In no specific order, 5 ways to reduce your art costs: (and keep your designer happy)

• Supply your Logo in a vector format. This means making sure whoever designed your Logo supplies a copy of it in a vector format. If you aren't sure what a vector format is, that's okay. Any professional designer should, and if they don't, hire someone else. The vector format is a file type that can be increased to any size without losing quality. The most common vector file extensions include .ai, and .eps, if you have one of these you might be all set. Some sneaky designers will save a .jpg in an .eps format, this does not make the file a vector. Supplying  your Logo as a .jpg or a .gif, usually will not suffice and often will result in your Logo being recreated, at your cost of course.
• Type any information you may want into a text document. Handing your designer a pile of handwritten notes is not only frustrating, it will cost you in the end. Also, proof read and make your revisions prior to supplying the text. Designers don't want to spend hours deciphering your notes or retyping your information. Copy and paste is a beautiful thing. You'll find in all these tips, the easier you make it on the designer the less you'll pay.
• Supply high resolution images. The images that are saved on your website are rarely suitable for professional printing. If you have them on your site, hopefully you have the original larger files somewhere.  Bigger in this case is always better. Take the time in the beginning to find the larger images and you'll avoid the back and forth of, "I can't use these low res images, find me larger ones." Once you find them, make sure to put them somewhere accessible so you have them for future uses.
• Provide Samples. Copies of your existing promotional material if you want to maintain the look or pieces you've gathered from elsewhere. Give samples of what you like, also showing what you don't like is just as important. The more clues to your style and the look you are after the quicker you'll have something you'll like. The more revisions or initial designs you require, the more you'll pay.
• Email Corresponding. This may just be a personal preference/quirk. Rarely do I put in a straight 8 hour work day and call it quits. Often I work late into the night, the reason for this, no one is calling me. I can't type, design, photograph, or do much of anything else while I am on the phone. Email allows me to get the information I require without being intrusive, and have it available when I need it. Plus there is a record of the conversation in case of discrepancies from either party.

Follow these 5 simple guidelines and you will find that not only the design process be more pleasurable you’ll pay less in the long run.

Number porting is the transferring of your phone number from one phone service to another. Usually not a big deal, unless you are dealing with a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol, such as Vonage, Skype, Google Voice, magicJack), for whatever reason they don’t like to transfer between each other.  The way around this inconvenience is to transfer your phone number to a cellular phone provider, then to the next VoIP provider. There are various descriptions about how to do this online, but this is how I did it. The procedures described below may change as time goes by. It is recommended you check with the phone service providers you wish to deal with to see if these steps are still necessary.

The Goal: Move my main phone number to Google Voice, and my fax number to Magic Jack.

The Reason: For both phone lines though Vonage I was paying roughly $45 a month. With my new setup I will pay roughly $40 a year, after an initial investment of around $200.

Before you do anything it is very important that you DO NOT cancel your existing service with Vonage. If you cancel before the porting procedure is complete you will lose your number(s).

From Vonage to AT&T

Step 1. Choose a cellular phone company with prepaid phone service. After some comparison shopping I decided on AT&T. Make sure you can port your number by visiting http://www.att.com/port

Step 2. I purchased 2 AT&T Go Phones from Amazon.com, 1 phone for each line I want to port over. Each phone cost me $15. I don’t plan on using the AT&T phones in the future, so purchasing the cheapest available was the way to go for me.

Step 3. Once the phones were delivered, promptly charge the batteries. Mine took approximately 2 hours.

Step 4. Activate the phones according to the instructions that came with them. A calling plan is required, I chose the $2 a day plan. You will need to add money/minutes to the phones account. I added AT&T’s minimum of $15 to each phone’s account. So my running total thus far is $30 per phone.

Step 5. Now collect all your Vonage account information. I needed the following:

1. My Name
2. Billing Address
3. Account Number (it can be found logging into your Vonage account)
4. User Name
5. Password
6. Security PIN

Step 6. At this point I called the AT&T customer service line from a phone not affiliated with the porting process. After following the prompts to get a real person (mainly pressing 0), I was finally able to explain to a representative that I want to transfer my Vonage numbers to my newly purchased AT&T Go Phones. After some discussion I was given the direct number to the Porting Department, 888-898-7685. With this number you can skip calling AT&T’s customer service.

Step 7. Call 888-898-7685, I had to wait 2 minutes or so before a representative was on the line, it was very quick. Again explain that you want to transfer your phone numbers, and answer the rep’s questions. I was instructed it would take up to 7 days for the numbers to become available for transfer. You will be told to check the progress at http://www.att.com/port, and eventually the status will show “Confirmed”, as well as a date and time. On the displayed date, you will be told to call 888-898-7685 again.

Step 8. The status became “Confirmed” after 24 hours, my displayed date was only 5 days away. When the day comes, call the 888 number. Once again explained who you are and why you are calling. For me 1 number transferred with no problem, the other, well… let’s just say mistakes happen and after an additional 5 days my 2nd number port was completed.

At this point you are Vonage free. Make sure Vonage cancels your account so you are not billed again in the future. I received an email explaining my Vonage plan was terminated.

From AT&T to Google Voice

Step 9. To start the transfer from AT&T to Google Voice, go to http://www.google.com/voice. If you have a Google account just log in, if not you’ll have to sign up. Once you are logged in, the options, “get a new number” and “use my mobile number” will be presented. Choose “use my mobile number”.

Step 10. It will ask you for the number to check eligability, if accepted, you will be asked to pay a $20 transfer fee via Google Wallet.

Step 11. Next account numbers and billing info for the number you wish to transfer must be provided. Note: If you are using an AT&T PrePaid Go Phone like I was, your phone number is NOT your account number. You will need to call AT&T customer service and request the account number connected to your phone number. The representative at AT&T was very friendly, and after confirming my identity supplied me with my account number hassle free.

If there are no issues, Google will inform you that the transfer will take place in 24 hours for calls, and 3 days for text messages. Google will alert you if there is an issue.

From AT&T to magicJack

Step 12. To transfer to magicJack from AT&T, you’ll need to purchase a magicJack. I chose to go with the magicJack Plus so I’m not reliant on my computer to use the phone. I looked at Amazon.com and RadioShack.com for the best price, and ended up purchasing from Amazon for approximately $70.

Step 13. Once the magicJack Plus arrives, merely follow the instructions to set it up. After the set up completes you will be asked to register the device. Registration offers the option to pick a new number or transfer an existing number. Choosing transfer leads to a screen requesting the number you want to port and the name of the carrier, AT&T in my case. Next you are asked for the account number and password for the original carrier. Again: If you are using an AT&T PrePaid Go Phone like I was, your phone number is NOT your account number. You will need to call AT&T customer service and request the account number connected to your phone number. The representative at AT&T was very friendly, and after confirming my identity supplied me with my account number hassle free.

Step 14.  Keep in mind, a fee of $20 is required to port your old number, and $10 every year after.  Immediately after completing the registration I was able to make outgoing calls with my number showing up on caller id. magicJack claims incoming will take 5-10 days. It took 3 days for me.

At this point everything is complete, no more Vonage, no more AT&T. Lets look at what I spent:

AT&T GoPhone #1: $15
AT&T GoPhone #2: $15
AT&T Minutes #1: $15
AT&T Minutes #2: $15
Google Voice Transfer: $20
magicJack Plus: $70
magicJack Transfer: $20
Total:  $170

Not to bad, it cost me less than what I would have been paying for 3 months of Vonage service. Your experience may be different, but I hope this guide helps.

If you are looking for photography services please visit Mark Hicks Photography.

Thanks,
Mark