Propaganda Party: The Pop Stalin Design Manifesto

Running your own business can be difficult and scary. Though there are plenty of design blogs out there, mine included, I don’t often come across many that deal specifically with running a design-oriented business. That all changed today when I came across two new blogs from my stint as a guest author at Sessions’ Notes on Design.

GraphicDefine

The first is GraphicDefine which is written by Daniel Schutzsmith, former Business Manager of The Chopping Block in New York City. According to GraphicDefine, “GraphicDefine focuses on the business of graphic design by covering topics such as client relations, project management, new business, self-promotion, studio management and the creative process.” Some example post titles from GraphicDefine:

• Sometimes You Need to Say “No” to an Opportunity
• Are You Ready to Open Your Own Design Studio?
• Difficult Clients And How to Handle Them

Business of Design Online (BoDo)

The second blog I found on GraphicDefine’s site, the Business of Design Online (BoDo). “BoDo is where to come for practical business advice. Maybe you’ve already made a range of expensive mistakes. Maybe you are trying to avoid the possibilities. No prob, your-mistakes-are-us.

BoDo is grass-roots-get-down-and-dirty-love-yo-mamma. We’ll talk about serious subjects such as “When to bring in a PITA clause,” “How to keep your clients” and “How to fire a client.” As well as lighter fare like “Working in your undies” and “How to tell when your down time is up.”

BoDo looks fairly new but it will be interesting to keep an eye on it. One complaint I do have about BoDo is their blog layout. It’s kind of frenetic and hard to read. However, I know I’ll be adding both to my RSS reader.

Are there any good design business blogs you are aware of?