I saw a retweet a few weeks ago where this designer who was not getting paid for his work replaced a gym’s website with a disclaimer saying they were deadbeats. One commenter mentioned that he should watch this video called Fuck You Pay Me. I watched that video.

The guy in the video also wrote a short book called Design is a Job. I got the PDF version and read it on my screen. Reading on my screen was not a pleasant experience. I’m tempted to buy a tablet, but I have a big stack of library books to get through … if I do that maybe I’ll spend $300 for a tablet so I can read more books.

The book is easy to read and is very straightforward. The gist is you need to be professional from start to finish. Do the proper research, legwork, present, sell your work, protect yourself, value your work, etc. All stuff we know, but avoid cause it’s not fun. I picked up a few reminders that a lot of the stuff we moan about could be prevented if we approach the relationship properly in the beginning.

Nice refresher. I probably never want to run a traditional design studio.