This past year has been turbulent, to say the least. I went from not knowing what to do with myself, to deciding to go freelance, to founding my own business. Alongside all that, I’m taking a postgraduate professional training course in Munich, widening my horizon travel-wise and work-wise.

Learning by doing

Every day is a learning process, and I honestly have to say I’ve never been this far outside my comfort zone – every. single. day. But it’s all been worth it:

I have clients that I like working for, and who like me and my work
I got to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair, mingle, pass out my card, and enjoy being an editor
I talk to like-minded people on a regular basis
I receive emotional and professional support from fellow freelancers

Positive struggle

All in all, there’s nothing but love and positivity around me (knock on wood). And yet: I’m not gonna lie – freelancing is a constant struggle. Some aspects just don’t agree with my personality, like pricing (not knowing whether you’re over- or undercharging), not speaking your mind about certain concerns (like pricing, ha!), acting like you’re on top of things all the time (“fake it till you make it”) … sometimes being an entrepreneur just doesn’t seem to go well with my personality.

Outlook

Who knows where my course, clients, fellow freelancers, and personal life will lead me … I plan to learn more every day, write, practice my lettering, and work hard to get to where I want to be. No, strike that – to be where I want to be. Because working as a freelancer isn’t about working towards a static goal, it’s about doing what you love every day. That much I’ve learned so far.
Exciting times, people. What was that comfort-zone thing again?

“Typography? What’s that good for?”
I’ve been asked this question many times before. Either it’s because the person didn’t know what typography even was, or didn’t see that it’s needed in the world.
To clarify, here’s the definition from Wikipedia: “Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language most appealing to learning and recognition. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point size, line length, line-spacing (leading), letter-spacing (tracking), and adjusting the space within letters pairs (kerning).”

Most typographers and designers agree with this definition. However, good typography does much more than simply “make written language most appealing”. In many cases, it leads the eye to the information that is important. Good newspaper layouts make it easier for you to scan the articles you want; nicely arranged homepages make sure the text is short and the length of the lines isn’t as long as they would be in a book. White space is crucial, allowing your eye and brain to discern which characters belong where. So really, good typography saves you time and energy when reading.

Pleasing results
You’ve most definitely encountered bad or unfortunate uses of typography – sadly, even in professional products like books, magazines, or on big companies’ homepages (where you wouldn’t expect it). Instead of showcasing uses of typography gone wrong, though, I’d like to showcase four examples of typography put to good use.
In the course of the last year, I’ve come across four magazines that are incredibly well done. They’re easy to read, pleasant to look at, and just generally typographically pleasing. Two of these magazines (flow and novum) touch upon graphic design and paper as topics. Now, you might say “Well that makes sense that their use of typography is good, if that’s what they’re talking about.” True. Which is why I’d like to talk about my two favorite magazines that don’t have anything to do with typography, layout, or graphic design as topics. They simply put these tools to exceptionally good use.

Hohe Luft

This is my latest discovery, and my new favorite. It’s a philosophical magazine, for “people who enjoy thinking” (“Für alle, die Lust am Denken haben”). Yes, you read correctly: a magazine on philosophy. Honestly, I didn’t know such a wonderful thing existed. The magazine discusses everyday topics (money, power, war, etc.) in light of philosophical theories.
Not only are the articles well-written (and easy to understand for those non-philosophers among us), but the graphic concept of the magazine is also clean. conscise, and airy. (Maybe that has something to do with the title?)
The logo mixes small caps, lower case, and upper case letters successfully. It looks harmonious, as do all the running titles in the magazine, which are done in the same way.
A two-columned layout is used throughout the magazine, achieving a calmness on the page and flow for reading the articles. These are visually broken and spruced up by using minor design details, for example: initials – some of which even boldly go over 14 (!) lines. Different colors and typefaces for the headlines add to this variety, yet the continuous text is always kept in the same typeface, ensuring that lovely calmness on the page.
In addition to this thoughtful use of typography, the magazine also includes beautiful illustrations and photographic essays.
Truly a treat for anyone who isn’t wondering what Kardashian’s butt is worth or where Rihanna’s latest tattoo is, but is also too impatient to really read DIE ZEIT’s yard-long articles.

