Karen Cinnamon judges 2012 Freelancer of the Year awards

Karen Cinnamon was Creative judge last night at the 2012 Freelancer of the Year awards

The awards – the brainchild of recruitment company Xchangeteam and trade body the PCG, the voice of freelancers in the UK – recognise the best freelance talent in the UK media and communications industries.

Judges from the marketing, media and communications community selected six category winners and one overall winner. The categories were: Digital Excellence, Creative, Marketing, PR and Communications, and Agency Client Services

Judging the Creative category, Karen Cinnamon applauded “the proof that an inspired freelancer not only exceeds their brief, but can add value in ways their clients hadn’t even envisaged.”

With live tweets throughout proceedings under the hashtag #FOTY, the Freelancer of the Year awards were presented in Holborn House, WC1. 2012 was the event’s eighth year.

Karen Cinnamon in 'Freelancing Matters' Magazine

Feature in Freelancing Matters magazine, May 2011.

Freelance Designer vs. Design Agency

There used to be advantages in employing large agencies for big jobs. Economies of scale, strength in numbers, experience and access to resources were benefits of the big boys over a lone ranger. Nowadays, this isn’t true. All a freelancer needs is a Mac and a broadband connection. Large files can easily be moved around quickly, huge jobs – series of billboards, brochures, books, presentations, videos, websites – can sit on secure servers anywhere in the world.

If the scale of the job is too much for one freelancer they can simply call on someone else to help. Files can be downloaded from the freelancer’s FTP site and uploaded when finished. Every freelancer has a network of contacts each with their specialities.

Essentially there are benefits which ever way you decide to go, and neither one is the wrong choice. The first decider is often cost. Freelance designers tend to be significantly more affordable than design agencies because they don't have the same overheads and staff costs and primarily because you are usually paying a single person to work on your project.

So here's my list of advantages of each. It’s also worth noting there’s a certain amount of overlap. For instance, my first reason for choosing an agency is because they’re well-versed in dealing with large accounts. The same can be true of a freelancer.

Reasons to work with a freelance graphic designer
1. From start to finish, the client is talking to the top creative designer on the job, so the project specifications don’t need relayed before action is taken.
2. There are no separate account managers, senior creatives or junior designers, each with differing interpretations of the design brief.
3. The client is hiring the person responsible for 100% of the design portfolio
4. Client phone calls go directly to the designer working on the project — not a sales person or account manager.
5. With many freelancers working from home, they can often transfer considerable savings made through low overheads.
6. Design revisions can frequently be made almost immediately after the request.
7. Billing enquiries and delivery time frames can be clarified at the same time as specific design discussions.


Reasons to work with a graphic design agency
1. Well versed in dealing with large accounts.
2. The client isn’t reliant on the health of one person for the successful completion of the design project.
3. There is often a group of designers collaborating on ideas, offering a broad range of outcomes.
4. Agencies tend to be made up of a number of staff each with their own specialty meaning the overall skill level involved in your project could be higher.

Should the advantages I’ve listed differ from your own experience, please feel free to add in the comments section.

Karen Cinnamon wins Advertising & Design Freelancer of the Year Award 2011.

Karen won the accolade Xchangeteam Advertising & Design Freelancer of the Year 2011 at the UK’s only awards ceremony to recognise freelancers in the media, marketing and communications industries.

Advertising & Design was the highest entered category this year with 53 nominations in total, with 6 finalists.

Judge Matt Potter said, "Karen’s sheer joy in her work shines through, not just in her award entry but in the quality of the work she does, and in the feedback she gets from clients.

Her ability to cut through the hyperbole and find the heart of the issue is her true strength and in a competitive market for freelancers, she’s a great example of someone who pulls off difficult work for demanding clients... and makes it look easy."

Karen additionally was Highly Commended in the Digital Excellence category.

More details on the results here.

