#WinningWednesday: Freelancing is the Ultimate Balancing Act
Featured Image: Lukelucas
Luke Lucas’s fascination with type design started back when he was in school. He found that the way a designer can use the same word or letter and create different ways and embody entirely different meanings depending on the font choice and size held an appeal that he would be unable to step away from long after he became a freelancer.
Luke Lucas
Luke Lucas is from Melbourne, Australia and his name sounds like the secret identity of a comic book superhero. If he is a superhero, his secret identity is working as an extremely skilled freelance designer, art director, illustrator, and typographer. And maybe his superpower is the magic he works with type…
I joke about it, but he does have some magic hidden somewhere because his designs are gorgeous!
Although, he told me that his hardest challenge in life is trying to schedule his family life around his freelance career. Perhaps we found his power’s terrible weakness?
Fascinated by type design
While it isn’t the sole aspect of his career, Luke has a strong passion for typography and type design. It all started when he was working with magazines while he was in school. Halfway through the first year of art school, Luke and his friend Jamie Driver started publishing an inline skating magazine called Fourinarow. It was a magazine that taught Luke how to apply the skills he learned in school to his own projects without losing his passion for design.
In the beginning, the two students knew very little about the publishing industry. However, they had a passion to create something that represented a culture that meant something to them, and as a passion project, they were determined to keep it going. It lasted for three years.
Despite only having a basic grasp of design, Luke was in charge of how each edition was designed and what the theme would be.
“I had a tendency to start my layouts and each edition for that matter with developing a typeface that related to the particular theme of the edition. I started experimenting with combining illustrative techniques with traditional typography and lettering.”
Over time, designing the budding magazine lead to experimentation and exploring his skills until others began to take notice of him.
“I began to publish some of my work online and then others began to commission me to do the same thing for their projects.”
Commissioned by Maxim (US) Magazine
Commissioned for the cover of the Fall 2013 edition of Entrepreneur’s Startups magazine.
Commissioned by TIME Magazine
Full-time freelance work is a conscious choice
Running a successful freelance career can lead to a tremendous amount of stress. Not only do you have to deal with chasing debts and managing deadlines, but when you aren’t paid on time, it will burden your family life too. That isn’t to say his career transition ran smoothly!
“Going from full-time employment to project based freelance work takes a little time to adjust particularly from a payment and self discipline perspective. As a contractor you’re generally the last person paid particularly if you’re work is coming through an agency.”
Freelancers are often unable to avoid the several months of delayed payments or have to deal with clients who aren’t worried about timeliness on writing your check. If you’re used to working as part of an agency, not having a check coming on a regular schedule adds additional stress to your life.
Luke created a plan and stuck to it:
- Save up enough cash to live comfortable for 3-6 months without getting paid
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Learn how to run a business; budgeting, time management, and invoicing
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Find clients that you want to work with
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Choose jobs that gives you the opportunity to learn a new skill
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Only choose projects that you’ll be proud to have in your portfolio
Balancing work and family
“Freelance isn’t for everyone, but if you can make it work for you it offers you the ultimate freedom to choose where, how, and what you spend your time on.”
Before venturing into a freelance career, he ran a successful print magazine for six years, which has won numerous awards and created a fantastic reputation of his design skills and project management. It was this reputation lets him pick and choose projects that he feels will only benefit his career or boost his skills once he moved on to a freelancing career.
“Finding a balance of earning a living doing what you love, but not at the expense of quality time with those you love, is the ultimate balancing act.” He said. “Fatherhood has totally affected my work schedule. I really enjoy spending time with my kids.”
Luckily, Luke has worked hard to keep everything in his life on the right track. His design career had stayed strong all these years, and it will only continue to grow!
On his website, Luke Lucas sums up type design in a simple, but concise way that I had to share it with you all:
What do you think about Luke’s quote – do you agree with such a simple explanation? Sum up what type design means to you in the comments below!
All image sources: lukelucas.com
