This is the third of a new series which takes two well known twitterers, gives them 10 quick fire questions to answer (connected to Twitter) and then let’s them battle it out before your votes decide who wins the round.

I’ve picked two fabulous designer ladies on Twitter for the latest in the series:

• Kris: @KrisColvin – A User and Brand experience designer and customer advocate for We Heart Studios.
• Misty Belardo: @MistyGirlPH – A Graphic Designer and blogger and currently writes for Bitrebels and Minervity.

Without further ado, let the battle begin…

	Since March 2008, but I only posted one tweet the day I joined. I began actually using Twitter that July, when I learned about following people from a great Problogger article that listed bloggers to follow and told us how to use Twitter. I became active very quickly.
	I started last 2008-05-30 01:28:48 but became really active January this year. I did not quiet get the purpose of Twitter until some designers encouraged, inspired and taught me to share.

	I have no idea. I am on and off of Twitter all day long, from everywhere, via desktop, laptop, smartphone or iPod Touch. It’s the way I work and live, like drinking coffee or brushing my teeth.
	Hmmm, I tweet when I can, I really enjoy interacting with my followers and those I follow. I tweet less during the weekdays though because of work and tweet more during the weekend because time is more relaxed and i can concentrate on the links and the people i converse with.

Many reasons. I like the connectivity with others I’ve met. My best friend from Texas now tweets, so she and I stay connected all day more easily. I meet people who become clients via Twitter, and we work using Twitter, exchanging links and info through DM’s at all hours of the day. I am an only child, and I have no children (except pets) so I think I also just like the constant stream of chatter in my life.

I tweet because I am very much interested in learning from people in my field of interest as well as interact with people in other countries, I love the conversation and the friendships that have developed over time.

	Fun!
	Dialogue – People seem to enjoy conversing with me and sharing with me their thoughts. I love the way they ask for my opinions on social media, design and what is happening with me on a day to day basis.

	Semi-important. I do get a lot of inspiration from reading articles and trading links, but it is not as critical to my design as it is to my overall business in context of getting fast answers to questions from people who know something that I don’t.
	I can say that as a designer Twitter has given me the opportunity to work with the best and learn from the best.

It’s not optional. Any venture we do, gets an account and we tweet about it. It’s just the way we do business now, and something that impacts us as a company because we are perceived (rightfully so) as knowing how to integrate social media into traditional marketing, in addition to customer care, lead generation and more for companies. The tools we use, this social media lifestyle we are part of now, reinforce our brand story these days.

I never had the opportunity to really shine as a designer/blogger before Twitter. Designing and writing is what i love to do. My passion. My work does not give me that opportunity to share my love for design. People never really knew what I could do before Twitter. I was more confined to doing events and video producing. Now more and more are interested in what i do and always a treat when they say they love my work and that they value my opinion.

It has been a hero regarding my business. I moved from Texas two years ago to Kansas (to get married) and was supposed to keep my job with the employer I had in Texas. Instead, my boss abruptly changed his mind two weeks after I got here, and I went from having a nice salary and benefits to being on my own again. The difference here from being self-employed before is that I had no contacts, no network, and I didn’t live in Kansas City – my husband’s business is an hour away so we live in the country. Because of Twitter and blogging, I met people who became clients, met people who became business associates in Kansas City (at a local tech conference) and I now live in Kansas City part-time and office with them downtown. I honestly don’t know how I would have met these people without the online connectivity via social media platforms.

Business wise, it has increased my knowledge in terms of technology and the different avenues in which i can venture and improve on. Twitter is a platform that has helped me connect with the best designers in the world. Various techniques and valuable tips i learned from Twitter users.

	It may sound trite, but “be smart.” Talk about things that interest you, show others you have an opinion, articulate your opinions well, help people solve problems (that one is huge) and reveal your personality quirks to others. Plus, follow people so they will follow you back.
	Be yourself, and be helpful to those who are in need of your guidance. Share information and be a catalyst for creativity and inspiration.

As a vain Libra, I’m a sucker for adoration, so any tweet telling me I’m great in a unique way that reveals some insight about myself from others, I am fond of. I also have sort of a dry sense of humor (love British humor) and so when I see a tweet written to someone else in context to them, that can be taken totally out of context by others, that cracks me up. My friend Chad (@poweredbysteam) had a hysterical one I teased him about… I hunted and hunted and finally found it. I can’t tell you how hard I laughed when that came up in my tweet stream, not knowing what he was referring to. I hope he doesn’t see this!

Always look for blue skies. A friend of mine Rajesh @r27 always reminds me to look for the good in every situation. The value of twitter really for me is the connection and the encouragement that I get from people. No matter how bad my day is, someone in my twitter stream would always make me smile. I am pretty lucky to have such a good variety of people that are positive and very encouraging.

	@thebrandbuilder – Olivier inspires me, motivates me, makes me smarter and has great taste.
	@adamsconsulting – Diana is a great source of inspiration, she lets me be me. She tells me how it is and always has a kind word. Knows when to listen and when to speak. She is very real and she gets me.

Voting will automatically close in exactly one day – Friday at 1pm, so get voting now! The Twitter Face-Off will take place once a month on a Thursday so make sure to check back next month!

Twitter Face-Off: Kris Colvin vs Misty Belardo is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Strange things happen when you let your mind wander. On a dull Thursday afternoon last week I cheekily tweeted:

If I could marry any browser it would be Chrome…

It was then quickly followed by Brian Yerkes suggesting it was the “nerdiest thing ever said on twitter”. We will never know if indeed it was, however I took it upon myself to ask my own followers:

If you had to marry a Web Browser, which would it be and why?

I received a huge number of responses outlined below, so be prepared to scroll!

