Quote Of The Week: Randy Pausch

"But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people."

-Randy Pausch

Why $0.00 Is The Future Of Business

These balmy summer days have been great for taking work outside-to a café, the park or the rooftop deck. Without big distractions, it's a good time to get caught up on correspondence, clean out the email inbox, organize bookmarks and the like. In so doing, I have become reacquainted and revitalized by some great articles from earlier in the year, like this one from Wired Magazine's March issue: Why $0.00 Is The Future Of Business. It's a must read.

Update: I promised to stop saying "its's a must read". But this one really is.

Work for Free Scam Busted...Spectacularly

You respond to a job advert, prepare for the meeting/interview, then put hours in developing a proposal only to discover that the company:

A) wants you to develop the project a little more before they "decide", or

B) they won't give you a retainer to start work, or

B) pay you an up-front deposit or 

C) want you to work "on spec" until the final product is delivered or service is complete? 

If this has ever happened to you then you'll enjoy reading Carrie Cantwell's account of justice served.

Critical: What You Need to Know About Work-For-Hire

This blog is dedicated to supporting design in all of its forms and sharing in the process of designing. There are many pitfalls out there-as there are opportunities for success-but today I want to bring to your attention a nasty bit of business: the work for hire clause. 

Stopworkforhire.com is a website devoted to bringing awareness to what work-for-hire or work made for hire means and why its being used by many companies. 

"According to the U.S. Copyright Act, work-for-hire is a provision that allows a very narrow exception to the basic rule that the contractor who creates the work inherently owns the copyright to the work created. Work-for-hire grants authorship and ownership of the work produced to the individual or company who commissioned the work. Work-for hire is a means for a company to treat a contractor as a full time employee without having to provide any of the benefits of employment to the contractor as 'compensation' for loss of copyright and any future income the company may generate from reuse of the work produced". With this clause and your signature, it "effectively strips any and all rights to any and all work the contractor created while working under such an agreement. 'All' work includes sketches, doodles, layer files, prep files, finished art. You can't even use the work that you created in your own portfolio." 

Although the website cites the U.S. Copyright Act, its still an issue for those working in Canada, U.K and many other places around the world. 

UPDATE: Professional Artists League, the organization behind the website has posted a defense of work-for-hire. Its a must read!

Perspectives: Keeping the Love For What You Do

The ever fascinating Ben Stein wrote a thoughtful piece published in last week's New York Times Business section. Entitled Lessons in Love, By Way of Economics, Mr. Stein says "economics is the study of the allocation of scarce goods and services. What could be more scarcer or more precious than love? It is rare, hard to come by and often fragile...so here, in the form of a few new rules, is a little amalgam of the two fields: the economics of love." Now before you roll your eyes, consider this: if, as designers, knowledge workers and creative entrepreneurs, you broaden the meaning of the word 'love' as it appears in the article to encapsulate the passion or love for what you do, the lessons or rules remain true. Here's an example: "the returns in love situations are roughly proportional to the amount of time and devotion invested. The amount of love you get from an investment is correlated, if only roughly, to the amount of yourself you invest in the relationship." 

Setbacks, Trip-Ups & Amnesia: How To Manage Life's Minor Tragedies

"Not all setbacks are of epic proportion. Often, all it takes is a casual insult or silly faux pas to knock you off course. Those trip-ups can snowball-a barista snaps at you, leading you to be short with a coworker, which turns into a fight with your partner, and ...well, you get the idea." Sound familiar? If your life has been anything like mine this last month, you'll appreciate 11 Everyday Disasters And How To Fix Them as much as I did. The expert fast fixes and pro-active advice in this article originally from prevention.com features bounce-back advice for such crucial conundrums as flubbing an introduction, getting bullied, when someone else takes credit for your ideas and sending an errant emails.

Moving Daze

I apologize for the lack of postings. Patchy internet connection and moving has made work almost impossible. I'll be back shortly!