Mixology

The second magazine I want to bring to your attention, if you don’t know it already, is Mixology – Magazin für Barkultur (Magazine of Bar Culture).
The first thing you may notice – apart from its catchy cover designs – is its paper. It’s not glossy, and it’s not cheap. It actually feels – and smells! – like paper.
The magazine mixes a two-column and three-column layout, but what really catches the eye is its use of non-mainstream type. It’s so non-mainstream, if I tell you the names of the fonts I identified with WhatTheFont, you’d probably say… nothing. (Or does Cloister Open Face ring a bell to you?)
What one can say, though, is that Mixology not only talks about mixing drinks well – it also mixes fonts well. In one issue alone, I counted almost a dozen fonts or styles of font, and yet the layout looks… how to say it?… shaken, not stirred. It may not sound like a lot of fonts to you, but the general rule is to stick to a maximum of three fonts or styles of font for a page; for a magazine, that usually means no more than six fonts should be enough variety for all the possible sections you can think of combining. Yet here, there are many more fonts used – and still, they mix harmoniously.
What else is there to say? The magazine uses a nice balance of black and white, both for background and type. Even in its advertisements (however they managed that). It’s an all-round viewing and reading pleasure.
If you’re a sensualist and you appreciate the culture of your drinks, you’ll like the magazine and its culture of editorial typography.

I don’t know how other people choose their fonts, and sometimes I’d prefer not to know, considering some of the decisions made out there.
As in all trades, there are theories on how to choose the right font for what you want to convey. You might consider legibility, style, distinctiveness, etc. Indra Kupferschmid classifies fonts according to their effect – whether they’re dynamic, static, or geometrical.
All of this makes sense, and they’re good theories to consider. But that’s all they are: theories. In practice, you don’t always consider these theoretical aspects – at least not on a conscious level.

How I choose fonts

So I can’t tell you how other people choose their fonts. However, what I can tell you is how I choose fonts. Brace yourself: this is personal. I choose my fonts like I choose my friends and partners. Meaning, I don’t really – they choose me.
Of course, when I consider a font for a project, I think about what it should convey, how it should look, the style it should have, etc. I look at an array of typefaces that come from that particular style (humanist, modern, sans serif, etc). I study them. I look at each glyph individually, often at specific glyphs in combination.
But then I find myself choosing a font/typeface because of one particular character. Something about that one particular glyph just captures me, speaks to me. At this point, I’m pretty giddy, and usually a bit impatient. It’s like I have butterflies in my stomach. So, I quickly scan the other glyphs once more to see if they’re alright – and I’ve made my choice. It’s a complete gut brain decision.
So then I try out the font in my project. Once I’ve used it, a calmness sets in. After all, once you’ve decided on a font, you have to accept all of its characters. A lot of thought went into the making and designing of the font, and you should respect that. You can’t just change a character here or there because you don’t like it.

Characters and character traits

It’s like in life, in relationships: You see someone you’re interested in. Something about this person catches your eye. It might be the way he laughs, or the way she looks into your soul when you talk; a witty remark, a catchy line, maybe a dance move – and you’re hooked. Because of this one particular character (same word even!) trait, you decide to inspect the person more closely. To include them in your life. Only then do you notice the smaller, not-so-dashing character traits in the person (and characters in the font). But you accept and love the font (or person) anyways, because you still feel it was the best choice for you at the time.
If you’re lucky, you’ve chosen a font that works for your project, whether or not you actually use the particular glyph that caught your eye in the beginning. Even if some other glyphs (or character traits) begin to bother you. Similar to a happy relationship/friendship: the particular character trait that caught you in the beginning may or may not fade, and additional traits that you might not be too happy with may or may not appear. But overall, you’re still happy with your choice.

Take your time!

I spent months (yes, I’m not kidding: months) searching for a font that would look the way I wanted it to for my corporate identity. Respectable yet fun, a text font that had a rich tradition but looked more modern than, say, Garamond or Didot. When I came across what was to become “my” font, I instantly fell in love with the capital italic W because of its swash.

swash W

Funny thing is that even though I don’t even use the character that I love in my corporate design, my relationship with my font is still a happy one. It remains a good choice. It’s legible in print and on screen, and it looks serious and yet a bit different. And apart from a few characters that bug me, it conveys what I want it to.