	I’d go with Firefox cos it has a nice bushy tail to snuggle up to.
	I’d have Omniweb’s children.
	IE makes promises it doesn’t keep.Safari is unpredictable and incompatible. Firefox hogs the resources. I think I’d be single.
	Since I haven’t been able to play with Chrome yet, I would marry Firefox!
	Can’t say which one i’d marry but I’d divorce IE6 in a second.
	Chrome. Simple. Elegant. Private.
	I’d marry Firefox, but I’d like her to lose some weight and stop complaining when I accidentally call her Google Chrome.
	It would be Chrome I guess, but with Safari as my illegal bigamist wife.
	I imagine I would start by dating Firefox, but come to realize she is high maintenance and run off with Safari.
	Firefox would be my main chic and Chrome would be the one on the side.
	Flock, for all it’s social media love.
	Matter of factly, i’d marry firefox. Just because regardless of sm shorts, it’s still consistent.
	It would have to be Opera, still barely touched and very innocent but with some great hidden features.
	I’d totally marry IE6 – gonna die soon and I’m a gold-digger.
	Firefox as I don’t mind a little baggage for features but Chrome will be my mistress for when I just want fun.
	I how marry firefox, but i’d have an affair with chrome as it’s fast and pretty.
	I’d mary Firefox, but when it’s been a while (6 months) I would use chrome to surf.
	Chome is the perfect wife – clean, efficient and hassle free. However sometimes you just need a bit of IE rough!
	Google Chrome, but I’d probably have an affair with Safari.
	Netscape is my MILF!
	I would marry FireFox, but every once in a while have a fling with Safari (For the looks) & Chrome (For the performance).
	I am in love with FF3 but tend to have the occasional affair with Safari. I am a mac guy.
	I’d definitely marry Chrome but meet Firefox secretly now and then. Afterall, Firefox was my first love!
	I’m married to Safari, but Chrome and I have lovely flings at work.
	I use chrome only, my cell is Android G1, so I am a hardcore google fan.
	I like the large -webkit-breasts of Safari.
	A browser to marry would have to be Chrome, its reliable and secure & just a bit bland & lacking elements of danger (crashing).
	I guess I would marry the calm and relaxing safari but then have an affair or two with the wild FF.about 20 hours ago from TweetDeck.
	I would divorce Internet Exlplorer 6 in a heartbeat!!
	I would marry Firefox since we have been together for so long. Plus she knows about my affair with Chrome and loves my anyway.
	Of course I would marry Firefox, only if it switches up its themes from business to party, often!
	If IE6 were a person, I’d marry them because I know they’d never leave me and they have rich parents.
	I’d marry Chrome; She’s fast, mentally stable, up-to-date and doesn’t require 100% of your resources to run a la Firefox.
	Id marry IE because it would be nice to be the good looking one in the relationship.
	I see domestic violence figures soaring if people marry any version of internet explorer…
	Might have a one-night stand with Chrome, but for me it’s open source all the way. I <3 Firefox.
	I think I would take Camino. She is a little quirky, slightly offbeat, but gorgeous and well connected.
	I’d marry firefox. Sleep with chrome and snog safari.
	I would marry my old faithful Firefox because she allows me to have a 3 some which includes Chrome.
	I would be a bigamist since I test on them all: 1st wife = Firefox, then Chrome, IE8, Opera, Safari, IE7, IE6, etc.
	I’d marry Safari because she is mentally stable, fun to play with, nightly getting better and she’s always with me; in my pocket.
	Will you @glnster take @firefox to be your browser; thru add-ons & clear cache, till restart do you part? I do.
	I tried divorcing IE6, but they wouldn’t let go. Having a trial separation, but I know I’ll have to go back soon.
	I wouldn’t marry Chrome… it spawns new processes far too quickly. You’d have a house full in no time.
	I’d marry Netscape, but only because I’m into older women.
	Firefox, though I have to admit, I’ve had several affairs with Safari. *shamefaced* But I’ll always come back to you, Firefox!
	I just can’t see how we have all divorced IE6, yet she keeps coming round for dinner and complains about our exquisite food!
	If I were to marry a web browser, it would be Firefox. She may bloat easily, but she’s reliable and quite extensible (zing!)
	I’d marry Firefox since it gets an update EVERYDAY. Plus, if it doesn’t have the feature you want, you can always add them on.
	I Would Marry Chrome.

Thanks to all the amazing people who took the time to take part which contributed to a really interesting post.

Feel free to embrace the nerd within and leave a comment on which Browser you would marry and why…

Image Credit

If You Had To Marry A Browser…Which One? is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

No matter how many new creatives join the web community each day, it never feels cramped and it’s always exciting to discover brilliant upcoming designers, developers and bloggers.

However there will always be those who we loyally follow due to their consistently good output – wether that be blog posts, designs, applications, tips or resources and Twitter has certainly helped bring us all that little bit closer.

But just how well do you know those you follow? I asked 20 Twitterers who i know and interact with, to share the top 5 facts people don’t know about them.

Ok…so i guess i better go first. I’m a freelance web designer, blogger and apple fangirl with an addiction to Moleskine Notebooks and Wireframes.

• 1. My brother and I have a little tradition of going to the cinema at least twice a month, we both love movies and the whole cinema experience.
• 2. I’m terrified of Crane Flies (we call them Daddy Long Legs) after my brother put one in my hair when i was younger…seriously if i see one i literally run for the nearest exit.
• 3. My nickname is Gina as my middle name is Georgina.
• 4. I love Chilli sauce and spices and my favorite type of food is Thai.
• 5. My father, grandfather and grandmother all passed away suddenly within 10 weeks of each other in 2005.

Andy Sowards is a professional web developer, programmer, family man, and all around advocate of all things tech.

• 1. I have lived within the same 50 mile radius my entire life.
• 2. I have never left the USA.
• 3. My first job ever was at a Subway Restaurant.
• 4. Boxers, not Briefs.
• 5. I Love watching G4TV and History Channel (Im kind of a nerd LOL).

Chris Spooner is a creative Designer, avid Blogger and is generally crazy about pretty colours and shapes.

• 1. My middle name is James.
• 2. I have two younger sisters.
• 3. I often enjoy watching Laura’s romantic comedy film choices (But Shhhh… Don’t tell anyone!)
• 4. I love riding rollercoasters.
• 5. I’m thinking about getting a motorcycle license.

Cristian Vasile is into SEO, Tech, Webdesign, CSS, Typography and loves Helvetica.

• 1. I like basketball and rap music.
• 2. I love to travel and, of course, i love photography.
• 3. I enjoy reading books, especially novels and marketing books.
• 4. I’m a interior design lover.
• 5. I like hanging out with my friends.

Kimberly Beaven is the Creative Director at BlueWave Media, Web Designer, Geek, MAC fan and Coffee Drinker.

• 1. Leggo was and still is my favourite toy — still have a big box that I occasionally pull out to have some fun with.
• 2. I love power tools — built my deck and renovated my kitchen — probably the compound mitre saw is my fav, next to the table saw.
• 3. I have my motorcycle license and love the feeling of riding on open country roads. (I wear a shorty helmet and goggles)
• 4. I have a chair fetish — my favourite is the Barcelona chair.
• 5. When I was a kid I wanted to be a neural surgeon and studied towards that direction, i but loved design and art too much and made that my career.

Antonio Lupetti is an Engineer, Pro Blogger, Mac user, Musician and is Web Addicted.

• 1. I live in a beautiful country house near Rome, with a big garden (the swimming pool is a work in progress), seven cats and one dog.
• 2. I love reading books: my favorite author is James Ellory and recently James Fray.
• 3. I play the piano and have studied music since i was six years old. I have a piano and a Korg keyboard, and I use my iMac to compose and arrange music.
• 4. I’m writing a thriller and have almost finished the first draft. To complete and publish it with a big publishing house is my biggest objective for the next year.
• 5. I hate, hate, HATE airplanes. I hate flying and in general, being in enclosed spaces. I am totally claustrophobic!

Emma Taylor is a freelance web designer based in sunny Cyprus with a passion for clean cut designs and code.

