Method to the Mayhem

Calvin Lee, of Mayhem Studios, accompanied by some of the top notch blogosphere experts on the web today; David Airey, Davidairey.com + Logodesignlove.com, Brian Lovin, Elite By Design, Jeff Finley, Go Media and Ryan Downie, Ryandownie.com answers the question of "How do I find and keep a great designer?" for Fuelyourcreativity.com

It seems like a simple question, but to other small companies the task can be daunting. Even ridiculous, unless you have 100’s of thousands of dollars to throw around - you're on your own!

Calvin Lee, of Mayhem Studios, gives his thoughts on the topic, what the client should know up front.

"As a designer, I want to be honest and upfront. Let the client know what they will be expecting in deliverables and how much the project will cost. This can be accomplished with a signed contract and a 50% deposit before starting any project, with the exact details of what the client will be receiving."

You can read the full article and discussion at Fuel Your Creativity.

About Fuel Your Creativity
Fuel Your Creativity is an open site and forum where everyone is welcome (and encouraged!) to exchange ideas and tips. It’s not just for designers either. Writers, photographers, graffitists…come one, come all. There are new posts a couple times a week and sometimes more than that. Check back often. It is our hope that you will… Find your spark.

About Adelle Charles
Adelle Charles is a Designer & Blogger who runs Fuel Your Creativity & AdelleCharles.com. She is an obsessive email checker and highly addicted to Starbucks. Loves to add "fuel to the fire" any chance she gets. Her dogs Chino and Jameson jot down ideas for her while she's at work. They are obviously the secret to her success.

Labels: Adelle Charles, Brian Lovin, Business, Calvin Lee, Clients, David Airey, Design, Elite By Design, Fuel Your Creativity, Go Media, Jeff Finley, Logo Design Love, Mayhem Studios, Ryan Downie

Posted by Calvin Lee at Wednesday, September 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Mayhem Studios, award-winning design firm featured in Jamie Freeman's book, 500 Simple Website Hints, Tips, and Techniques. Make Up Media and the Studios' own website design will be included in the book. 500 Simple Website Hints, Tips, and Techniques is currently in book stores.

You may view the table of contents HERE.

500 Simple Website Hints, Tips, and Techniques is a jargon-free handbook on the basics of website design. The book offers advice on planning your site, with an introduction to information architecture, tools, scripting basics, file and image formats, choosing and buying a domain name, and methods of testing websites. Key design aspects, such as colors, typefaces, and rollovers are also explored.

The book includes essential advice on following web standards, ensuring a site loads quickly, achieving a high ranking on search engines, and offers tips on marketing strategies. Once you’ve got a website that works and can be easily found, the book explains the best way to add creative and fun extras, such as Flash animation, movies, audio, blogs, and podcasts.

Jamie Freeman is a website designer and has also written several articles about designing for the web. He currently works for Message, a company that designs and builds websites. He lives in Hove, UK.

Labels: Business, Calvin Lee Design, Jamie Freeman, Make Up Media, Marketing, Mayhem Studios, Promotion, Website Design

Posted by Calvin Lee at Saturday, May 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Mayhem Studios is recognized for its logo design work. The Studio' are among the contributing artists, agencies and designers for inclusion in David E. Carter's, The Big Book of Logos 5. The Big Book of Logos 5, a collection of logo designs from around world. 12 logos from the Studio' are among the winning logo designs that will be featured in the book, now available in book stores.

Mayhem Studios clients include Downtown Entertainment, ET Products, Baca Sigala & Associates, Applied Dialing, All Sport, Sports Bar, Dermatologic Laser Institute, Calvin Lee Design and Southeast Student Film Festival are among the logos featured in the book.

Labels: Business, David E. Carter, Design, Logo Design, Marketing, Promotion, The Big Book of Logos 5

Posted by Calvin Lee at Sunday, April 06, 2008 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

When starting out in your business, it's very important having your logo, business cards or stationery looking professional. It's equally important having forms that help in organizing and running of your business, like a contract or creative brief, which I have talked about in previous posts.

A few resources of free forms to use for your business

+ Creative Business
+ Entrepreneur
+ BoDo
+ AIGA

Labels: AIGA, BoDo, Business, Creative, Design, Entrepreneur, Forms

Posted by Calvin Lee at Friday, February 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

If you're on the internet and post your articles/designs for blogs or websites. Sooner or later the work will ripped off and/or even posted on the thieves website and claiming it as their own.

There are 4 things you can do to have the work removed.

1. Send a friendly email to the site owner, requesting the stolen material be removed. Give them a few days to respond. If there is no response, go to the next step.

2. Send a Cease & Desist letter to the site owner with a deadline for removal of the copyrighted material and will be contacting their host if they don't remove the material. If there is still no response, go to the next step.

3. Send a DMCA Violation Removal Request to Google, requesting a removal of the links from the index.

4. Also send a DMCA Violation Removal Request to their host. Under DMCA, they're required to shut down the site, if you've followed the above steps and they have not responded.

Labels: Business, Cease, Copyright, Design, Desist, DMCA, Google, Infringement, Stealing, Thief

Posted by Calvin Lee at Sunday, February 03, 2008 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

There is great article on BoDo, written by author Neil Tortorella, "Building Your Media List." The article is about building your prospects and contacts list. Simple things you can do yourself by checking local newspapers, business magazines and local book stores. Using your contact list to distribute your news and PR.

Mayhem Studios August e-newsletter, which list a few online syndication services is featured in the article as well.

