Unfortunately there isn't a handbook for making the transition from design student to design professional. To make that shift easier, Doug Bartow, principal of id29 in Troy, NY offers his advice. Many of the questions and concerns young designers share today are the same pro's like Mr. Bartow had as graduating students looking to make their mark on the world, with only a resumé and portfolio to get their collective feet in the door. There is nothing different in the design industry today that makes getting--and nailing--that initial interview or client pitch any easier.
Throughout the years, Doug has collected these questions and has tried answering many of them as an ongoing personal project. Here are the first 10 of his thoughts on how to approach and interact with our culture as a young designer, in no particular order.
Throughout the years, Doug has collected these questions and has tried answering many of them as an ongoing personal project. Here are the first 10 of his thoughts on how to approach and interact with our culture as a young designer, in no particular order.
Unfortunately there isn't a handbook for making the transition from design student to design professional. To make that shift easier, Doug Bartow, principal of id29 in Troy, NY offers his advice. Many of the questions and concerns young designers share today are the same pro's like Mr. Bartow had as graduating students looking to make their mark on the world, with only a resumé and portfolio to get their collective feet in the door. There is nothing different in the design industry today that makes getting--and nailing--that initial interview or client pitch any easier.
Throughout the years, Doug has collected these questions and has tried answering many of them as an ongoing personal project. Here are the first 10 of his thoughts on how to approach and interact with our culture as a young designer, in no particular order.
1. Sweat The Details. You are a professional communicator; act like one. Carefully edit everything you publish: resumés, social media, e-mail, blog posts, letters, text messages, everything. Get a copy of "The Chicago Manual of Style" and keep it handy. Most potential employers and clients don't appreciate text shorthand, so don't use it. They won't be ROTFL, and you will end up SOL.
2. Play Nice. People you work with and for will make your blood boil from time to time. Whenever possible, be a pro and take the high road. Avoid burning bridges, as people change jobs more often than they did a generation ago. Your paths may cross again in a much different situation, and having a good working history together will make rehiring you easy. Apply this to your online persona as well. Anonymous jabs are petty--be better than that.
3. Don't Fear Type; Become Its Master. Often, being a good typographer means not making the simple mistakes. To accomplish this, you'll need a working knowledge of classical typography. Go get one. "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst, "Thinking With Type" by Ellen Lupton and "Grid Systems in Graphic Design" by Josef Müller-Brockmann are cover-to-cover must-reads. Repeat after me: "Free fonts from the internet are crap, I will not use them." Keep saying that.
4. Define Your Audience. Who are you speaking to and what is the objective? If you can't definitively answer both of these questions about a project you're about to start working on, go back to the drawing board. Graphic design is simply a plan that visually articulates a message. Make sure you have the message and its intended viewer sorted out before you start making. Communicate with purpose--don't just make eye candy.
5. Be Yourself. Be confident in yourself as an author, designer, photographer, creative. Don't work in a particular personal style. Rather, develop a personal approach to your creative work. Your commissioned work should never be about you, but it can certainly reveal your hand as the designer. As your work becomes more well-known, you will get hired for exactly that. For your personal work, don't be afraid to tell your story. No one else is going to do it for you.
6. Learn To Say 'NO.' Some of your best design business decisions will ultimately be saying "no" to clients or projects. Unfortunately, it usually takes a few disasters to gain the experience to know when to walk away from an impending train wreck.
Carefully measure the upsides of any project--creative control of your design work, long-term relationship-building and gross billing--versus the potential downsides--the devaluation of the creative process, being treated like a "vendor" and ongoing scope creep (where the volume of what you're expected to deliver keeps expanding, while the schedule and budget don't).
7. Collect And Share Everything. Find and save relevant and interesting things and pass them along to your friends, co-workers, followers and clients. Use the web and social media to share your own photos and work, as well as the work of others you find engaging. Be funny, serious, irreverent, businesslike, self-promotional, curatorial, whatever--just be yourself. For everyday inspiration, surround your workplace with the design ephemera you collect (see #5).
8. Be A Design Author. Develop ideas. Write them down, edit them, share them and elicit a response. Poof! You're a design author. Read design blogs and participate in the discussions. Have an opinion. If you find yourself spending hours a week contributing to other designers' blogs, consider starting your own. The cost and effort for startup are minimal, and the opportunities are diverse.
9. Build Your Book. One piece of advice I give young designers looking to fill out their portfolios is the find the best local arts organization with the worst visual brand identity or website and make a trade. They get some great design work, and you get creative control and real-world projects in your book that other potential clients will recognize.
