Category Archives: Subscriber Exclusives
Arsenal Army Members, we hope you can join us for WMC: Off-The-Grid! Read More ›
Hey Arsenal Members, we cannot wait to meet up with all of you for our next Google Hangout!
This month, we’ll be chatting with Wesley Hoffman, founder of Treehouse Networkshop. Wesley believes in the power of meeting people in person. After a few years of working in customer service and sales, across several different industries, he decided to follow his true passion: connecting and motivating people. Wesley can field questions about how the power of connecting with others can truly enhance your business and how to network (even if it’s the last thing you want to do.) You won’t want to miss it.
If you love this hangout, we’ll make it a monthly thing. Hope to see you all there!
Find us at this link on Wednesday, May 23rd from 6:30pm to 7:30pm EST. If you’d like to be added to the calendar invite, just send Heather an email at [email protected] and she’ll add you!
Pricing your design work
Thanks to all who attended our second Google Hangout, featuring Go Media President William Beachy and Account Manager Lauren Hudac. During the Hangout, Bill and Lauren fielded questions about pricing design work and how to value that work. We really enjoyed having our Arsenal Members on the chat – such great questions came up and a wonderful discussion was had. Listen to that conversation below and stay tuned to our Private Facebook Group for our next Google Hangout!
A Talk by Lisa Lorek
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest talk, we highlight hand letterer Lisa Lorek. Lisa Lorek is a lettering artist, muralist, and designer born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Read More ›
A Talk by Stephanie Irigoyen
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest talk, we highlight designer Stephanie Irigoyen. Currently residing in Tallahassee, FL, Stephanie is a media specialist for the Florida Center for Interactive Media. Founder of Design Week Tallahassee, she believes strongly in community and in building a better city for yourselves. We brought Stephanie onto the stage after meeting her at WMC Fest 2017 and really loving her energy and enthusiasm for the fest.
During “Nobody Knows,” Stephanie touches on her background, the topic of depression and creativity and some tips for pushing yourself to move outside your comfort zone.
Watch and be motivated to move yourself forward now:
Learn more about Stephanie: Official Site | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Retro Supply‘s Dustin Lee shares with us how he went from $35k in debt, creatively frustrated, with his first child on the way, to making over $125k in one year on Creative Market (and making a full-time living selling digital products every year since.) No fluff in this talk. It’s filled with big mindset shifts that will help you easily uncover profitable creative ideas to show you how to make a semi-passive income each month and eliminate the work you hate.
Learn more about how to make money as a freelance designer in this WMC Fest 8 video here:
Learn more about Dustin on his site, Retro Supply, and connect with him on social media –
Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Vimeo | Pinterest | Instagram
Monthly Design Challenge
Hey Arsenal Army! We are so proud to present our first design challenge, the Elysium Poster Project. This monthly design challenge concept was created in our Facebook Group. Read More ›
Weapons of Mass Creation Fest Promo Code
It’s almost time for Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, the premier art, design, and music conference in the Midwest! Read More ›
An Idiot’s Guide to Not Replacing your Boss with 12 Bosses
Mark Brickey’s guide to truly working for yourself instead of quitting your job to only find that you now have 12 bosses instead of one. He covers creating additional revenue streams, passive income projects, creating long-term personal projects that scale, making time for your own brand and using personal work as leverage for better client projects and rates. This talk is available exclusively to Arsenal members, so become one today. Read More ›
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation talk, we hear from RA Washington, writer, musician and community worker living in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway District. Read More ›
Isabel Urbina Peña
Today’s WMC Fest 7 talk comes to us from Isabel Urbina Peña. Isabel is a letterer, graphic & type designer originally from Venezuela and based in Brooklyn, NY. She has worked at Penguin Random House, C&G Partners LLC, American Museum of Natural History, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas and for clients like The New York Times, Harper Collins, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Variety, Campari & Diner Journal. In 2015, she was named a New Visual Artist: 15 under 30 by PRINT Magazine. In her spare time, she teaches workshops, designs typefaces & zines and runs Yes Equal, a database of creative women.
Everybody Else is Already Taken:
More Isabel: Official Site | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation talk, Co-Founder, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Go Media, Wilson Revehl is up to bat.
After leading Cleveland’s Go Media through its best worst year ever, Wilson Revehl packed up and took his talents to some beach in Florida. There he learned sand ruins laptops and sunburns smack of the apocalypse. This WMC, Wilson returns from South Florida to Cleveland. Unlike LeBron, he’s not rich, famous, tall or good at sports (or sports metaphors). But he has realized how to win in design and wants to share what it takes.