• 1. I’m British, live in Cyprus, married to a Russian who’s also half Spanish and just love adopting the cultures, language and traditions along the way.
• 2. I love baking but i’m a hopeless cook!
• 3. I’m prone to getting electric shocks and have broken more than a few computers and appliances in the process!
• 4. I suffered with panic attacks for 6 years and still battle with them now and again but i love where they have taken me.
• 5. I once worked in a tourist shop on the school holidays, at the end of my first day i quickly scuttled out of the shop and realised it wasn’t for me…i then got a summer job filtering through databases and learning flash!

Aaron Irizarry is into Design, Development, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

• 1. I was In a metal band called Point of Recognition.
• 2. I have a tattoo behind me ear of a diamond that says “holla” under it.
• 3. I have been to every state in the US except for Alaska, and Hawaii.
• 4. I have been Married for 13 years.
• 5. I like cats more than dogs.

Misty Belardo is a gfx/avatar designer, blogger, events specialist, loves music, food, art and self expression.

• 1. I have 85% black outfits in my closet and never worn any floral inspired clothes EVER!!
• 2. I love to paint using water color but I hate oil painting as a medium, its too messy and I hate the smell.
• 3. My right eye is far sighted and my left eye is near sighted.
• 4. I sneeked out of the house to take an entrance exam for design school, because my dad did not want me to be a designer. Good thing I passed. Never be afraid of challenges.
• 5. I’m lactose intolerant. Drank tea as a child hence my nick name Misty (Miss – tea). By the way my real name is Cristina. Call me by that name and I will most likely not respond because I never got used to the name.

Rob Bowen is a darkside designer and is involved with Fuel Your Creativity.

• 1. I’m a laid back vegan hippie, with a bit of an angry streak that offers a little contrast and balance to my life.
• 2. I actually co-founded and co-ran Arbenting (it seems most folks didn’t realize that, so I thought I’d drop it in.
• 3. I care about others, even to a fault, one could say, despite the fact that their plights have no direct bearing on my life or situation (weird, I know).
• 4. I am an activist, working for social and political change.
• 5. I will save the world using the power of my pen and the weight of my words, despite the sworded apathetic swarms that have made societal prisoners and lackeys of us all!

Glen Stansberry is a Web Developer, Blogger and Jackalope Enthusiast.

• 1. I’ve run the Boston Marathon – I’m a far cry from marathon shape right now, but yeah I managed to qualify for it and ran it in 2004. One of my proudest moments (even though I didn’t run that well).
• 2. I’m releasing an album in the near future – Aside from doing web development, I love singing/playing guitar/mixing music. I’ve been performing here and there for the past 7 years, but I’ve been writing a lot recently and really feel like this is something that I’ll regret if I don’t do soon. More details to follow…
• 3. I love Jackalopes – Yes, in case my site Web Jackalope (that Grace designed!) wasn’t a dead giveaway, I do have a thing for jackalopes. I have jackalope t-shirts, coffee mugs etc. I even have a “taxidermied” jackalope on the fireplace.
• 4. I do impressions – I like to impersonate just about everyone. Famous people, cartoons, even animals. I know this makes me sound like a raging dork, but I’m laying it all on the line here.
• 5. I love cooking – I love to experiment with making new dishes and cooking for my fiancee and friends. I love the conversation that happens at dinner, so even if my concoction is awful, the company will be good.

Niki Brown is a Graphic & Web Designer based in Boston.

• 1. I like to wear my sunglasses on the subway so I can stare at people.
• 2. I own a mac… AND a PC!!! *gasp*
• 3. I’m from a small town in Iowa (don’t tell anyone).
• 4. I hate baseball… And I just moved to Boston (go red sox… Or something)
• 5. I ran a half marathon last year and plan on running another one soon.

Veronica Domeier is a Freelance designer of print & web and a Photography enthusiast, wife and adventurer.

• 1. I am the biggest procrastinator I know, but that’s also when I get some of my best ideas – ironically.
• 2. I’m a D.I.Y junkie. Anything from diy photo light boxes & backgrounds to bookshelves & beer.
• 3. I would love to compete in The Amazing Race or something like it with my Husband.
• 4. In high school I use to talk my way out of classes (English and such) just so I could go to my Communication Design class/studio and work on projects.
• 5. I only have one brother who is fifteen years younger than me. Yeah, he was a surprise.

Jacob Gube is a Web developer/designer and founder of Six Revisions.

• 1. I don’t eat fruits (except in liquid form, like orange juice).
• 2. Even though I’m in front of the computer for 10-12 hours a day, I rely on a Moleskine notebook for time tracking, scheduling, and planning my work (it’s with me 24/7).
• 3. I’ve lived in five countries and six states.
• 4. I’m a proud Windows PC user and building custom PCs is my one and only expensive indulgence/hobby.
• 5. I’m left handed (and I have oddly good hand/eye coordination with both hands, probably resulting from years of playing video games).

Brian Yerkes is the Owner/Creative Director of Brian Joseph Studios into Web Design, Branding and Social Media.

• 1. I am a FIFA Certified professional soccer coach.
• 2. I used to be a radio presenter and nightclub DJ during college.
• 3. I have ”gilbert syndrome” which apparently only about 5% of the world’s population has. It means I have a high level of bilirubins (spelling?) in my liver and is linked with very long life expectancy! (is that a good thing?! Haha)
• 4. I only learned what NSFW means 4 days ago
• 5. I almost died as a baby when I crawled into our pool, my mum saw the safety gate was open and dived in and saved me.

Danny Outlaw is into Graphic Design and runs the outlawdesignblog.com.

• 1. Im a whitewater raft guide on a class V river.
• 2. I used to race sled dogs in Alaska during the winter.
• 3. I have a jack sparrow tattoo that I got in Bocas del Torro, Panama.
• 4. Im married to a Suicide Girl.
• 5. I almost never wear shoes and when I do its a pair of Chacos.

Sarah Whinnem is a Graphic Designer, Mac Geek, Fashion Addict and Mini Fanatic.

• 1. I’m 5’8″ tall, but am always wearing heels- usually pretty tall ones too. My friends call me an Amazon.
• 2. I have never seen an entire James Bond movie- only bits and pieces of a few.
• 3. I love cars- I have a Mini and I drive it like a getaway car most of the time, and someday hope to have the time to work on restoring an original Mini.
• 4. I prefer New York City to Boston partially because in New York the streets are all a nice organized grid, and in Boston they’re a tangled mess.
• 5. I have a super crush on Kevin Rose. I think he’s adorable for being such a geek and can’t get enough of Diggnation.

David Leggett is a Blogger, Website Designer & Independent Publisher.