See Karen's work at www.cinnamoncreative.com

Freelancer of the Year Awards

Karen Cinnamon has been shortlisted for the upcoming Freelancer of the Year Awards 2011, in two categories: Digital Excellence and Advertising & Design.

The winners will be announced at an Awards ceremony in central London on 31st March 2011.

WorkSnug: Find Places to Work With Your iPhone

If you don't already know about it, WorkSnug is a fantastic website and iPhone app that allows you to find wifi locations available nearby from Starbucks to independent cafes, to libraries and shared offices, complete with reviews describing the atmosphere, power situation and coffee quality.

The idea behind WorkSnug is to build a community of mobile workers who can add reviews and tips about their favourite places to work when out and about. Just what you might have dreamed about as a mobile worker (and that’s everybody now, right?).



Two especially nice features in the WorkSnug Pro iPhone app are:

1. It uses 'augmented reality' to show nearby workspaces. What that means is, it uses your iPhone's camera to show your current surroundings, and its internal compass to overlays that live picture with pop-up information in the right places. A bit like Arnie's vision in the Terminator films!

2. It includes a decibel meter, so you can take noise readings, view and share them with other users. By doing this, WorkSnug are building up a noise-level history to help you choose the right workspace for you.

WorkSnug currently covers London, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden and Brighton.

www.worksnug.com

10 Golden Rules for Freelancers

Thanks to Mark Ramshaw for this excellent article:

Mark interviewed leading freelancers from the fields of 3D illustration, animation, visual effects, games and architectural visualisation to uncover their strategies for success. These were his key findings...

1. Test the market first
Make sure there is interest in your work before you begin. Freelancing part-time first will also enable you to experiment with standard assets and settings, optimizing them for quick, high-quality renders. And make sure you invest in a back-up computer!

2. Use online networking tools
While establishing a reputation, keep yourself in the public eye by maintaining an up-to-date presence on your own website, online communities such as CGSociety and CGarchitect.com, networking sites like LinkedIn and, if appropriate, IMDb.

3. Tap your network for leads
A network of fellow freelancers is one of your best resources for finding clients - and those that you do will be trustworthy. No one wants to recommend a bad client; and clients won't want to let down the freelancer who made the recommendation.

4. Meet in person where possible
Your work may be digital, but when contacting new clients, try to arrange a face-to-face meeting. This enables you to sell yourself and your services most effectively. Mail and email shots are almost useless unless you know exactly who to contact.

5. Research the client in detail
Find out the style the client likes to see work done in by researching their past projects. These can also help you to assess the level of quality they seek. A brief exchange of phone calls or emails will help you get a feel for the clients as people.

6. Always confirm the deadline!
Find out the deadline before you accept the work, particularly if you work in print or broadcast advertising. Advertising agencies are notorious for spending months planning a campaign, then leaving the illustration itself until the final week.

7. Calculate a minimum hourly rate
A blunt but effective formula for working out your hourly rate is to take what you think you should be getting as a yearly salary and dividing by a thousand. Tools like AllNetic Working Time Tracker (www.allnetic.com) help keep track of little jobs.

8. Refine the fee through discussion
Once you have calculated your minimum rate, assess whether a higher fee is reasonable. Talk to friends and trusted colleagues about salaries. Should a client ask you to reduce your rate, look for ways to offer services that cost you less time instead.

9. Always use a contract
Freelancers are in a relatively strong position when it comes to copyright: without a contract, the default position is that they own the work they produce, not the client. However, standard terms and conditions ensure there is no uncertainty about the job.

10. Use the contract to ensure prompt payment
Whether you use your own contract or the client's, use the wording to your advantage by linking transfer of work or intellectual property ownership to payments. Such clauses provide a simple, effective incentive for the client to pay promptly.

Facebook for Freelancers

Workology.com is a new social networking site for freelancers and SME’s where amongst other things you can create your own Mini Site to showcase your expertise, skills and services, and also connect and share advice with others in the freelance world.

02/04/08 UPDATE: And here's another one which actually sounds even better.

These babies are springing up all over the place.