About BoDo: Business of Design Online
BoDo blogs about the business of design including: starting your own design business (online or off); marketing; dealing with clients; working with printers, photographers, copywriters and other surrounding industries; pretty much anything to help a design business grow.

Labels: BoDo, Business, Marketing, Mayhem Studios, Media Press Kit, Neil Tortorella, Newsletters, Press Release, Promotion, Self Employed

Posted by Calvin Lee at Monday, September 03, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Los Angeles, Calif. July 10, 2007 - Mayhem Studios, award-winning design firm will be featured in Jamie Freeman's book, 500 Simple Website Hints, Tips, and Techniques. Make Up Media, Calvin Lee Design and the Studios' own website design will be included in the book. 500 Simple Website Hints, Tips, and Techniques will be released by RotoVision in 2007.

500 Simple Website Hints, Tips, and Techniques is a jargon-free handbook on the basics of website design. The book offers advice on planning your site, with an introduction to information architecture, tools, scripting basics, file and image formats, choosing and buying a domain name, and methods of testing websites. Key design aspects, such as colors, typefaces, and rollovers are also explored.

The book includes essential advice on following web standards, ensuring a site loads quickly, achieving a high ranking on search engines, and offers tips on marketing strategies. Once you’ve got a website that works and can be easily found, the book explains the best way to add creative and fun extras, such as Flash animation, movies, audio, blogs, and podcasts.

Jamie Freeman is a website designer and has also written several articles about designing for the web. He currently works for Message, a company that designs and builds websites. He lives in Hove, UK.

Labels: Business, Calvin Lee Design, Jamie Freeman, Make Up Media, Marketing, Mayhem Studios, Promotion, Website Design

Posted by Calvin Lee at Tuesday, July 10, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I have a good friend James Tadeo, Web Developer who's been drawing little doodles of his experiences with clients during his lunch time breaks. They are quite funny since it rings true for most designers dealing with clients. I thought, it would be great to share it with you guys.

James has a whole collection of doodles and growing daily. So check out his doodles at Lunch Time Comics.

James Tadeo, Web Designer and Programmer works with design companies, ad agencies, and in-house marketing departments promote products and services by helping them to produce and plan integrated campaigns consisting of print, multimedia, and the Web. Specializing in integrating ASP or PHP server side code to add intelligent and useful functions to Web sites.

Labels: ASP, Business, Clients, Comics, Design, Fun, James Tadeo, Lunch Time, Marketing, PHP, Promotion, Web Design, Web Development

Posted by Calvin Lee at Friday, June 22, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Most people or clients don't understand the value of logos or what goes into designing a logo. It's not just about making something look beautiful. Owning a computer with software doesn't make one a designer. Hire a professional!

There is a higher value on logos: everyone will associate that identity/mark with you. That is why logo design tends to be more than say a brochure, flyer or a poster. When you see the Nike Logo. You think of sports and athletics. There is an instant recognition.

A few factors used to determine logo design pricing

+ Research
+ Client Budget
+ How complicated the logo will be
+ The amount of concepts, revisions
+ How the logo will be used
+ What target/market
+ Longevity of the company/logo

Labels: Business, Business of Design, Logo Design, Marketing, Pricing

Posted by Calvin Lee at Thursday, June 21, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Mayhem Studios is recognized for its logo design work. The Studio' will be among the 130 plus contributing artists, agencies and designers for inclusion in the publication Branded and in David E. Carter's, The Big Book of Logos 5. Branded and the Big Book of Logos 5, a collection of logo designs from around world.

12 logos from the Studio' are among the winning logo designs that will be featured in the book, which will be on sale, Summer of 2007.

Mayhem Studios clients include Downtown Entertainment, ET Products, Baca Sigala & Associates, Applied Dialing, All Sport, Sports Bar, Dermatologic Laser Institute, Calvin Lee Design and Southeast Student Film Festival are among the logos featured in the book.

Lori Hobbs, M.D., Dermatologic Laser Institute, gives high praises for the Studio’s production.

"Calvin Lee, Mayhem Studios, thank you so much for helping me in the design of my logo. I love it! It is exactly what I wanted. Your patience and expertise made my new endeavor comforting and exciting. Calvin evoked professionalism and care to my project which I wholeheartedly appreciate. Calvin is fantastic!"

Mayhem Studios Published In The Big Book of Letterheads

Two of the Studios' works, Mayhem Studios stationery design and Calvin Lee Design stationery design are among the winning entries featured in David E. Carter's next book, The Big Book of Letterheads, now available by Harper Collins Publishing.

The Big Book of Letterheads includes nearly 400 letterhead sets, all selected for their ability to inspire the reader and provide countless brainstorming ideas.

Mayhem Studios Works Featured In American Corporate Identity 2008

The Studios' works ET Products Stationery Design, Fagerholm & Jefferson Law Corporation Stationery Design, and Dermatologic Laser Institute Logo among the winning entries featured in David E. Carter's, American Corporate Identity 2008, available November 2007.

Several hundred creative design firms have work included in American Corporate Identity 2008, ranging from the well known to the up-and-coming. Many trendsetting styles have first appeared in this series since its inception, making this book a must-have reference for every corporate identity designer’s bookshelf.

Labels: American Corporate Identity 2008, Branded, Business, Design, Logo Design, Marketing, Promotion, The Big Book of Letterheads, The Big Book of Logos 5

Posted by Calvin Lee at Sunday, June 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments | links to this post