Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the whole year. It’s a time when our families get together to have some food, fun, and fellowship. During Thanksgiving, there are some things that I try do as a graphic and web designer and I would like to share those 5 things with you.
You may also want to check out the following Smashing Magazine articles:
- Freebie: Thanksgiving Icon Set (15 Icons, PNG, PSD, AI, SVG)
- Examining The Design Process: Clichés And Idea Generation
Send simple “Thank You” emails to your past clients.
Ralph Marston once said,
“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you”
This is a very simple thing that every designer should do. Write a personal note to your past clients just telling them about how thankful you are for their business. No, I didn’t say ask them for work, just a simple thank you note will do. I did this last Thanksgiving and you won’t believe how many clients were shocked that I remembered to thank them during Thanksgiving. Needless to say, I received more work from these clients.
Design something free for somebody.
During Thanksgiving, I find that I have a lot more time. One thing that I try to do is to not only say thanks, but to also do something nice for someone. Why not offer to design something for someone this Thanksgiving? I usually try to do some design work for the church that I attend, just to lighten the load of their graphic designer. You don’t have to design a 10 page brochure or build a 5 page website, just something simple should do it.
Now some of you are asking, “How does this benefit me?” It doesn’t. It benefits the other person. I try to live by this motto.
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Take some time to improve your website.
During the holidays, I usually spend some time improving and tweaking things on my website. Most of us are just too busy to work on our sites, so if you have some free time during the break, it might be wise for you to work on those things that you have been planning to add to your site for six months now. Otherwise, you will probably get busy with work again after Thanksgiving and you won’t have any more time to improve your website.
Get off the computer and spend some time with those you love.
If you are like me, then this is one that is really hard to do. I’m not going to say that I’m addicted to the computer, but I will say that I am very busy and I can get a lot done when I’m on the computer. But this Thanksgiving, make it an effort to shut off your computer (it probably needs to be restarted anyway, it hasn’t been shut down for a month), and spend some time with your family. By the way, I usually find that by turning off the computer, spending time laughing and having fun with my family and eating lots of food and getting rest during the break, I usually come back to work more refreshed, rejuvenated,
and with more ideas and inspiration.
Buy some items that you need during the Thanksgiving Sales.
This is something that I do yearly. I try to save some money for a few months, and during the sales, I try to purchase those large purchases that I have been wanting. Yes, yes, I know, some of deals are no good, and they are still rip-offs, but if you do your research beforehand, you can really get some good deals. Just don’t kill anybody in the process, or run over some kids just to get that item that you wanted.
I’ve gotten flat screen monitors, laptops, video games, clothes, and many other things during these sales. The key is to know what it is that you need to buy and don’t buy any other things. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot more money and you might even get in debt.
What did I forget on this list?
We all could benefit by doing some of these things that I have listed. What else did I forget that you think we should do as designers during Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, please re-tweet it. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking here. You can follow the Design Informer on Twitter here.