Being a freelancer graphic designer, website developer, or anything on your own working from home is hard work. There's absolutely no doubt about it. That's why there are other great entrepreneurs and companies that you should be following who are successful and can get tips and tricks from. That's why there are blogs and twitterers that you should be following for tutorials and finding out new and easier ways to do things. Below is a list of subscriptions, whether it be a magazine, a blog that I follow religiously, or a twitter friend that I keep up with because of the relevancy of their information. This is all meant to keep you in the know and on top of your game!

 

Magazines

 

Photoshop User Magazine - The official magazine of NAPP and the most trusted resource for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom training, advice and how-to information in the graphic design, photography and digital art worlds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Layers Magazine - Layers keeps you on top of the latest design trends taking place within the world of the Adobe® Creative Suite® programs. Each issue unlocks new possibilities, new ideas, and new methods that help you accomplish more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computer Arts - The ultimate magazine for graphic designers with free downloads on-line, in-depth tutorials, news, interviews, galleries, exclusive competitions and message boards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced Photoshop – Very good magazine that goes into the depths of Photoshop's advanced features, tips, and techniques. A must have for propelling your skills and getting that 'WOW' effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Magazine - HOW magazine’s goal is to help designers, whether they work for a design firm, for an in-house design department or for themselves, run successful, creative, profitable studios.

 

 

 

Blogs

Just Creative Design - I am self-employed (part-time) as a graphic designer, specializing in the fields of corporate identity design, web design, print design and branding.

 

I'm Just Creative - I am a freelance logo and identity mark designer with over 25 years experience in graphic design, reprographics, advertising, marketing, commercial print, typography and photography.

 

Guerrilla Freelancing - Guerrilla Freelancing is a website dedicated to helping every freelancer still in the trenches, working as hard as they can to build up a solid freelance business. Our main objective is to be a voice for those who have not “made it” and provide straight to the point advice and tips for the guerrilla freelancer.

 

Vandelay Design - Through our blog we aim to provide helpful and informative posts that meet the needs of our readers. The majority of our readers are web designers or online entrepreneurs of some sort. If you’re unfamiliar with our blog, we hope that you’ll take a few moments to see what is available and we encourage you to get involved by commenting and subscribing. We have an intelligent audience that regularly enhances the quality of information on the site by participating in the discussion.

 

Web Design Ledger - The Web Design Ledger is a publication written by web designers for web designers. The primary purpose of this site is to act as a platform for sharing web design related knowledge and resources. Topics range from design inspiration to tips and tutorials and everything in between.

 

First Web Designer - 1stwebdesigner is a design blog dedicated to bloggers, freelancers, web-developers and designers. Topics focus on web design,graphic design, tutorials and inspirational articles.

 

David Airey – I’m David Airey, a design author and brand identity designer. I create visual identities for companies of all sizes, from Yellow Pages to one-person start-ups.

 

Tutorial 9 - A collection of teachers, experts, and caring folk from around the world, all gathered in one place to pass along our knowledge to absolutely anyone interested in learning.

 

You The Designer - YouTheDesigner.com (YTD) is a graphic design, marketing and branding blog that features tips, inspiration, tutorials and resources for creative professionals. YouTheDesigner is part of the UPrinting.com Network.

 

Web Designer Depot - We love design and are passionate about it in all its shapes and forms. Our vision is to make WDD a great showcase for this passion and feed a worldwide audience of savvy designers eager to learn more and share their knowledge with the design community.

 

FreelanceSwitch - FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world.

 

Freelance Folder - FreelanceFolder is a community for all types of freelancers, entrepreneurs, work-at-home business owners, and web-workers. At FreelanceFolder, we're constantly striving to bring you the articles, information, and community you need to succeed.

 

Anything Graphic - Dedicated to graphic design, entrepreneurship, & business. Feel free to comment :-)

 

Smashing Magazine – Founded in September 2006, Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. Our aim is to inform our readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web development. We try to convince you not with the quantity but with the quality of the information we present. We hope that makes us different. Smashing Magazine is, and always has been, independent.

 

Amber Weinberg - Freelance Web Developer specializes in valid XHTML & CSS and WordPress. Runs a blog. Likes cheese.

 

There are hundreds of subscriptions through RSS & Twitter that you should be following as well. But, that is beyond the scope of this post. However, all of the above have RSS feeds and Twitter accounts that I'm sure you'll follow, if you aren't already.

 

What & who do you subscribe to?

So who are you following that isn't on this list that you consider as a necessity. I know I didn't get them all, but it's a start. Now it's your turn…

Tags: Business, Design, Twitter

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Blogging, Graphic Design, Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.