The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 16 with Digital Strategist and Web Designer Marie Poulin

Marie Poulin (@MariePoulin) is a Digital Strategist and Web Designer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Following her early work in a small Toronto-based studio, Marie set out on her own and established a solo web design practice before making a more recent transition to strategy. Marie has taken on more self-initiated projects, launching Digital Strategy School, powered by Doki, the online teaching platform she helped build. Along the way she’s become resourceful and has had to teach herself a host of new skills. Marie can be seen on her site, MariePoulin.com

Show Notes & Links

Marie formerly called herself a “Digital Craftswoman” (because it’s more than just craft these days)
Lately, Marie does 60% her work; 40% client work
Oki-Doki
Digital Strategy School, for designers - 10–12 beta testers
“To teach is to learn twice”
York-Sheridan joint program in Design
Thinkhouse Design
Getting Things Done, by David Allen

Work The System, by Sam Carpenter
Erica Heinz & Niki Brown, web designer guests on The Busy Creator
Joel Duggan & Laura Thomas, Canadian guests on The Busy Creator
Marie is not a morning person, so she’s set up her workflows around this

Tools

Basecamp, for client management
RescueTime, tracks what you’re working on
Systematic Success
Get Stuff Done Like A Boss: Design Your Workflow and Double Your Productivity in 21 Days, on Skillshare
Amazon, for lawn-care equipment
SASS
Flow app
IFTTT
Evernote
Google Docs/Drive
Wishlist, WordPress plugin
TextExpander
ClipMenu
TextMate or Sublime Text, text editors for web design
Timely app
Pillow Fight
Squamish, BC
Gaelic Football
Fitbit, which nags me during the day

Techniques

Be mindful of different working styles and personalities in a multi-disciplinary team
Facebook groups for professional insight
Share your behind-the-scenes process will help your peers and the industry
Use Wishlist to have your clients become “members”, with on-boarding and training built in
Set up a secret Pinterest board to collaborate with clients
Record your screen to teach staff necessary tasks
Number tasks and task components for easy organization
No meetings on Mondays
Use a Vision Board — a place to list goals for the month or year, big plans and project.

Habits

Take it upon yourself to learn new skills
Pick up good habits from the jobs you have; leave the bad ones
Learn best practices [for programming] from a true developer
Design your morning routine, even if it’s a later morning
Share your processes with people, even if it’s imperfect
Keep a “praise” folder in Evernote, email, etc.

Get The Episode

Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 16
(MP3, 47:14, 45.8 MB)
Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 16
(OGG, 47:14, 41.8 MB)

Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on iTunes

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About Prescott Perez-Fox

Prescott Perez-Fox is a New York-based graphic designer and brand developer with 14+ years experience in branding, packaging, graphic design, and web design. He runs The Busy Creator.