Top 10 Best Courses on Domestika (in English)

For those professionals looking to share not only their projects but to connect with other creatives, learn from them, and even find employment in the creative field, a new option entering the English market is Domestika.

With its expansive forums and thousands of projects being shared by creatives from all over the world, Domestika is an amazing resource to explore. One of their biggest features is their online courses to help you learn new skills and with that in mind, we wanted to shine a spotlight on the 10 Best English Courses on Domestika so you can jump right in and get started!

So, if you’re ready, let’s get started!

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Top 10 Best English Courses on Domestika

• Logo Design: From Concept to Presentation with Sagi Haviv – $19
• Transforming your creative ideas into personal projects – $15
• Creativity Face to Face: A Playful Collage Journey – $12
• Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light – $14
• Creation of an Original Logo from Scratch – $14
• The Art of Record Covers: Illustration Meets Lettering – $12
• Instagram Strategy for Business Growth – $14
• Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink – $19
• Female Character Design for Comics – $19
• The Art of Sketching: Transform Your Doodles into Art – $19

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Logo Design: From Concept to Presentation with Sagi Haviv – $19

One of the most difficult tasks that you can experience as a graphic designer is learning to balance distinctiveness and simplicity. In Sagi Haviv’s course Logo Design: From Concept to Presentation will help you break through some of the common misconceptions that surround design and also help your expand your work and portfolio. By the time you’re finished with the course, you will have more focus and become a better designer complete with all the tools needed to design an amazing logo that you can sell to a client.

Taught by Sagi Haviv, a New York-based graphic designer who has designed logos for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, Havard University Press, Conservation International, Leonard Bernstein at 100, and LA Reid’s Hitco Entertainment. Seen as a go-to expert when it comes to the effectiveness of logo design, Haviv speaks about logo design at conferences around the world.

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Transforming your creative ideas into personal projects – $19

In other aspects of your life, comfort can be a good thing, but when it comes to your creativity, it can be a career killer. Transforming your creative ideas into personal projects by Ji Lee was created so you can learn some new exercises that can break you out of your routine and make you a better designer in the process. Stepping outside your comfort zone can be scary, exciting, open you up to new ideas, and even make you more attractive to potential clients.

Taught by Ji Lee, who has been named one of the 50 most influential designers in America by Fast Company has worked for such prestigious companies as Saatchi & Saatchi, Droga5, and Google. Lee has been published in The New York Times, BBC, ABC News, Wired, The Guardian, and more.

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Creativity Face to Face: A Playful Collage Journey – $12

Hanoch Piven, the mixed media artist has created the Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light with the belief that play and art are two of the most important factors in debunking the idea that not everyone can be an artist. This course will teach you to use everyday, household items to create 3D collages that let your creativity break free and express yourself visually. The Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light will help develop a new way of seeing the world so you can become the artist you’ve always been.

Hanoch Piven is an award-winning illustrator and educator. He has had his work featured in newspapers and magazines around the world including Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, London Times, Israel’s Haaretz, and Der Speigel. He is also the author of award-winning children’s books, apps, TV shows, interactive exhibitions, and advertising campaigns.

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Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light – $14

When you work as an illustrator, giving your amazing creation depth and realism can be very difficult and is typically the dividing line between a simple sketch and a complete character illustration. The Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light will teach you that a combination of light, color, and texture is what brings a character to life and you’ll become a master of the techniques that are taught in this course so you can apply them to your artwork.

Taught by Joel Santana, a character designer and illustrator that has worked with companies such as Champs Sports. Walt Disney World Orlando, and many others. He has also been published in the Communication Arts Annual in 2016 & 2017, MTVnews.com. And the Huffington Post UK.

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Creation of an Original Logo from Scratch – $14

Logo design is one of the most important tasks when it comes to starting a business or renewing the image of a company. This is because the first impression that customers receive is from the logo. But what separates an incredible logo from the competition? The Creation of an Original Logo from Scratch course will explain the process of creating an original, recognizable, and modern logo step by step so that your brand has a great first impression.

Taught by Elena Sancho, founder of Tatabi Studio, which is a creativity and marketing agency in Valencia, Spain that creates concepts and creative solutions for fashion, food, and health brands. Their clients include prestigious brands such as Carrefour, TED Talks, Adobe, Panaria, CO-CO, and many others.

