IDD 480 - Creative & Organized

Do those two things run together? Well, perhaps with a little practice they will in my world. All design jobs that start in the creative process have some sort of design brief. They can come in many different varieties. Whether it is written, verbal, just a picture, etc. It can be given to you from the client themselves or it can be written up your own. Not having a design brief makes the designer vulnerable to the client. My favorite line out of this entire reading is: "Graphic designers need briefs. In fact, although designers constantly demand freedom, the really crave constraint. It's a little recognized fact, but designers are only happy when they are battling with restraints."

Before starting a job, designers often sit down and go through a pile of books, magazines, and the internet scouring for ideas. An important aspect of being a designer is having cultural awareness. Clients also like to have designs better than their competitors and urge the designer to study their work as well.

Typography, typography, typography, infact that can't be said enough. Unfortunately, it is one of the tougher areas to master in graphic design. OurType has one of the most intersting ways of displaying different fonts to purchase on their website. The typography of it is so intersting that you get sucked into reading the different phrases that the different type layouts use. In fact, I almost forgot that I could purchase some of those fonts that they displayed.

The design process for everyone is different. Some people like to dive right into working on the computer. Often times I like to make simple sketches to give myself something to go by and then go to a computer screen. One very important thing to do in the design process is to look at the work from a distance, which is hard to do when it is on a computer screen. So if possible, print it out, put it on the refridgerator, and then look at it up there for a couple of days. Of course this assuming that designers have a lot of time...which we all know that we don't. In that case, we can just put it on the refriderator, step back, and avoid leaving it up there for days.

In the chatper in Baron's book, she discusses ways to organize your work. A lot of it is common sense that is pointed out to us and being smart about storing and backing up work. The five main disciplines to organizing files are: Group, Name, Show, Weed, Backup. The two that didn't stand out to me after first glance were Weed and Show. Show just means to use thumbnails to catalog our work, since we are primarily visual people. Custom folder icons can help with this. Weed means getting rid of things that aren't needed. Put process ideas in their own folder and throw out any error files. Make sure to dot his while the project is still fresh in your mind. The last thing I can say is.... Backup...backup....backup.... While I do have backups of my current work, I can't access them at the moment because I didn't make enough backups. Such as back up to a CD instead of just another hard drive.

IDD 480 - I can't think of a good title

In this weeks Shaughnessy's reading, we read about dealing with clients and self-promotion. Dealing with clients is more familiar to me in the pseudo-design studio setting from when I personally dealt with clients while I worked at a sign shop. Keeping clients (happy) and developing new clients is usually what happened while I was working there. In fact most of our business came from repeat customers. The book talks about 'first job syndrome,' which I can't say I ever saw first hand, that happen to us. Although, now that I think about it, there were some clients that were a little more difficult and demanding than others. Usually they didn't understand the wait time involved and wanted immediate products, just as if they had gone into Wal-Mart and PRESTO there sign was all done the next day.

Developing new clients was always important in that business. Luckily, the company I worked for was one of the few in the area and benefited from the "Location, location, location" aspect of business. By default, most people came to that company because it was one of the few in the area. I did witness my boss maintaining communication with clients that had not requested any new business from us to generate work. In the beginning, my boss said that he would actively attempt to develop new clients by going out and looking for work. He would create signs for smaller businesses that needed signage.

In Baron's reading, she talks about the different formats for a portfolio. She starts by talking about portable media. The first topic almost made me laugh as she gave a short paragraph about Zip disks. I haven't heard of people using zip disks in years! I guess, however, that some people still use them for storage and wanted to make it clear not to use them for making a portfolio portable. Out of all of the mediums she discussed, I believe that it is safe to say that CDs, DVDs, websites, and perhaps a laptop (if absolutely required) are acceptable mediums for a portable portfolio. If creating a demo reel, I would make sure that it is easy to create a VHS tape on the fly if that format is requested, but I would not to waste the time in converting an entire demo reel to VHS tape in the beginning. DVD players are probably at this point more common than VCRs are since they come on just about every computer these days.

The book also mentions the site Sharpe Online and after visiting it, I encountered that it has changed since the book was published. In fact, each associate no longer has their own personal feel to their portfolio and they all follow the same format now. This could possibly be a sign of the company changing and perhaps changing internally or even growing since the associate list is longer than the original 7 and some names are no longer there.

IDD 480 - I'm the next CEO

Okay, so maybe I'm not the next CEO of a design studio. Perhaps I will be down the road, but in the process of learning how to run a design studio; I have learned how they operate and now have a general idea of what it might be like in a design studio and what they are looking for in new employees. "The secret of success in running a design company is treating the people like gods." and "Always employ people who are better than you." Those two lines stood out to me. The first one makes perfect sense, employees should be treated well so they have a high morale, make good work, and hopefully stay for a while. But the second line made me think at first glance. Why would a company want to higher someone better than them? And if that's the case...I'm never going to get hired!! Well, it got explained why they would hire someone better than themselves in the reading, and I've determined that I have a lot of work ahead of me. Also discussed in that chapter was the different staff that comes with a design studio and when in general it is needed (depending on the size of the studio).

Graphic design is every where and the demand for it is constantly expanding (unless the economy isn't doing well). The book mentions signs that were neatly designed on a hiking trail in the woods. I for one, can testify that signs end up everywhere and are just as neatly designed since I have spent the last three years working for a sign shop. Typography is especially important when it comes to signs. They need to be legible, easy to read, and often from a distance. Finding work can be hard work. Utilizing one's contacts and creating a database of clients is very important. One way to obtain clients is to target companies and institutions that need design help.

