“Many have
done their best
to help out-of-
work creatives
use their time
at home to
retrain and
upskill”
LOCKDOWN
FREEBIESFive ways to endure the crisis...STREAM FREE TV
If you’ve time to kill, then why not
take out a seven-day free trial of every
streaming service, one after the other.
Start with Netflix, Amazon, Britbox
and Disney+, then start investigating
niche platforms like broadwayhd.com.
It will all start adding up to months of
top-quality entertainment, all without
spending a penny.LEVEL UP YOUR SKILLS
If you don’t have paid work to do, then
work on boosting your design skills.
Everyone has a new skill they could
learn, or an existing one to improve.
Start by checking out the high-quality
courses on offer, for free, from the
UK’s Open University (bit.ly/open-uni-
free), Ireland’s eCollege (ecollege.ie)
and America’s Ivy League institutions
(bit.ly/ivy-league-free).NETWORK
Networking doesn’t have to be
physical. Online meet-ups, virtual
conferences and Slack channels are
exploding right now. Share useful
links on social media, and offer to help
others where you can. You’ll end up
forging relationships that will last far
longer than the current crisis.REFRESH YOUR PROFILE
With everything in society moving
online, it focuses attention on any
gaps that you might have in your
online presence. With this in mind,
why not use any freed-up time to
work on your CV, LinkedIn profile or
Behance portfolio? Also, sign up to
other services such as The Dots, and
get your name out there. There’s going
to be lots of work when this is over, but
you have to be in place to secure it.SORT OUT YOUR FINANCES
Lacking paid work? You may well
be able to “earn” extra money by
managing your finances better. Look
at the way you send invoices, and
figure out if there’s a better way to get
paid more quickly, by taking a free trial
of a tool such as Freshbooks. Check
your direct debits, old bank accounts,
your bills and your suppliers, from
work-related to household utilities.
Ask if you could be getting a better
deal, and the money you save in the
long run could be significant.NETWORKThose unable to commit actual money
gave their time. Video director Emily Kolm (@
RPGElephant on Twitter) offered her services
to crisis-hit freelancers pro bono, noting that,
“Your income is threatened, mine is not.”
Others focused on co-ordinating an
astonishing array of help and resources for
those out of work. For those struggling to
entertain their children, author Mo Willems
and illustrator Rob Bidduph have been among
creatives streaming online drawing lessons
for kids, while comic book illustrator Jarrett
Lerner has been releasing a series of
illustrated activities each day.
Meanwhile, many individuals and
organisations have done their best to help
out-of-work creatives use their time at hometo retrain and upskill. Designer and speaker
Michael Flarup made his class on app icon
design free, while photo editor ON1 Photo
shared its entire back catalogue of
photography courses at no charge. Moz
Academy made a range of SEO training
courses available, IBM opened all of its
Design Thinking courses up to the general
public, and Gary Hustwit streamed his
award-winning documentaries Helvetica and
Objectified for free for a week at a time.
Where this crisis takes us next is
anybody’s guess. But so far the creative
community has stepped up to the plate, and
we’re sure that whatever happens, we’ll
continue to support each other through
difficult times.