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The Art of Record Covers: Illustration Meets Lettering – $12

With all of the different choices out there for fonts that you can choose from, do you sometimes feel like no matter how many you download, they never quite fit your creation? With The Art of Record Covers: Illustration Meets Lettering course, using a traditional approach, you’ll become both the illustrator and designer, as it was before digital artwork. By learning to combine illustration and hand-drawn letters, you’ll create a seamless design piece.

Taught by Steve Simpson, who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry, is celebrated for his hand-lettered packaging design, illustrated barcodes, and whimsical characters. Since 2008, he has won more than 50 awards for his work including Gold awards from the Association of Illustrators, the Illustrators Guild of Ireland, the IDI, and ICAD.

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Instagram Strategy for Business Growth – $14

If you’re looking for a platform that you can use to make a lasting impression, generate attention, and most importantly, build long-term brand awareness, then you need to look at Instagram. The Instagram Strategy for Business Growth course helps you learn what to post when to post, and how to post it. The Dragon’s Formula can help you create amazing and irresistible content that will make your brand stand out.

The Instagram Strategy for Business Growth course is led by Dot Lung, whose last name is Mandarin for “Dragon”, is a social media expert, and started her career at the OFFF Festival, where she was in charge of the online community and audience engagement. Some of Dot’s clients and collaborators include Facebook, OFFF Festival, Wix, Motionographer, and Sonar.

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Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink – $19

One of the best ways to experience a place or discover new details is to sketch what you see around you. With the Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink, you can discover a sense of wonder by discovering the hidden corners of the city. Learn to capture the depth and feeling of a location by using watercolor and ink to translate that to your page. It’s one thing to depict a scene the way it looks, it’s another to capture its character and mood and give it life on paper.

Taught by Alex Hillkurtz, a storyboard artist that has worked on feature films, television, and commercials such as Argo, Almost Famous, It’s Complicated, and many others. By using the language of cinema to compose his images, he can teach you to move beyond what one sees and depict what you want others to see.

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Female Character Design for Comics – $19

The days of women in comics being sidekicks or love interests for the hero are gone and these days there is a new type of female characters and they are taking the comic world by storm through the work of stunning visuals and powerful storytelling. The Female Character Design for Comics, you’ll learn how to draw female characters from scratch. It will also show you how to add volume, movement, balance, and expression to your artwork.

The Female Character Design for Comics is taught by Marcio Takara, a comic book artist that has done work for both Marvel and DC Comics as well as for videogames, ad agencies, and toy companies. Recent work includes Detective Comics, Nightwing, All-New Wolverine, Captain Marvel, and Wolverine.

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The Art of Sketching: Transform Your Doodles into Art – $19

Every artist has their style and discovering your creative drawing style is a process that you can only achieve through practice. When your sketching becomes a habit, your creativity flourishes, opening up a wide range of possibilities. In The Art of Sketching: Transform Your Doodles into Art, you’ll learn the process of taking those doodles and turning them into art. From the initial steps of starting to sketch and freeing your hand, to learning new methods to be as creative as possible.

Led by Mattias Adolfsson who has been a freelance illustrator for 11 years, working as a graphic designer for the computer games industry. Mattias’ extensive list of clients includes Disney, Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and many other animation studios. His illustrations have also appeared in The New Yorker, The Hollywood Reporter, and the New York Times.

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Top 10 Best English Courses on Domestika

The courses on Domestika offer a wide variety of options for you to choose from to either advance your career, learn new skills, or brush up on skills that have gotten rusty. They can be a perfect way to advance you career and with our list of the Top 10 Best English Courses on Domestika, we hope that you find these and many of the other courses they offer as exciting as we do

9 Ways To Start Promoting Your Content Now

This article has been contributed by Laura Narušytė.

Your business may offer the best product on the market, but that means nothing if you can’t show potential customers that you have something that they want to buy.

If you want to get more customers and get your brand noticed, then you need to promote your content.

Promoting your content involves going out of your way to share your brand and products with your audience. If you don’t know where to start with content promotion, here are nine ways to communicate and engage with potential customers.

