Why work for free?

David Airey recently wrote an excellent post on his blog about doing pro bono (i.e. free) work in order to add work to a design portfolio. You can read his post here: http://www.davidairey.com/pro-bono-design/

He makes some excellent points, which I won't go into here as it's better to read his post, but I thought I would explain a little about why I offer free and reduced rate services to charities and NPOs. Basically, it's because I have grown weary of companies that have lofty aims ('world peace', 'eradicate disease', etc) while doing little more than repeating those lofty aims. I decided to make pro bono work a key part of K Creative because, aside from supporting myself and my family, I'm not really interested in building an enormous business or being filthy rich. I'd like to be able to give time and/or resources to people who are genuinely trying to make a difference. Pro bono work is a good way of supporting good causes while doing something you enjoy, plus it has extra benefits:

1) Boost your portfolio. As David points out, it can add real-life work to a portfolio. This is especially important when just starting out or when jobs are few and far between. It keeps you in the game, as it were, and allows you to update your online presence with recent work.

2) Support a cause that means something to you. You do not have to give money to support a good cause; giving your time and skill is very worthwhile and will be appreciated.

3) Add new skills. You could offer to redesign a website or logo and find yourself being asked to give advice on the content of the site or a marketing strategy. Don't shy away from such approaches as you may be able to learn new skills. Conversely, don't weigh in on things that you don't feel sure about.

4) Get more work. This may seem a little bit cynical, but you may get paying clients through the client you do free work for. I don't suggest that this is a reason for deciding to do pro bono work, but it might be another unexpected benefit.

Some things to bear in mind:

1) Don't do it just to boost your portfolio. As stated in number 2 above, find a charity or NPO that you really want to support. It is much easier to be positive about a job when it means something to you.

2) Start small. Try a local charity or NPO to begin with: they are more likely to be working on a restricted budget and the proximity means that you can discuss the project in person. You could even offer to give advice or do some work for a friend who is trying to establish a business or website, but cannot afford to pay.

3) Treat them as you would a paying client. Just because you are doing something for free doesn't mean that you can do half a job. If you offer to do something, do it to the best of your ability and always stick to deadlines (if you cannot meet deadlines, give plenty of notice).

4) Be honest. As I mentioned above, don't accept work that you are not capable of carrying out as you are wasting your time and your client's time. It is good to learn new skills, but if they ask to give advice on something that is totally unrelated to your skills and experience, don't be afraid to say so. They will appreciate your honesty and you will not be perceived as a jack of all trades.

Good luck!

Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us

This is brilliant.

Playing sound effects both pleasant and awful, Julian Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways. Listen carefully for a shocking fact about noisy open-plan offices.

Gever Tulley on 5 Dangerous Things for Kids

More from Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School (see below), as he spells out 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do. Seriously good!

Gever Tulley Teaches Life Lessons through Tinkering

Fantastic! Gever Tulley uses engaging photos and footage to demonstrate the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a rollercoaster!
http://www.tinkeringschool.com/

SFTE Update: Designing for Yourself

As the founders of storm from the east, we feel an extra responsibility in keeping it looking good and operating well. The problem is that you are often your own worse client, which is why we are constantly adding bits, taking bits away, redesigning, etc. This is a good thing, as it keeps things fresh, but it can get a little addictive...

We have recently tweaked the site a little bit, by redesigning the sidebar and adding new features, such as links to popular parts of the site and SFTE TV and Podcasts, both of which can be used in the sidebar.

We hope our readers like it. If you would like a website designed like SFTE, please let us know - we'd be more than happy to help you!

Creative English

I am currently working on a new course and book about 'Creative English", so I thought I would say a little about it.

What is 'Creative English'?

When people imagine creative English, they usually think in terms of something artistic, imaginative and complex: a novel, a poem or a song, for example. While we encourage people to try these things, our Creative English course is a little more down to earth.

Our Creative English course is not designed to turn you into Shakespeare or John Lennon. It is designed to show you that you do not need to be a native English speaker to be able to communicate freely and expressively in English. For the purposes of this course, Creative English means the ability to use English naturally and tailor language to suit almost any occasion. It does not require an exceptionally high level of English – beginners can learn it – and it does not require extensive study of grammar patterns and vocabulary.

What is does require, however, is a change in focus on behalf of both the student and the teacher.

More later.

What does your website say about you?

You don't need me to tell you that first impressions are important, but many people underestimate just how important they are for their online presence (i.e. website(s)). I therefore invite you to take a few seconds to honestly evaluate your own web site and see what it says about you. I tend to evaluate a website in about five seconds (as does the average user) and this is what I look for:

Does it load quickly?
When I find a website that doesn't load quickly, I tend to move on even quicker. If it takes over 10 seconds to load, I will probably never go back to it (people who load their sites with Flash please take note). Why? Because it's frustrating! Websites, by their very nature, should make the information you want accessible as quickly as possible. Pages that take a long time to load may prompt people to seek out sites where they can access the information a lot quicker – and they will almost certainly be able to find them.

