Celebrating 5000+ Subscribers

Celebrating 5000+ Subscribers

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5000 Subscribers

Yesterday, Just Creative Design hit 5000+ subscribers for the first time so I thought it was time for a little celebration and to celebrate I am giving away two great prizes.

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Adobe Creative Cloud Discount

You can win $50 to spend on any design related goods at Creatives Outfitter. This prize is courtesy of the kind Jon Phillips of Spryre Studios – a small design studio that focuses mainly on blog design (among other things). I highly recommend him!

The other prize is a 30 minute design consultation via Skype or Email with David Airey, the much respected designer and blogger from Edinburgh, Scotland. David was actually one of the reasons I first started blogging.

To get the prize all you have to do is comment below giving us your best tip (or trick) about graphic design, or if this does not apply to you, your best tip about freelancing or business or something similar. The best two answers will receive the two prizes as chosen by Jon and myself.

While you’re here, why don’t you add me to Twitter and Facebook too?

Milestones

Subscribers


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Above you can see the last 7 months of JCD’s subscriber count – it has been a pretty steady rise. The hardest months were the first 3 – I had less than 500 subscribers for those 3 months but I stuck it out and it paid off.

These first 3 months were when I learnt about blogging – before that I didn’t even know what a blog was! Now, seven months on, JCD has over 150 posts with over 2700 comments – that makes on average, about 18 comments per post so a big thank you to all who have had their say here on JCD. On that topic, when was the last time you thanked your readers?

Other Highlights

Some other highlights over the past 7 months were when I had the opportunity to interview the logo designer Jeff Fisher as well as when I won the Logo Design Love Award (as voted by you) for this blogs logo.

Other achievements were when I was named #8 blogger in the world under 21 in May as well as when JCD was named the #12 Blog in all of Australia. We were also listed in How Magazines Top 10 Sites For Designers back in March and just recently was recommended by Layers Magazine in their weekly video cast.

Another big highlight was our $5000 Prize Giveaway Graphic Design Group Writing Project where we gave away an electric guitar and many other prizes. That was not the only time JCD has given away prizes… We have given away prizes here and here and here and here and here and here and again on this post!

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Another highlight that comes to mind was our April Fools joke> where I announced I was changing our font to MS Comic Sans. Oh the hilarity.

Just Creative Design and our design related articles have also been linked to by over 8000 websites worldwide.

Guest Articles

Over the past months I have also written for many other quality blogs and below are some of them.

Who knows where JCD will be in another 7 months time?

Once again, thank you to all JCD readers and commentators. If you are not a reader, why not subscribe?

Update: Winners will be announced Thursday 7th AEST in another post.

Jacob Cass

About Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass is a brand designer & strategist, educator, podcaster, business coach and the founder of JUST Creative, an award-winning branding & design consultancy that doubles as an industry-leading blog. Get in touch.

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On JUST Creative, you’ll find advice and insights from design & tech experts to help guide your creative journey. Meet our team & contributors.

36 thoughts on “Celebrating 5000+ Subscribers”

  1. Hi Jacob,
    Just stopping by to wish you cheers on your 5000+ subscribers.
    That’s awesome – I wish you continued success and thank you for all of your time, effort and passion that goes into acquiring 5000+ subscribers!
    Best Wishes,
    Kim Phillips
    EDGE3SiXTY

  3. Congratuations on 5,000+ subscribers! That’s something to be proud of!

    Here’s my tip: This doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a try. Ever get a unusable logo from a client? (who hasn’t?), or need a particular logo that hasn’t been provided? Go to the company’s website and see if you can find a PDF with their logo…a brochure, their annual report, something. Download the PDF, open the PDF in Illustrator and then, if you are lucky, you will find the vector version of their logo inside.

    Congratulations again!

  4. Kim,
    Thank you and hope you comment more often 🙂

    Brian,
    Thank you and I will get back to you with the email.

    Meroko,
    Thank you and that is a great tip! One I had never really thought of.

  5. Congratulations. Based on your content quality this was inevitable in my opinion. Here’s to 10,000!

    Here’s my tip/trick:
    Always assume your client will say “What about this…” When you’re done with your project try to pick apart your work and prepare answers for the most likely “what about this” situations. This also helps me ensure that my work is absolutely perfect before I present because if I can make a valid argument to myself about why something should change, then I go ahead and change it.