So, however you choose your fonts, the best advice I can give you is to take your time to decide. Don’t just choose fonts that are free, or that you’re used to seeing. Check the fonts’ backgrounds, try them out, print them out (!), let them sit for a while. Then go back and look it all over. And then just let your feelings take over and decide for you. You might just end up as happy as I am… font-wise!

Working alone

As a freelancer, you’re now working alone, and no one is telling you when to work on which project. But, be honest: was it like that before you went freelance? I highly doubt it. If you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t have dreamed of going freelance at that stage of your career: when you had to be told which tasks had which priority. The past years of my previous career, I had already been deciding which tasks and projects to tackle when. Heck, I even had an assistant whom I told (nicely) when to do which tasks in order to keep a steady work-flow.
What does this tell us? You’re not really working differently than you were before. So why does managing your day-to-day suddenly seem so challenging? Like it’s something you have to plan carefully?

Responsibility

Well, you are now solely responsible for your success. I know, I know – you may be saying, “But I was just as responsible in my previous job, having to manage whole projects.” Yes. I agree. So was I. But the difference, I’ve come to realize, is not how responsible you were or are, but how responsible you feel.
Honestly, did you never feeling like you could have days when you went to work and maybe weren’t 100% productive, and no one would notice? I know I did. As long as you managed the deadline in the long run, you felt pretty confident. Almost like you had told your mom you’d done your homework but hadn’t, and then still got an A on the final test.
The difference is that now, there’s no mom to swindle. No boss to cheat. Except yourself. You are the boss. And you can’t fool yourself. You’ll know when you slacked off – and be quite unforgiving. This is a feeling you need to free yourself of. Now.

Mindfulness in your tasks

Pretty much all the productivity apps and books on managing your day-to-day that I’ve come across have one thing in common: mindfulness. In order to have a productive work day, you need to be aware. Aware of the tasks at hand, and of your own personal rhythms in tackling those tasks. Here’s a list of some of the things that I have become aware of:

• Writing a list helps.
  Write a to-do list. It helps to prioritize your day. But: limit yourself. Don’t have reminders in your phone, a to-do list app, a hand-written to-do list on your desk, and a pocket calendar. This will only make you feel unproductive and you will be unproductive, because all you will be doing is writing (or crossing off) to-do lists.
  

  best to do list ever. geekoftheday.com

  I personally like having an overview and a to-do list. I hang my big-picture overview of projects that need to be done on the wall of my office. I use a simple A3-sized piece of paper for this. I can throw it away when I’m done and my handwriting on the paper can only be seen when I’m actually standing right in front of the list, not from every angle of my office.
  And then I like having a to-do list reminding me of tasks that I would otherwise forget. My personal favorite for this flexible to-do list of things that need reminding is Clear app. You can type short (!) reminders in your phone, check them off the list when you’ve done them, set a reminder (this is a new function to the app, and oh-so-valuable), and easily move around tasks. The hands-on, no-brainer functionality makes the importance of the list decrease – you simply add a task, and when you’re done, cross it off the list. Then you delete the list, and write a new one. Quick, easy, and no big deal.

• Set time blocks in your day for certain tasks.
  You know better than anyone how productive you are at which time of day. Work with this knowledge. It’s a known fact of science that you can only concentrate for 90 minutes at a time intensely, and then you need a break.
  If you’re more creative in the afternoon (like I am), set a time frame to work on your creative stuff then.
  To feel like you’re staying on top of things, work on administrative tasks like e-mails and invoices every day. But don’t do this first thing in the morning – if you’re anything like me, you’re head is not functioning to 100% yet. And: you have more important things to do.
  I work on client’s work (that pays) for the first 90 minutes of the day. That way, I feel like I’ve already “done something”. I do not handle e-mails at this time. If I’m going through a very intense period of work with lots of communication, I might read them quickly. But I never reply. No good comes from talking to me in the morning before I’m fully functioning, so why should e-mail be any different?
  

  Coffee before talkie. thecooleststuffever.com

  After a coffee break, I check and reply to e-mails, do administrative work, etc. for no longer than 90 minutes. Come hell or high water, be it Monday, Friday, or the last day before a deadline.
  The beauty of this routine is that in times when you have fewer clients you can also shorten the length of time spent on any particular task and call it a day sooner, or then put in some extra creative time. You have every task (client, creative, administrative) covered, every day, and you feel like you’ve achieved something.

