#73 If you’re not sketching enough, start collecting images or ideas on your phone. Visual reminders are just as important.

I’ve sketched or doodled as long as I can remember. But, as the busyness of  life, work, etc. has built up, my sketching has decreased. I have always felt very strongly that nothing is better then pen to paper, and when I don’t have time to sketch, I get frustrated.

But then along came the iPhone. I never thought I would use a camera phone. It has decent resolution but is often blurry, lacking a flash for low-light scenes. However, as I started taking shots to remember well-designed stuff, funny scenes, and various people or places that inspired me, I found myself stockpiling mounds of inspiration. And then I realized that it wasn’t just a resource, but a visual sketching of sorts.

So, if you get bummed out that you don’t sketch more, buy some cool photo apps, shoot whatever you can, and have fun with them. It still doesn’t bring me the same feeling as when I can actually sketch, but it is equally as cool in a different way. Here are some apps we are currently digging:

ShakeIt Photo: shakeitphoto.com
CrossProcess: crossprocessapp.com

There are also some great sketching apps that you can get crazy with if you do have some time or don’t have paper nearby. Plus with the new iPad coming out, it makes apps like brushes even more exciting to try. Go to this site and see what can be done with brushes - pretty amazing.

Brushes: brushesapp.com

What are your favorite photo habits, apps, or other ways to capture inspiration?

We are continuing our series on a topic that is especially important this year: making yourself irreplaceable. How are you going to do that?

So we are discussing four main topics to think about:

1 Relationship King
2 Service Superstar
3 Industry Ally
4 Valuable Partner

NUMBER TWO: Service Superstar

If your clients don’t get their information in a timely manner or you treat them like anyone else, how will you #beirreplaceable to them? We all like to feel special and heard. So what are you doing to make sure you can respond in a seemingly unique and thorough way? There are many ways to up your service to clients, but we want to talk about one of the most important ways here: timely and special communication.

Let’s talk about making your clients feel special. Email communication is easy and fast, but does it make your clients feel like one of a kind? One of the great ways to stay on top of things like estimates, schedules, proposals, green reporting, user names and passwords, etc., is to make templates of these items that you can customize on the fly. We have about 30 different forms that we use to respond back to the client in a much more memorable way than just shooting them an email. Make PDFs with some of your branding, and areas for theirs that they can save, print out and generally feel good about. The great thing about these artifacts is after you create them, you have records of the information as well.

A another crucial piece to the service puzzle is making your communication with clients faster. Don’t make them wait a week for something that in their minds should only take a day or two. To do this, you need to figure out a system of tasks, schedules and job tracking that will help. Now there are a million options out there, but DS recommends the products from 37signals. They are not free, but they do have great functionality, some good pricing options, and continual upgrading. We have seen many large and small companies utilize Basecamp, a project management and collaboration tool, and Highrise, a great CRM. Both are great options. For more details on 37signals’ full suite of options, click here. (We will write soon as well about all the great options from Google, but that is a whole post in itself).

Whatever your method is of tracking and staying on top of work, our point is do it in a way that will help you save time, keep up to speed, and respond quickly to your clients. Don’t give anyone an edge on a relationship that you have worked hard at developing. We hear from people all the time about clients who accuse creatives of not being able to manage jobs efficiently. Don’t fit into that category, and take some time to tweak your service so you can be a superstar.

How are you irreplaceable with your service?

#72 Want to be better at conversations or more interesting in meetings? How to talk about things other than the weather.

Not everyone is a great conversationalist, and even the best have a tough day now and then. Plus, we’ve all had a client that is challenging to talk to. So, what sort of things can you do to make better conversation? Here are four ideas:

1) Be interesting by doing interesting things
“Interesting” can be simple or complex. Great conversations can come from things as simple as going to a gallery opening, book reading, or going to a concert. Or for more extreme conversation topics, try running a marathon or sky diving, running with the bulls, or inventing the next great micro brew - I think you get the idea. Talk about, blog about, and share your interesting experiences.

2) Talk to yourself first
Sometimes I go though the steps of an upcoming meeting in my office or in the car. I work through possible questions that may arise or topics I can bring up if there is a lull. This exercise helps me visualize my presentation as a whole as well as prepare for any surprises that come to light. Doing this makes me more comfortable, which makes my presentation go better and keeps the conversation flowing throughout the entire meeting.

3) Read interesting stuff
I have found that my conversations with clients, or anyone in general, improve when I set time aside to read. It doesn’t have to just be books. Read up on your favorite blogs or magazines, and suddenly you’ll have a lot more to talk about. Plus, being up on current trends, technologies, etc. has led me to more work as it results in deeper conversations and better relationships.

4) Do your homework
Nothing beats research before a meeting. Reviewing your clients’ materials, their competition, or learning a little about their industry simply adds to the understanding and depth a meeting can have. Sure, this is a no-brainer. But if you are like me, it’s easy to lose track of time and never get around to doing it. With the ability to Google anything, getting the latest about your client’s industry or company is easy, so make sure it doesn’t get brushed aside.

