suited for logotypes, branding, editorial design as well as web.

Where to get it: Atipo Foundary
Price: Free for regular, and paid for the whole family

archia

A good circular font with a little bit of character, what more can I ask for? This font dramatically transforms between upper case and lowecase providing multiple styles. When Archia is in all caps it has a bit of a tech and spacey feel.

Where to get it: Atipo Foundary
Price: Free for regular, and paid for the whole family

angie sans

Angie sans was created by the crew over at typofonderie with the intention of having a bit of a human element to it.  Angie Sans is free on adobe and comes in a family of 6 different styles. I’ve been using this font as header type fin all caps, but it would work perfectly as body copy in type case as well. 

Where to get it: Adobe
Price: Free with Adobe

canyon

Would ya just looooook at it? Another beautiful creation from Brandon Nickerson. I haven’t used this font in a project yet, but wanted to include it on the line up because it is on sale and you can’t miss out on snagging this one up!
Canyon is an elegant serif display typeface based on Henri Jules Ferdinand’s “Le Bellery Desfontaines” type specimen. BN Canyon includes all english characters & punctuation along with most Swedish & European characters. 

Where to get it: BNICKS
Price: $7 on sale

Interested in fonts and typography?
Read this post about a chrome plug-in you’re going to want to download.

Watch more resource videos on Tik Tok

5 Reasons to rebrand pt.1

Don’t be alarmed, rebranding is absolutely a common move for both large and small businesses. There are many reasons to want to go about a rebrand, each with their own justifications and have mostly led to positive change. Rebranding can be as subtle as making a few tweaks, a refresh if you will. Or can be a large declaration of intent announcing to the world you’re here to grow, and evolve.
Is it time for your company to consider a rebrand?

NO. 1: IT WAS NEVER PROFESSIONALLY CREATED

When you start a business, it’s crucial to invest in the things that are going to help you draw in the right audience and grow. Showing the world that you’re investing in your brand, directly reflects the quality of the good/service you are offering. I get it- quality branding isn’t cheap and perhaps in the first few years as you were setting up shop, the budget allocated to branding and marketing wasn’t there. But now you’ve got the wheels moving, you have a better understanding of what you’re doing and it’s time to invest in what your brand represents.

NO. 2: IT'S OUTDATED OR OUT OF STYLE

I’d like to yell this really loud for all the logos written in script fonts, the bitmap mascots, the dropshadows and 3d bubble wordmarks. Unfortunately having a logo that looks like it came from the dark ages (not in a cool way) can leave your audience feeling confused about your brand. Is it a gimmick? Are they supposed to be funny? Or have they really not gotten with the times to update their look and feel? Change is difficult, especially changing a brand that has taken so long to build, but look, even some of the biggest brands had refreshes (FedEx, Microsoft, Starbucks!). There are ways to keep the heritage of a brand while making small and minor adjustments to freshen it up.

NO. 3: IT CAME WITH THE COMPANY, YOU DIDN'T CHOOSE IT

I’ve worked with a few clients in the past who inherited their company through family and adopted a logo that they had no part of initially creating. The style of the logo wasn’t in line with both the company and the new owner so it was time to adjust. I’ve also seen this happen when people buy companies from other business owners. The initial branding may have been placeholder knowing that they eventually would sell the business. In this instance a rebrand is a great way to create some hype and PR around the new owners/leadership of a business and the changes they’re going to implement.

NO. 4: IT WAS DESIGNED IN CANVA

Canva is great in the way that it’s giving non-designers a platform and tool to be able to throw together visuals. This should be used as supplementary design support, not to create your entire brand aesthetic. First of all, so many people now have access to this platform so the templates and looks are beginning to look all the same. Your brand needs to stand out, not blend in. Second, Canva is limited in its capabilities, a designer uses multiple programs that will take your design from ordinary and generic to customizable and unique. Additionally, logos created in Canva cannot be exported as vectors (hello red flags). It’s also worth noting here that logos created in Canva using templates cannot be trademarked. 

NO. 5: IT'S NOT CONNECTING WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Are you not getting the right people engaging with your business or making the purchase? When you have your brand created by a professional, it is their job to identify your ideal audience, and discover what it is that would captivate them to connect and fall in love with your brand. Throwing some random elements together and calling it a logo lacks any strategy on how to make a meaningful connection and can put a consumer/customer off wanting to engage with your business.

