Over the weekend we had a chance to catch up with a pioneer in the world of freelance design, Jon Phillips. If you are not familiar with the name, you are probably familiar with his work. Jon is the original founder of Freelance Folder and currently runs SpyreStudios and Design Newz.

Freelane Review: Can you tell us a little bit about your background in design? What first interested you in design and where was your first job?

Jon Phillips: Sure! I'm a self-taught web-designer so I have no formal background in design or art apart from the fact that I've always been very interested in typography, colors and, in the past couple years, blogging. I didn't study design or programming, I simply have always been interested in design. My previous job was in marketing, branding and sales where I stayed for 5 years till I quit and decided to dedicate more time to design and start freelancing. I then launched my own design business at SpyreStudios.com.

FR: You have built quite an impressive empire online. For those who may be unfamiliar with your work, can you tell us what sites you operate and how they each got started?

JP: I currently run SpyreStudios, which acts as my design blog and online portfolio. I started this site because I needed an online presence and because I love blogging. It also serves as a launch pad for other projects. Having a blog is definitely a nice way to get exposure and find potential clients. So much that I've never had to advertise or spend any money on 'traditional' marketing, instead, I rely on word of mouth and social media.

I also started Design-Newz.com in February 2009. I launched this site more as a side-project at first but it quickly started receiving some great traffic and I now focus more time on it. I read so many design and development blogs on a regular basis that I thought it would be nice to have a site where I could post all the good articles and tutorials I read.

Prior to running SpyreStudios and Design-Newz, I launched FreelanceFolder.com in 2007 and worked on this blog for about a year before I sold it to my friend Mason Hipp, who also runs SmallFuel Marketing. I loved working on FreelanceFolder, and me and Mason have some awesome design projects in the works. (Stay tuned!)

FR: Do you have an opinion on design contest sites, where only one designer ends up winning and getting paid? Do you view these sites as mere competitors for potential client attention or as a threat to the design industry?

JP: I do actually! Some people even find that my opinions are a bit too strong even, but I stand by them! :)

I don't see these sites as competitors because I feel that if a client is willing to use these design contest sites to build their brand, I simply don't want to work with those clients. Design contests have been around for a long time, even before the internet. I don't see them as competitors but I do think they devalue the industry. Design contests and spec work are bad for clients and bad for designers.

I'm fine with the argument that people new to the business need to build their portfolios and find clients, but there's a hundred other ways to do this. If your car needs repair, will you ask 100 mechanics to look at it and then hire just one? Of course not! If you go to the doctor, you won't ask 25 surgeons to have a look at your liver. I believe that you should get paid for the work you do. Imagine that a hundred designers enter a design contest and submit, say 1 logo design each. And let's say those 100 designers spend 10 hours each on this (or more). That's 10 thousand hours. Are 10 thousand hours of work worth the $500 the winner gets? Nope. If you're a designer and enter 10 contests, spend 10 hours on each project and end up not winning any... that's a hundred hours lost. Not good.

At the end of the day you need to figure out where you want to take your business. There's no perfect model, but I prefer to focus on my own projects and on my network and spend time researching and finding the perfect solution my client hired me for. You can't do that with design contests.

Even when I'm looking to hire freelancers, the last place I'll check are design contest websites. I prefer finding a great designer or developer and hiring him or her based on the work in their portfolio. There's a huge difference between going to a really nice restaurant and going to McDonald's. I prefer the nice restaurant.

FR: What do you do to keep current on new trends in the industry?

JP: Like I said, I read a lot! I read tutorials and articles almost every single day. I like to visit sites like CSSMania to see what other designers are doing, but I don't necessarily base my work on what I see on these CSS galleries. They're nice to get the creative juices flowing though.

FR: What is your best piece of advice for a freelance designer who is just getting started?

JP: Focus on your network and be genuine. Don't be afraid to voice your opinions. You cannot please everyone, not everyone will like what you do, but those that do may become friends. Focus on long-term relationships rather that short-term ones.

FR: In your view, how important is it for a freelance designer to have the latest and greatest hardware and software?

JP: I think it's very important, but to a certain extent. No need to go crazy about this stuff. Of course if you're still running OS 9 and Photoshop 4.0, maybe it's time to upgrade :) I think that for as long as you can get work done and you're able to work with files other freelancers and clients send you, you're good. I'm currently using Adobe CS3, even though CS4 is out. I'll upgrade soon! But it doesn't really matter if the work you do doesn't require the upgrade and you can't justify the costs.

FR: You are part of the BuySellAds.com advertising network, which is a feat in itself since you must have greater than 100K impressions per month to submit your first site. What did it feel like to reach that point and is that when you knew that your sites were on the path to success?

JP: Being on the BSA network is great! Not only because they're very friendly and helpful but also because it makes advertisers feel more secure I guess. And they also handle all the transactions, Paypal and all. Being accepted in the BSA network was definitely a good feeling. I've been with them for quite some time now and I've been very satisfied.

FR: In your opinion, how important is it to attend design conferences and events (such as FOWD and the HOW Design Conference for example), especially since many are so widely covered online?

JP: I think it's very important but not just for the content of the conferences but also for the connections and friends you can make. When you put 200, 500 or 1000 designers and like-minded people in a room you can be sure connections will be made. I didn't attend a lot of conferences, but the ones I've been too were great and I'm still in contact with some of the people I've met there. Definitely worth it.

FR: All designers have bad client experiences at one point or another. Is there a particular bad experience you can share that might help another designer avoid the same problem?

JP: Yes of course! I don't feel very comfortable talking about bad experiences though since in most cases I prefer to keep this private to avoid frictions and bad vibes. One thing I can say though is you should always under-promise and over-deliver. If you think a project will take 4 weeks to do, say it'll take 5 weeks and deliver in 3. This way you get paid faster and your client is happy. I've had one project that was supposed to be a 2 months gig that turned out to be an 8 months project. You don't want that to happen. Set clear deadlines and try to deliver before the due date.

FR: Have you spotted any new web design trends that will become the "next big thing" in 2010?


JP: Not really actually hehe I guess I prefer to take a look at what people are doing but I don't analyze the trends or anything. Lately we've seen many more designs featuring big and bold typography, though it has been around for ages. I think one design trend that is slowly rising is the use of 3D effects and shadowed boxes that give a really interesting depth effect. A good example of this would be the headings on From The Couch.