Wilson Revehl is the Co-Founder, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Go Media. He is a veteran Graphic Designer and Web Developer with an early career dating back to the .com bubble of the late nineties. He has been involved in hundreds of website and web application launches of all scales. Wilson’s expertise is in front-end and back-end development with a specialty in PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and eCommerce. He is a WordPress enthusiast with countless plugins and customizations in the portfolio. Mr. Revehl manages our Amazon Cloud infrastructure, PCI Compliance and SaaS platforms. When not “sitting in front of the glowing box”, you can often find Wilson floating in the pool or on the water with his lovely wife and two kids. We think he was probably a manatee in a former life, or aspires to be one someday.
Enjoy Go Media’s Best Worst Year Ever:
How to Become the Best Graphic Designer Ever >>
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation talk, Cleveland design legend and WMC Fest emcee Aaron Sechrist’s topic is, “How to Become the Greatest Graphic Artist that Ever Lived…Like Ever). And believe us, he should know. Read More ›
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest talk, we are treated to some quality time with Joshua “Jay” Wallace, illustrator and graphic designer for the Columbus Crew Soccer Club. Read More ›
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 7 talk release, Jeral Tidwell talks Copyright, Analog Art, and Thinking Like a Badass. Read More ›
A WMC Talk by Jillian Adel
Today, we’re proud to release another talk from our design conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Festival 7, which happened this past August 2016, in sunny Cleveland, Ohio. This talk features Jillian Adel. Jillian is an Art Director, Designer and Typographic Illustrator who specializes in brand & communication design, key art, and typography. After years in NYC agency life. she made her way to Los Angeles to pursue her career independently. Clients include The New York Times, Pepsi, Intercom, HBO and Taco Bell, and most recently, has been spending time helping to build out Uber’s new brand system. Apart from design, she spends her time training at pole & exotic dance, contortion & aerial arts. She sometimes writes and talks about vulnerability and the inseparable connection between personal & professional life, educates about experimental typography, and operates on a platform of intuitive & empathetic solutions.
Jillian’s talk is a candid look into her career – struggles, successes and everything in between.
Listen in on: The Upside Down of Frustration
For more Jillian: Official Site | Twitter | Instagram | Medium | Behance
An Interview with Sign Painter Extraordinaire
Today, we’re proud to release a talk from our design conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Festival 7, which happened this past August 2016, in sunny Cleveland, Ohio. Read More ›
In today’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest talk, we hear from Cleveland Art Director, Illustrator and Designer Oliver Barrett. Read More ›
Cotton Bureau talks “Founding an Accidental T-Shirt Empire”
Today’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 6 talk comes to us from Jay Fanelli and Nathan Peretic, founders of Cotton Bureau. Read More ›
Our next WMC Fest talk comes to us from Saint Louis Psychotherapist and Startup Therapie founder Wilfred Krenn. Read More ›
Today, the Arsenal is sitting down with musician and entreprenuer, Erika Durham, founder of multi-layered Cleveland business Canopy Collective. Read More ›
In this edition of Designer Face Off, we pit typographic illustrator and animator Joseph Alessio versus freelance illustrator Carlos Basabe. If you’re a fan of our design conference Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, you may recognize both Joseph and Carlos from last year’s art battle, Ink Wars.
Listen in as these friends talk shop, learn more about their commonalities as well as what about their backgrounds, in particular, have molded them into the unique creatives they are today.
More Joseph: Official Site | Twitter | Vimeo | LinkedIn | Dribbble | Instagram
Tumblr | Pinterest | Facebook | Google+
More Carlos: Official Site | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Dribbble
JP Boneyard is a man who wears many hats. He’s a designer, front-end developer, printmaker & the visionary behind the National Poster Retrospecticus. Read More ›
We were absolutely honored to have design legend Debbie Millman as a speaker at our design conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 6.
Debbie is a writer, educator, artist, brand consultant, and host of the radio show Design Matters.
