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1. Get into work, fire up the Mac(or my super 3screens desktop ) and launch all the programs I'll need for the day.
2. Make coffee(or some juice ) while the machine loads stuff like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Entourage, iChat(not all the designers ), etc. Without coffee I am useless.
3. Log into my various email accounts, delete spam, and reply to any issues that need immediate attention. Other requests via email are added to the "to-do-list"(a very common thing in designers ) which is conveniently kept on a pad of paper, and edited with a pencil( pencil pencil pencil). (Don't need any of those fancy-schmancy expensive time-management programs...)
4. Same with voicemail.
5. Prioritize to-do list with an eye towards time required to complete the to-do list and deadlines looming on the to-do-list items. Rank 'em and knock 'em down.
6. By knock 'em down I mean the actual WORK part of work, which usually consists of things like: sketch out designs for brochures, create clipping paths for photos, brainstorm new marketing campaign taglines, help clients use Acrobat Reader and other software, justify billing expenditures to clients with ever-more-detailed cost breakdowns, keep track of time spent every day on timesheets (per project - again on pencil and paper), talking to printers/CD-duplication houses/die-cutters/signmakers/etc. in order to make sure projects get done, call up a client or two that you haven't heard from in a while and do some sales, write up the billing and send that out when projects are done, take time every so often to answer questions on the internet.
7. After the 8 hours are up, get everything you worked on to a stopping point, clean out the coffeepot, and go home.
Thinks I like doing each day: A) The actual design part of design, implementing those designs and handing the artwork off to be produced so I can see the results of my work.
Talking with clients & establishing relationships with them. C) Discovering a new tool or a new system that makes the production and busywork portion of my job easier/faster so I can spend more time on "A."Things I hate doing each day: A) Paperwork (includes billing, timekeeping, etc.)
Accounting (includes billing, justifying costs to a client who got hit with a higher invoice than expected, dealing with vendors who hit ME with a cost higher than expected, etc.) C) Seeing a client take the "safe" design concept over one which is "better", usually because the client made the decision in a committee.http://sherwooddesignandprint.ca
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