My top 3 free sharing tools
I was recently asked by one of my clients how to share large documents. I pointed him in the right direction, and I thought it would be useful to share here too, so I have come up with my "Top 3" free online sharing tools to avoid inbox congestion.
1. Dropbox
Dropbox is a handy sharing tool that can either be accessed online, or downloaded and added to your desktop. Should you want to share photos, or files, (or anything really!) simply create an account at www.dropbox.com and you're ready to go! Once you have signed up, there will be on screen, easy to follow instructions on how to install it onto your desktop and you're ready to get sharing. Simply drag and drop your items into the folder (I usually copy and paste so I have a copy at my end saved), and click share. You can then add in the e-mail details of the person you want to share it with and it will appear in their dropbox ready to be accessed. It really is that simple! The great thing about dropbox too is that users can share items with people that don't have dropbox installed. The user can upload online, and rather than share the folder get the link, which can be copied and pasted into an e-mail to your colleague who can review the files online.2. Google Drive
Google drive is a great facility. It is part of Google Apps which also provides applications for word documents, spreadsheets and presentations and gives up to 15GB (yes gigabytes!) of storage space for free when you sign up for a gmail e-mail address. The downside to this is that both parties involved in sharing files need to have a Google drive, otherwise files cannot be accessed. I would encourage anyone to look into Google Apps though. My world has been revolutionised (especially with Google Slides, the presentations program) and for large companies, with lots of employees and lots of remote workers, I see it as an essential tool for a smooth process. Users can not only share and access files, but also comment, amend and review files in real time whilst other users are also working on the same document.3. We Transfer
For larger files, files that contain a lot of data - usually with large imagery like posters or exhibition stands, We Transfer is the way forward. You can send files of up to 2GB for free! Simply visit the website at www.wetransfer.com and you're good to go as no signing up is required, which in this day and age is a perk in itself. Users can upload their file, input the e-mail address of the recipient and hit transfer. You can add a nice message if you like too... This will then send a notification e-mail to your colleague or client containing a link to the online file which can then be downloaded to their desktop. Files are only live for 10 days and then moved offline, so better to download as soon as possible.These are by no means the only online sharing facilities, however, they are the ones I use on a regular basis, and are all available free of charge.
All of the above really are time and space savers, all useful for different reasons and all free to use, so what's not to love? If you've found this article useful, please feel free to share it :)Knowing your rights
As a freelance designer you own the right to all the work that you produce, unless you have officially signed it over.
Making the move into becoming a freelance graphic designer has been one of the best decisions I have made in recent years, however, although there are many perks to being a freelancer, there is no safety net of an employer or a company legal team to fall back on should legal rights be called into question. Knowing your rights as a freelancer is an important aspect of running your own business. A few months ago I wanted to learn more about copyrights in particular, and came across some useful sites along the way. I thought I'd share them should you be doing a similar search now or in the future: www.gov.uk: I found this site had a lot of useful information in an easy to digest format, including information on copyrights and protecting your intellectual property. As a freelance designer, everything you create, whether commissioned or not, is your intellectual property for which you own the copyright. There are also links on there should you wish to officially register any design work and useful contacts should there be any disputes relating to design rights. www.copyrightservice.co.uk: Although not the most attractive of websites, the UK Copyright Service site provides everything you need to know about the world of copyright and knowing your rights as a UK freelance designer. There are also some useful fact sheets, collating the important facts which can be downloaded for free. www.creativebloq.com: This is a useful online article containing various links to useful resources to do with both UK and US copyright laws. Freelance Handbook available through www.creativebloq.com has some very useful pages with tips regarding how to protect your assets as a designer, as well as how to negotiate any royalties. The handbook as a whole is a handy tool to have by your side. So there you have it, a selection of some of the links that I have found to be useful to have up my sleeve to refer to if and when it has become necessary to talk about copyright with my clients.
Tags: copyright, Freelance designer, Graphic design, handy tip, legal
Run out of application memory?
I recently encountered a running out of application memory issue, and after much googling didn't seem to find the true root of the problem. However, I have found a suitable answer for now...
The other day I was doing what I always do, using Illustrator and InDesign, along with a few other applications all open at the same time, and all of a sudden out of the blue my laptop fans start buzzing hysterically and I'm flagged a message that says I have run out of application memory. Immediately the programs I am running freeze up, with the only solution to shut down and restart. This happened at least 5 times in quick succession before I was ready to tear my laptop in half or throw it through the window. This really shouldn't be happening, I have 16GB RAM, which is far more than I needed for the job in hand and to add insult to injury to frustration, my free apple support had ended just 7 days before this episode....This all seemed very bizarre, the only thing I had done differently was move my work space to downstairs. My laptop obviously didn't like the Feng Shui down here...
But! I have found a handy work around, plus I think I may've stumbled across the answer myself. After googling and contacting Apple Support through Twitter I was advised to update my system to Yosemite. This I wasn't willing to do, I didn't want to lose anything on the off chance that this might work. What I did find online was a handy tip about checking out my activity monitor to see what was guzzling all my juice. Within the activity monitor I noticed that there were two items on the list using an awful lot of energy, these being the Kernel and the Finder Web Content. The Kernel is the operating system and so without that running you have in essence switched off the computer, it needs to be running - but what about this Finder Web Content? I found that I could force quit that through the activity monitor and that immediately solved the problem on a short term basis. That seemed to solve the problem, however, a few days ago the same thing happened, however, I was able to act quickly with this handy tip and so didn't lose any of my work. As the fans started, I immediately checked out my activity monitor, however, this time I felt I had sussed it out...In both cases I had been sent a word document that had been saved as a pdf by my client, through running it through mac pages.
This was the root cause of the problem. I asked the client to send the original pdf and worked from that instead. The problem was solved. So, to sum up. If your system looks like crashing, act quickly! Check out your activity monitor to see how the energy is being distributed across your system and quit anything unnecessary - you may just save your work in time. If you receive documents that aren't in their original format, always try to find the original document as you will be able to work more effectively and meet your clients needs more quickly.Handy tips
A useful resource
As I stumble along in the world of Graphic Design, there are the odd occasions where I come across a bit of a road block and have to consult google for assistance. I therefore thought that it might be a good idea to collate some of my issues as I go along within this brand spanking new blog category "Handy Tips."
I intend for it to build up as I go along, so I will share my issues and solutions and any useful links I find along the way to help others paths run a little more smoothly. In the same way, if you have any suggestions to add to this page, feel free to drop me a line. Who knows, we may create a useful resource for other designers...?