• Recognize your needs.
  All this said, be mindful to your needs. If you don’t feel like starting your work day with client work because you didn’t sleep well, don’t. But don’t fill this time with mindless internet surfing or writing e-mails. Check your favorite blogs, listen to a pod-cast, put on some music, and talk to your office colleagues (if you have them) or your cat (if she’ll listen). Go outside, start the work-day later.
  Listen to your body. When you’re hungry, eat. When you’re tired, sleep. Do yoga, pilates (or whatever sport), go dancing. Don’t drink endless amounts of coffee and push yourself constantly.

• Take at least a day a week off.
  Some people swear by daily routine. Alright, that might be good for your creative juices, if you, say, want to practice your lettering or writing. But don’t work on clients’ work or check e-mails every day. Just because you can now also work on the weekend doesn’t mean you should. (Or that anyone expects that of you!) Give yourself time to relax.

For me, the most important thing to being productive as a freelancer is working around your personal rhythm, listening to your body and mind, and being mindful with your resources. Unlike in corporate culture, you no longer have to sit at your desk and act like you’re working when in fact you don’t want to. You can get up and do something else, and come back to your tasks when your motivation returns.
Yes, you are now solely responsible for your success. But you are also solely responsible for how happy you are doing your job – after all, there’s no company, boss, or superior to blame if you work on something you don’t want to be working on. You are your company, boss, and supervisor. And you can be as free as you want to be! All you need to do is organize your freedom.

What can you expect?
If you’re interested in typography and good design, like I am, then most of my posts should tickle your fancy.
I also like to follow fellow editors and the publishing world in general, from the German-speaking market to the UK and also the US.
And, since I am a small-business owner just starting out, I’ll also be including my views on going freelance, bureaucratic hurdles, and other things young entrepreneurs might deal with.

In detail:

Reviews
I’ll be reviewing books on design, typography, editing, going freelance – if I’ve read it and it has to do with my business, I’ll be reviewing it. I also welcome reading tips and comments from you!
The same goes for films. Although they are often simply eye-candy, there are some quite inspiring films out there related to design, typography, entrepreneurialism etc. I’ll also be talking about those I’ve watched and find worth reviewing.
And I’ll also be discussing other blog posts, and any apps or technology that might be helpful or fun for designers or editors.

Beauty and information
Also, whenever I come across anything beautiful or interesting I think is worth “repinning” or “reposting” or “reblogging”, you’ll find it here. And then of course on my Facebook, google+ and twitter pages.

Personal updates
Apart from these things, you can expect personal updates from me. For one, on projects I’ve completed, and also on my further education. This includes my experiences with Rudolf Paulus Gorbach in tgm’s two-year course Typografie intensiv 10 that I’m currently taking in Munich, as well as my insights from seanwes’ course Learn Lettering.

So in sum, my blog should provide inspiring, informative, interesting, and personal insights into my life as a wordsmith.
I aim to post on a regular basis (at least every two weeks or so), so stay tuned – I’ll keep you posted!

Liebe Freunde! Ich darf mit Stolz verkünden, dass ich nun offiziell meine eigene Firma habe und selbstständig bin! Als »Wortschmiedin« gestalte ich Texte – visuell und sprachlich. Im visuellen Bereich der Gestaltung liegt mein Fokus durch die Typografie und meiner neuentdeckten Leidenschaft, dem »Hand Lettering«, auf dem Text. Die Dienste, die ich im sprachlichen Bereich anbiete, erstrecken sich von Korrektorat über Lektorat bis hin zu Ghostwriting – auf Deutsch und Englisch.
Meine persönliche Sicht auf ebendiese Themen findet ihr in meinem Blog: Typografie, Gestaltung, Hand Lettering, Editing, schönes Design, das Selbstständigmachen, und so weiter – natürlich auf Englisch. Updates gibts auch auf twitter, Facebook und google+. Wenn ihr Freude an schönen Drucksachen habt, seid ihr bei mir und meinem Blog richtig. Schaut vorbei, ich freue mich auf eure Kommentare!