Transitions, March 2003

Issue 7      March 2003

Contents

What you want and what they need
How do you bridge the gap between your skills and desires in the design world, and the realities and necessary qualifications of the workforce? Here are three things you can do.

The graphic designer's guide to clients: How to make clients happy and do great work
Read this and you might learn to be a better designer. Boost your portfolio, sharpen your vocabulary, teach yourself to follow through for clients and stretch your mind to its fullest.

Book tips from the top
Margo Chase describes her favorite and most influential volumes.

Executive director's letter
Times are hard right now for designers, and even harder for students of design. Getting a foot in the door of the profession at this point in time is not as easy as it will be when the economy is stronger.

These facts should not discourage you. There are many ways to improve your professional traits now, so that you will be seen in the best light when it comes time for you to start sending out your resume and showing your portfolio. What do employers want in an employee? What skills are they attracted to, and what attributes are neccesary? How do you get some all-important experience?

Once you are in the office, there are many things to learn to maximize your experience: how to sell an idea, how to communicate intelligently to clients, how to talk about your work, how to follow through. We hope to enlighten you with some strategies and ideas of how to become a smarter designer.

AIGA offers advice here and critical networking through chapters and activities.

Richard Grefé, executive director, AIGA

WHAT YOU WANT AND WHAT THEY NEED
Most professionals realize that newly graduated students are diamonds in the rough, and most are willing to devote the time and patience necessary to help them develop strong professional careers. It's a long process where focus is put on craft and learning how to think more client-centricly.

The reality is, however, that this is a business-centric world. I would like to suggest that current students and the newly graduated work force are the ones who should take responsibility for readying themselves for the real world. The best and the brightest should thirst ceaselessly for self-improvement; it is up to you to bridge the gap where your formal design education left off.

There are three areas where I recommend that you invest your own time and effort, because without such effort you may be too rough to consider employing.

Polish your interviewing skills
Many students lack the understanding that a portfolio review with a potential employer is a 30-minute microcosm of what a full-time working relationship might be like. Here are two examples to illustrate this:

Scenario A: Potential employee shows up a little late. There is a typo on his resume, and a few on his comps. His boards are cut in different sizes, some stuff is mounted, some not. A few things are scuffed or dirty. He is argumentative when told some pieces in his book are not conceptually on target. He has to explain his work in order for the potential employer to understand it. His overall attitude is, "What's in this job for me?"

Scenario B: When potential employee calls ahead to make appointment, he asks about the position available and what the employer is looking for, and tailors his book to suit those needs. He researches the website and other news materials regarding the company he is interested in and comes to the meeting (early) with several questions for the interviewer. The presentation is spotless, consistent and understandable. His response to negative feedback is, "Thank you for your perspective." His overall attitude is, "What can I do to help make your company even more successful?"

Both of these scenarios are real. Which person would you like to hire? Driven self-education makes a difference.

Gain experience with real-world deadlines, real client expectations, etc.
This might seem like a catch-22. How can you get experience without having a job? Easy—get an internship. Heck, get two. Our studio has actually had two interns that were still in high school! (How is that for focus and drive?) This is excellent experience not only for your resume, but will help you figure out what kind of people you want to work with, and what kind of projects best fit your talents. You don’t even have to be a student. I was a college graduate when I did my internship, and it cemented my desire to be in this business.

Internships may not be news to anybody, I realize. But think about how you can maximize that internship. I have had people show up and help, and that is great. But the four interns that have really stood out in my mind were “in my face”—demanding projects, earning my respect and constantly asking questions. Of those four, two were hired at my firm, one works for a prominent local design firm and one works for The Richards Group. In other words, a hard-working internship can land you a great job. It is just another example of how an investment in self-education can really pay off. I say “investment” because there has been a disheartening trend lately where students have chosen internships at places because they pay the most per hour. This is the wrong attitude to take, though tempting. Internships are about education, not making money. The experience you get will actually earn you the ability to make a larger salary in the future. So don’t think small.

