To help get you started, here are some great websites for finding freelance work in design, web development, or other closely related creative fields.

WP Hired

If you are a WordPress guru, WP Hired is an excellent site for finding freelance jobs in a wide variety of WP specialties. You filter your job search by region and job category, and search for gigs by keyword. Job categories include design, SEO, copywriting, migration, plugin development and more.

Redditors for Hire

Redditors for Hire isn’t specifically dedicated to design and development freelancers, but there are many gigs posted there that fall into this category.

One of the most desirable things about this subreddit is that the participants do a great job of policing themselves and one another as far as what listings are appropriate or not. This means fewer bogus jobs to filter through. If you join this subreddit, you can browse freelance jobs or put yourself out there as available for hire.

Krop

Krop is a website that contains listings of permanent, temporary, contract, and freelance positions. They focus primarily on creative, design, and technical. Many of the freelance jobs include user experience design, web development, art direction, graphic design, and other jobs related to marketing and media. Visitors can drill down through the available jobs to find ones that are in their region.

iFreelance

iFreelance lists available jobs in a variety of specialties, not all of them related to design or technology. However, in spite of casting quite a wide net, this website is definitely a serviceable one if you are looking for a creative, tech, or design job.

HexiDesign

If your talent leans more towards the creative side, HexiDesign might be a great resource for you. Businesses and individuals post projects that include logo design, business card design, wedding branding, stationary design, and even the design of small websites.

LocalSolo

Local Solo curates job listings that are in your area. However, you can also search for jobs all over the world. A quick glance at their job board as of this writing shows job openings for WordPress developers, graphic designers, photographers, business analysts, copywriters, web designers, and more.

Guru

Guru is another website that features jobs in a variety of categories. However, like many freelance job boards, most of the work offered is in the areas of web design, software development, design, art, and multimedia. Employers offering jobs may pay by the hour or ask a fixed price for their entire project.

Freelancer

Freelancer is one of the larger and more popular clearinghouses of freelance positions. They offer a wide variety of jobs, and there is almost always something available to people who are seeking design and development jobs. Be sure to sign up for their email newsletters, you’ll get lots of great information including access to premium content.

Working Nomads

A digital nomad or location independent worker is somebody who intentionally seeks out remote positions, usually freelance, for the benefits of lifestyle flexibility. Nomads are able to work virtually anywhere in the world that they want, as long as they have an internet connection. Working Nomads serves up a constantly updated list of freelance jobs in the areas of development and design.

Upwork

It doesn’t matter if you are freelancer looking for a few short term gigs to earn some extra money, or something a bit more ongoing, Upwork is definitely a website to consider. When you get work through Upwork, all pay is calculated, handled, and released to you from the folks at the website. This means that you don’t need to track your hours, other than for auditing purposes.

Craigslist

Depending on where you live, you may find a lot of freelance development, design, and media jobs in and around your city on Craigslist. If not, you have the option of exploring freelance jobs in other cities. Just be sure to stick with jobs that have been recently posted and to do your due diligence in investigating anybody you would be working with.

PeoplePerHour

People Per Hour is a freelance job listing curator that features jobs in a variety of tech and non-tech fields. You simply browse through the listings that interest you and send a proposal for the ones you want to pursue. The jobs available include logo design, app development, writing, and eCommerce.

Project4Hire

If you are a web designer, programmer, writer, graphic artist, or have other related skills, bookmark Project4Hire. You can bid on a variety of gigs, follow the bidding on other gigs, and find collaborative opportunities. This website has a global scope, which means lots of available gigs but also lots of competition.

99Designs

99Designs may not be for everybody. If you need reliable sources of income, and have established a presence as a designer or developer, you may be better off spending your energy elsewhere.

However, if you are new to freelancing, you might want to check 99Designs out. They hold design competitions that are driven by actual project requests they receive from companies. You pick the competitions you want to enter, create your designs, and receive feedback from the company in question. If they choose your design, you win the prize money.

The post 10 Sites for Finding Freelance Design Work appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Especially when outside of an office environment, staying on task and completing projects on a deadline can be difficult for even the more pragmatic creative. It’s essential, however, that both companies and workers are able to track progress and communicate effectively on a daily basis. It is also imperative that individuals can work as a team, even if they are hundreds of miles apart.

These needs have led to the emergence of some valuable productivity software and apps, in recent years. One part internal social network and one part project management software, these new apps allow everyone involved in a project to communicate and work together effortlessly, no matter where they are physically located. Whether you are a company owner who is trying to track and promote internal productivity or a worker trying to stay ahead of the game, an enterprise mobile app could ultimately be the answer for you.

Check out our roundup of the top 5 enterprise mobile apps that boost productivity, and unleash your potential.

Trello

If you’re looking for a great project management tool, Trello is a great option as it allows for anyone to create “Trello Cards” that can be assigned to different groups or individuals.

Trello also utilizes queues, so you can track a project from concept to completion. It’s easy to use and the design is on point, making for a user-friendly experience. Trello’s mobile app is among the least convoluted we’ve seen, making for a seamless transition from desktop to mobile.

SignEasy

A document signing app, might not be the first thing a designer thinks of in terms of helping productivity, but it is hugely valuable for employees who are working abroad, or freelancing.