• 1. I’m secretly a ninja. For-serious.
• 2. Sometimes, I think that the only reason I work at all is to fuel my chocolate and coffee addiction. I typically go through 900ml of coffee a day, and several bars of Godiva chocolate a week.
• 3. I was tricked into being a geek as a young lad: When I was 10-years-old I started learning how to build websites, at age 12 I built my first computer, and I started working full time on websites when I was 14.
• 4. I’m big into video games. Halo is my favorite series.
• 5. I love to cook. My favorite dish to make is a Malaysian curry meal.

Adelle Charles is Co-Founder and CCO at Fuel Brand Inc. / Creators of the fuelbrandnetwork.com

• 1. I’ve played softball since 4th grade (pitcher) through college.
• 2. I’ve had 6 cars in 7 years. (No I’m not a bad driver, I promise).
• 3. My mom is the only hair stylist I’ve ever been to.
• 4. Michelle (@mishikraz) and I talked about having a creative company called “Fire & Ice” at 14yrs old and now we work together at FUEL.
• 5. I used to love Salt-n-Pepa.

Chad Engle is a designer, wordpresser, caffeine addict, RSS freak, mac fanboy, beta tester and adobe nut.

• 1. Even though I am a graphic Designer I can’t draw to save my life.
• 2. I wanted to be a transportation designer but went to graphic design because I couldn’t afford art school.
• 3. I used to be in a top nationally ranked choir in high school as well as a national ranked top 20 drumline.
• 4. If I am not designing or on the computer I am probably tooling on a car or something of the sort in the garage.
• 5. I bartended for 4yrs to put myself through college. Would get off at 4am then come home and do school work.

Brandon Cox is a Christian, Husband, Dad, Pastor, Creative Web, Logo, and Graphic Designer and Blogger.

• 1. I’m actually a full-time Pastor/Minister – design is my secondary passion, so to speak.
• 2. I’m the first Cox in about five generations to move away from my home county in Kentucky, USA.
• 3. I’ve taken lessons in karate, piano, trumpet, and guitar, but never in design, which is the only one of the five I’m still involved in.
• 4. My wife and I both drive Hondas (a Pilot and an Accord) and we probably always will.
• 5. I’m an Adobe Fireworks nut, and only open Photoshop when forced to do so.

Jon Phillips is a freelance web-designer by day, guitarist by night (and typography addict 24/7).

• 1. My real name is Jonathan-Charles Phillips (yeah I know!) I use Jon Phillips online because it’s shorter and easier to remember.
• 2. Even though I’m Canadian, I don’t like Hockey. I really don’t. There’s nothing about Hockey that I find remotely interesting.
• 3. I love country music. I play guitar in a pretty heavy act but I just love country music. I guess it’s the steel guitar.
• 4. I sucked at drawing and visual arts when I was in school. I even failed my art class in grade 4.
• 5. I could not live without Coffee Mate (or any coffee whitener). I just gotta have at least 3 cups a day.

Cameron Olivier is a designer focusing on the web mostly, a budding web developer, a father to a beautiful daughter and husband to a beautiful wife.

• 1. I spent 6 hours in the hair salon on my 21st birthday dying my hair electric blue.
• 2. I have 2 tattoos – well a nordic star on each shoulder and ‘beloved’ on my chest.
• 3. Before I decided to become a graphic/web designer, I had wanted to be an architect, but figured it’d be too boring. I think I made the right choice.
• 4. The first time I kissed someone, I was 20.
• 5. The current iteration of my beard is about 3 days younger than my daughter, who is 11 1/2months.

This is just a selection of the cool people i follow (unfortunately there isn’t room to invite everyone), but i invite you to add your top 5 in the comments below and take a few minutes from the daily grind to share and get involved.

Photo by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Me is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Twitter is foremost about communication, interaction and community, however it’s fast becoming the best service to keep up to date with the latest trends, news and resources as well as helping you to understand more about your audience and industry.

With the fast pace and nature of micro-blogging it’s easy to lose track of the constant stream of highly useful links and resources being tweeted each day.

With this in mind, i’ve compiled a look at six of the best ways to use Twitter as a constant source of inspiration and how you can make sure you never lose track of another great link.

• 1. It’s Not Just About Twitter.com

We love Twitter.com but it has a limited feature set and even though using the web interface is still the most popular way to access Twitter, the wealth of online services and desktop applications, means managing our followers and friends, getting an insight into links and trends and integrating different types of media is easier than ever before.

The sheer volume of applications and services means we can get more out of our microblogging activities.

Using services like Twitter 100 or Tweet Grid and others, enables you to glance who you follow quickly and efficiently. It also means you can keep up to date with the latest updates and resources from your favorite twitterers.

Experiment with the various services and applications out there to find one that works for you and enables you to manage your twitter stream more efficiently.

• 2. Follow And Manage Effectively

Choosing who to follow is perhaps the most important step, if you pick wisely you can create a consistently fresh source of inspiring resources, tutorials and articles.

There are plenty of lists featuring the best design twitterers to follow, however to get you started here are some of the best roundups:

* 100 Web Designers to follow on Twitter

* 85+ of the Best Twitterers Designers Should Follow

* 30 Top Web Designers On Twitter

Once you have chosen who to follow, the best way to keep track of these accounts is to put the people you’re following into groups (for example Web Designers, Writers, Developers) as this will make it easier to follow specific types of people and slow down your twitter stream making it more manageable.

Applications such as TweetDeck, Nambu and Tweetr along with web based services like Tweetworks, Tweetizen and TwitHive, all allow you to create groups with your contacts and filter messages exactly how you want them. In fact there is now a growing number of ways to create groups and help manage who you follow.

Someone who knows all about effectively managing his twitter account and being a design resource powerhouse on Twitter, is Calvin Lee of @mayhemstudios. Calvin kindly agreed to share how he manages to follow 32000+ people and keep track of the links being shared:

“I use Tweetdeck to manage my large following. It’s impossible to keep up with everyone. So I have groups in Tweekdeck of the people I talk to often, people that tweet great resources and people I admire. I’m always adding new people to the group.

When I see a tweet from my group or a tweet by (a tweet in all friends) that would benefit my fellow designers or followers. I retweet it, then save it to my Twitter Favorites. Eventually, I bookmark all the great links on delicious with tags and labels for easy access.

People are not taking advantage of their Twitter Favorites on their profile. It’s a great way to bookmark tweets you may want to retweet later, save articles or links to read later. It would also benefit your followers. As they have an archive of your great resources bookmarked. People can even subscribe to your tweets RSS feed so they don’t miss anything. I have over 300-400 pages of goodies and links on my Twitter Favorites.”

Talking of Favorites….

• 3. Use Your Favorites Button

Throughout the day thousands of design gems fill the twittersphere and there’s an easy way to quickly keep track of these without ever leaving twitter or our twitter application – the favorites button.

By clicking on the star below an update, it ‘saves’ the tweet to your favorites stream. You can then refer back to this whenever you like, it essentially becomes your own bookmarker for those really great posts you don’t want to forget.