Interested in a 1:1 chat on how your brand can be taken to the next level?

Schedule a free branding consultation 
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Fonts I’m Using : October

September brought some really great font finds which I’m excited to use this month of October for a few of my current and upcoming client projects. Download these beauts and add them to your font bucket, let me know how you used them or what fonts have been your fave to use this month!
Here’s the lineup:

COMMUTER SANS

Commuter Sans is a great reliable sans serif font that goes with almost anything. It’s versatility allows it to be used as a leading font or supportive. I love to use Commuter Sans in all caps, with some loose kerning to give it some airy breathing room. This font also looks fire when you reverse it out as just a stroke.

Where to get it: Adobe Fonts
Price: Free with Adobe Subscription

PALM CANYON DRIVE

If you don’t know about the lovely duo over at Hoodzpah, please stop everything you’re doing and go see their work. They’ve been a huge inspiration for me since the first time I went freelance. Amy Hood created this brilliant monoline script font inspired by Mid-Century California. I recently used it as an accent for a few lockups.

Where to get it: Retro Supply
Price: $39 and worth every penny

FORUM

I love the simplicity of this font, and how different it looks when it’s used in all caps versus used as a paragraph type. Fonts that can change their look like that get bonus points in my books. Another great feature of this font is that it is truly multilingual, with glyphs for Central and Eastern Europe, Baltics, Cyrillic and Asian Cyrillic communities.

Where to get it: Google Fonts
Price: Free

RESTORA

When I saw this font on Colllecttivo I was overcome with delight ready to add this beaut to my arsenal. It was the curves in the lowercase font for me. I’m currently using this font as an element in a small illustrated icon lockup for a boutique coffee shop. It comes with some really unique alternates and swashes! 

Where to get it: Befonts
Price: Free

Interested in fonts and typography?
Read this post about a chrome plug-in you’re going to want to download.

Watch more resource videos on Tik Tok

Link to TIKTOK

Design Resources to Bookmark

When you’re starting out in the freelance world, some of your clients may not have it in budget to curate a photoshoot or even purchase stock photos. Eventually, this is a cost you should start weaving into your client charges, but in the meantime, here are some sites that offer cheap options. We’ve got photo site hookups, icon hookups, and even mockups! You’re going to want to bookmark these.

As a side note, I will always recommend trying to collaborate with photographers and designers that you know to get your photos, mockups or icons. However, if you can’t pay your collaborators properly, or offer a generous trade incentive (don’t ask them to hand you freebies), that’s when these resources can really help out.

FREE + AFFORDABLE PHOTOGRAPHY

unsplash.com : over 2 million free photos brought to you by over 200k professional contributing photographers.
pexels.com : Great selections and even free videos to dowload!
stocksy.com : Not free, but this collection won’t break the bank. These photos are goregous and stylized, taking designs to the next level.
gratisography.com : For all the quirky photos your heart may desire.

PREMADE ICONS

thenounproject.com : New icons added daily by contributing artists
simpleicons.org : Lots of icons for your fave brands- organized so satisfyingly by color.
animaticons.co: Not all free, but still pretty low priced- PLUS animated options!

MOCKUPS

MrMockUp : One of my go-to’s for tredny mockups. Make sure to subscibe to the email list, yout get notified when more freebies are posted to the site!
mockups-design: Clean and minimal free mockups

Watch more resource videos on TikTok

TikTok

4 Creatively Inspiring Ted Talks

It should be noted right off that bat, that it’s ABSOLUTELY ok to find yourself in a creative rut. As a creative, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to always be “on” which just isn’t sustainable. Let’s knock that expectation of ourselves right away. Creativity comes in ebs and flows, if we were constantly in a state of flow, we’d burn out. Instead of fighting the ebs, embrace them and take some time to yourself to switch up the routine a bit. 

When I hit those lows, I’ve gotten into the practice of popping on a podcast and heading out for a little hike or walk. I found that after stepping away from the project, and listening to something inspiring I come back feeling refreshed and ready to get stuck back in. 

So, with that, here are 4 inspiring Ted Talks that touch on creativity. Perfect for a walk around your neighborhood, background noise as you take a nap, or on your drive. 

