It may not be common knowledge that in-house graphic designers are often expected to concept and design projects, create apps, manage content management systems, create social media content, and even help out staff with Microsoft Word formatting issues. Working outside of a dedicated design department or  design firm presents unique challenges. One huge challenge is that of designing on a shoestring budget.

Public Domain Photography
Your project calls for images of fireworks filling the night sky, but: you don’t have the cash to hire a photographer to shoot a dozen pics, there are no fireworks scheduled in your town for months, purchasing stock licenses is a costly last resort.

You can scour the web in search of creative commons if you have the time or you can check out this public domain photography site that over a dozen fireworks photos—plus much more.

Public Domain Quotes 
You are now tasked with creating Tweets and Facebook status updates to promote Woman’s History Month but you’ve already created 15 interesting and creative ones and your mind is completely blank.

Check out this site that offers inspirational quotes ordered by categories like: Thanksgiving, Patriotism, Women, the Tooth Fairy, and Insults--to name a few.

Wow, I thought I had more time before I had to scramble to share CCs, but alas I was wrong; Creative Commons week is here.

I went to the Newseum back in February and snapped a few pics of the letterpress installation with a Kodak Easyshare (not recommended) camera.

Some shots are very nice and some are ---well, you’ll see.

Take them, use them, share them, remix them. Enjoy!