Spring Cleaning for Artists & Designers

Spring cleaning isn’t something I look forward to, but I love how clean the house is when I’m finished. Having a clean house and workspace is awesome, and it is easier to be productive when everything is organized. Taking the time to clean and organize your office/studio, computer, and files will help you be more efficient. Here a few things I recommend you do to start your spring cleaning:

Clean your Computer

• Archive or get rid of old client files. Move the files you want to keep onto an external hard drive or cloud storage and remove them from your computer. I was amazed at how much space I gained by doing this task. And now all my files for old clients are in one folder on an external hard drive so if I need them, I know where to find them.
• Go through your inbox. I’ll tell you right now that I’m awful with leaving emails in my inbox. Take the time to archive and sort through the emails you want to save and delete the ones you don’t need! I know this is a boring task, so try playing the Email Game to make it entertaining.
• Unsubscribe from newsletters that you don’t read. If you don’t open the newsletter immediately, then chances are you won’t miss it if you unsubscribe from it. Use a service like Unroll Me to put all of the newsletters you want to receive into one daily email. This has been so helpful for me, now instead of sorting through my inbox to try to find the newsletter, I know it’s in one spot.
• Do Application/ Software Updates. It’s always frustrating when you open a program and see the window asking you to update the program. Now is a perfect time to go through and do the updates we’ve been putting off.
• Tidy up your desktop and app icons in your dashboard/menu bar. We’ve all saved a file to our desktop with the intention of putting it in its proper place later… but it sits on our desktop for way too long. Now is a great time to organize/delete those files! While you’re at it, remove the icons from your dashboard/menu bar that you don’t use daily. Removing the icon won’t remove the program from your computer, but it will free up space to add ones you do use daily or just make it look nicer.

Your Office/Studio

• Clean your shelves/filling cabinets/storage bins. It’s really easy for these space to get cluttered over time. Take some time and get rid of anything you no longer need. Only keep one sample from a client project instead of keeping a box of them.
• Go through your supplies. Get rid of the supplies that you don’t use and organize what you want to keep.
• Do a traditional spring cleaning. Open the windows to get some fresh air in, vacuum/sweep/mop the floors, dust the shelves. You’ll feel better after you do.

Your Business

• Update your resume. Open it up and make sure the information is up-to-date. This will make your life easier when you need to quickly send it for a job later.
• Update your portfolio. Go through and take out older projects and put in newer ones. Don’t just do this with your online portfolio, make sure your printed portfolio or pdf portfolio are also up to date.
• Clean up your website. Go through and update your themes and plugins. Review your About page. Take a look at your website and see if anything else needs sprucing up.
• Check your social media profiles. When’s the last time you looked at your LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook page? Make sure all the information listed is still relevant.
• Review your goals. Now is a great time to take a look at the goals you made at the beginning of the year. Decide what you need to do to achieve those goals or if you need to revise them in some way.

This looks like a long and overwhelming list. Keep in mind that some of these things you can do at the same time. For example, you can update your programs while you run the vacuum. Make sure you reward yourself when you are finished your spring cleaning! Do you have a task that you do that I haven’t listed? Have thoughts on my list? Let me know in the comments below!