Keeping up with design can be hard because its continuing evolution can quickly pass right by us. Ten years ago, Rule29 was not designing web sites regularly, nor did we know what social media was. In fact, we were just getting the hang of Adobe Photoshop 4.0 and Mac OS 9. Today, we are well versed in web design and constantly experimenting with social media even though we never saw that coming. Our industry evolves rapidly, and if you blink too long it’s easy to miss interesting innovations, trends and changes. As a sober designer in our or any other industry, it is important to keep up on the latest and greatest so your business can innovate and grow along with it. Here are a couple of ideas that may help you stay on top of things:

1 - Put Employees In Charge

Most designers, and I am sure this is true in other professions, really love certain aspects of their job. For example, if someone on your team really enjoys learning the latest software features in Adobe CS4 and cannot wait to upgrade… then charge him or her with sharing their new tips and tricks with the team. By giving ownership in playing around and uncovering the new bells & whistles - and presenting them to the team - you empower your employees and help educate everyone. Do this for every software upgrade! By giving each employee time to research, learn, and share the things they are passionate about, your team and business will grow.

2 - Set an education budget

Set up a yearly education budget for each team member to use on professional events, books, or even field trips. Having a $500 employee-education allowance can be a very big return on investment as a business owner. Allowing your staff to decide on events to attend or which books to read can lead to fresh ideas, new connections and a great involvement in the community - not to mention that it’s great to just get out of the office every so often!

3 - Put A Schedule In Place

It seems easy to keep up when you put it in terms of subscribing to a couple of magazines, buying new software, or tackling a new trend, but often times those things will just pass us by. Plus, if you just jump in and upgrade and let the related books you’ve purchased just collect dust on your shelves, you’re not benefiting from your investments. The easiest way to make sure you stay on top of our ever-changing profession is to implement a schedule. By downloading our starter calendar below, you can keep track of simple monthly tasks that will help you stay on top of events, reading, and changes in design.

Check out this Cal as a starting point

Also check out these sites:

Newsgator - RSS reader for all of your favorite blogs - great for managing a ton of feeds

AIGA - Great design events - Be sure to check out the business series

UnderConsideration - Design links from our friend Armin ( soon to be an archive only… )

CreativeCow - Podcasts with great software tips