A few examples of people who use their favorites extensively are:

@tedoe – Favorites
@FearMediocrity – Favorites
@matthewmeeks – Favorites
@maxbeatty – Favorites

One of the most common complaints is that there is no easy way to ‘export’ you’re favorites from Twitter. However you can create an RSS feed from your favorites timeline by going to:

http://twitter.com/favorites/YOUR TWITTER ID HERE.rss, so my favorites would be: http://twitter.com/favorites/gracesmith.rss. You can then add this to your feed reader just like any other feed.

Nadine Gilden (@curiouslt) uses a interesting combination of marking favorites in Twitter and Only2Clicks to bookmark and organise interesting resources, as she shares below:

“There are so many great resources and links that get shared on Twitter, and I am not always using Twitter from a browser, so Favorites is the best way to ‘save’ a tweet that I want to hold on to. I favorite the tweet, and when I am at a computer, I take those favorites and move them to Only2Clicks. Right now I have 40 categories set up at Only2Clicks, some of them include: inspiration; photoshop, jquery, wordpress, etc. Since it is so easy to add new categories, it really helps me keep all those get resources organized.

Only2Clicks has a Firefox add on that you drag to your toolbar. I view the link from the saved favorite, and just click on the ‘Add to only2clicks’ in my toolbar and select the category I want to save it to, and I can add any notes with it as well.”

• 4. Bookmark And Organise

For many bookmarking links they visited from Twitter is the preferred method of finding and keeping inspiration and information.

Delicious is perhaps the most common service used and with new open source applications available like Twitticious, which allows you to import links from a twitter timeline to your delicious account, this makes bookmarking and organising links a pain free experience.

Delicious isn’t the only method though, with the popularity of Firefox Add-ons like ReadItLater which Henry Moran (@ffffffive) uses:

“On busy days I usually don’t have a lot of time to read every tweet. I tend to use Read It Later (RIL). It’s extremely easy to use and you can sync your bookmarks throughout multiple computers and even your iphone. Here’s how I do it in two easy steps:

* I create a new folder in Firefox for my tweets. (They could be labeled into Twitter, Inspiration etc).
* Click The Checkmark in the address bar, or if you love keyboard shortcuts press Alt + W.

One of my favorite features would be the one-click link to RIL. If you have several tweets that you’d love to save but hate to go to the address bar, you can simply press Alt + M and you are in ‘Click To Save Mode’. This allows you to simply click EVERY link (tweet) you want to read later and it stores it in the folder you created. However I also use RIL for RSS Feeds as it has incorporated the checkmark near every feed.”

Another example of bookmarking tweets is from Matt Shaw (@mattshaw85) who uses Xmarks as he explains below:

“There are loads of occasions where people post fascinating links on twitter, be it inspiration, articles, techniques, or advice. To keep track of the most interesting things posted, I use twitter in combination with Firefox and the plugin Xmarks. Twitter enables me to find the inspiration, article or technique, Firefox enables me to bookmark it for later, and Xmarks enables me to sync my finds with the rest of my computers, so I can then get on with work rather than be distracted.

* Step 1: Download Xmarks
* Step 2: Create a folder in your bookmarks called ‘Twitter’ or a word of you’re choice.
* Step 3: Click on the link from twitter.
* Step 4: Save it to your bookmarks in your chosen folder, ready to read later – whichever computer you are using.”

• 5. Set Up Specific Keyword Searches

Twitter is a resource machine with everything from news, reports, deals, trends and personal updates, so how exactly do we cut through the noise and zero in on a specific niche to listen and track a single thread of resources and conversation?

Through harnessing the power of keyword searches, we can filter the valuable resources from within the vast ocean of information on twitter and find resources and people with similar passion and interests on our chosen topics.

Using custom searches it’s easy to get a insight into the latest trends, resources, information and opinions with your specific keywords.

Services like Twitterfall, Monitter are specifically designed to let you monitor relevant information, trends and news in real-time on any given topic or niche.

Twazzup for example extracts the most relevant tweets, most active contributors, and the most retweeted contributors along with the latest blog and news articles on the topic, giving a full picture of the latest buzz on the keyword or phrase. Cyril from Twazzup also suggests “to start with generic keywords like ‘Photoshop or CSS’ and use the suggested keywords and hashtags to refine the search.”

David Somers, the lead developer from TwitterFall (@twfall) gives his insights into how keywords searches can provide extremely useful, real-time data:

“As far as finding useful resources, you can often combine a keyword search with ‘http’ which causes the results to only contain links. This is a great way to find web resources around a particular topic. With Twitterfall you can combine multiple keyword searches to get even more results, about various different topics.

Without keyword searches, obviously it would be impossible to track what people are saying about certain things on Twitter, and because of Twitter’s realtime nature, being able to track them in a realtime way, really helps facilitate the valuable resource of Twitter and what people are saying all day every day.”

• 6. Search And Utilise RSS Feeds

If you’re a feed demon like me then this is where the fun begins. With Twitter’s real-time search you can create targeted results on a specific topic, grab the feed and add it into your chosen feed reader.

I recommend becoming familiar with the operators available within twitter by visiting the Search Operators and Twitters Advanced Search.

For example, if we wanted to find links to Photoshop tutorials within the last week, but we wanted to exclude retweets or RT (which means we only see the original tweets), then we set it up as follows:

* Go to Search Twitter
* Enter – photoshop tutorials filter:links -RT since:2009-07-29
The filter means we only see tweets with links, -RT removes any mention of the word RT and since:2009-07-29 makes sure we only see tweets from the last week.
* Check out the results

In the top right hand bar, right click Feed for this query and select copy link location. Then simply paste this into your feed reader and you have a fresh source of photoshop tutorials ready to go. Repeat and rinse this process for any other type of tweets you want to keep track of.

You can also take this a step further and use the Twitter Search API, to automate Twitter searches and display up-to-the-minute, content-specific tweets to glean more detailed information.

Bonus Round

• Create a Dedicated Twitter Account

Using the RSS Feeds we created above (Step 6) we can create a twitter account which will automatically update with these feeds. This is an easy way to keep track of the best design resources with no work involved once these steps are completed and you can also gain a healthy amount of followers who appreciate the great content being tweeted.

An example of a popular inspiration based Twitter account is @webcreative (which has over 5000 followers). It was established by Leeanne Lowe and uses TwitterFeed to post tweets from the RSS feed on her Tumblr blog.

While this is a slightly different approach, it does show how TwitterFeed can automate the process.

Setting up TwitterFeed is as follows:

* Sign up for an account
* Once logged in click Create New Feed
* Connect your feed to your twitter account (this authorises Twitterfeed to post the feed items)
* Enter a Feed Name – something that describes the feed i.e. Photoshop Tutorials
* Enter the Feed URL (you can get this from the Twitter Search or from your Feed Reader)
* I recommend testing the feed to make sure it’s set up correctly and working

In advanced settings you can change the post frequency, content, number of updates to post at at time, post prefix, post suffix and your preferred URL shortener service. You can change these to suit your preference and particular feed. Once you’re happy with feed setup click Create Feed.