So, what do you do to interact better with your clients?

Your theme, especially this year, should be to make yourself irreplaceable. How are you going to do that?

The design and visual communication field boasts over 55,000 different companies in the U.S. When you add freelancers, crowd sourcing, and the person who still has CorelDRAW, the competition is steep, especially for clients that may have more pressure than ever to watch the bottom line. Of course, if we lose work to the guy with CorelDRAW, we probably didn’t want that client anyway, but I’m just saying there are a lot of us out there.

So how do you #beirreplaceable? We’ve got a list of several great reminders, and we will be covering one at a time for the next few weeks. Short and sweet, and something for you to think about. Some of the topics will be:

1  Relationship King
2  Service Superstar
3  Industry Ally
4  Valuable Partner

NUMBER ONE: Relationship King

If your clients don’t think they or their needs matter to you, how will you #beirreplaceable to them? Close your email and pick up the phone. Send a (real) card on their birthday. Remember their name and spell it right. Know what hobbies they have or how many kids they have. Pay for lunch. Send them interesting links about business related items, or shows, or things they are interested in. Connect them to other clients when there is a good business match. Send them a holiday gift – maybe for an unexpected holiday. But more than anything be genuine. The little things matter, and if you do not know yet, relationships are king.

What are you doing to stand out and #beirreplaceable? Any of these things? What do you do in client relationships that has been most successful?

Learn your client’s “new normal”, because it’s not business as usual anymore.

Our clients’ businesses, and therefore our careers, have changed forever. Sure, we can attribute some of this change to the explosion of social media, lightning fast communication speeds, and the new economy. But the bigger and longer-lasting change is in the foundational nature of how our clients perceive and value design.

As you know, our clients are still under the same pressures as always, such as looking good to the boss or shareholders, being profitable, showing measurable success, and more. But the stakes are higher now; budgets are tighter. This applies to both them and us. So how do we become valuable in this new environment?

Our ability to show clients more strategy, metrics and research is more valuable than ever, and I think this is good for us. However, when we started our design businesses, these really weren’t key areas of focus, were they? Sure, we thought we’d need to create an occasional brief, do some client meetings or frankenstein some things now and then, but we didn’t count on having to stay on top of technology, designing in both print and online environments, doing more work for less money, and the list goes on. Now don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining, just explaining. See, this is our “new normal.” In addition to design, we need to stay up on global innovation and pressures in order to remain relevant to our clients. Your clients’ businesses have changed, and they will continue to change faster than ever before. As their partner, you need to understand this and help them manage it. You need to understand their points of pain, and you also need to recognize where their industry is headed and brainstorm on keeping them on track going forward. Go to their tradeshows, read their trade pubs, visit their competitors’ websites, and gather info from their vendors and parallel industries. A few years ago, it was all about showing a process that gave value to design. The strategy was packaging that process and “selling” it to clients. Well, our process is more complex and valuable than ever and “selling it” requires showing value and results beyond just design. So talk to your clients and come up with ways of tracking success and understanding the new pressures they’re facing in this new economy. It will pay off for you, too.

#71 Busy or bad day? Like Grandpa said, your response is your responsibility.

Your Grandpa may not have said that to you, but it’s true. All too often we get going so fast that we tend to not see too far past ourselves. This often leads to us being a bit short, forgetful, or just obviously not present in a conversation or meeting. If you are having a crazy or even a bad day, YOU are in control of how that affects your interactions, whether they be with co-workers, clients, strangers, family or the FedEx guy. Does it really take that much extra energy to smile, write a simple greeting with your message, take a breath or be cordial? On the flip side, if you don’t take the time to be polite, the damage control could be way harder to deal with.

We are all guilty of this from time to time, so here are three things to think about:

1) At work, tell your co-workers if you are stressed out or having a bad day, mainly so your bad juju doesn’t mess with the environment and people know you’re aware of your ‘tude. Oftentimes, letting people know helps you relax and get over what’s bugging you.

2) Even if you are in a hurry, you have time to add a friendly greeting or signature to your emails. In fact, you could make a couple templatized greetings or signatures to help you stay in the green.

3) Smile. Look at someone in the eyes. Put your iPhone away. Just take a minute to really listen, hear and cordially respond back.

I’m not saying you can’t have a bad day, but treating others with respect is always the right thing to do.

Cameron Sinclair, an architect and founder of Architecture for Humanity, is a past TED Prize winner. His most recent talk gives a different perspective of the financial and construction meltdown through the “boom and bust” refugees. His presentation questions us with an undeniable truth: at the bottom of the matter, the most sustainable approach to work values human life and rights above all else.

In your work, where have you faced ethical issues? With your employees or employer? With your clients or coworkers? Tell us any stories or responses you have experienced.

It’s always interesting to me how things work in cycles. It wasn’t too long ago that everyone said, “You have to have a website; everyone who is anyone has one.” And to a certain extent, at least nowadays, that is true. Recently, you see the same thing happening with social networking. Do you have a Facebook page? A twitter account? Are you LinkedIn? And we see a lot of clients asking for those, just because everyone else has them. Ahh, peer pressure.