Treat yourself to her talk, “On Rejection.” On Rejection is a funny and heartbreaking tale of making it (or not) in New York. The presentation begins in early 2003 when a good friend sent Debbie Millman an email with a subject line that read: Begin drinking heavily before opening. The email contained a link that took her to a “blog,” the first-ever online forum about graphic design and branding. Suddenly she found herself reading an article that disparaged her entire career to date. This experience—in tandem with a number of historical rejections and setbacks—sent Millman into deep despair, and she seriously considered leaving the design profession altogether. In a series of poignant, revealing and sometimes hysterical anecdotes, Debbie will share her journey out of despair and offer insight on how the worst moments in your life can actually become the most profound and life affirming.
Debbie will be returning to this year’s Weapons of Mass Creation Fest! She’ll be bringing her podcast, Design Matters, to our vendor village on Saturday, August 6 from 1 to 3 pm.
More about Debbie:
Found on Official Site | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | Google+ | LinkedIn
For the past twenty years, Debbie has been President of Sterling Brands, where she has worked on the redesign of over 200 global brands, including projects with P&G, Colgate, Nestle, Kraft and Pepsi. In 2014, she was named President, Chief Marketing Officer of the firm. In 2013, Debbie was named one of the most influential designers working today by GDUSA. Debbie is the founder and host of Design Matters, the world’s first podcast about design, which has garnered millions of downloads and a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. In the 10 years since its inception, Millman has interviewed more than 250 design luminaries and cultural commentators, including Massimo Vignelli, Milton Glaser, Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Pink, Barbara Kruger, Seth Godin and more.
Debbie is the author of six books, including two collections of interviews that have extended the ethos and editorial vision of Design Matters to the printed page: How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer and Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits. Both books have been published in over 10 languages. In 2009 Debbie co-founded with Steven Heller the world’s first graduate program in branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Now in its fifth year, the program has achieved international acclaim. The inaugural class wrote and designed the Rockport book Brand Bible: The Complete Guide to Building, Designing and Sustaining Brands and in 2013 the students created branding for the Museum of Modern Art’s retail program, Destination: New York.
Debbie’s written and visual essays have appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Print Magazine, Design Observer, Fast Company, and more, and she is the author of two books
of illustrated essays. Her work has been exhibited at the Chicago Design Museum, Anderson University, School of Visual Arts, Long Island University and The Wolfsonion Museum. She has been artist-in-residence at Cranbrook University, Old Dominion University and Notre Dame University, and has conducted visual storytelling workshops at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the University of Utah, Hartford University and the High School of Art and Design in New York. She has designed wrapping paper and beach towels for One Kings Lane, greeting cards for Mohawk and Card-To-Art, playing cards for DeckStarter and sketchbooks for Shutterstock.
Debbie is President Emeritus of AIGA, one of four women to hold the position in the organization’s 100-year history. She is also a past board member and treasurer of the New York Chapter. She is a frequent speaker on design and branding and has moderated Design Yatra in India, presented keynote lectures at Rotman School of Management, Princeton University, Michigan Modern, the Melbourne Writers Festival in Australia, Design Thinkers in Toronto, the Festival of Art and Design in Barcelona, and many more.
Antonio Garcia: A WMC Fest Talk
We were absolutely honored to have designer Antonio Garcia as a speaker at our design conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, this past summer. Read More ›
In this edition of the Go Media Podcast, Heather and Bryan sit down with CEO and Founder of Design Cuts, Tom Ross.
Read More ›
Common Mistakes Graphic Designers Make
It’s Bill from Go Media again with your favorite 30 Day Design Firm Makeover Course. Last time we talked about making money. In today’s lesson we’re going to talk about some common mistakes we find ourselves making as we grow our design firm.
Lesson 5: Common Mistakes
Let us say that mistakes themselves aren’t bad. We only ever realize we made a mistake when we know what we should have done instead. And sometimes the only way to know is to try something and fail. Failure is one of the quickest ways to learning how to do something. Now that we understand that mistakes and failures are keys to evolving as a business-minded designer, let’s move onto some common mistakes.
Undercharging
We’ve seen it time and time again in our industry. Designers always struggle trying to find their ideal rates. We’ve made some amazing discoveries when we’ve accidentally added a zero to the end of an invoice and the client paid it in full with no questions asked. We were left baffled and realized we could have been charging this much all along.
This is one of the most common mistakes, but it’s a mistake that is easily correctable and every firm goes through it.