What does it look like?
I write about design and my business is connected to design and creativity, so naturally the look of a site is very important to me. In fact, my wife and other people say that I am hyper-sensitive about the look of my own sites. The fact is that a good-looking site will prompt people to stay a little longer – and take more notice – than an ugly one. I like simple, stylish looking sites and I like the information to be presented in a logical, stylish manner. Take care when deciding on colour schemes and fonts for your site and ensure that they match the image your want to project.

Is it easy to navigate?
Sites that are overloaded with links that aren’t clearly labelled, organized or relevant are messy and horrible to use. When I find sites plastered with links I tend to grimace and hit the back button. Keep it simple: make the links clear, organized and hierarchical.

Is it reliable?
This is especially important when looking for a service or buying something. I will automatically red flag a site with lots of errors (I am an editor, after all). For example, only this morning I found a site that offered to "analysis the traffic to your site" and then "in simply terms setup a site to generate traffic", with SEO packages to "suite any budget". They also sold wine and holidays… Erm, no thanks. Would you trust the advice, services or products of somebody who can't even be bothered to tidy up their spelling and grammar?

Does it have what I’m looking for?
Time is precious, so if I can't quickly find what I’m looking for, I will quickly go back to the list of search results. People tend to look at sites in relation to their search engine result (obviously) and if they can't get what they're looking for, they simply move on. Your site might look lovely, but if the information people want isn't available almost instantly, then it's bye-bye. This may be sad, because people could be missing out on some great sites, but it is true.

Is it up-to-date?
The design of the website – and the information featured on it – should reflect where you are now in terms of your business/personal career. If you're going to include 'recent news' on your website, then make sure that it really is recent! If your 'latest project' is something completed two years ago, it doesn't really inspire much confidence in how well your business is doing. Likewise, if you are going to include a blog as part of your site, keep it up-to-date. In terms of the look of the site, keep it looking fresh – don't be afraid to redesign your site if you think it needs a makeover.

So how would I honestly evaluate this site? I think it's pretty clean – a white background, not too much information. It loads quickly and I think it's pretty easy to navigate with the large buttons at the top of the page covering the main aspects of our business and the other links covering things in more detail on the main page. As for reliability of the information and having what people are looking for, well I suppose that depends on expectations. We have a lot of experience doing what we do, but our services/opinions may not suit everybody. As for the design – I like it, for now. I think the colour scheme and layout says that we like things to be straightforward, but creative and a little different at the same time. What do you think?

K Creative PR & Consulting

Here's some more information about our pr, research and consulting services, describing a little about how we go about our work.

YOUR FEET ON THE STREET IN JAPAN

We specialize in getting people together.

We believe in genuine interaction and most of our research is carried out through either face to face interviews or correspondence with carefully selected individuals.

We contact individuals who we identify as likely to be interested in your message and use the information to plan a unique strategy based on your needs and wishes. You identify your target group and we go out and meet them.

We are, in short, your feet on the street in Japan, seeking out the people and places that are likely to be interested in what you offer.

RESEARCH

We spend our lives in Japan immersed in design, media, promotion and sales. Our eyes and ears are always open and focused on new and innovative ways of spreading messages.

If you want to 'test the waters' in Japan before diving in head first, we can go out and physically ask people for their opinions about your product and service as well as giving our own evaluation.

Our research is not for the faint-hearted: If you don't want to hear the truth, you should ask somebody else. We don't believe in sycophancy to attract clients – if we don't think we can help, we'll tell you.

After we have conducted research, we will analyze the findings and give you an honest, no-nonsense appraisal and suggest – where appropriate – recommended media, retail outlets and promotional strategies.

View the consulting & research page.

Stuart Brown: Why Play is Vital - No Matter Your Age

A pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humour, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults - and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.
I strongly agree that a great amount of play is essential. We seem to lose the the feeling that play is important the older we get, which I find very sad. Parents - let your children play. You will enjoy it just as much as they do. I hate to see little children studying seriously with bored looks on faces that should be smiling. When do these kids get the chance to be kids?

Jose Antonio Abreu: Help me bring music to kids worldwide (TED Prize winner)

The gulf between the rich and the poor in Venezuela is one of the worst in the world. Jose Antonio Abreu, an economist, musician, and reformer, founded El Sistema ("the system") in 1975 to help Venezuelan kids take part in classical music. After 30 years (and 10 political administrations), El Sistema is a nationwide organization of 102 youth orchestras, 55 children's orchestras, and 270 music centers -- and close to 250,000 young musicians.

El Sistema uses music education to help kids from impoverished circumstances achieve their full potential and learn values that favour their growth. The talented musicians have become a source of national pride. Several El Sistema students have gone on to major international careers, including Gustavo Dudamel, soon to be the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the bassist Edicson Ruiz, who at 17 became the youngest musician ever to join the Berlin Philharmonic.

There is a simple concept behind Abreu's work: for him an orchestra is first and foremost about together­ness, a place where children learn to listen to each other and to respect one another.