Creativity and Change
Creative thinking requires us to cease from thinking as we always have. This is neither automatic nor easy because we automatically default to doing that which requires the least amount of effort.
Alvalyn Lundgren
branding
ARTICLES.
Tips and Insights on Mission, Mindset, Mechanics, and Marketing for Freelance Creatives
Property Rights
Although it’s a common assumption, clients are not automatically entitled to a designer’s working files. The tools, preliminary concepts and layouts remain the property of
Alvalyn Lundgren
12 Rules for Freelance Success
Setting and maintaining boundaries will help you avoid relationships and circumstances that are potentially harmful.
Alvalyn Lundgren
Alvalyn Lundgren
The Art of Influence: 5 Ways to Affect Your Outcomes and Attract Clients
If you want to be successful, you need to be influential. Influence can be positive or negative, and everyone has influence. The key for success
Alvalyn Lundgren
Unpaid Internships Are A Form of Spec Work
Why is spec work so prevalent in the design profession when it’s not in other professions? Increasingly, companies – creative businesses included – are offering
Alvalyn Lundgren
How To Write An Effective Creative Brief
Creative freelancers can save time and avoid miscommunication when working with their if they use an effective creative brief in their process. Simply talking about project expectations
Alvalyn Lundgren
Why Freelancers Should Not Pitch
As an independent creative, you get to decide how you will attract clients and projects. One option is via Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Whether or
Alvalyn Lundgren
Don’t Rely On Referral Business
It’s affirming when clients refer new business to you. Their recommendations are a testament to your expertise and experience. For a long time referrals alone
Alvalyn Lundgren
How To Work With Clients
10 Best Practices For Building Reputation and Relationships When you accept a client’s project, you need to make it your own. While you’re not creating for
Alvalyn Lundgren
How To Get Clients To Pay You
What do you do when you a client refuses to pay you? According to Freelancers Union nearly 50% of freelancers were stiffed by clients in the past 12
Alvalyn Lundgren
Doing Good Work and Working for Good
On his Dear Design Student blog on Medium, Mike Monteiro, design director at Mule Design, author and speaker, discusses designers and their ethics. He addresses
Alvalyn Lundgren
Being Remarkable
My friend, Mary, was in a community theatre production of The Mikado, and was asked to write her bio for the printed program. This being her first theatrical
Alvalyn Lundgren
How Much Will It Cost?
All too often a business or organization seeks a designer to execute an untested, unrefined idea as quickly and cheaply as possible. A business that’s design-oriented will not regard design as an afterthought but as the basis for its marketing communications and brand awareness.
Alvalyn Lundgren
The 7 Basic Elements of Your Brand Strategy
Simply creating graphic assets and promotional materials is not enough to manage your brand. You need a strategy — a plan, method, or series of actions for obtaining a specific goal or result. Here are 7 basic elements to get started.
Alvalyn Lundgren
Risky Business
© Alvalyn Lundgren. All international rights reserved. Risk. It’s a small word with big impact. Taking risks involves change and the unknown. We’re usually not
AlvalynCreative
10 Ups and Downs of Freelancing
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Freelancing provides more freedom than any other type of work structure. With that freedom come the responsibilities of ownership and reputation. When we choose to
Alvalyn Lundgren
From the Client’s Point of View
From the client’s point of view, there are two crucial criteria in deciding what designer is awarded the project: 1. Does the creative understand what’s
Alvalyn Lundgren
7 Things You Must Do To Start Your Creative Freelance Business
With the excitement and anticipation of embarking on a freelance career, we can easily get caught up in the ideas of freedom, of getting paid
Alvalyn Lundgren
How To Use Change Orders To Manage Freelance Projects
When I first learned about the power of change orders it changed everything in my workflow. When I implemented the practice, I actually began looking
Alvalyn Lundgren
Green Scheduling: 6 Tips for Sustaining Your Creative Time
Design your time. Time is wasted when we do the wrong thing at the wrong time. It’s easier to keep your time boundaries and your well-being intact if you plan ahead.
Alvalyn Lundgren
Stepping Out: How To Get Unstuck
Creativity requires action and effort to actually make something. We can mull over our ideas all we want, but to make a difference, at some point
Alvalyn Lundgren
Using LinkedIn Profinder To Find Freelance Gigs
This article was updated on February 8, 2017 by the author. Being always on the lookout for new client opportunities, I thought I’d give LinkedIn
Alvalyn Lundgren
Making the Most of a Creative Review
You can get more out of a creative review than just a go-ahead to move to the next phase of the project. In coming together
Alvalyn Lundgren