A comfortable office is one of the most important aspects of your work. After all, how productive will you if can only think of how badly you want to be out of the office? In addition to wanting to spend time in your office, if everything is nicely organized and laid out in a logical fashion, it will increase your productivity infinitely.

If you make your office into a place you enjoy, you won’t be distracted by how much you hate it there, or how much you want to be somewhere else. However, there’s a fine line between having an office that reflects your personal style, and an office that has become your home. There needs to be a definite separation between home and office, so be careful not to make it too comfy and inviting, and make sure that the personal touches you add will promote productivity rather than distract from it.

For example, the presence of a nicely designed organizer that reflects your personal style is extremely helpful to your productivity. Pieces like this will not only serve a practical function, but will make you happy to use them and look at them every day. Pieces like a distracting video game, noisy toys, and otherwise distracting devices will not increase your productivity, but rather will hinder it. If you are constantly thinking of using/playing with things you have brought into your office while you are supposed to be working, your productivity will obviously be affected.

Sorting With Style

HGTV Office Style

21st Century Home Office Style

Tracking time can be tricky business for a creative professional. At times we can be working on more than one project at once, jumping from project to project before we have a chance to check our time. Other times, a project can be so absorbing that time disappears entirely and it is impossible to recall when a particular project began. Pen and paper work to an extent, but it can still be easy to forget to write times in, and if the paper gets lost you’re completely out of luck.

Fortunately, there are a multitude of programs that track time automatically, and are a must-have for not only freelancers and business owners, but anyone in charge of tracking their time at work. Even if it isn’t crucial to track time, if you have a task-oriented job, keeping track of time spent will help you stay on track with your workload.

If you are concerned about billing, using an application to track your time is a given. It takes the guesswork out of how much to bill, and helps you to create more accurate estimates on future projects of the same sort. In addition to taking the guesswork out of time spent, it will take you less time to enter your times at the end of the day, saving you more time.

If your only concern is fulfilling a list of tasks by the end of the day, tracking your time will not only help you cross of every task on your list, it will also help you on future days when faced with a long list. If you know how long a particular task will take you, you’ll be able to more accurately map out your day.

Knowing how long a particular task takes you to fulfill will not only help you immediately by taking the guesswork out of your timesheets or helping you to organize your day, but it will help you increase your productivity in the long run. By tracking your time, you will be able to see how long each project takes you to fulfill and how consistent your workflow is. By being able to see where you are slowing down, you will pay more attention to future projects and will streamline your entire workflow.

Below are links to articles and programs to help you track your time:

6 Cool Tricks to Track Your Time

Unclutterer

Time Tracker Comparisons

Setting priorities can be both a trivially easy task and a ridiculously difficult task at the same time. It can be very easy to put your least favorite tasks at the bottom of the priority list, and very difficult to prioritize all of the things you really want to do. Using a structured system to prioritize tasks will take most of the difficulty out of this task, and keep you moving through projects consistently. There are several ways to prioritize this way, and each will make it easier to see where a project should fall on this list.

The first way to prioritize is obvious: time constraints. Obviously, the projects that are due the soonest should be done first, and those with more time should wait till later. This works to a degree, but is not steadfast; there will always be exceptions to this rule, and when prioritizing you should also keep other factors in mind, such as the amount of work to be done on a given project.

Speaking of amount of work, there are some projects that must be done quickly, but require relatively little work compared to another, farther off project. Factoring in the amount of time you need to spend on a particular project can mean the difference between meeting a deadline and not meeting a deadline.

Another factor is budget. If one client is paying a discounted rate, and needs their project done at the same time as a high-budget project, logic says to finish the high-budget project first. Hopefully you don’t ever need to do this and are in better control of your deadlines, but if it does happen and you run out of time, at least the client who paid top-dollar gets what they paid for.

All of these factors together, when used along with your best judgment about which clients require more attention will help you to accurately prioritize your projects in a logical, rather than emotional or motivation-driven way. The most important thing to remember, however, is that just as your lists will change inevitably, the priorities will change right along with them. Keeping focused on these changes is sure to take some stress out of your day and increase the amount of productive time you have in a day’s work.

Below are resources that may help you in organizing your workload:

Prioritizing Upward

How to Prioritize Your Tasks for Increased Productivity

How to Prioritize Freelance Tasks

Keeping organized working files and client files will initially save you time by helping you to find what you’re looking for, but will also help you in the long run. Chances are, you’ll need to access old client files from time to time whether it be to reference graphic styles, grab images, or to send them off to your clients. Knowing where all of your files are, what folders they are in, and where to put new files will help to streamline your workflow.

First of all, creating a consistent directory for your client files will help drastically. Not all systems have to be the same, and what works well for you, may not be best for someone else. So fish around and see what you like best, and once you get used to it, you’ll see great results.  A good way to start is by creating parent files for all of your clients, and within those, individual project files.

In addition to keeping the file directories the same, use consistent naming for your files. If you do this, you’ll instantly know which file you need, where to look for it, and what it should be named. Also, it takes the guesswork out of file naming when you’re working on a project.