1. Direct Messages

Businesses can use multiple channels to quickly contact their customers through direct messaging.

You usually see businesses use text messaging and social media messages to contact their customers. Text messages go straight to customers by using SMS (short messaging services) to get in contact with them.

Image source: SimpleTexting

The stats don’t lie when it comes to SMS marketing. You get faster response times, higher engagement rates, better campaign performance and higher response rates when your business uses SMS. With results like these, it’s not surprising that plenty of businesses use SMS to promote their content.

Your business can use SMS marketing in different ways to interact with your customers while promoting your business.

• Send customers or leads deals and offers.
• Remind them about appointments or abandoned carts.
• Inform them about relevant information.

Since SMS works as a way to get quick responses while informing customers about time sensitive information, you can easily promote your content through this channel. People constantly have their phones with them, so you’ll be able to get the responses that you need.

2. Email Lists

Email has the highest return on interest (ROI) in comparison to other channels. This means that you get $40 for every dollar that you spend.

Image source: Mark The Marketer

However, like anything, you have to go about email marketing the right way. Email lists work effectively if you get them from the right sources. If you don’t, your emails will most likely get no responses and they’ll be marked as spam. This will negatively affect your metrics while causing people to dislike your brand – nobody wants unsolicited emails.

Once you’re underway using a reliable list, and you want to improve your email marketing, you should invest in automated marketing software. Find one that can handle your email marketing. This way, it will collect emails from relevant sources, add them to your newsletter and promote your content.

It can increase your email list in multiple ways. It can automatically add people that sign up for your email newsletter through your website or other sources. This means that you won’t have to add them yourself. On top of this, it can go through your social media followers, see if they included their emails in their profiles and send them a message as well.

The point is that you should focus on sending emails to people with an interest in your content.

3. Referrals

Remember that your business already has loyal customers, especially if you’ve been around a while. These are the people that buy from your business on a regular basis and seek to interact with you. You can invite these customers to assist you through a referral system. This will allow you to get referrals, share your content and products with a new audience and build stronger relationships with your existing customers.

Setting up a referral system involves giving your customers rewards whenever one of their referrals decides to buy something from you. You can offer different types of rewards to your customers for their referrals.

• Give them in-store credit.
• Offer points that they can exchange for free products.
• Send them discounts on your products.

Try to rewards both people – your existing customer and their referral – so that they can both benefit. This encourages your customers to invite their friends and also encourages their friends to make a purchase.

As you reward your customers for referrals, you strengthen your relationship with them since they appreciate the rewards for their efforts.

4. Social Media

Social media stands out as one of the best ways to promote your content to your customers. Since you can communicate with customers, share your posts and gain followers, you can build a community that allows you to share content. Not only will your followers see your content, but so will their friends if they share your posts.

Image source: Oberlo

As you can see above, nearly 3-out-of-4 marketers feel like social media marketing gives at least some benefits to their business. This makes sense when you consider all of the ways you can promote your content via social platforms.

• Create ads that target your business’ demographics.
• Interact with followers to show them that you care.
• Share deals, offers and information on your pages to inform your followers.

Social networks give you an easy way to reach potential customers. Go out of your way to interact with them – like and reply to their comments, and share posts that relate to your business. These simple actions allow you to build a relationship with customers while encouraging them to promote or share your content with others.

5. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has always played a large role in promoting content, but people usually don’t realize it. It involves getting an influential person, expert or organization to promote your product. While people may think of basketball players promoting shoes on TV, you can also use influencer marketing online.

Keep in mind that you can’t pick a random celebrity or business to promote your content, just because they’re hot right now. This may cause your influencer marketing to fail, as there may be a clash in content which people will quickly recognise, or you may reach the wrong demographic.

You need to find the right influencer to promote your content, but what should you look for?

Image source: BigCommerce

If you want a solid influencer for your content, make sure that they meet at least the top three points in this graph. Influencers with high quality content draw in more people, having the right target audience helps you more and high engagement rates will improve your metrics.

Remember that you can look into influencers with large followings, but don’t underestimate the effectiveness of micro-influencers. This is particularly beneficial if you operate in a specific niche. See who you can reach out to so that they can promote your content.

