I’m finally done with school, after far too long. I’ve been juggling a full-time design position, Dunlap Studios, full-time school and my home life for almost a year now, and all of them feel like full-time jobs! I’m happy to say goodbye homework and hello free time!

So, what do I have planned? A whole lot……

Dunlap Studios has been needing some work for quite some time. I have the website up, but that’s only a piece of the puzzle. I’m going to be taking some steps to enhance Dunlap Studios and attract some new clients.

Marketing / Branding

When I designed my website I took several things into account. (1) My personality (2) My originality (3) Functionality and (4) My style (ie. textures and illustration). I’m extremely happy with my website, as I think that I executed the above factors really well. Though, as I said before, I only designed the website, Vince coded it, so the functionality is all his doing.

Now that I have more time to focus on Dunlap Studios itself, I will be applying the same 4 factors to all of my upcoming marketing projects. At the beginning of 2009 I will be printing several marketing pieces including a portfolio, new business cards and either a pamphlet or brochure. All of which will play a distinct role, and all will have separate designs, though they will all compliment each other and my website.

In order for me to create the print collateral, I’ll be needing a new logo. I don’t know how many of you have noticed, but there’s not a logo anywhere on my site. I had disposed of my old logo when I designed the new site, as it didn’t reflect well with the brand that I created. The logo design will be my number one priority, as it seems a little odd for a logo designer to not have a logo. But, at the same time I don’t want to rush it. I feel like I need to really spend some time on my logo creation, as it’s the most important logo I can create. It doesn’t just represent my brand but also my brand’s quality… as I said in my last post “If your logo looks sub-par, then you look sub-par.”

Online Presence

Now that I’ll have some more free time I’ll be able to focus more on my online presence. There are several design communities that I’d like to be involved in, not only to get myself on the web but to meet and connect with other designers and creatives. I plan on playing a more active role on the Behance Network, as I don’t even have my portfolio up yet, other than a few illustrations. I also plan on getting my portfolio up on Designers Network, Coroflot and Design:Related. The hardest part of creating an active presence is being active, I’ll have to commit some time to updating each of these sites regularly.

In addition to those sites, I plan on being more active with Myspace, Twitter and especially on my blog. I’m going to focus a lot of my attention on keeping my blog posts current, and hopefully interesting.

And…. I might try that whole Facebook thing… but probably not.

Business Ventures

I also have project in the mix for a whole other design/freelance opportunity apart from Dunlap Studios, in partnership with Vince from MyNameIsVince. I can’t get into the details quite yet, but I can say that it will an awesome project for bands and start-up companies. I’m excited to see how it turns out, because I think it could be a huge hit.

Last But Not Least

I’m going to use my free time for free time. I’m hoping to spend a lot more time with my family. My wife is still going to have her schedule full with school, but I’ll be able to have a lot of one-on-one time with my daughter. I’m excited to watch some TV and movies. I’d like to get all caught up with Lost and be able to catch some fight nights. I’m also excited to get some reading done, as I’ve asked for a couple books on design and typography for Christmas. And of course I’m going to play on my Mac! I’ve only used it for work and school since I got it, I’m planning on downloading a bunch of apps just to try them out. I’ll be starting first with Evernote!

And last, I’m going to try and get some sleep… but it’s not likely.