Basically the idea of a meeting is simple: it’s when two or more people get together to discuss one or multiple topics. It can be in a formal or informal setting. It can be among people within an organization or between people in more than one organization. The concept of the meeting is ancient. At their most basic level, meetings are held to bring people together to talk about things. There can be good reasons to have meetings and bad reasons to have meetings, both of which we’ll discuss. There are different kinds of meetings, too, some of which are inherently more productive than others. Every meeting you have with clients should have an agenda, even if it’s only in your head. Meetings are held for a reason, and there are certain things that need to be addressed. Ask your client what the purpose of the meeting is (if they’ve requested it) so that you have a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished.

Being a web designer is sometimes more than just creating a beautiful, functional website. You may have to play different roles depending upon the situation and the client you’re working with. One of the more common roles you’ll have to play is that of a teacher. It could be as simple as explaining how to make a website does what your clients want or need. Often, though, there’s a part of teaching that is a bit more nuanced. There will be times when you work with a client who is not particularly tech-savvy. And, as is often the case when someone is trying to accomplish something that is a little outside of their expertise, they can be quite uneasy with the process. I experience the exact same feeling when something needs fixed around the house. How do you go about making a client feel comfortable in this type of situation? It involves being part teacher and a little bit therapist.

Freelance work means that your business is all about you. You’re the sole person in charge of making the tough decisions. You’ll decide how to market your business, which services to offer and how much to charge. While that can give you a sense of freedom and power, there is a risk to it all. Having the power to make those tough decisions doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re automatically an expert at making them. It’s quite possible to make the wrong choice and end up in a bad situation. I’ve been out there freelancing since 1999. Starting out, I felt as if I were smart enough to be successful. In fact, I was a 21 year old kid who had absolutely no clue about the importance of the decisions I was making. I didn’t fully realize what I was getting into. With that in mind, I’m going to share some situations that I’ve personally been in that were less than ideal (and some tips on avoiding them). Hopefully, it will help to prevent you from becoming entangled in something that isn’t good for you or your business.

When a team works smoothly, it reflects on the final results. Thus, keeping your designer team happy yet structured is imperative to the success of any creative agency. Get yourself a project management tool and apply any of the tips above that caught your attention. Nonetheless, the best way to improve your workflow is to ask your team members about the most upsetting issues and ask for them for ideas! Getting your project organized and easily manageable is always a challenge when working as a part of a team. The problem reaches a whole new level when it concerns a creative project. Creativity blossoms the most when it’s unlimited while collaborative projects crumble without rules. So what to do with a creative agency project that requires teamwork and collaboration? Organization and leadership, if executed correctly, doesn’t have to affect the creative process. Here are nine practical tips to keep your designer team organized no matter the task at hand!

Picture it: 2010; you’re working full-time as a digital designer for one of the world’s largest advertising agencies. The paycheck is steady, the hours are (somewhat) flexible, and you really never have to take work home with you. To sweeten the pot, there are plenty of perks–free swag from clients and swanky company parties to enjoy. You take for granted the fact that you don’t need to worry about where the work is coming from. That’s someone else’s job. You love your job and your co-workers, but something substantial is missing. Perhaps you are dissatisfied with what you are designing or, even more frustrating, you can’t take ownership over the end results. What is a talented, hard-working web professional to do? That was me a few years ago, before starting my creative digital agency, and something needed to change.

Learn how to better communicate and design so that developers will love you. It will speed up projects and make work life easier. And it’s not a matter of bringing candy to meetings either. You can make developers love you by making slight changes to the way you work.The biggest problem between designers and developers is that they often work in bubbles. The individuals or teams don’t start talking about a project until the first draft of the design is finished. Then there’s a handoff from the designer to the developer. That’s just not the way to work. Designers and developers should be involved together from the beginning to talk about how a project will come together. While the designer might focus on color and typefaces and imagery, the developer can provide insight into usability, function and performance. Designers and developers should have a good idea of what the other side looks like. Designers should understand enough code and usability to speak with developers and understand challenges; developers should have a little knowledge of design theory so they can make suggestions when design ideas aren’t right for the web.

Everyone involved in building a website wants it to stand out from other websites. Clients want to stand out from the competition and leave a favorable impression on potential customers; designers strive for originality and to compete with other designers; back-end developers want a success story in their portfolios and an original or different-looking site can help with that. And we want it bad. There’s a cottage industry of people writing articles designed to help us design more original-feeling sites. I’ve even seen articles about “Trends to Make Your Site Stand Out”, and it feels like at least one of those words is sorely misused. Goodness knows I’ve obsessed over it in the past. I know the feeling that your work just isn’t good enough because man, the last couple of sites you made really felt the same. Where’s the inspiration? Where’s the creativity? Well, originality isn’t the be-all and end-all. If a site that feels the same as many others gets the results you want, that’s not a bad thing. But you can create sites that stand out. Consistently producing original—or at least original-feeling—work doesn’t happen by inspiration or by luck. It happens with planning, and a lot of effort. Here are five approaches you can use to make your work stand out, with their pros and cons. I’m not going to include a ton of examples, because the idea is to not copy other sites.