SignEasy is a mobile, cloud-friendly software that allows clients, employees and higher-ups to sign off on documents no matter where they’re located. This eliminates the hold-up of receiving things in the mail – or the hassle of trying to find a fax machine anywhere these days.

Syncplicity

It’s immediately obvious that their mobile design team put user experience first when creating Syncplicity’s file sharing and management app. It’s easy to manage any files from the touch of your phone or tablet with Syncplicity’s sheet stack interface.

It allows you to easily and securely send and share documents, as well as access them from any device, without missing a beat. When you have a team working on a large project with multiple files that need to be downloaded and uploaded quickly and effortlessly, Syncplicity is an awesome choice.

Sapience

Sapience is a mindfulness enterprise app that allows for proficient time management, ensuring businesses can maximize efficiency with both on and offsite employees.

The app analyzes your smartphone usages and give you a clear visual on how your day was spent. It allows you to tag your phone calls, app-usage and work-related travel effortlessly. Sapience helps individuals and businesses see where they spend their time the most, so they can schedule and allocate budget appropriately.

Evernote

From your computer to your smartphone, Evernote allows you to seamlessly work on projects from initial notes to completion, and even presentation. Think of it as a super-hero notepad.

It allows you to save inspiration from around the web, journal, take notes and work on full-length project – all in one platform. It is also a great organizing tool. If you are working on a number of creative projects at one time, Evernote will be one of your go-to apps for keeping everything on track.

Finished!

Everyone can always use a little bit of productivity push, and the apps above actually make it easier to go the extra mile. Give them a shot and let us know what you think!

The post Enterprise Productivity Apps for Remote Teams appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Today I would like to share with you some web-based apps, that I have found to be very useful for keeping in touch with clients and some that allow me to keep a consistent workflow.

Cloud Computing

Fortunately, the emergence of cloud computing has opened up a lot of opportunities for designers. It’s no longer necessary to overload your personal computer with large software packages and files, and back them up on several external hard drives just in case of possible crashes. The cloud enables you to store, back up and share files and programs on the web, which you can access from anywhere. It’s a revolutionary way of doing your work, and immediately streamlines your workflow.

There are cloud apps specialized for virtually every aspect of designing, so here is a quick guide on useful web-based apps to get you started if you’re thinking about taking the freelance plunge:

For Client Collaboration

Dropbox: More or less a household name at this point, this is a free service that allots you 2GB of storage upon sign-up. It’s designed for any web user, which means that your clients will be able to easily use it to see any files you wish to share with them. It’s also a secure app for your own storage. For those who need more space, they do have many options to pay for increased storage.

Sugarsync: This is another comprehensive storage system that offers file and folder sharing. It is compatible with most devices, so is a great option for your clients to use with you.

Evernote: Not only can Evernote act as your own digital scrapbook to store research, inspiration and ideas, it’s a great app to take notes when meeting with clients. You don’t have to deal with lugging around a notebook and remembering where you put your notes; you can locate them any time and from any device after your meetings or collaborations.

Dealing with clients can be difficult to navigate at times for reasons other than technical ones, so here is a collaboration guide for more in-depth help for those with less experience with remote work.

Encouraging Team Effort

Basecamp: This is one of the most popular project management apps. It’s ideal for designers, because it tracks projects from start to finish, and is designed for teams to work together remotely. It stores and organizes all files, documents, discussion feeds and feedback all in one place, which makes it extremely easy to track what team members are doing, as well as the project as a whole.

Draftboard: Another great collaboration tool, this streamlines all communication and feedback on project mockups. Perfect for the remote designer, you can update your progress and receive feedback from other designers or clients in one fell swoop, without having to meet face to face.

Remote Coding

Codeanywhere: When inspiration hits when you’re on the go, use this browser-based coding tool, which allows you to draft web layouts on any mobile device. It has Dropbox integration, as well as mobile apps for all types of Smartphones.

CSSDesk: Design a creative website with this full-featured interface. It allows you to develop designs that are supported across all major desktop and mobile browsers.

Helpful Software

Adobe Creative Cloud: As a designer, this is an especially exciting cloud app for you. You’ve probably become accustomed to buying expensive software packages that take up ahefty chunk of your hard drive space, and then spending more to upgrade to the latest version. Well, not anymore! Adobe now offers access to its latest products with a membership. Instead of installing programs on your own computer, you can use them on any device, as well as enjoy exclusive membership features.

Printing

Google Cloud Print: Connect your printer to the web and print a document or image from any application or device. You can share printers with anyone you choose from your Google account for a more concrete version of Google Docs.

Typography and Color Guides

TypeCast: This aewsome tool lets you design and experiment, all in the browser, with web fonts and real content. You can try the most popular web fonts all in one place, including all weights and compare font combinations and build type systems very quickly.

Adobe Color: Another excellent tool for doing tests, this app is for creating color themes and palettes, which can then be exported to any CS5 program. You can also import photos to create color palettes based on their prominent colors.

Experimenting with different apps will allow you to decide what works best for you to make your remote design efforts a success.

The post The Remote Designer – Jumping into the Cloud appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.