You will now have a twitter account which is regularly updated with fresh design content chosen specifically by you!

Conclusion

Twitter can be used as a powerful search and discovery tool and if used correctly can give us valuable industry and niche insights. It really is too good to overlook…

Do you have any Search tips or tricks to share, or would you like to contribute your views on how to use Twitter for trends, news, resources or inspiration? I would love to get a discussion going so feel free to share…

Image by Hongkiat

Essential Guide to Using Twitter for Inspiration is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

This is the second of a new series which takes two well known twitterers, gives them 10 quick fire questions to answer (connected to Twitter) and then let’s them battle it out before your votes decide who wins the round.

I’ve picked two of the best linkers to take part in the second in this series:

• Cheth: @cheth – The man who needs no surname, he is one of the top retweeters and linkers on Twitter. Cheth is a designer, social media enthusiast and avid blogger.
• Richard Darell: @minervity – Richard is a web designer and developer and founder of Minervity.com. He is known for his excellent twitter stream full of design and development gems.

Without further ado, let the battle begin…

	The first tweet was on August’08 but I guess the next one was 3 months later. So actively tweeting since October 2008.
	Well, started in January so it’s…6 months then. I first find out about it by accident really. Saw a clip on YouTube from the Web 2.0 and in that clip Gary Vaynerchuck talked about Twitter and I had to check it out. Awesome presentation! If you have the time you should really check it out.

Many reasons! I love be connected with like minded people, it helps both personally and professionally. The best known method of self promotion in the process of promoting our friends.

Well, it’s for two reasons really. The number one reason is really to meet and interact with new and exciting people. It would have been impossible for me to meet all these great people going around the world. I would have time doing what I do if I had to travel to all of these people. Everyone has their value and as I am a knowledge fanatic I am constantly learning new things from these people. Second reason is really to get some feedback on the companies and work I put out there on the Internet. It gives me the inspiration to take things one step further. I am always out to better myself and this is what Twitter helps me to achieve.

	I take breaks of 5-10 mins (each hour) just to update my status. So it would make 3-4 hours at a stretch.
	Hm, that’s a hard one. I am sure someone would tell me too many. But a pretty accurate estimation would be like 19-20 hours a day. I only sleep around 2 hours a night if any. I am way to excited about being creative so I mostly can’t stop what I am doing until I am totally satisfied with what I am creating or doing.

@mayhemstudios ‘coz he is one of the first tweeple I interacted with, plus all the quality tweets.

Well, I am a HUGE fan of Gary Vaynerchuck and I think his dedication and his way of looking at things are so healthy when it comes to working for success. I think being him for a day would be quite interesting to say the least. His energy is just off the hook and that is what I can relate to as I only have one gear…full on. I have a saying I came up with that says “Life won’t wait for you to make up your mind” and I live by that down to the very pixel I put on the screen..

	“I Tweet Therefore I am’” is my fave because it speaks the spirit of tweeting. Right?
	I think my favorite Tweet is anything that puts me in a creative and inspired mood. I guess you mean a specific tweet but there are so many and it’s so dependent on what I feel like learning that particular moment. However, I think my favorite Tweet comes from some of the Authors on my project BitRebels.com. BUT, also any Design related stuff.

	One word oh that’s tough!! Hmm, a very good ‘connector’.
	From time to time I tweet promotional stuff, as does everyone. I tend to Tweet too much but I am so excited about the feedback and sometimes I get ahead of myself. However, my stream mainly consists of Design, Geek and Tech tweets…with occasional random stuff.

Immensely! It has given me to shake hands with some really awesome designers and moreover learn from them. Career wise I never had a heap load of freelance projects before joining twitter. So this is an excellent place for self promotion and to be noticed in the crowd.

It has had a profound impact on my career and business and without it I would know where I would have been today. Things are constantly growing and with an ever impressing speed. Twitter has been the fuel and the booster for both Minervity.com and also BitRebels.com which is just a puppy project as is was started just over a month ago. Already we’ve had over 60,000 pageviews and I am just blown away by its success.

	On the top of my list! Marketing and branding is now a part of a designers life and what better place than twitter where you can do it all yourself with so many buddies backing you up. Isn’t this just brilliant?
	Well, I tend to use it as a platform for directional accomplishment planning. To guide me in the direction where my creativity and the amassed audience liking meet so to speak. It’s important for me to know that what I am doing is beneficial to other people as well and not only for my own satisfaction when I think I’ve come as close to my own perfectionism as I can get.

	I have a dedicated mail account just for design links subscribed from over 300+ blogs. With Google Reader And Digg + SU to fill my twitter stream with value.
	It’s quite easy I think. With so many great people doing so many cool and inspirational things out there it would really be weird if I didn’t find anything. However having said that, I do mostly Tweet the stuff that I have found useful and educational myself as well. If I like it maybe there are other people out there that likes it as well. That’s how I see it.

	It would be @aplusk just to have a feel of seeing my replies section having 2 Million replies for each update!
	I would say @mayhemstudios on that one. Why? Well, first of his is a huge inspiration for me both professionally and personal. His links are off the hook and he was among the first people I started following when I first started. He became somewhat of a mentor on social media for me and I am forever thankful for all the great advices he has given me throughout the journey.

[polldaddy poll="1811355"]

Voting will automatically close in exactly one day – Friday at 1pm, so get voting now! The Twitter Face-Off will take place once a month on a Thursday so make sure to check back next month!

Twitter Face-Off: Cheth vs Richard Darell is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Following on from the first successful Twitter generated post i did back in June in which 55 Twitterers shared their freelancing memories. I thought it was high time i asked some of the cool people on Twitter to take part in another post.

So last Friday i asked:

If you were stuck on a desert island, which other person from Twitter would you want with you and why?

I chose this question because i wanted to really make people think about those they followed and interacted with on Twitter.

I received a huge number of responses outlined below, so be prepared to scroll!