6. Industry Experts

If you want to improve your content promotion, you can really benefit from advice from the experts. Industry experts have worked in your field, niche, or business for many years, some of whom will have accumulated large followings. Do some research and find out the industry experts that are relevant to your business.

Once you’ve identified key industry experts, see what you can learn from them. You should first try and reach out to them through different platforms. LinkedIn tends to work well alongside emails. With LinkedIn, they can see how you’re connected to them and email allows them to answer you at their own discretion.

You should always try to meet industry experts. This allows you to get advice and tips from them directly. However, if it’s not possible, there’s still plenty you can learn from industry experts. Look into the other resources they have available publicly to help you develop your content promotions.

• Look for videos they may have posted about the industry.
• See if any experts have recorded presentations or meetings from networking summits.
• Read their content from websites, newsletters, blog posts, etc.

7. Blogging

You should consider creating a blog for your business as another way to create and promote your content. A blog gives you the perfect opportunity to provide content on your website. As a business, you can use your blog as a place to store previous content that you wrote if you want to make it easily accessible.

This assists your business in multiple ways.

• Gives you a history of all of your written content from newsletters to articles.
• Allows anyone to see your previous content even if they didn’t have a subscription in the past.
• Makes it easy for you to share your content, especially larger pieces of content.

Image source: Fit Small Business

However, your blog won’t draw much attention if you don’t make it credible. As you can see in these statistics, your blog becomes more credible when you write quality content, use good design and consistently post on it.

As you build up credibility, more people will want to read your content. Don’t just focus on putting out as much content as possible. Instead, you should put your focus on creating quality and consistent content. This will help your search engine rankings and make people want to come back for more.

8. Guest Posting

If you want to further promote your content, then you should look into guest posting. Make sure that you consider both sides of the equation: try and become a guest poster for other blogs while getting guests to post on yours. This way, you can cross-promote each other’s content and seek to build each other up.

When you create a guest post for someone else’s blog, always make sure to create unique content. Also be sure to follow their standards and guidelines. They may format or set up their posts differently to you, so make sure that you keep that in mind as you write for them. This way, you can promote your content on their blog while keeping it consistent with their brand. This will make their life a lot easier and make future partnerships with them more likely.

On top of this, you should establish guidelines for your blog too. Put your guidelines in a clear place where potential guest authors can easily access them. This will ensure you receive guest submissions that will work well on your site and won’t need much editing.

9. Content Testing

Content testing involves making adjustments to your content to see if you can improve it. Creating content comes down to offering something that will appeal to your target demographic. You can try different approaches to test your content and improve it.

• Use A/B testing to find the better option out of the two.
• Collect data through automated marketing software to see how changes affect your metrics.
• Adjust content on your channels to make it more relevant.

Image source: Invesp

Don’t treat your content testing as a one-time deal. Two to three A/B tests per month seems to bring in the best results for businesses. This means that you need to constantly do content testing; it will help you to evolve your content.

Content is all about evolution and improvement over time – make sure that you take advantage of content testing tools so that you can accomplish this. On top of that, look into automated marketing tools to help you with your content testing. Those tools will make it easier for you while still providing the results that you want.

Conclusion

Content promotion may seem intimidating at first, but it comes down to naturally communicating about your brand and networking with others. As you make these two points your focus, you will see how you can promote your content through different channels. Continue to share your business with potential customers while building relationships with influencers and experts.

These nine ways will help you to effectively promote your content, but remember that they work as starting points. You can start implementing or working towards them, but you should always branch out and look for more ways to share your business with others. As you do this, you can spread brand awareness and become a recognized name in the business world.

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About the author: Laura Narušytė is an experienced digital marketing and SEO specialist at Omnisend – Ecommerce Marketing Automation platform. When not blogging, she likes to read about SEO, digital marketing and ecommerce trends, technology and personal productivity.

7 Steps to Landing Your First UI/UX Job

This article has been contributed by Rylan Clark.

Congratulations on an excellent decision to begin your UI/UX Career!

User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design have been on fire for the past several years running. They pay really well and extend into every industry on the planet.

But now that you have achieved a relevant educational background or credentials, how do you land your first UI/UX job?

