Carl Grivakis

Rookie Designer 165 - No Place Like Home

Episode  |  June 11th, 2018  |  37 mins 59 secs

This week Jake and Carl talk about what is like for them each to work from home as soloprenuer designers. They cover a lot of the pros but also cover some of the cons associated with being someone who works from home. While they both enjoy the ability to do so, they also know they need to be sure to get out and not become too isolated. There are a couple of interesting news items and the weekly Rookie Recommendations.

Rookie Designer 164 - Assumptions and Expectations

Episode  |  June 4th, 2018  |  33 mins 21 secs

This week Carl and Jake jump on the mics without much planned for a topic. Carl shares a couple of situations he has come across and they discuss how to handle them, what can be learned from them, and how to prevent the situations from repeating themselves in a bad way. With no plan in place, they were pleasantly surprised how smoothly things went and that they came out with a pretty good topic. Jake shares some interesting design news around the new HuffPost logo and Carl puts a twist on Rookie Recommendations.

Rookie Designer 163 - A Few Tools

Episode  |  May 28th, 2018  |  35 mins 46 secs

This week Jake and Carl cover a few of the tools they use to keep their businesses running smoothly and help them stay organized. While they don't cover project management tools they do talk about bunch of other items that are important. Add in a few news items and a couple Rookie Recommendations and you have this weeks show!

Rookie Designer 162 - Your Why

Episode  |  May 14th, 2018  |  30 mins 50 secs

design, designer, graphic design

This week Carl and Jake talk about why they decided to start their own businesses and why they work with the clients they work with. It's important to figure out what "your why" is when it comes to running your own business. They share some of their own "why" reasons. They also tackle new business news related to AI deciding what ads will work and the new Best Buy logo. Lastly they share a few Rookie Recommendations for the week.

Rookie Designer 161 - Self Care

Episode  |  May 7th, 2018  |  36 mins 38 secs

business, design, freelance, graphic design

This week Jake and Carl talk about the importance of taking care of yourself, as much as taking care of your side gig, business, or school projects. It is easy to get into your creative flow and forget about what you are doing to make sure you don't approach burnout. They share some of the things they do to make sure it doesn't happen to them. Carl also shares his experiences at the HOW Design Live showroom floor. They also cover their Rookie Recommendations and a bit of Design News.

Rookie Designer 160 - Conferences

Episode  |  April 30th, 2018  |  46 mins 45 secs

conferences, design, designer, graphic design

This week Carl and Jake talk about the pros and cons of going to conferences. With Carl heading to the show floor at the HOW Conference, he was curious to here what makes someone spend the kind of money it takes to go to some of the bigger conferences. Jake is able to share, rather excitedly, some of the experiences he has had attending a few different conferences over the years. They also cover a couple of interesting design news items and both bring their Rookie Recommendations to the table.

Rookie Designer 159 - Creative Block

Episode  |  April 23rd, 2018  |  30 mins 57 secs

Jake and Carl come back this week to cover creative block. They talk about what it is specifically, how it has effected them, and suggestions on how to deal with it. All designers run into creative block and it's important to know when it is happening, as well as how the best way is to deal with it. Jake takes on the design news with some information on Spark for Education and some new emojis that will be coming for version 12. Lastly they both give their Rookie Recommendations for the week.

Rookie Designer 158 - Friends Who Are Clients, Clients Who Are Friends

Episode  |  April 16th, 2018  |  38 mins 4 secs

business, design business, freelance, graphic design

In this latest episode Jake and Carl talk about what it is like to work with friends who want to be clients and also what things to watch out for when you become friends with your clients. They also have the weekly design news and Rookie Recommendations to share.

Rookie Designer 157 - Skill Learning

Episode  |  April 9th, 2018  |  37 mins 58 secs

business, design business, freelance, graphic design

Jake and Carl are back this week to discuss how they acquire new skills, figure out what those skills should be, and talk about a few skills they are currently working on. They also talk about a bit of design news and finish up with their Rookie Recommendations.

Rookie Designer 156 - Creative Process

Episode  |  March 29th, 2018  |  52 mins 2 secs

Jake and Carl talk about their creative processes and why it is important for a designer to develop their own process. They also tackle some design related news and share their Rookie Recommendations for the week.

Rookie Designer 155 - Transitions

Episode  |  March 26th, 2018  |  27 mins 30 secs

business, design business, freelance, graphic design

Jake and Carl are back with Rookie Designer episode 155! This episode they talk about some of the transitions they have been going through and how designers need to work through those transitions. They also touch on how some of those transitions have effected the show.

Rookie Designer 151 – Freelancers Dilemma

Episode  |  April 9th, 2016  |  38 mins 32 secs

In this episode Jake and Carl discuss a freelancers dilemma that you might run into. While working for someone fulltime, especially if it's in the same field or a similar field, you may be approached by a client through your freelance business that you met through your fulltime gig. This can bring up some moral / ethical issues to think about. Jake and Carl share their experiences and have some suggestions on how to deal with the situation.

Rookie Designer 150 – Preventing Burnout

Episode  |  February 28th, 2016  |  39 mins 38 secs

This episode Carl and Jake talk about how they cope with stress and preventing burnout. With different perspectives, Carl dealing with a more corporate environment and Jake with running is own business, as well as a more isolated situation, they provide some suggestions on how designers can prevent burnout. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day activities and the looming deadlines. However it's important that designers take care of themselves so they can be a more productive freelancer and business owner. Both share personal stories about their own past situations and share what they have learned.

Rookie Designer 149 – Office Spaces

Episode  |  February 15th, 2016  |  34 mins 30 secs

In this latest episode Jake and Carl talk about office spaces. They talk about their own arrangements and what some of the pros and cons are for each. Jake also shares his excitement in regards to his move to some office space outside of his home, where he currently works full-time. They also talk about what coworking space is and how that works for a designer or freelancer.

Rookie Designer 148 – Know What You Don’t Know

Episode  |  February 4th, 2016  |  29 mins 55 secs

During the latest episode of Rookie Designer Podcast, Carl and Jake talk about dealing with areas of design and business they aren't good at or knowledgable about. Carl shares a specific story about how he had to make a decision on how to deal with a client asking about a specific area of web design he isn't used to working in. Jake makes some suggestions on how to deal with "Knowing what you don't know." They also get into some of the things they are enjoying right now outside of their design projects.

Rookie Designer 147 – Pricing Projects

Episode  |  October 5th, 2015  |  30 mins 4 secs

Jake and Carl talk about the differences between pricing projects hourly and pricing projects on a per project basis. This is a very popular topic of debate and we came to an interesting conclusion. Listen to find out how we each price things ourselves and what our thoughts are. We also test out Blab.im for the first time and create our first video cast of the podcast for Rookie Designer. It was a fairly good experience and the we got a lot of help from the great community there. Both Carl and I are thinking this may be an avenue that we continue to try out.