When it comes time to displaying your work, it doesn't need to be in a typical black portfolio case. Today they can be in several different media forms. I, however, will hopefully have several different forms that I can use to display my portfolio. When I design my portfolio I'm going to attempt and cater it to the audience that I think will be viewing it the most. Which at the moment is potential employers. I think I'm going to go for an overall simple look to show my work. When thinking about the audience, thinking about specific companies and organizations that I would want to work for come to mind. At the moment, being a soon-to-be graduate, I'll work for almost anyone and go almost anywhere. I do have a particular type of design I would like to be doing, so that is going to narrow my search down.

One chapter said to exhaust your personal contacts when trying to find a job. So in that case, does anyone know someone that might want to potentially hire me out of school? Some places to look for other professionals in our area would be the local chapters of the AIGA. The Boston and New York chapters are probably our best bet.

Week 2 - Craziness Ensues

In Chapter 2 of Baron's book Designing a Digital Portfolio we begin to read about adapting our portfolio for the work and direction we would like to head in. It starts with a self-assessment checklist to point out out strengths and weaknesses. Included in the checklist is our education, work experience, software knowledge, etc. Then in the checklist it starts to ask questions regarding our different goals for our portfolio. My reasons for creating a portfolio as per the checklist are because its required for school, need the experience, unemployed and looking for a job, need the experience, and a creative outlet. The checklist also has our questions about our work ethic and personality. Finding the personality of my work is going to be a hard task. Since most of the work has been assigned, it doesn't describe accurately my work. A few words that I can think of to describe my work would be: playful, sarcastic, and funny; but that only applies to a few pieces.

One of the elements for a digital portfolio is personality. The personality of a website is immediately prevalent as soon as it is visited. Jeff the Designer's website has changed since it was published in the book, but it still has a similar feel with its images and layout. While I wouldn't describe this as the best portfolio web site I have seen, it definitely has some quality work within it. It is evident based on the portfolio work that websites are not his forte either.

When I read about some of the goals for a digital portfolio, it starts the second paragraph for it with, "It's not enough to say, 'I need a job!' A job is a financial requirement, not a goal." Well this is true, and I know I have said this several times, "I need a job!" Getting a job after college is important to all of us. And I for one, know that I would ideally like a job doing what I enjoy, or at least be on a reasonable path to ending up with a job I enjoy.

While reading this chapter, I was finally able to stop scrambling to find as many portfolio pieces as I could to throw into my portfolio and decided that it would be better to have less pieces with a higher caliber of work. I want pieces in here that will stand out and be remember (for good reasons) to anyone who views it. With that said, I will probably spend a lot of time reworking a few older pieces to get them up to par.

After I read chapters 3 & 4 of 'How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul' I determined that freelancing is not something I want to be doing out of college. I would consider doing it part-time to build my portfolio some more and to stay active in the field, but I don't think that it is a reasonable option for me out of college. Perhaps it could be down the road, but I would rather start up a design studio with other designers instead of flying solo. I like the idea of working with other like minded individuals and building a reputable name that others can be a part of as well. I did find it amazing that out of 500,000 designers in the U.S. nearly 1/3 of them are self-employed. To me, that is a staggering amount. It shows how competitive the field is as well.

While reading about creating an identity for setting up a studio, I found a line of sympathy for all of us. "We are generally bad at designing for ourselves. Designers spend their working lives telling their clients how to cultivate an appropriate image, yet seem paralyzed when they have to do it for themselves. " I saw that and thought to myself, "I knew it! Finally, someone agrees!" Of course that didn't make matters any better, I still have to do design a portfolio for myself.

IDD 480 - Final Round

Welcome back into the spring 2007 semester, the final semester and edition of Golb Bew. IDD 480 is my Senior Seminar and Portfolio class where we will be worked for every ounce of creative juice that we have. On top of all of our creative juice being squeezed out of us, we will need to then organize it into a nice neat resume, portfolio, letterhead, business card, etc., and etc.

This weeks weekly reading opened my eyes and told me just about everything that I needed to do/be that I am not already. In fact, it raised my stress level just a couple notches. The books that I'm reading for the next few weeks are:

Designing a Digital Portfolio (Voices That Matter), by Cynthia L. Baron,

How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, by Adrian Shaughnessy, Stefan Sagmeister

Some of the things I learned in Shaughnessy's book were very interesting. Some of them might be common sense though, such as when showing the interviewer your portfolio, make sure that they are the ones looking at it. Often times graphic designers fail to turn the portfolio to make it easy to view for their interviewer. Another thing that I didn't think of that is more specific to the area that I'm going to go in to, is in addition to having a DVD with a demo reel of my work, is to include stills from different frames of the project on paper so that it makes it easier for them to view. Not all interviewers have time to watch DVDs and demo reels right away.

There were tons of useful bits of information in this book just in the first few chapters as far as how to go about all the important little things that get over looked. From how the letterhead should be simple and not vary too much with font. To requesting interviews at design studios instead of a job.

Baron's book discussed the different types of portfolios based on the different professions that require portfolios. For motion graphics, a "formal" portfolio may still be a videotape/DVD (aka. demo reel). Although a digital portfolio (website) is growing increasingly fast as another type of portfolio since some work is being designed explicitly for the Internet. Baron's book is going to go more in depth to each of the different purposes of a portfolio. Whether it is to get a full-time job, to gain clients, etc.

This semester has got a lot in store for us and we have a lot of work ahead of us. Here's to making it through the semester and getting a job in one piece!