  6. Hi Jacob

    My Freelancing / Designer tip is:

    If you provide a potential client with an estimate of say $1000, and they respond with “well, can we make it $600. Deal?”; Respond confidently, and say “We do not discount our work and quality so we do not discount our prices.”

    You would be surprised at how many clients still chose me over all of the other companies that provided lower prices.

    I have a great quote from a recent client that said “Even though every other quote I received was lower than yours, I would like to hire your services for this project. Your portfolio displays a range of styles and your customer service seems to be spot on. That’s what I think is important.”

    So, even if you find out that your price may be above your competitors, create your own unique differentiators that make you stand out. Prove your price through customer service, be personable and confident. Most clients want to try and bargain and “make a deal”, but you have no reason to lower the price, because your quality is always high.

    Brian Yerkess last blog post..Use WordPress as a CMS and Blog – The Best Way

  8. Congratulations brother! Well done on the 5000. You’ve surely deserved it.

    ahhh, a tip? sure;

    There are no wrong briefs, clients, budgets or situations – every design you do deserves the attention you’d give if you were to be designing for Nike, Apple or Coke. Design for the ‘little’ clients, like they were the ‘big’ clients. Oh, and laugh till you cry every chance you get.

    Alex Charchars last blog post..The Garden of the Mind ~ Part One

  9. Superb achievement! Congrats Jacob. Great content is rewarded with readers.

    My tip for yesterday:
    ~ Take another look at your previous designs and learn from it, improve yourself by being critic.

    My tip for today:
    ~ For all your designs use space for enough air, balance & readability. Think before you use a typeface, ask yourself what is the purpose of the design I’m making right now? Then select the right typeface and take a close look at kerning and alignment within your design.

    My tip for tomorrow:
    ~ Read, learn and adapt from inspirational resources like the design blog list over at David Airey.

    Thank you and good luck!

    Sanders last blog post..Gezocht: All-Round technisch Graveur

  12. Congrats on such a great achievement! I’m still looking forward to 100.

    A couple of tips:

    Design- Never show a concept that you don’t love and believe in…it will be the one they pick.

    Freelance- Be more than a freelancer, own your business…demand respect.

  13. Congrats.

    My tip… very old hat. Keep a camera and a notepad on you at all times and keep jotting down ideas on the train or at lunch.

    Take photos of inspiration and horrible design and learn from it. This way you’ll constantly be learning from yourself and others around you… then keep a trail of it all inside a flickr account or on your HDD. That way you can then have a time line of where you’ve gone and what you’ve learned.

    An example: I’m on vaction in Tokyo and last night I used the rubbishy camera on my iPhone to capture a coca cola rip off… and also the Softbank logo in Japan.

    This way, later on when I’m in a better state of mind I can look at both and then learn and rethink what they’ve done from typography to layout to… etc 😉 and then sketch how I would change it into my notebook.

    It’s all great practice when that client comes to you and asks you how you would redesign their logo or ‘modern-ise it’.

    Kai Chan Vongs last blog post..By Tom Vong: Kai @ Starbucks (via KaiChanVong)

  14. First of all, congratulations on your subscriber milestone. As much time and work (and love) as you have put into this site it is well deserved.

    As a freelancer I have to agree wholeheartedly with what Brian said above. This is something I had to learn for myself only after some horrible client experiences. Offering yourself up for anything less than what you are worth makes you nothing but a (excuse the expression) design whore.

    Ask yourself this question, “What is my talent worth?” In the beginning I did not believe I had any talent at all and this consequently effected not only the monetary amount I was willing to accept for my work but also my attitude toward the work itself. If you have no respect for yourself and your work then every job will seem like an entry on Worth1000.

    I know this is how I felt. I spent about three years working for someone who paid me very little and who had a sly and subtle way of getting more work out of me. I didn’t know any better, and thank God a designer friend came along one day and opened my eyes to what was going on. It was at this point that my whole attitude toward myself and my work changed completely. I saw myself as the design whore, being used by this shifty client, and I decided right then and there not to do anymore work for this person. Sure it would mean no more money and no more design work (for I had no other clients), but I realized that I had to make a stand. I had to seriously ask myself, “What is my talent worth?”

    This question is not only about money but about how you perceive your ability and the work that you produce. Do you believe your work is worth something? Not only to potential clients, but to yourself as a designer?

    Let the world know that you mean business. Take a stand and don’t accept anything less. Sure you may have clients turn away, but know that those who do are not the kind of people you want as clients in the first place.

