Introduction Have you sometimes wondered about the pitfalls of starting your own freelance business? Are you mulling over the advantages and/or disadvantages of trying to start your own freelance business while working at a “regular” full-time job? Nope, not interested in a freelancing career? That's okay. I'll bet you've griped from time to time about poorly designed catalog pages, magazines, books, or other printed articles. It seems everyone has a pet design peeve—the type is too small, the page numbers are hard to find, the lettering is hard to read, the pictures don't match the copy layout, and so on and so on. This is so common of a problem that a well-known direct mail magazine devotes an entire page in each issue to before and after examples of advertising designs! So whose job is it, anyway, to get all the design elements working together? A graphic artist. And when a business or college fails to have a good designer work on their print materials, it not only shows, but can even affect the infamous “bottom line.” In the following interview, graphic designer Steve Tiano shares valuable insights into common challenges faced by freelancers, and explains the role a graphic artist plays in the production process. - Anne Wallingford

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Friday, October 10, 2003 10:30