Lack of Education
One of the mistakes designers make is not investing into their business education. In one of the bonus videos, Go Media president William Beachy talks about wishing he would have invested more time in learning about business. We tend to become experts at design fundamentals, Adobe products, web standards and technologies, and even fashion trends! This is all fine, but so many of us avoid fundamental business lessons like supply and demand, market research, business ethics and legalities, etc. If getting an MBA isn’t for you, pick up a few books on business. A couple we really recommend is Book Yourself Solid and Good to Great. We also recommend forming relationships with business mentors.
Not Being Aware of your Numbers
We creative people would want nothing more than to spend all day in design software cranking out beautiful designs. However, as painful as it can be, you need to be aware of your cash flow in and out. You need to be aware of how much time you’re spending on projects. You need to pay attention to your bank statements, your profit and loss, your metrics dashboards.
That’s all for this week. If you’re looking for more advice on increasing revenue, we’ve got a 10 minute video on pricing and billing and a How to Make More Money bonus PDF in our Drawn to Business Plus Package.
If you have any specific questions about what we’ve covered so far, just ask.
Hello, hope you’re doing well! Last time we talked about promoting yourself and generating traffic and leads. In today’s lesson we’re going to talk about converting all that into sales! Read More ›
How to Promote Yourself as a Graphic Designer
Hello! We hope you are receiving valuable lessons and getting ideas on how to improve your design firm. Read More ›
Michael Bierut: A WMC Fest Talk
We were absolutely honored to have design legend Michael Bierut as a speaker at our design conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, this past summer. Read More ›
Hello, it’s Bill from Go Media again with our 30 Day Design Firm Makeover Course. I am really excited for today’s lesson! Read More ›
Hey Arsenal Subscribers! We’d like to welcome you to our 30 Day Design Firm Makeover Course. Over the next month and a half you will receive valuable lessons and quick tips on making some positive changes in your design company. Read More ›
In this edition of the Go Media Podcast, we sit down with Maurice Cherry, founder and creative principle at Lunch and host of Revision Path Podcast to discuss his view of the state of Diversity in the Design Industry and how he went from a worker at a ‘design factory’ to starting his own design business in Atlanta, GA. Read More ›
How to Create Flat Icons in Illustrator
So lately I’ve been looking a lot at the different tools that DJs and music producers use, and I have to be honest, since I’m pretty much a gearhead myself, that gave me the idea for a cool icon tutorial that I’m hoping you guys will find helpful. Read More ›
A WMC Fest Talk by Jude Goergen
While examining a journey of risk and questionable decisions, self-taught designer and entrepreneur Jude Goergen scrutinizes his ongoing quest to do everything while being “qualified” for nothing. Read More ›
Sharing Vulnerability and Authenticity
In this edition of the Go Media Podcast, we sit down with Kathleen Shannon, co-founder of Braid Creative and host of Being Boss Podcast, and Jillian Adel, designer and art director. Read More ›
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Bill Beachy
Last week, we asked you what you were dying to know about our faithful leader, Go Media President and Designer, Bill Beachy. Read More ›
Networking Tips for Graphic Designers
Introducing Guest Blogger Wesley Hoffman of Treehouse Networkshop
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” is something we’ve all heard a million times throughout our career.
Read More ›
A WMC Fest Talk: Designer and Developer Collaboration
What happens when designers and developers collaborate? Hint…it’s magical. Read More ›
Best Ways to Market Yourself as a Graphic Designer
Whether you are a freelancer or head of an advertising agency, there is always an opportunity to gain more exposure for your personal brand, your products and services. Here are 27 ways we think may help you
- Create a product for Go Media’s Arsenal, gaining you excellent exposure among the design community.
- Create a “mini” version of your work and carry it, along with your business card, wherever you go. For example, a tiny photo book of your illustrations or a flash drive with product freebies on it.
#worldssmallestportfolio? - Pay it forward. Add value to someone else’s business and you’ll be rewarded handsomely. Comment on your favorite designer’s blog, share their content, link to their work. You never know, they may return the favor (think: retweet and mega exposure!). Or, another connection, like a click through from your blog comment, could end in an awesome relationship.
- Take a deep breath, then apply to be a guest speaker or artist at a conference. What? You’re not Michael Bierut? It’s okay. Some of the very best speakers are new to the field or facing challenges in their career.
- Direct Message someone you admire on Twitter and start a real conversation. Right now. (We’ll wait for you to return).
- Email a fellow designer friend and ask them to give you honest feedback on your portfolio. Heed their advice.
- Create a epic freebie or some other truly authentic content. Offer it on your site in exchange for a tweet or newsletter sign-up.