We have crafted this article specifically to answer that question, covering the most essential and often overlooked elements of job search success:

1. Create and execute a job search strategy
2. Update your resume, cover letter and portfolio
3. Conscientiously manage your social media presence
4. Use templates to apply to more jobs in less time
5. Thoroughly prepare for each interview
6. Be memorable (in a good way)
7. Don’t get discouraged

Related: See our guide to the Best UX/UI Courses Online

1. Create & Execute a Job Search Strategy

One of the most common mistakes we see job seekers make is to act spontaneously instead of strategically. Submitting random applications whenever you feel like it and then hoping for the best won’t cut it. Be systematic about how you’re going to embark on this crucial journey.

First, list out your target criteria, such as:

• Job titles (e.g. UX Designer, UI Designer, Product Designer)
• Location(s)
• Salaried vs contract (hourly W2 positions are fine but don’t pursue 1099 or corp-to-corp arrangements until you’ve gained several years of experience)
• Industries of interest (keep an open mind here because you probably don’t have the luxury of being too specific at this point)
• Design maturity (unique challenges are inherent at every stage)

Second, use powerful search and filtering functionalities on sites like Indeed, Glassdoor and LinkedIn to find positions that fit your target criteria. If you’re not finding enough jobs that match, then you should modify your criteria and search scope accordingly.

In addition to hunting posted jobs, look for referrals and references in your existing network and determine how you’ll connect with other professionals in UI/UX. Attend local meetups/networking events, travel to conferences and work the online game like crazy (e.g. LinkedIn, Slack communities and social media).

Third, map out a clear goal for the frequency of applications you’ll complete, such as three per day for the first month, and be smart about it. Don’t go after all your dream roles right out of the gate. Begin with the ones that are more attainable and work your way up the list. This is wise because by the time you’re interviewing for your dream job, you’re far smoother, more confident and more experienced than you were at the start of your job hunt.

2. Update Your Resume, Cover Letter and Portfolio

Now that you have a job search strategy, it’s important to update your core application materials: resume, cover letter and portfolio.

The best starting point for these may be your existing materials. Or it may be smart to start fresh with a blank slate. Regardless, your next step is to get inspired. Tens of thousands of examples are available online for you to explore and learn from. Plenty of guidance exists at your fingertips and we encourage you to actively seek out the best ones for inspiration.

Use these as an opportunity to demonstrate your design prowess. That is, apply all the wizardry you would normally reserve for paid projects to your resume, cover letter and portfolio. There should be zero writing errors. There should be zero usability issues.

In addition to showing off your creativity and personality, there should be clear communication, compelling imagery and adherence to well-known design heuristics at every opportunity. In other words, you should strive to deliver an outstanding standalone experience to anyone who lays eyes on them.

Ensure they all possess the same look and feel (i.e. your brand!). Consider the return on your investment: spending X hours can easily yield 10,000X return over the course of your career! These are not only a reflection of yourself. They are an investment in yourself, the magnitude of which is basically unparalleled.

Many people fret over what these materials should contain and how it should be presented. They have a tough time “telling people about themselves” or “summarizing all the things they have done (or can do).” To be candid, you’ll have to get good at telling people about yourself amidst a job hunt. This doesn’t mean you have to like it, but you do have to get good at it if you want to find success more rapidly.

Furthermore, don’t feel compelled to include everything you’ve ever done. Instead, put yourself in the perspective of people on the employer’s side of this equation and identify what you want them to know about you.

When deciding what to include and what to leave out, follow this simple rule:

1. If it’s relevant to the hiring team, include it.
2. If it isn’t, remove it.

Collectively, think of these materials as opportunities to showcase your experience and potential to a hiring manager. You’re not condensing your entire life into a few screens, you’re highlighting the parts of yourself that are most likely to implore employers to move forward with your application.

3. Conscientiously Manage Your Social Media Presence

As a continuation of the last theme and as an overarching recommendation of this article, be cognizant of what you share with the world. You want to put your best, most hireable image forward, especially when you put yourself on the job market.

These days, it’s almost too easy, tempting and popular to express your every thought on social media, but considering the potential career future in front of you, think twice before committing.

You never really know what that recruiter, interviewer or hiring manager will think of your 3am rant about personal problems, politics, sex, religion or other controversial topics. Despite what the big technology companies and their ever-changing legalese says, once you hit send, that content is no longer within your control. It can come back to haunt you in ways you’ll never even know, especially when you’re hunting for jobs and people keep placing you in the “no” pile thanks to your overly transparent posts on social media.