Finally, especially if you have more than one person working from your files, keep a sample directory on file. By having this sample, you will easily be able to show new people how your system works, and will give them something to reference if they aren’t sure where to put files.

By following these simple tips, you will be able to easily create client and project files, find projects you are currently working on, easily dig up old projects and client folders, and have others work on your projects without having to ask you where every single file exists.

Below are some helpful articles and programs to inform you on organizing your files:

File Organization Tips: 9 ideas for managing files and folders

Simple Ways to Organize Your Files in Mac

Organize Your Data

AlignPro Solutions is a brand new company that was in need of a logo that could encompass the full range of their products and capabilities, but still leave room for growth. The company creates ergonomic solutions that prevent health problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and wanted a logo that represented their niche but left room for the products they create in the future.

Because AlignPro Solutions and CloudCush are such a unique client and product, Jennergy needed to create a logo design that spoke to their individual place in the market. The logo needed to raise the company to a professional level that matched the competition, who are almost all large corporations such as 3-M and Staples, but also needed to match the personality of the company it’s self.

The solution for this logo design is simple, sophisticated, and organic. The use of curved shapes, which align to one another into a unified arc shape abstractly relay what AlignPro does, without being too overt. The shapes of this logo easily translate into the subsidiary brand, CloudCush, and can also be effectively used in the future for new products. The use of  blues and greens make this logo feel calm and inviting, and the use of one of these colors in the subsidiary ties them both together.

ABOUT ALIGNPRO SOLUTIONS

The CloudCush, formerly Wrist Solution, is a simple and affordable solution to a potentially painful problem.  This new and unique computer mouse cushion Velcro’s onto the backside of any computer mouse.  The patent pending, split- top design provides soft, resilient support to the sides of the wrist and heel of the hand, while the central area is free of pressure; protecting sensitive nerves, blood vessels and tendons from compression.  All other products that are available, whether foam, gel, or beads have equal pressure across this sensitive area.  The mouse, hand, and cushion move effortlessly in unison, with the wrist sitting comfortably still on the cushion. No more push, pull, or dragging.  The elevation provides a more neutral position for the wrist

First thing’s first: before you start work for the week, assess your workload. Prioritize projects based on deadline, importance, workload, and demand. Then make a weekly to-do list. Set daily goals, pencil in appointments and meetings, and map out when you will finish each task.

Next, make detailed daily to-do lists that leave room for extra tasks that may be added on. It is inevitable that new tasks will spring up throughout the day, and being prepared to take them on and finish new tasks along with your original tasks is key to your success at productivity.

Lastly, continuously organize your lists. Cross out accomplished items, move items based on priority, and don’t constrain yourself to a set list of things. Again, projects are bound to change, new ones will creep up, and some will even be scrapped entirely. Being on top of these changes is going to reduce your stress level and allow you to get more work done in a smaller amount of time. Below are links to articles that will help you further in making lists:

Building a Smarter To Do List Part 1

How to Stay Focused: 7 ways to keep on track

Tada List

Even if your computer has a 10 terabyte solid-state hard-drive, having a backup is essential to any person who makes a living on the computer, especially those of us who are in the creative field. Using your backup hard-drive is even more important, and setting up automated backup will ensure that this will happen. It can be easy to forget that our computers aren’t failsafe, especially when we use top-of-the-line equipment, but lets face it: machines fail. Not might fail, or will fail if abused. Will fail. At some point, all computers, all hard-drives meet their end and if you are not prepared, hard-drive failure or loss can be devastating. In addition to natural death, hard-drives can also be stolen, lost, or (computer gods forbid) murder.

The benefits of having an external hard-drive are extensive, the only drawback being the cost. However, with the ever-decreasing price tag and increasing storage capacity of today’s external hard-drives, one would be hard-pressed to not justify the purchase.

Using an external hard-drive is an easy way to clear off your internal hard-drive, which will ultimately improve the performance of your computer and make it easier to find the files that you are currently working on by streamlining your finder window.

When you acquire your backup hard-drive, be sure to set it up with a password to secure it. Then, before you do anything else, set it up in a program such as Time Machine, which will automatically back up any files on your computer, and continue to do so at regular intervals. Most external hard-drives come with operating systems that are similar to Time Machine, but especially with Mac I prefer to use programs that were created specifically for the operating system.

Once you have your hard-drive set up, all you have to do is use your computer. If it’s set up properly, the hard-drive should automatically back up at regular intervals. I have mine set up to update every hour, but depending on how much work you do, how important it is, and how much you use your computer, you may want to update it more or less often.

To take it a step further, you can purchase two external drives and alternate use every week. Keep the one you aren’t using in a safe place, away from your computer so that if theft or damage occurs, so you at least have some backup to recover with.

All in all, backup is good. You never know when disaster will occur, whether it be failure, damage, theft, or loss, and being prepared for that will save you crucial time, frustration and money!