  15. Wow, Jacob, you’ve seen amazing growth on your blog! I’m still jealous!

    My tip: Create quality work, get quality work in return. You reap what you sow, basically. If you are always producing crummy work because you think you just have to get by until you make it big, you’ll only ever get low-quality work to do in return. You attract the quality you put out there, so always do your best.

    And of course, see the Devastating Mistakes article I did a while ago 😀

    I like this idea of having people give advice in exchange for a chance to win a prize! Good idea!

    LaurenMarie – Creative Curios last blog post..Enhance Your Designs with the Principle of Balance

  17. Congrats Jacob, I’ve been a subscriber for quite some time now, and I am glad you are finally reaching some tremendous numbers!

    I guess my number one tip on the top of my head right now, is that nothing is ever a “Final” draft in this industry. And the problem with this is to as a designer, you need to be able to find that “Final” draft and stick to it. Accomplish your goals, and stick to your guns, after-all you are the designer.

    If you can never be happy with your end product, and often find yourself knowing you “can make it better with more time” then you will only mitigate yourself for future work.

  18. Congratulations, Jacob. A stunning achievement. That David Airey chap really started something. He’s also the reason I started blogging.

    You’ve posted some excellent content, and you come across as…well, just a really nice guy. Wish you even greater success for the coming year.

    johnos last blog post..Sunday Type: book type

  19. Jacob,

    Congratulations on another fabulous milestone! You work so hard, you deserve every bit of your success. Here’s to your next 5,000!

    Tip: Even when you are a solopreneur, you are the leader of your tiny company. Make sure you, your website, and your printed materials look and behave accordingly, and someday you’ll lead a company as large as you hope for. You’re not “just” a freelancer. Be a leader.

    Regards,

    Kelly

  21. Hi Jacob, I just discovered your website. Now you’ve got one more subscriber 😉
    But the link towards “5 Vital Logo Design Tips” in this post doesn’t work. Seems like you forgot the famous “http://”.

    Greetings Max

  22. First off, I want to say to Jacob, congrats on the milestone, and thanks for celebrating it by having a contest.

    Now, for my graphic design tip…

    Stay up to date. Be current in your approaches to design and always try to improve upon yourself. Look at things you see and admire, and strive your hardest, not just to achieve the same, but to surpass it.

    Hop that helps, and I hope I win the contest. 🙂

  23. My tip:

    Educate your client.

    This has more or less become my mantra since I started freelancing. Don’t just set their logo in Papyrus and collect your money. Explain to them why another typeface would be a better choice. Giving your client a crash course in design does wonders for the designer-client relationship–and almost always leads to a better final product.

    http://clashmoredesign.blogspot.com/s last blog post..

  25. Thank you everyone for your tips, I will be having a post tomorrow highlighting your tips with links back to your websites as a nice bit of link love 🙂

    Doug,
    No worries regarding the offtopic bit, it was relevant to JCD so wasn’t that off topic really.

  26. Jacob, just letting you know a couple things. One, the link for “5 Vital Logo Design Tips” by David Airey is broken.

    Second, the CommentLuv thing you have here doesn’t seem to be working for me. It works when I enter my portfolio URL, but not when I enter my blog URL.

    Any ideas?

  27. kristarella, thanks for the info, but I already have the RSS feed in my blog code. It’s starting to work somewhat better now, but I still have to go back into the comment and add my name to both the title and the URL link. Unless that’s what everyone has to do, too. I don’t know.

    Jacob, my apologies. Didn’t mean to get “off topic” here.

    Doug’s last blog post..Can You Make Me A Free Graphic!?

  28. Jacob, congrats on 5000 and a terrific website that continues to impress. You should consider growing beyond a blog.

    My tip- be transparent. Let clients have as much visibility as possible. Some of the many advantages are to reduce misunderstandings and increase buy-in. The big disadvantage is the extra time on communication that might be required but look at it as time spent creating a loyal client and educating them for better performance in the future. That last part will only be true if you’re selective with the clients you take on and don’t say yes to everyone who throws money at you.

    Jacob from JobMobs last blog post..Offbeat Yet Normal Israeli Marketing Writer Job Interview Story

  29. Jacob, I really enjoy reading your blog and referring to past articles. I have just become a subscriber. Can you please do some articles on courses for budding graphic design dreamers like myself.
    Bek
    Melbourne

  32. Kristarella,
    I assume that the list is nearly all the courses that offer Graphic Design diplomas/degrees in Australia so obviously you would need to research which school would be best suited to you especially in regards to location, cost and reputation.

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