In summary, if you’re searching for a company culture that fully embraces 100% of your world views, great, keep going. If not and you’re in the business world to conduct business and make a better life for yourself and loved ones, then consider managing your social media activity more conscientiously.

It’s also worth Googling yourself to ensure there aren’t lingering bits of contentious information that can sink your next dream job.

4. Use Templates to Apply to More Jobs in Less Time

Now that we’ve got the consciousness bit covered, let’s talk efficiency. With a smart and aggressive job search strategy, where perhaps you’re applying to three jobs every day, efficiency is critical. Your brightest cognitive powers should be shining while communicating with potential employers, not spent on droning out repetitive tasks.

This is why templates are a significant part of the successful job seeker’s arsenal. Utilizing templates, where certain words and phrases are highlighted for customization, will save you tons of time and brainpower for the more interesting aspects of job hunting (e.g. interviewing, persuading and negotiating).

Every type of role you’re going after deserves a unique set of templates for your resume, cover letter and interview cheat sheet (described in the next section). Templates become even more valuable when you realize how different the demands are for each of these types of roles:

• UI/UX Analyst or Associate
• UI Designer
• UX Designer
• Product Designer
• UX Researcher
• Information Architect

Although their foundations are shared, you’ll see how postings for these jobs have distinct sets of keywords, skills and qualifications. This means your application must be tailored accordingly if you don’t want to be skipped over like all the other people who didn’t bother customizing their materials.

Most candidates commit the error of having only one resume, which they submit to all kinds of UI/UX jobs. What do you think happens when hiring managers compare their application to that of someone with one tailored to the job listing?

5. Thoroughly Prepare for Each Interview

Here’s a secret: most people show up thoroughly unprepared for interviews. Don’t be one of those people, because they pretty much never get the job and frequently end up walking away filled with feelings of victimhood, discouraged and dripping with dread.

To the contrary, whether it’s a remote or in-person interview, why not set yourself up for success? No matter how clever or lucky you think you are, there are three things to do before every single interview:

1. Create a cheat sheet of the company’s business model fundamentals so you’re well versed in their history, market, mission, key product lines, competitors, recent press releases, values, social media chatter, etc.
2. Research the individuals interviewing you and generate key questions to ask each one (hint: although overlap exists, engineers, designers, researchers, marketers and product leaders each warrant distinct question sets). Arrange these questions into a logical flow so you’re steering the conversation in a thoughtful and measured manner.
3. Conduct mock interviews with friends, family and/or former colleagues. Provide them with the company name and job description beforehand so they can hit you with the same types of questions to be encountered in the real interviews.

6. Be Memorable (In a Good Way)

Put yourself in an employer’s shoes: Given four or five applicants with relatively equal experience who’ve made it through most of the candidate journey, why choose one over the others?

Chances are, with everything else a hiring manager has going on at work and in life, plus the limitations of human memory, he/she will only recall a few things about each candidate that’s not already on paper.

Be the one who made a memorable impression, who was thoroughly prepared, who was dressed perfectly for the context, who sent that well written thank you email, who negotiated questions about compensation and relocation like a champion, who stood out from the masses as an exemplary professional and person that “gets it.” Be memorable.

7. Don’t Get Discouraged; Stick With It

Remember, even top candidates at middle and senior levels of UI/UX often take months to find a new job. It takes a lot of work, dedication, some luck and perhaps most importantly, grit. You must stick with it to make it happen.

Unfortunately, this is the new reality of job hunting: You will send out dozens of applications and never hear back, you will be “ghosted” more times than you can believe and you will occasionally encounter curt, distracted, unprofessional individuals who will make you want to give up. Don’t.

Eventually you’ll find a group, or they will find you if you’re doing this right, where it all just clicks and you will be well on your way to a successful career in UI/UX. Your first few jobs will be launchpads; keep going until you reach that all-important 2-3 years of experience and the rest will be “history”.

Conclusion

We know that embarking on a new career is simultaneously scary and stimulating. There are hundreds of pitfalls to avoid and lots of hard lessons along the way, but if you commit to these tips, you’re far more likely to land your first UI/UX job sooner rather than later.

