5 New WMC Fest 4 Speaker Videos Released

In the chill of the Cleveland winter, we’re riding on a wave of WMC Fest 4 Speaker videos to keep us warm. Hot chocolate cheers to the release of the next five! Speeches include the talents of Kern & Burn, Jacqui Oakley, Nick Disabato, Jon Contino and Grace Dobush.

Watch them here or for free on our vimeo channel!

Comic Book Illustration Inspiration: 50+ Examples

Graphic Design Podcast: Welcome to the Go Media Podcast!

The Go Media podcast is dedicated to tips, tricks, and tales of the business-minded artist and designer. How can you be more profitable? More creatively fulfilled? It’s our way of letting you inside our studio to learn about the ups and downs we face here at Go Media and how we’re dealing with them.

Our podcast archives can also be found on Soundcloud!

Secret to Success: Track Your Metrics!

It’s a new year. A great time to look at what’s been working for us here at Go Media, as well as what hasn’t worked and what we’ll be doing better in the year to come.

We do this in the most accurate, meaningful way possible, one that benefits us ten-fold.

Ready for the simple, yet essential key to Go Media’s success?

We track our metrics.

Learn to Code: Tips for Designers (Part 2 of 2)

Ok, so you’re convinced. A solid grasp of some HTML/CSS and Javascript will serve you, the designer, well.

Where, then, do you begin? We asked our very own front-end developer designer guru, Bryan Garvin, as well as friend of Go Media, web designer, developer, and founder of Girl Develop It, Jen Myers, for some tricks of the trade.

An Open Letter to Design Students: Learn to Code (Part 1 of 2)

Go Media Podcast – Episode 20: Our 2013 Year in Review

In this episode, Jeff, Bryan, and Bill get together to talk about the successes and failures at Go Media in 2013. Listen to the Podcast [powerpress] [iframe width=”100%” height=”166″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”no” src=”https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/129473045&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true”] Sponsors of this Episode This episode was brought to…

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How to Charge For Your Graphic Design Work (& Get What You Deserve)

Earn Your Worth! To meet the author and learn more about pricing, contracts, collections and more, attend our design retreat: WMC: Off-The-Grid this October 5 -7th. For more information, head to wmcfest.com. Over the years, we’ve had so many designers…

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On the Map 3 Videos Released!

Go Media proudly calls Cleveland home. Like so many lifelong residents and transplants alike, we revel in the cultural, architectural, and natural amenities our great city has to offer. We see potential in what some would call blight and we recognize opportunity for change and a prime climate for sustainable growth in our local economy.

We not only take great pride in our city, its richness and grit; we celebrate it.

Check out Cellar Door Cleveland’s WMC Fest Disarmed Sessions

Happy New Year from your friends over at Weapons of Mass Creation Fest!

Planning for this year’s event is underway, though we are still basking in the glow of WMC 2013.

The Adventure of Art with Jon Burgerman

Jon Burgerman is not just an everyday artist. Armed with Amsterdam paints, Posca pens and Sharpies, Jon can be found at the spot where art and improvisation collide. On any given day, you can find Burgerman on the streets of New York City, doodling, drawing and delighting in art and life. Recent works including Hot Girls and Hot Dogs, Tumblr Girls, My Great Movie and Hungry Games, illustrate a sense of humor and talent as sprawling as his imagination.

I chatted with Burgerman, of whom I am a huge fan, about life, craft and the adventure of art.

Freebie time! A look at set 22

Freebie time! A look back at set 22

Remember vector set 22? We’ve been having a look back at our releases this year, and we feel that it didn’t get as noticed as we would have liked. I mean, this set still includes the coolest pack of vintage hot rods that I’ve seen.

Modern Gigposter Design: 100 Stunning Examples – Volume II

Two years ago we put out a post showcasing some of the best posters of the previous few years before that.

Today we are doing the same thing. This article contains 100 stunning posters made in the last two years.

This second collection highlights the trends and changing styles in the gigposter world. If you go back and compare the previous selection to the ones I have gathered today, there are some clear differences. Now I know that there are still posters that get produced in the same styles as they would have two or more years ago, but overall, as a scene, and as a group of designers and illustrators, you can see the evolution of the gigposter. It might not be a dramatic and sudden evolution that is crystal clear to everyone, but for the most part it is slowly and subtly changing. There are certain dynamics that have changed or appeared which you will be able to see if you go back over the years and see this evolution in play.

40+ Excellent Hand-Lettering Inspirations

What’s better than pencil on paper?

We love to drool over the work of talented hand-letterers we stumble upon on sites like Pinterest and Behance.

Here is some work that struck our fancy as of late. We hope it inspires your own creativity.

