In what may be my most gutsy move in the past week, I asked Jay from work to pinstripe my laptop. Jay has been toying with some pinstriping on the side and I have been admiring each piece as he has completed them. I thought that if a bike or a car could have some pinstriping then why not my Mac!

Typographica has posted their Favorite Fonts of 2005 - Part 1. “Each contributing writer made their own selection with only one requirement: the typeface must have been published or released in the first half of the year.”

Not sure your friends and family understand what you want for the holidays? Then send them to creativepro.com’s Gift Guide 2005 and Gift Guide 2005, Part II.

This weekend, checkout the latest podcast from the Prepared Mind. Chris talks with Errol Saldanha, the creator of the website Beyond Graphic, which is making a case to change the word “graphic” from the term “graphic design”. Opinions are welcomed so flame on!

Judy Lit has written an excellent article on the 10 mistakes new design businesses make:

1. Doing business without a contract;
2. Beginning work without a deposit;
3. Unlimited revisions;
4. Pricing too low;
5. Working on spec;
6. Not working with other professionals;
7. Don’t expect jobs to walk in the door;
8. Putting all your eggs in one basket;
9. Not enough funding;
10. No business plan;

As you can see, it is a very thorough list, but I have a few more mistakes I would like to add to it:

11. Apathy
    Laziness and apathy takes many forms and usually hinders a design studio’s success. I say usually because I obviously can’t argue with the occasional video game break or studio “field trip”, but if these are regular occurrences then it could be a potential problem. In our industry, every hour a designer spends on a project is billable, so by losing those hours, the studio is essentially losing money.
12. Not Enough Experience
    It can be very risky starting a studio immediately after graduating design school. The problem is that most design schools do not teach the business basics of running a company so students start a company and then become immediately befuddled with proposals, contracts, payroll, project management and more. My suggestion is to spend a year or two working as a junior designer, another year as a creative director, then a year or two as a project manager, then another year as a business developer. I know it sounds crazy, but after this almost 8 - 10 year tour, you should have the experience and knowledge to run a studio successfully from all sides of the business.
13. Too Much Overhead
    Its natural to want the best, but when a company is starting out they sometimes can’t afford the best. These over extending examples are renting too much space or in an expensive neighborhood, buying expensive technology, and paying too many salaries.
    - As designers, we like to work in the same neighborhood with like minded creatives. The problem is that space in “artsy” neighborhoods” is now in high demand so they have become more expensive to rent in. Studio owners then have two alternatives to these pricey rents: rent less space (only what you need to survive) in an “artsy” neighborhood or move just on the outskirts of the neighborhood where the rent is probably cheaper.
    - Studios often buy the best technology that their credit can get - $3000 displays, $4000 cameras, $5000 computers. This only leads to a maxed out line of credit. Instead of buying that brand new G5, buy last seasons G4. It will work just the same.
    - Only hire on new employees when you have enough in the bank to cover their salary for the next year. It may seem extreme but have you ever had to lay someone off because you couldn’t get enough new projects in? It’s not fun!

Do these mistakes sound familiar to you? Have you seen other mistakes when starting up your own studio? Feel free to share!

Learn how to create your own retro sketchbook. I’m gonna do it this weekend and post on Monday!

Be A Design Group has debuted is first podcast!

I’ve attempted to collect a nice colection of graphic design related podcasts. What I am finding is that there do not seem to be many out there, but here is a complete listing with descriptions of what I have found so far.

Speaking of wikis, the TypoWiki over at Typophile is sure to bring you hours of enjoyment (if not days)!

If you haven’t already, you should head over to The Design Encyclopedia and see what you can contribute!