Done right, these steps should turn into habits as you seek out new opportunities and you’ll thank yourself later for your commitment to excellence.

Even when you reach the point of unconscious mastery, where these behaviors become automatic, the importance of that last point cannot be overstated. The only sure-fire way to lose in anything is to quit. But to win, to seize a new UI/UX job and turbocharge your career, perseverance in the face of adversity is absolutely vital.

Never, never, never give up and continually propel yourself forward as a practitioner of lifelong learning! In fact, if you’re considering additional education, career coaching and real world experience, in an all-in-one bootcamp, check out Springboard’s UI/UX Career Track. It’s guaranteed to get you a job (or your money back).

Sprinboard Discount Coupon Code: Get $500 off with code ‘CASSCREATIVE500’

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About the author: Rylan Clark is Chief Operating Officer of The UXology Group, a leading UX Research firm. He’s also a Springboard mentor for topics including UI/UX, user-centered design & research. 

Top 15 Digital Scrapbooking Downloads (Free & Paid)

Scrapbooking is a way to keep treasured memories or objects as a record of a time or moment in someone’s life. Dating back to the 15th century, scrapbooking has come a long way since then even going digital with the ability to use different accents to give your scrapbook a custom look.

With that in mind, we wanted to showcase the Top 15 Digital Scrapbooking Resources for Designers to help give you some ideas that you could add to your next scrapbook.

We’ve compiled a huge list of the best free digital scrapbooking freebies & downloads including frames, borders, paper, templates, images, textures, paper, overlays, photo masks and layouts, including ArtPlay palettes.

Grab these Scrapbooking supplies & ideas and get going!

 

Top 15 Digital Scrapbooking Resources, Freebies & Downloads

• ArtPlay Palette Notabilia – $13
• Drops And Droplets Set 1 – $2
• Assimilations 2 – $2
• Kindred Spirit – $4
• Filmstrip Deluxe Frames – $1
• Steamy Windows – $2
• Notabilia WordArt Mix No. 1 – $4
• MultiMedia Accordion No. 1 – $3
• Read – Books and Bits – $1
• Pocket Poppers and Templates – $12
• Memory Pebbles 01 – $2

 

ArtPlay Palette Notabilia – $13

Designed by Anne Aspnes Designs, the ArtPlay Palette Notabilia kit is perfect for anyone looking to commemorate events or hang on to noteworthy items or even for those who just love to document what’s happening in their lives. Included with this kit are 9 12×12 background papers, 16 brushes, 14 embellishments, and 12 transfers and overlays. Created in.PSD and.PNG format, you can customize these elements where appropriate.

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Drops And Droplets Set 1 – $2

Adding a nature theme to your scrapbook can help you reminisce about long drives or camping trips. The Drops And Droplets Set from Julie Mead Designs you can create raindrops on your layout or art pages easily. 17 overlays, measuring at 18 x 12 inches will easily fit a 12 x 12” layout or you can even layer them over your photos. The set comes with 4 overlays in a vertical orientation and the rest are horizontal.

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Assimilations 2 – $2

If you’ve ever tried to use 12×12 paper for journal pages, print outs, or invitations, you know what it’s like to lose the side edges of your work. It can be stressful doing all that work just to lose it. The Assimilations 2 pack by Tangie Baxter & Co. helps correct the issue by providing you a way to convert your 12×12 papers to letter size, 8.5×11. An easy and foolproof process, you can use this with color overlays with a style applied or even layered with each other for great results.

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Kindred Spirit – $4

A kindred spirit is when two people share similar interests or attitudes or have a special connection or bond over an experience that they both have had. With the Kindred Spirit scrapbooking kit from Vicki Stegall Designs, you can use this heartfelt collection to create perfect boy pages or use the versatile elements to create pages for just about any theme you can come up with. With 17 WordArt images with a friendship theme, you can add the little something extra to your creations.

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Filmstrip Deluxe Frames – $1

Filmstrip can have a great retro feel, especially when you consider that most cameras don’t even use physical film anymore. With the Filmstrip Deluxe Frames from Julie Mead Designs, the six clustered filmstrips, and paper frames, you can create a great design for your photos. Great with any kind of background paper, these frames are a perfect option and ready for any embellishments that you want to add.

