By Tamara Nyholt, courtesy of Design Assembly

Design Is A Job is a business guide for designers written by Mike Monteiro, the opinionated* co-founder of San Francisco studio Mule Design. 

By Tamara Nyholt, courtesy of Design Assembly

Design Is A Job is a business guide for designers written by Mike Monteiro, the opinionated* co-founder of San Francisco studio Mule Design. 

Chock full of practical advice on running a design business, from dealing with clients to using contracts and selling, Mike’s aim is to help you do your job better. He is refreshingly honest and delivers a ‘from the trenches’ account of how he has manoeuvred through challenges to develop a successful design business. In his introduction Mike writes:

“This book is a guide to making a living as a designer. It contains the fundamentals of being a working designer, including working with clients and others, valuing your work, and getting paid. This book will look at ways to communicate and apply these fundamentals to every aspect of your job. The goal is to expand your view of your job as a designer to include not just your talent, but the business and communication aspects as well.”

Design Is A Job is produced by specialist design book publishers A Book Apart. At a reasonable US$18 (or US$9 for digital version), this is a great how-to guide for all those looking at starting a business or already involved in running one. You can preview a free chapter over at A List Apart.

“This book will teach you how to be part of a service industry without becoming a servant.” — Erik Spiekermann

• Courtesy of Design Assembly / conversations on graphic design.