- Find a fellow designer/entrepreneur with similar goals. Meet up with them on Skype, have a coffee date regularly. Keep each other motivated and accountable.
- Identify a mentor. Treat them to lunch every month. Pay them back in whatever way you can.
- Ask for referrals and refer when necessary. You’ll build great partnerships that way.
- Shout-out new and loyal customers, send small gifts or notes to random fans. It not only builds faithful followers and connections, it’s all kinds of fun.
- Set up customer chat. Connect with your customers and clients on an authentic, emotional level when appropriate. Take the time and let them teach you about where your company or freelance business needs to go.
- Get in the habit of posting a piece of work, sketch, behind-the-scenes image on Facebook or Instagram. Remove any posts where blatant advertising is involved and replace them with personal posts. Show your followers who you really are.
- Create fun, branded stickers or pins. Spread ‘em like sunshine.
- Open your own Etsy or Society 6 shop. Make cool stuff and get recognized for it!
- Offer your expertise to fellow bloggers or podcasters. Offer to guest post or guest host.
- Start a meet-up group in your area. This could be as simple as gathering some friends with pencils and pens and a bar.
- Start a podcast or put yourself out there. There are a lot of great ones. *cough* Go Media Podcast* cough. Volunteer to go on one or start your own. It’s as easy as ordering some equipment on Amazon, you know.
- Write a really amazing tutorial. Get that content out there!
- Get your personal brand nailed down. It’s really all about authenticity. Be yourself everyone else is taken.
- Start saying yes to everything you are afraid of. If you do, I will.
- Start participating in your local AIGA.
- Offer your services to your local college or university. Host a porfolio review, for example.
- Answer questions on a site like Quora. You never know who will go there to find an expert opinion.
- Learn SEO. If your website and blog aren’t optimized, you may be working hard but hardly working.
- Sponsor a design conference, set up shop there and start meeting people who will support you and help push you to greater heights.
Have any ideas to share? Please do so in the comments section below! Good luck everyone!
Sports Branding Podcast with Todd Radom
In this edition of the Go Media Podcast, we sit down with Todd Radom to talk about his extensive experience designing for the sports industry. Read More ›
A WMC Fest Talk: Changing our Stars
This candid talk, presented by Michael Rivette and Christina Sharp, was captured live at Go Media’s design conference, Weapons of Mass Creation Festival 6. It is a glimpse at the lives of Michael and Christina and their newly formed design company, Cinder Design Co.
The Battle Is On!
Welcome to Designer Face Off, a series created here at Go Media’s Arsenal. Designer Face Off brings your favorite designers, creators and entrepreneurs together like never before. The rules are simple – in each rapid fire interview, challengers poise 2 to 3 questions to the other party. They, in turn, will respond to the questions asked of them. All of this is to be completed under 5 minutes, and no topic is off of the table!
Who’s up next?
Designer Face Off #1 Aaron Sechrist vs Oliver Barrett
Meet Aaron Sechrist, aka OkPants:
Aaron, OkPants, is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator who enjoys working on projects that pull from both disciplines under the moniker OkPants. After cutting his teeth in various jobs in the music and publishing industries and yelling for various fruitless Cleveland-area DIY bands, he made the move to freelance and found happiness as well as actual income working with good people, creators and brands within the entertainment, music and apparel industry. His gig posters sleep with the Boss and Prince in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and he enjoys participating in art shows across the country. He also likes designing things for himself and sells them through the OkPants Webstore as well as through Made by Superior.
Meet Oliver Barrett:
Oliver is a former agency-guy who’s learned from several years of mistakes, panic, and triumphs that he might be onto something as a solo designer/illustrator/art-director/generic creative title.
Watch >>
Follow >>
So, who’s going to win the social media battle? Show these fellas some love!
Learn more about OkPants on his Official Site, as well as his Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook | Instagram | Dribble | Shop
Learn more about Oliver on his Official Site, as well as his Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr | Dribbble
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Who do you nominate for our next Design Face Off? Please leave a comment below!
Space has and will probably always be one of those things that man has long dreamt of conquering. From the darkest corners of the Milky Way to the farthest region of the known Universe we will always poses that urge to explore and look for new worlds, worlds that could change what we know about life itself. Read More ›
The Battle Is On!
Welcome to Designer Face Off, a new series created here at Go Media’s Arsenal. Read More ›
Hacked By Shade