10. Clean Up Your Act. Manage your online profiles carefully and be sure to keep all your listings accurate, consistent and (mostly) professional. You can count on co-workers, potential employers and clients to Google you, so make sure what they find won't be too incriminating and sink your chances for that new job or project. Employers read social media posts, too--especially ones that include their proper names--so use common sense.
This list appeared in the January 2011 issue of HOW Magazine along with a limited edition poster designed by id29.
Check back soon for Part 2 of "29 Things Young Graphic Designers Need To Know!"
Throughout the years, Doug has collected these questions and has tried answering many of them as an ongoing personal project. Here are the first 10 of his thoughts on how to approach and interact with our culture as a young designer, in no particular order.
1. Sweat The Details. You are a professional communicator; act like one. Carefully edit everything you publish: resumés, social media, e-mail, blog posts, letters, text messages, everything. Get a copy of "The Chicago Manual of Style" and keep it handy. Most potential employers and clients don't appreciate text shorthand, so don't use it. They won't be ROTFL, and you will end up SOL.
2. Play Nice. People you work with and for will make your blood boil from time to time. Whenever possible, be a pro and take the high road. Avoid burning bridges, as people change jobs more often than they did a generation ago. Your paths may cross again in a much different situation, and having a good working history together will make rehiring you easy. Apply this to your online persona as well. Anonymous jabs are petty--be better than that.
3. Don't Fear Type; Become Its Master. Often, being a good typographer means not making the simple mistakes. To accomplish this, you'll need a working knowledge of classical typography. Go get one. "The Elements of Typographic Style" by Robert Bringhurst, "Thinking With Type" by Ellen Lupton and "Grid Systems in Graphic Design" by Josef Müller-Brockmann are cover-to-cover must-reads. Repeat after me: "Free fonts from the internet are crap, I will not use them." Keep saying that.
4. Define Your Audience. Who are you speaking to and what is the objective? If you can't definitively answer both of these questions about a project you're about to start working on, go back to the drawing board. Graphic design is simply a plan that visually articulates a message. Make sure you have the message and its intended viewer sorted out before you start making. Communicate with purpose--don't just make eye candy.
5. Be Yourself. Be confident in yourself as an author, designer, photographer, creative. Don't work in a particular personal style. Rather, develop a personal approach to your creative work. Your commissioned work should never be about you, but it can certainly reveal your hand as the designer. As your work becomes more well-known, you will get hired for exactly that. For your personal work, don't be afraid to tell your story. No one else is going to do it for you.
6. Learn To Say 'NO.' Some of your best design business decisions will ultimately be saying "no" to clients or projects. Unfortunately, it usually takes a few disasters to gain the experience to know when to walk away from an impending train wreck.
Carefully measure the upsides of any project--creative control of your design work, long-term relationship-building and gross billing--versus the potential downsides--the devaluation of the creative process, being treated like a "vendor" and ongoing scope creep (where the volume of what you're expected to deliver keeps expanding, while the schedule and budget don't).
7. Collect And Share Everything. Find and save relevant and interesting things and pass them along to your friends, co-workers, followers and clients. Use the web and social media to share your own photos and work, as well as the work of others you find engaging. Be funny, serious, irreverent, businesslike, self-promotional, curatorial, whatever--just be yourself. For everyday inspiration, surround your workplace with the design ephemera you collect (see #5).
8. Be A Design Author. Develop ideas. Write them down, edit them, share them and elicit a response. Poof! You're a design author. Read design blogs and participate in the discussions. Have an opinion. If you find yourself spending hours a week contributing to other designers' blogs, consider starting your own. The cost and effort for startup are minimal, and the opportunities are diverse.
9. Build Your Book. One piece of advice I give young designers looking to fill out their portfolios is the find the best local arts organization with the worst visual brand identity or website and make a trade. They get some great design work, and you get creative control and real-world projects in your book that other potential clients will recognize.
10. Clean Up Your Act. Manage your online profiles carefully and be sure to keep all your listings accurate, consistent and (mostly) professional. You can count on co-workers, potential employers and clients to Google you, so make sure what they find won't be too incriminating and sink your chances for that new job or project. Employers read social media posts, too--especially ones that include their proper names--so use common sense.
This list appeared in the January 2011 issue of HOW Magazine along with a limited edition poster designed by id29.
Check back soon for Part 2 of "29 Things Young Graphic Designers Need To Know!"