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Steamy Windows – $2

A steamy window can present the world differently and uniquely. The Steamy Windows scrapbooking package from Julie Mead Designs provides you with 21 jpeg files that you can use as a great option for an overlay so you can create a steamed window effect with your designs. These designs are large files that will work well with professional photos, digital art, and even layouts.

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Notabilia WordArt Mix No. 1 – $4

Word association can be a powerful thing when the right words are chosen and with the Notabilia WordArt Mix No. 1 from Anne Aspnes Designs, you can choose from 18 different WordArt elements that relate to taking notes, notabilia, and writing down stuff that matters. The collection includes 5 MetalWords, 9 WordArt quotes/title, 1 BeadedThreadz, and 3 WordTranfers that have been designed to allow you to create your custom WordArt by mixing and matching the elements.

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MultiMedia Accordion No. 1 – $3

Accordion picture frames can be a great way to display collections of photos that tell a story or mark an important event. With the MultiMedia Accordion No, 1 by Anna Aspnes Designs, you can use the collection of 4 accordion-style-multi-photo frames to bring a different look to your scrapbook creation. Great for photo albums or wedding albums, the MultiMedia Accordion No. 1 should be one resource you consider.

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Old World No. 1 – $2

Throughout history, there have been amazing buildings and other structures that remind people of the past and with the Old World No. 1 kit from Anna Aspnes Designs, you can use a collection of 8 distressed ancient ruins brushes to add a historic flair to your work. A great option for a scrapbook celebrating a recent trip, the Old World No. 1 kit can help you create a one-of-a-kind creation that will last a lifetime.

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Read – Books and Bits – $1

Books are amazing things. Contained within their pages could be information that changes the world or transports you to another world. The Read – Books and Bits was created by Vicki Stegall Designs with their love of books in mind. With elements that include flat books, book return cards, and blank book pages, the Read – Books and Bits is like a love letter to anyone who loves books.

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White Edges – $1

Sometimes, a minimalist design can be exactly what your design needs to make things stand out. The White Edges set by Julie Mead Designs provides you with 7 minimalist frames to showcase your work as well as 4 straight lines that you can use as an accent on your work. These elements work great with Photomasks and if you’re striving to have a minimalist design for your scrapbook, this is a great choice.

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Pocket Poppers and Templates – $12

If you’re just starting to get into scrapbooking and not ready to go all-in yet can start with pocket scrapbooking, which is an easy, blocked style of scrapbooking and the Pocket Poppers and Templates kit by Tangie Baxter & Co. is a perfect choice for this. With 100 ready-to-use 3×4 journal cards that are great for pocket scrapbooking. The kit also includes three photoshop templates and four bonus printable journal card sheets. Everything you need to get started

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Bees N Butterflies Vintage Illustrations – $7

The Bees N Butterflies Vintage Illustrations from French Kiss Collections provides you with vintage images that you can add to your scrapbook. The kit contains two different versions: one that blends with your background and one where there are two layers stacked together. The kit also contains sticker versions of the illustrations with a white border. You can easily add a natural element to your scrapbook without worrying about getting stung.

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Family WordArt Mix No. 1 – $4

Family is the most important thing in the world and photo albums can keep those memories alive. With the Family WordArt Mix No. 1 from Anna Aspnes Designs, you can use their collection of 12 varied, family-themed WordArt elements to decorate your family photo album. The mix also includes WordArt, WordTransfer, and ScriptTease designs in.ABR format as a bonus.

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Memory Pebbles 01 – $2

In Jewish tradition, memory pebbles signify someone honoring a person’s memory by visiting their grave and placing a stone on the headstone. The Memory Pebbles 01 kit by The Committed Crafter may not be shooting for the same effect with this kit of 12 different pebble elements that you can add to your scrapbook. With accents including words and art, you can add a unique piece to your scrapbooks.

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Digital Scrapbooking Downloads

Scrapbooking can be a fun hobby to get involved with. With so many resources out there you can get started quickly and easily become a pro in no time. Our list of the Top 15 Scrapbooking Resources for Designers can be a great way to start on that path.