	I would take my best buddy @fmolloy because at least we would have some serious laughs while trying to escape!
	Easy. I would like to be stuck with @macgyver. He’d get us out.
	@ellencrimitrent She would be a riot and great drinking buddy!
	It would have to be @CHRISDJMOYLES would keep me entertained,when we run out of food he could supply me with some for a while…
	My fiance because he’s the only one who has camping skills.
	Probably @lancearmstrong – I believe he would keep us both motivated to survive… or @barackborat for laughter…
	Stuck on a desert island, I might like to be with you! (@gracesmith) Or other Twitter friends I have yet to meet like @randytho or @GingerKenney!
	@Stephenfry as he is very entertaining and intelligent.
	Just one? Ouch – that’s hard. Probably @teddyrised – he seems to have the right combination of “funny” and “doin’ stuff”
	I would want @El35536, mainly because she’s my wife and I just would want her with me.
	@Jenniferattwood of course, she’s my other half! *mushy*
	@alncl – Know him since we were kids, pre twitter, pre internet even.
	I’d take @DarthVader – The Force could be handy in finding and hunting food, plus his cloak could double as a tent.
	My wife @cherrysimbo
	If I were stuck on a desert island, I’d take you! (@gracesmith)
	I would want to have my friend @monbon777 with me, we always seem to have fun any place we go & laughing will keep you sane!
	@THE_REAL_SHAQ, hes tall, funny, and as close to superman as you can get!
	I’d choose to be stuck on a desert island with @BearGrylls because only that b**tard could realistically save my arse.
	I would say @ShannonMiller32 – probably have a million questions and she couldn’t get away.
	Well my lovely wife @cameronbarry for one and how about @ruhlman for some fine desert island eating
	Probably @CharlieDavies10 so he could teach me some sweet futbol moves! And then do the stanky leg goal celebration!
	Easy answer is @alyssa_milano. Fun answer is @merlinmann. He is hilarious and would keep us motivated on task.
	That’s easy, I’d like to be stuck on a desert island with @nathanfillion, and I think the why is pretty obvious
	I’d take @donttrythis or @neilhimself. One for breaking the crazy island myths and one for the around-the-fire storytelling.
	I would wanna be with… @gracesmith, to be entertained enjoying her weird funny questions
	Technically, this is cheating but it woudl be @Emzipop seeing as she is my RL partner! If not her, then definitely @aplusk
	Well @dragngirle of course.
	Jewel Staite. Because I fell a little bit in love with her when she was on Firefly.
	I would want @starbucks with me! That way it won’t be long before there’s a store every 50metres and deserted island is no more.
	@Andysowards so I would still be able to read all the links he posts (yes, he would have a MBP with him).
	@Dreadfullyposh of course! he’d be entertaining to make fun of, and keep me amused.
	I’d take @handelaar because a) I’m married to him, and I married him because b) he’s hilarious and c) tropical island nookie!
	I’d take the fail whale.
	I’m thinking @infiercepieces she always knows how to make the best of with as little as possible. We have shoestring, we live!
	I would take @BARACKOBAMA as it wouldnt take long to be found. None wants to be stuck there.
	I would choose @THE_REAL_SHAQ so i could use him for shade, haha!
	My answer is @badbanana because if there’s nothing left to live for, I’d at least like a good laugh
	@Oprah – cause they’d have every branch of the military looking for us, including the book club branch. Those guys are fierce”
	My answer is too easy – @angbowen, cause after 12 years together, I can’t imagine spendin the time w/ anyone else.
	Why, @jmgates of course! Not only is he my husband, he has some mad survival skills due to his military background!
	Fun idea! I would think Jeffrey Way from @NETTUTS because he is always kind in his comments and brilliantly helpful in tutorials
	I would want to be with @coffeewithzooly as she is very witty, observant and always has a bottle of champagne open!.
	I’d want @Oprah with me on a desert island. She could hold me and sing to me and fend off polar bears with sheer force of will..
	Les Stroud, I mean come on, survival guy, sex or geek like me? I choose survival over the others.
	Must be ‘god’ on here somewhere?! Whose and where is indifferent. Useful 2 ask Q’s tho!

Thanks to all the amazing people who took the time to take part which contributed to a really interesting post.

Is there someone in particular who you would take if stranded on a desert island? If so please share and add your thoughts…

45 Twitterers Pick Their Desert Island Buddy is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

This is the start of a new series which takes two well known twitterers, gives them 10 quick fire questions to answer (connected to Twitter) and then let’s them battle it out before your votes decide who wins the round.

It’s inspired by Daniel from the awesome DailyBlogTips who created the Bloggers Face-Off back in 2007, i think it’s a hugely interesting and innovative way to gain valuable insights into how and why some of our favourite tweeps use Twitter, rather than resorting to the average interview format.

I’ve picked two of my favourite people on Twitter to kick off the series:

• Calvin Lee: @mayhemstudios – Calvin is a designer and self-proclaimed media ho and twitter addict. He’s been interviewed numerous times regarding twitter, has one of the top twitter backgrounds and is one of the best resources for design links.
• Andy Sowards: @andysowards – Andy is a professional Web Developer, Programmer, family man, and all around advocate of all things tech. Andy is one of the nicest guys on twitter, always happy to have a conversation and shares a wealth of design and web development resources.

Without further ado, let the battle begin…

	Actively, I’ been tweeting for about 6 months. I initially signed up over a year ago but didn’t find it useful until I gave it a second chance. I approached it differently then the first time. Instead of updating on what I was doing, used it for source of inspiration for my design projects and retweeting using info.
	Since October of 2008.

It’s about the people. I like helping others by offering my advice, retweeting useful information and connecting with new friends. It’s also a great way for self-promotion, networking and finding new clients.

Many Reasons! I love connecting with like minded designers/developers and meeting new people. I love to share links and resources with people and also helping them get their great content out to everyone with RT’s. Twitter also helps me gain credibility as a designer, developer or programmer and brings in a lot of freelance business and traffic to my sites. It would probably be easier to ask ‘Why DON’T I twitter?’

	I spend about 8 hours or more through out the day on twitter. Maybe that is why they call me a Twitter addict?
	On average I’d say 2-3 hours a day.

	WOW! That is a really tough question to answer. There are so many great people on Twitter. Jeff Fisher comes to mind. He is a great guy, designer and master self-promoter. He’s always willing to give any advice about logo design and self-promotion. Gives back to the design community with great information about his design process and self-promotion tips.
	I would probably follow Calvin @mayhemstudios.

	A well-designed profile page or at least not the default design is a must, even if you’re not promoting anything. It will help to express your personality. People will find you more interesting, want to get to know you better and follow you.
	I do, because people with well designed profile pages are taking twitter seriously and trying to get their brand in front of you.

Gaining and keeping followers isn’t that important to me. You will always have people that won’t like how you use Twitter. My best advice, Twitter is what you make it. I try to help others out by participating, interacting, tweeting using information, retweeting others, being part of the community, replying to questions, sharing part of my life and being nice. That’s how I gain and keep followers.

Be yourself. They will follow you for YOU and they will stay for YOU.

Using a photo, as an avatar is more personable, people relate to you better as real person, opposed to a graphic or illustration. Your profile description should be something about you or what you do. Make it fun. Your Twitter background should to be attractive, clean and unobtrusive. Keep away from making the background too busy. You don’t want people to be distracted by the background when reading your profile, updates or favorites. There should also be a good contrast between the background and fore ground of the tweet content area for easy readability.

For Avatars, use a pic of yourself, or use your logo or brand as the avatar, or use both(be creative). For Profiles, definitely use your logos/branding here, and list your sites and any contact/social media urls so twitterers can connect with you there too.

