Named and Found

On November 12th, I was part of a panel of design alumni from Northern Illinois University. We spoke to the NIU AIGA Student Group.

A questionnaire was sent to us prior to the talk.

I felt like I answered the second question pretty accurately.

2. What are the most common mistakes inexperienced designers make?

A huge mistake inexperienced designers make is thinking that design is all about aesthetics. They think that looking good is all that matters. Although having great typography is essential in this field (Most students don’t have it), it really isn’t enough. Projects need to be conceptually sound, relevant, and communicate the proper message. You need to be in tune with fashion, art, music, and modern culture.

Inexperienced designers are also unaware of present trends in design, and therefore don’t brand themselves in any way. How do you present yourself? If you dress sloppy, does that reflect your work? Does your resume, portfolio, and visual language work well together?

Look at your work from outside the box. Why would someone hire you? What skills can you bring to a company that someone else can’t? What makes you valuable? If you can’t answer these questions, then don’t expect to get a job.

Look at your grades. If you are a B or C student, then you can expect to work at a B or C firm. In a recession, you probably won’t get a job. It’s much easier for a firm to hire an experienced designer that’s one or two years out of school than take a risk on a borderline shitty designer.

I’ll be sharing more insights from this talk in the near future.