Handmade Love: Update

I received many kind words in regards to my recent post, Homemade Love, about my mother’s annual Christmas cards.

These cards were completed each and every Christmas beginning in 1972, the year she and my father were married, up until last year. This year, my father, brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew finished the Sakai family Christmas card on her behalf, as she, the glue to our family, passed unexpectedly on October 22nd.

How I Built a Killer Morning Routine

This post was originally written on my personal blog Maker/Mistaker and I thought I should repost it here.

So you call yourself a night owl huh? Most creative people I know (myself included) felt like they get in the zone after midnight. All is still and quiet and you can finally focus on your work. And if you’re not working, you’re doing something until the wee hours of the morning. If you’re like most night owls, you dread getting up in the morning.

That was certainly me. My wife too. Over time our bed time kept getting pushed back later and later because there was always “something to do” that we just had to do. We weren’t tired and going to bed felt like giving up on the day.

Handmade Love

It was 10:33 on October 22, 2013 when my world ended.

Ushered into a special waiting room at the Cleveland Clinic ICU by a nurse with her head held low, my father, brother and sister-in-law knew before the team of doctors even entered the room that our worst nightmare had just come true.

The days following were a blur. Phone calls, arrangements, trips to the airport to pick up family flying in. Standing at the calling hours we stood in a row, stunned.

Go Media Podcast – Episode 19: Drawn to Business Q&A With Bill Beachy

Freebie: Mockup Everything Templates from your friends at Go Media

Hello Go Media Faithful!

I’m here with an early Christmas gift…some free mockup templates sponsored by the very best site for Realistic Mockups for Designers like yourself, Mockup Everything!

Just click the link following each photo and get to steppin’ my friends.

Build An Engaged Social Media Following Now: Tips for Designers

Entrepreneur and Marketing Connoisseur Kumar Arora knows social media like the back of his hand. Fellow Clevelander and start-up wonder for ventures including Rogue Eyewear, iLTHY, Black Rose Entertainment Management Group and ICTech Ltd., Arora has an impressive history in the field. A few things in Arora’s backpocket? Developing campaigns for Coca-cola, Verizon, Redbull, Live Nation, Puma as well as starting on grassroots and viral campaigns for performers like Machine Gun Kelly, Jay Sean, DJ E-V. He is no stranger to growing communities at a rapid-fire rate.

Arora has a few suggestions for designers, like himself, who yearn to gain a following too. In an age of #followme and #tagforlikes though, he reminds, “developing a community that cares is always better than having a group of people who don’t engage.”

Not only buying “likes” bad practice, but will also get you nowhere fast.

Beating Busters: How to Identify and Avoid Bad Clients

Hi Go Media faithful! Bill here! I’m back to deliver another teaser article from my book, Drawn to Business. This week’s piece deals with one simple fact: in business, you’re going to get ripped off. Get used to the idea. Over time, luckily, you will learn how to spot what I like to call a busters, or bad clients. Here is a list of the different types of busters I’ve come across over the last 15 years in business. Hopefully my bad experiences will spare you the same headache. Look out for these guys!

How to Create a Winning Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing is a great way to blast your brand to the millions of fans following your every move. But like anything else, there is an art to creating the perfect campaign that will not only be worth reading, but worth opening in the first place.

We asked our friend Fabio Carneiro, over at Mailchimp, to share with us some words of wisdom on this very topic. Read on for Fabio’s 7 tips to creating an email marketing campaign that matters.

5 Gigposter Process Videos You Need to See Now

There is an ever growing haul of poster process videos being uploaded online. Slowly, we are seeing many designers shed some light into the way they create some of their latest work. In this article, we will focus on gigposters only, but don’t be fooled; there are plenty of process videos for other posters out there.

I have selected these five videos as they show some of the variety of different ways in which you can create a gigposter. There are other great examples out there which I hope this article inspires you to seek out for yourselves, as well as view all the other videos these designers and illustrators have uploaded themselves.

The Creation of a Fine Art Photograph with Polly Chandler

Polly Chandler grew up in Southern Illinois and graduated with an MFA in photography from Southern Illinois University. She has exhibited her work nationally and her photographs have been published in magazines such as PDN, Rangefinder and B&W Magazine. Polly now lives in Austin, Texas and continues to make photographs as well as strives to challenge herself in her work. She is forever seeking to make images that filter and render her experiences, emotions and search for personal meaning through her photography.

While many, in our digital age, have strayed from the days of darkrooms, film photographer Polly has held firm. Among her favorite tools, Polly lists large format camera toyo45cx and Polaroid Type 55 Positive/Negative film, the latter of which she stockpiled when Polaroid’s end was imminent.

“In 2008, I got wind that Polaroid may be going out of business so I took out a credit card and bought all I could afford.”