Below are some links to resources for external hard drives:

-Why you should buy a backup hard-drive

-Backup hard-drives

-Four Ways to Automatically Backup a Hard-Drive

It can be easy to forget that there are new, faster, possibly better ways of doing things in the programs we use every day. After all, we are experts, are we not? Continuing to be an expert, however, requires that you continuously seek new tools, techniques, and workflow systems that pop up. If the programs are ever-changing, that means that the possibilities are ever-expanding and evolving, and why miss out on that?

One way to do so is to play around in your programs; look for new, faster ways of doing things you already do, how to evolve them into new and exciting techniques, and how to apply them in new ways. By doing this, you are always evolving your workflow and when you actively create new techniques, you create a unique bag of tricks for yourself.

The second great way to learn new things is probably the most obvious: use the help menu. Try typing in the result you are going for and see what comes up. You may find that a technique you have been slaving over has a fantastic shortcut or can be mimicked with a free plugin. You’ll also probably learn a thing or two that you didn’t know or forgot. Looking through the help menu is especially a good idea when becoming acquainted with a newer version of your favorite program, as the new features are usually highlighted in the help section.

Lastly, look for tutorials and books. There are plenty of free and cheap online resources for programs, and many are from the companies that create the programs themselves. Online tutorials offer a rich source of information on almost anything you can think of, from rendering 3-d objects in Photoshop to creating a simple slideshow in Flash. By using these tutorials, you assure that the workflow you are following is going to be solid and useful, and it eliminates the trial and error of stumbling through a new program or experimenting on new techniques.

Overall, learning about the programs you use is smart. You will feel smarter, your colleagues will think you’re smarter, and your clients will be wowed. Above all, you can greatly increase your productivity by using these tried and true methods of expanding your nerd knowledge.

Below are resources to online tutorials:

-Free Adobe Tutorials and resources

-Lynda.com Tutorials

-Adobe Tutorials

In the Adobe Suite alone, there are a multitude of keyboard shortcuts that can help improve your workflow considerably. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been completely frustrated with repeatedly finding drop-down menus, selecting tools, and transforming shapes before I finally look up the keyboard command. Funny, the more keyboard commands I know, the less time I spend selecting, clicking, dragging, and transforming objects in programs, the faster the workflow, and the less frustrated I become.

While it may sound a bit beyond nerdy to know every keyboard command in the  book, I can’t stress enough that the more you know, the better. The first step is learning how to find these keyboard commands. Knowing how to find a keyboard command to an action that you repeatedly execute will first of all make the program much more intuitive and quick to learn.

Almost all menu items that reside on the top drop-down have the keyboard shortcut listed alongside them. For example, if you were to select the ‘file’ drop-down, you would see that alongside the ‘save’ command, there is the command symbol followed by an ‘S.’ Additionally, every menu item has a keyboard command next to it. In the Adobe Suite, you will find that if you hover the curser over an item, a keyboard command will appear. Using these keyboard commands makes it faster to select tools, save, undo, redo, and perform virtually any task.

In addition to finding existing keyboard commands, it is possible to create new commands for anything that doesn’t have an existing keyboard command. For example, it is easily possible to create a keyboard command for a Photoshop action that you have created, saving even more time!

Below are resources to both Mac OS-x and Windows shortcuts, as well as Adobe Suite shortcuts:

-Mac OS-X

-Windows

-Adobe Photoshop

-Adobe Illustrator

-Adobe InDesign

When we’re in the office, it’s easy to let the inbox overflow with e-mails from co-workers, bosses, clients, friends, family, and the like. If not kept in check, this can become one nasty problem, which could result in hurt feelings, lost opportunities, angry people, and general frustration all around. If you create no organization in your e-mail, this problem will just continue to get worse and amounts to one big headache for you. With these simple tips, you will know exactly what to keep, what to throw out, and where to put everything.

First off, how many e-mails are in your inbox? The answer should be zero, or maybe one or two that you haven’t organized yet. Why is this? Well, the inbox is only for messages that you have not reviewed yet. The second you see a new message, whether you have time to read it or not, it should go into a folder.

I suggest a folder entitled “to read” or similar for those messages that you haven’t gotten to. Anything that isn’t relevant should immediately be forwarded to the appropriate e-mail box or the trash can. However, you shouldn’t indiscriminately delete things that you think are done.

Occasionally, you may need to reference an old message for information. If you make a folder for each client or co-worker, the correct message can easily be found if it is located in it’s client folder. For example, if you have a client named Jane Doe, make a folder entitled “Jane Doe.” Any e-mail you receive from this client, after you are done with it, gets placed in the folder “Jane Doe” so it can be easily found in the future if necessary.

For e-mails that you have read and need to respond to or take further action on, a to-do folder should be made. For this to work, you have to remove messages as you respond to them, or you’ll be in the same boat as before.

More helpful tips for organizing your inbox can be found on the following links:

Inbox Zero Lecture

10 Tips for Organizing Your E-Mail

20 Tips for Organizing your gmail Box