We all love to talk about creativity and freedom of expression because that’s part of what we do here at Arina Nada, but when you’re going to put your hours and effort into a realistic career, it’s good to know that there are actually opportunities out there to use that creativity and freedom of expression to your advantage. You’ve heard us talk a lot about creativity as well as digital design, but sometimes you’ve got to stop talking and make a living off of the skills that you’ve cultivated. Everyone at UGM – and beyond! – loves to talk about creative freedom, but when it comes time to go out on your own, you have to make sure you don’t screw yourself over.

That’s where guidelines for commercial truck lettering come in. These are things that need to be adhered to in order for you to maintain a simple, legally-compliant brand image. The great thing about that is that this means that while you have to be creative, it’s also somewhat taken care of and you’re allowed to know that you’re doing what you’re supposed to while not really having to do too much to get it accomplished. You’re guaranteed the opportunity to show off your skills while still being able to handle the work that needs to be done before and after the design process. To put it simply, it’s a good way to get a job done while working ahead.

You let your art skills and understanding of aesthetics do the heavy lifting while you get the technical information handled and moved along its course. The beauty of all of that is that it creates a pretty decent degree of freedom for you as the designer or artistic director. You can keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing all this time while not worrying about having to fit yourself into a mold that you know nothing about and can’t really do anything about. If you’re a numbers person, then you can just let the artist do their thing while you get the numbers and legality stuff attended to, but that’s also where things get a little bit tricky. In order to make money off of that, you need to be aware of the nuances of what happens when regulations and real life enter the picture.

Being a creative is always going to number over being a business, but sometimes you can have the best of both worlds by letting practicalities inform your creativity and vice versa. When you have a project with a client where the guidelines have been put forth for you and you need to just work the numbers into the designs, take the lead from the issue at hand and focus where you’re already strong. You’re a creative, so rather than worrying about having to make the accounting systems pop, you get to let your design do the talking and let your art do the heavy-lifting.

Think about something like commercial truck lettering regulations. Rather than having to try to come up with a complex design that’s a mix between the two and the numbers, you just take care of the aesthetic part and be the artist that you are. The rest will work itself out. The only thing you need to really pay attention to from those regulations is probably how visible your design is going to be from a distance, so if you see the city as you’re driving down the street, you’re going to have to make sure that folks can see your signage while they’re at a distance in order to be compliant with the requirements.

It’s an act of a fine line from one end to another, but you probably already had the eye to put it all together and make it happen. You get to use your commercial truck lettering requirements to put all of your information on display and make something that people can pay close attention to without being distracted by your design work. It’s a matter of how you want to break everything down and how you want folks to interact with your image. Get used to these things now, and nobody will be able to stop you when you’re out in the real world.