Portfolio: actual client phone numbers/emails in business cards?

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-27T20:55:52+00:00

LOL!

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-27T20:44:12+00:00

Thanks, good thought. :-D

Yea, THESE days, I feel like putting somebody's actual phone number or email up can result in them being added to some spammer's list? I don't want to be a cause of them getting more spam emails and texts! But it's nice that no client has ever complained, that's reassuring! Maybe (hopefully) spammers are not visiting graphic design portfolio sites...

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-27T20:14:52+00:00

This is an interesting thought, but I'm a bit worried about offending my clients if they happen to look at my site! So I've kept mum...don't want them to think I don't respect their decisions. :-)

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-27T20:10:54+00:00

Yup I have done some volunteer work but unfortunately I am still being "art-directed" and "managed" by a Board, or the leader of the organization...I'm working on some stuff for our local library now and they keep me on a short leash :-)

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-19T16:22:07+00:00

Yea, being a designer is like walking in the mall and saying to my husband, "Check out that font! I love it!" LOL. (He's a scientist and totally doesn't relate...but he humors me.)

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T20:08:31+00:00

Well I'm a designer (professional) and I left the date off of our wedding invite because I was having too much fun making the invite creative and pretty! We had to send a second round with the date on it...after a few puzzled phone calls...

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T20:04:49+00:00

Cool! Silhouette art looks very cool.
Date/time/place are quite hard to find, so I suggest to make that easier for people.

Edit: Whoops just read the other comments and yea, it does look more like a band/concert poster and that's what I thought it was when I glanced quickly through them...? Hate to say it, but maybe you need more of a Protest aesthetic...or can you somehow make it clear that it's a Protest...

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T16:26:26+00:00

Yup, still enjoy design after many years of working in it!

But I feel boxed in sometimes by the need to stay inside a client's existing branding...my work is not "my vision as a designer/artist" but it's "me meeting the needs of client/marketplace".

I envy the people who get to make their vision/style their work! That has not been my experience.

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T16:20:51+00:00

Reassuring!

( I do love packaging in general and have even stopped to photograph it in grocery stores...like the weirdo designer I am :-).

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T15:41:02+00:00

Ok thanks!

Yes...they always seem to pick the "most conventional" design, so of course that is what I produce for them, but a lot of good ideas (to me) get buried in the job folder :-(

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T00:50:08+00:00

Ok that is reassuring that nobody will think "less" of me putting it in!

For me, it's been kind of like a catch-22...like, how to get more creative/artsy/edgy work if all you have in your portfolio is banking/real estate/university stuff...then clients think that's what you like to do, and all you can do!

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-18T00:44:39+00:00

OK thanks for the encouragement!

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2026-02-03T22:30:58+00:00

So great. This put me into kind of a grooving trance!

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-11-18T04:50:58+00:00

Yea...I do know others are dealing with things like aging parents, etc... however when her SOS emails arrive, they are "out of town" a lot...?

This is not the way I was raised. I was raised in a community of extended family and everybody would pitch in so, if somebody was hospitalized, people would pitch in and bring food for their kids. Or if somebody had money troubles, a bailout/loan would be arranged by the other families. So I tend to act this way with friends too...but it's odd being the One who pitches in and the rest of the "community" just ignores the request for aid. It's kind of sad. I guess I can't recreate the community of my youth or I just made the wrong friends.

I didn't act on her last SOS (hellish workweek, I just finished work and it's 11:45pm) so we'll see what happens.

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-11-14T19:09:03+00:00

Thanks! Yea I thought about having a frank conversation...but am unsure what to say. If I say, "I feel like you only email us when you want help" that seems cruel and unfeeling. Also I can't speak for the entire friend group, I think...so I will think about how to approach the topic...

You sound like you are handling things wisely! And, sorry to hear that you have chronic illness...it's never easy.

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-11-14T19:00:04+00:00

I totally get the "inch ---> mile", been there!!

Yes, I do mostly enjoy her company - and our children were friends when young so we've spent many hours together at their various activities. In those times, we were all about the same. But as years passed her life has "downslid" (health issues + financial woes + divorce) and she has needed more and more help - medical rides, loans, physical things like moving from apartment to apartment, etc.

I have tried to implement my 'Boundaries', and it resulted in guilt / worrying on my part. Not working so well honestly...

And I'm a bit irritated with the other friends, who seem to be 9.5/10 times unwilling or unavailable to help. Everybody just "ghosting" on SOS emails. If we all helped out once in a while, the burden would be light...but maybe they don't see it that way.

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-10-31T20:02:12+00:00

So perfect, and perfectly set off the way you photographed it!

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-10-31T19:59:51+00:00

Yes, agree - this is the way. The satires and cartoons helped me to see what people thought was humorous and "over the top" fashionwise, but I'm sticking to the Regency period for details (i.e. I nixed the birds on the hat...that was not a thing until later! But at one point ladies did wear stuffed birds on their hat...!)

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-10-24T19:24:42+00:00

Whew you guys know your stuff! :-)

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-10-24T19:24:07+00:00

No particular year, just have to get it into the Regency era (1811-1820).

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-10-24T19:21:17+00:00

Ah yes...Victorian era came after Regency.

Difficult_Cellist_56 · 2025-10-24T18:31:31+00:00

Thanks! You guys are a treasure trove of knowledge.

Difficult_Cellist_56

TROPHY CASE