JULIE BURNSTEIN : 4 LESSONS IN CREATIVITY
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VICTOR SHAMAS : THE ART OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION
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AMY TAN : WHERE DOES CREATIVITY HIDE?
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ELIZABETH GILBERT : YOUR ELUSIVE CREATIVE GENIUS
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5 Tips for a Stronger Portfolio

It’s a big leap when you begin to send your portfolios and resumes out to agencies for job interviews. I know the difficulties of getting your foot in the door, and hoping that your work will stand out against the rest of the applicants. I also know what it’s like on the other end of that, being the one with the portfolio flooded inbox. Here are a few tips that I’ve found really push forward some of those junior level candidates:

TIP NO. 1: ARTICULATE THE WHY

This tip is especially crucial for designers right out of college. It may look cleaner to simply showcase images of your executions, but what we’re looking for is that you know how to creative concept, strategize, and articulate. This does not, I repeat does NOT, mean just describe the images we’re about to see. We know you used a sans serif and the color blue, tell us why you made those choices instead. You may be looking at mentors or senior designers’ sites for inspo on how to set up your own portfolio. You will probably notice that these creatives don’t write the “why” behind their work – this is because they have already established themselves in the field and after 10+ years in the industry it is assumed that these creatives know how to use critical and creative thinking to execute their work. 

TIP NO. 2: CUT THE FLUFF

Creative people have many creative outlets. However, your portfolio shouldn’t be the avenue to showcase these hobbies. If the purpose of your site is to get your foot in the door to a design agency, then use it to show your design skills. If we have to go digging through your site to find this work, and keep opening up pages about your embroidery, chances are we’re going to move on to the next portfolio. Don’t get me wrong, being creative outside of work is brilliant, but be mindful of when you want to show off this extra talent. Maybe there’s a link to your painting Instagram on your about page. Perhaps you integrate these talents and design a brand identity for the birdhouse painting side hustle you started. Could you leave a little cross stitch square with your info on it after your first interview? Keep the portfolio website as clear and straightforward as you can.

TIP NO. 3: PUSH IT FURTHER

You made a really brilliant illustration for a hypothetical brewery that just released a new beer. You even threw the illustration into a mockup – it looks B O M B! You post it to your portfolio site as a standalone piece.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, what’s going to put you one step ahead of everyone else is showing how you can push it a little but further. Is there a second can from the brewery with a similar style but a new illustration? What about the box the cans come in? Can you make some promotional posters or social media posts? Even something as simple as extra swag items (t-shirt, koozie, coasters) would be a brilliant addition to show hirers that you’re not only thinking on the execution of one single piece, but you’re considering the whole brand and how your design will be pushed beyond your awesome illustration.

TIP NO. 4: ORGANIZE IT WELL

Think critically on this one. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is sifting through tons of portfolios everyday. What is the journey when they come to your site? What is the first thing we see? Is this page doing something or is it just your name and an image? Do we then have to click through multiple times to take a look at all your work? Ideally your home page will be the page that lists out all your projects. If it isn’t, make sure that decision is intentional and theres a reason behind what’s replacing that as your homepage.
As you arrange your work on the portfolio page, are you listing them in order of what was most recent? If you’re really proud of a certain project and you feel it showcases the depth of your abilities – I would move that to the top so it’s more likely to get clicked on. Key takeaway here: don’t make the user go digging for your work.

TIP NO. 5: FAKE IT (BUT ONLY A LITTLE)

A way to make your work seem more real and professional is to be very particular about the wording. As opposed to saying “We were asked to redesign the packaging of a candy bar in my design class.” Explain it as if it were a client: “Choco-box was looking to update their branding with their release of their new candy bar. The company was aiming to retarget millennials which is why….” This shows us that you are getting into the mindset (even if it is fake) of your client and the consumer and you’re again, designing with intention.
When you refer to a class or school project in a write up, it immediately indicates to us “this person is still in college, or just graduated” and could nix you out of the running on the spot (there are usually less openings for junior level creatives).  As a caveat to that, it would be wise to add a disclaimer towards the bottom of the page that says *Student work created at Soandso College*. This has to be done appropriately. Showcasing student work for a Starbucks project and acting like you really did work for Starbucks is a misleading. I would advise against throwing that in your portfolio as you’re setting your work up to be compared against people who have years on you in the industry.

Want some free feedback on your portfolio? 

Submit your site through the portfolio submission page.⟶

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