We do agree that our clients (and you) should make use of these various communication vehicles. However, like a website, it needs to be done for the right reasons and should be analyzed in the correct way. Otherwise, all social networking will do for you is drain your resources.

So, why do you want to do it? If it’s just to get a lot of followers, your efforts will produce little fruit. But if you use twitter to spark conversations about a particular area of interest, promote your culture and attract clients, if it’s for personal education or connection to certain topics, now you are talking something more strategic. But there are several rules of thumb that this will all always boil down to:

1) STRATEGY: What are your goals? What is your strategy? Does it work for your culture? Is it for customer feedback, more transparency, or research? Outlining your strategy enables you to measure success and know how and when to evolve.

2) CONTENT: Content is king! Without good content, your network will become stale. Have a plan. It can evolve, but have a plan.

3) CONSISTENCY: These forms of communication need consistent updating. If you don’t have a plan or the horsepower to update, reply, and interact, it would be better not to start at all. ( Also, a bonus rule of thumb: start small, then build. This will help you keep things consistent.)

If you figure out these three items for you and your clients, you are off to a great start.

In an upcoming post, we will talk about how to use social networking to build your business. In the interim, what has worked and not worked for you or your clients in this area?

#70 Today, stop and look at something differently.

Everyday we wake up, hit the snooze, workout…well, maybe…and make our way to our job. We go through whatever routine gets us going in the morning. Tea, coffee, check the email, and so on. We may have had this routine for several months or several years. So my question is, when is the last time you switched things up? Taken a different way to work? Went in early, or late (or on time)? Switched from coffee to tea, had pie for breakfast, pulled over to watch the sunrise?

If we think about it, routine permeates our lives. Sure, we may have crazy schedules that change from day to day, but we’ve developed certain ways of responding that have become habits. Maybe trying something new would change our the way we live and work for the better. Do you ever look at your work upside down?

Try these things for a new view: dust off your sketchbook. Or, sketch with crayons instead of pen or pencil. Actually take a lunch. (Some of you may, and for that you get a high five.) Share a project with someone. Take a walk. Work at Starbucks for a part of the day. Or, to look at your day upside down in a literal sense, lay on the floor to sketch or brainstorm. By doing these things, you’ll get an outsider’s view on your work life, and you’ll see much more clearly how you can improve things.

For starters, try this exercise. we will be posting more like this, so stay tuned!

It looks like a scribble. With a blank piece of paper and a pen or pencil, close your eyes and scribble all over the paper. Make the scribble as random as possible and scribble for as long or as little as you like. Open your eyes and look at what is on the paper. Now comes the fun part! Turn that scribble into something recognizable. Look at the positive AND negative space. Identify the shapes within the shapes. Recognize repeating patterns. Use you imagination and have fun! Thanks to pal Stefan Mumaw for exercise help - see more here.

What do you do to switch things up? We want to hear.

I would be willing to guess most of us think that a creative retreat is a good idea. Whether it’s just you or the whole team, it’s worth more than anything it would actually “cost” you while out of the office to take the time to recharge, get inspired, and to just have fun and be creative. Sadly, more times than not, it just doesn’t happen. Here are some thoughts to change that and help your retreat be successful.

1) PLAN IT
Just having the idea for a retreat or getting together with some Play Doh is not going to make your getaway successful. Plan it like you would a project. Set a goal, a strategy, a time line, and create a great structure to the day. Most importantly, get a date on the calendar so it actually happens, and plan your projects around it.

2) INCLUDE EVERYBODY
Once you have your plan, share some of your ideas with the team. Get their thoughts and suggestions and allow everyone to be a part of it in someway. If you have a big group, consider splitting the day up and let different people own different activities to help run the day. The more involvement and organization the better your retreat can be.

3) GET OUT OF YOUR OFFICE
Equally important to the agenda, planning and goal of the day is the location. Whenever possible, go off site. Some places may have a slight fee, so be creative with where to look if that is a hindrance. Consider a local park, library, community center, museum or favorite restaurant. If those aren’t right for the whole gig, add an extra little field trip to the retreat to foster team building. Consider bowling, outside creative assignment, or a great place to eat.

4) PRIME YOUR TEAM FOR INSPIRATION
Once you have the day planned, send out an agenda to all participants to get them excited. Additionally, depending on your goals, you can start promoting the day by asking questions, giving early assignments, or telling them what they need to do to prep. This will help all involved realize that this is a day to take seriously, but also one that will be fun.

5) ALLOW ENOUGH TIME TO DISCUSS, REVIEW, AND HAVE FUN
Like most things in life, your retreat will only be as good as you plan it. And a bad retreat will do more harm than good, so take it seriously. In fact make sure that you have all involved give you feedback on the day. Ask them what they thought, what they enjoyed and what they would change for your next one. Use those suggestions and ideas in planning your next retreat.

In the coming weeks we will share some activities for a retreat or creative exercise. Until then, tell us if you have retreats. If so what are some tips, or maybe some missteps from your experience?