	It would have to be either Guy Kawasaki or Chris Brogan. It would be cool to travel around the country meeting everyone from Twitter and speaking about your experiences. It would be like not working at all.
	Would definitely be @aplusk with all those followers that would just be interesting to see.

Twitter is an awesome tool for networking, self-promotion and finding new clients. It has given me more opportunities to get my name out there, than anything else I have used before. People contacting me for projects have doubled and my website/blog traffic has increased significantly. I get a lot of referrals from other followers as well. I also get asked to contribute to articles and interviews, which helps in building my credibility as design professional.

It has greatly impacted my career, it has given me the opportunity to network with excellent designers and put my work in front of a lot of people that otherwise may not have seen it. In turn this has helped me grow my freelance business drastically!

	There is no secret; it’s combination of things. It’s about being you. If I had to say just one, it would be Helpful. Here are a few other words I would use too: engaging, retweet, content, nice.
	Kindness.

Voting will automatically close in exactly one day – Friday at 1pm, so get voting now! The Twitter Face-Off will be twice monthly on a Thursday so make sure to check back on July 2.

[polldaddy poll="1705300"]

Twitter Face-Off: Calvin Lee vs Andy Sowards is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

Listed in Northern Ireland’s Top Designer Twits is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

I’ve wanted to create a ‘user generated post’ for some time by compiling replies from those on twitter, and felt that this week would be the perfect opportunity.

So on Tuesday i asked:

If you could only keep one memory related to freelancing, designing or developing, which would it be and why?

I chose this question because i wanted to evoke a real range of responses and gain a unique insight into some of the very cool people who follow me.

I received a huge number of responses, outlined below so be prepared to scroll!

	For me it would be the realisation that i could take charge of my own career & create a business doing what i love….was/still is exciting.
	My memory would be the first time I managed to get a website working in all browsers using CSS was an accomplished feeling!
	The Water People project it was a Shoppingcart that i dropped and regret it now, i wish i would have launched it.
	“That I enjoy it”
	A challenging job with a big company and a lot of money (millions) depending on you!
	All those long night full of inspiration, beer, photoshop and musics
	Always get some money up front with new clients. It is really discouraging when you get screwed out of your work.
	Having to go back to the 9 to 5 for a while. It’s got me more motivated than ever to be my own boss.
	Recent reaction to my offer to do a pro-bono website for a friend’s hippotherapy organization- definite feel-good!
	The first time I brought my portfolio for an interview to be an intern. I was so full of myself and then the guy ripped me apart
	How kind the online design community is, and it’s willingness to share information and support each other.
	The opening day of the Pub of a friend of mine, whose logo I designed, and was displayed in wooden plates all over the place!
	The 1st project we got stuck with in ’98. Helped us step our biz game on.
	My brother switched from mechanic to personal trainer w/ help from site I built & SEOed. Help sm. Business win = great feeling.
	My first photography event, pride parade, forgot to check all settings & shot all in 1600 on a bright summers day! I learned
	Frighteningly, it would be my first full web form. I had way too much fun building it and deploying it.
	Jobcentreonline.com staying up with 4M uniques per month.
	The client who said: You took what I had in my head and heart and turned it into something amazing.
	Waking up, and seeing my site listed on the same daily gallery i always visited, without me listing it…
	Getting started, losing everything, living out of a tent in campground. Dark days, but we made it and we never gave up.
	Being my own boss! that means I am in control
	My first #freelance feast: 3 new clients, more work than I could manage. Every ring of the phone a thrill. All in 1 day!
	The satisfaction from designing and building a website for somebody.
	The feeling of freedom I feel every morning when I wake up knowing the day is in my hands alone. Pretty cool if you ask me.
	I would say probably the feeling you get when a client is eventually happy with everything!
	That moment when, after hours of struggling with a design, you make a breakthrough and everything comes together. A real high.
	I’d have to say it would be when I got my first clip art program and dot matrix printer when I was in 4th grade!
	I would remember the day I figured out that you could separate content (html) from style (css) and behavior (js)!
	When I realised you could make a living from such an amazing, fun job
	My memory is a tutor at college telling me “if you’re about to give up, keep going you’re about to make the breakthrough” so true.
	My number 1 memory would be ‘my freedom’ – freedom to dream, explore, create, excite, enjoy, inspire and share – awww…
	My memory: Realizing a great idea, just before sleep takes over, quickly sketching on paper before it is lost forevzzz …
	I wanted desperately to make my skateboard photo’s look as good as they did in the magazines
	For me, it was the moment when I was like “What? you’ll give me money for *me* to have fun? REALLY?”
	The freedom to sleep in
	Mine would be the ‘WOW!’ from a recent client when he first saw his website up and running. Or my Delicious URL!
	When my company (born from print) told me that they wanted to start working on the web, which was actually my background
	My 1 memory from my freelancing days: Every consumer splurg was calculated in day rates vs. $. “Oh, that’s only 3 days work!”
	Having that eureka moment when I was first learning actionscript… <3 when the coin drops!
	The happy testimonial from my first client. If I lost my other memories, this one would remind me of my passion for web design.
	When my client’s biz card which I designed was (almost) featured on Good Mrning America as an innovative way to market yourself!
	Getting that first check followed by a referral, and realizing that I could actually do this as a full-time business.
	If I had to pick 1 memory of the industry..it would be my first graphics project I worked on with my now partner & co-director.
	It would be the tone & anxiety of a call I received from a (rightly) distraught client at the beginning of my freelance career.
	My most merorable moment was getting kicked out of my H.S C++ class for showing up the teacher, and forced to learn HTML by him!
	Would have to be working on a range of Marvel gifts for Debenhams. I got to go to Marvel Comics UK HQ. A Fanboys dream come true.
	In Design school, a professor put a sign in the doorway that said “Leave your shoes and egos at the door.” Best part: it worked.
	Realizing that 80% of life is spent working and that doing what I love, I’d never “work” another day in my life.
	For me it was to convince one ugly client about the beautiful design for more thn 2 hrs conversation… i cant forget it.
	I remember a time before high speed internet, saving my websites on floppies and uploading them at a local internet cafe.
	Staying up late at night glued to the computer as I read early articles on Web Monkey (we are talking 1998).
	Choosing to do it. Was stuck in a dead end job for too long and finally took the leap. I’m happier than ever now.
	Getting pinched by the IRS for estimated taxes. *OUCH*
	I wish I could remember to INSIST on 50% up front!
	The joy of finishing your first paying gig.

Thanks to all the amazing people who took the time to share their thoughts and memories which contributed to a really interesting post.

Do you have one memory that sticks in your mind which you wouldn’t let go of? If so please share and add your thoughts…

55 Twitterers Share Their Freelancing Memories is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.

44 Resource-Providing Creatives on Twitter is a post from: Grace Smith, a Freelance Web Designer based in Northern Ireland, UK. Grace runs a micro design studio called Postscript5 and works with range of entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the world.