Customer Reviews

The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are looking for a very comprehensive book on running a graphic design company, this is for you. The book goes into details on everything from pricing to hiring, insurance, taxes, incorporation, dealing with clients, vendors and just about everything in between. It is quite a hefty book and it will take a while to get through it, but from my experience that is mostly because I keep stopping to take notes on things I want to remember.

While I find some of the other design business books I have read (and reviewed) go into more depth in specific areas, this book covers quite a range of content and manages to still go into farily great detail.

I checked this book out from the library and kept it until I started racking up the fines... then I came here and bought it.

This is an excellent guide with lots of practical "how-to" projects and information. I promptly used my creative juices to create a website that reflects my persona, yet is professional and intuitive at the same time. It is worth every dollar you spend!
Get your name out there with all the handy tips and tricks described within.

This book is divided into four sections: organization, personnel, marketing, and operations. It also has four appendices. I really liked this book very much. I'm a volunteer SCORE counselor who regularly counsels SCORE clients on starting their own small businesses. I highly recommend the instant book to people similarly situated to my clients since it will help them better grasp and understand what is involved in starting a business.

If you want to put together a business plan (and you should if you want to start a business), then use this book to help you by looking at the following chapters:

1. A Solid Foundation
2. Structure and Facilities
4. Organizing
9. Positioning
10. Promoting
12. Pricing Your Services
15. Financial Issues

After you prepare your business plan and have your business up and running, then you'll be able to:

14. Grow the Business
16. Personal Issues (Cash Out).

I particularly liked the Case Study #6 in Appendix 2 (Failing to Institutionalize the Company). And Appendix 3 (A Designer's Short Course on Marketing) was very well done. Chapter 10 on "Promoting" was very well done given the amount of pages devoted to it.

I was a bit disappointed with the Sample Business Plan Form included in Appendix 4. But the book is not exactly set up to cater to people trying to write a business plan. So I can't be too critical here.

This book is packed full of content regarding the business of graphic design (and small business, in general). It will be well worth your time in reading it if you have any interest in small business. 5 stars!

Foote gives well-researched advice and organizes it into easy-to-follow sections; perfect for anyone who has only twenty minutes to spare at any time. Model documents, role playing, case studies, questionaires and financial formulas will help you take the action needed to make your busines healthy. I look forward to other editions where corporate law and insurance in other countries is aknowleged. An appendix for Canada would be nice. It is still a must-have book no matter where you live.

Culture A.D. is an advertising and design agency (hence the A. D.) we write our reviews to be quick and straight to the point. The Creative Business Guide to Running a Graphic Design Business has become a vital tool for us. I wish I could say I've read the book cover to cover, but that's just not real. The truth is we use it for precise issues and targeted advice. Mr. Foote makes it plain and draws from real world experience and that's what we need. It's text book, well, non-text book information and well worth having. It's like have a "canned mentor".

This book was a perfect tool to benchmark my design studio. After 14 years of business I found that Foote's advice, assumptions and calculations were right on the mark ... even for a business in New Zealand. Highly recommended.

This is not for me. It is pretty good for interesting reading, but not made for freelancers like me.

This book is very dry and hard to read. There is some great information enclosed yet it is really hard to access. I also didn't appreciate that at every moment possible the author seems to downgrade the ability of the self employed, multiple times it is suggested that under no circumstances should you chose to be a sole proprietor, which for me seems to disregard those that are starting out on a smaller part time basis.

As someone looking to expand a freelance business into a full-fledged interactive agency, this book was pure gold. I consider all aspects of my business "creative" and the advice in this book is equally applicable to programmers as it is to graphic designers. That said, this book is not for those looking to become freelancers. For that, check out the sister book by the same author, "The Business Side of Creativity"; an equally excellent book.

Love it! I had the previous version but I loaned it to a friend and never got it back :-(. This is an excellent book if you're thinking about started a graphic design business or your teaching a graphic design business course.