Hone your technical/computer skills
I say this with a big disclaimer: the concepting and design abilities need to already exist. What I am talking about is beyond idea generation—it is the ability to work smart and fast while penciling up layouts and building super comps.

Here’s an analogy: Think of the relationship between a musician and his instrument. Do you know anybody who woke up one morning and said, “Hey, I am going to be a rock star,” then picked up an instrument and instantly played beautiful music? Get real. Becoming a musician takes more than talent. It takes lots and lots of practice and hard work. So, if a pencil layout doesn’t look right, do it over and over and over until it does. Look at layouts done by folks with more experience. Talk to them about the shortcuts they have learned and ask them to share their insights. Give yourself your own assignments for practice.

The same goes for knowledge of different software packages and overall computer savviness. Read the manuals, take the tutorials and if necessary take some evening courses. Subscribe to magazines with tips and tricks (or ask your firm to do this—most firms have a book/magazine budget for spending on things like this). I mentioned off-hand to an interviewee that I needed some freelance help for a web project. One week later that person called me back, having just finished a crash course in Macromedia Flash and asked if they could work on it. Gumption is good.

You have probably gotten the spirit of my essay. A formal design education can only take one so far. It is up to each individual to find out what it will take to develop the skills necessary to land their first job, or leave an old position in search of one that will fulfill them on a higher level. In a highly competitive market, you need every edge you can get—think like a business owner and clients. What do they need? Do they need you?

Meta Newhouse is the creative director at GroupBaronet (Dallas), a hybrid agency/design firm specializing in integrated marketing communications. She graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Fine Art. She has taught 10 semesters of the Senior Portfolio Class at the University of North Texas, and believes she has seen roughly just over 1,000 student portfolios so far.

Excerpts adapted from
THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER’S GUIDE TO CLIENTS:
HOW TO MAKE CLIENTS HAPPY AND DO GREAT WORK

Getting started
You think you’re ready to land that perfect job—or strike out on your own. You’ve been a top student. You’ve had an internship or two. A part-time job. The problem is that everything in your portfolio is still school assignments or stuff you assisted on (and maybe you don’t even like—but, hey, that job paid the rent). There’s nothing that you could claim actually helped any organization accomplish its goals. And that’s what clients are all looking for. That and at least three years experience.

What to do?

Right now, I’m keeping my eyes open for a deserving nonprofit organization with a terrible logo. It won’t be too hard to find. It might be a homeless shelter or a substance abuse treatment center. Redesigning the logo will be given as an assignment in my senior seminar class at Purchase College. The client will be contacted and informed that the organization can get a new, student-designed logo—if they provide a short, honest critique of each of about twenty logos, and, should one of them be chosen, pay the student an honorarium of at least $350. I will lead the students through the identity process, from defining “image characteristics” based on the client profile through creating and presenting an effective symbolic mark.

This assignment ensures that each graduate has at least one designer-client experience and “real”-appearing assignment in his or her portfolio. It was developed in response to the continuous lament: “Everybody is looking for experience. How can I get it?”

Creating an opportunity where none existed is a smart way to get it. If you are lacking in experience (but not in talent or drive), take the initiative. Create work for yourself. Don’t wait for it to come to you.

Show what you can do
Somebody you or your parents or friends know runs a business or a nonprofit organization that could use your services. Show them a mix of your best school assignments and fantasy projects you create to show what you can do. Listen—really listen—to what they need. Offer your work at an irresistible price. Show what you can do with type and royalty-free images and black-and-white photocopies. Be like Fallon, the Minneapolis agency that rose to stardom by doing gold-medal-winning small-space, black-and-white ads for local businesses and nonprofits. Do a knockout newspaper ad for the laundromat or barber shop, or a compelling poster for the food bank or day-care center. If it’s a religious or charitable organization or other cause you believe in, volunteer your services. Take Fallon group head Dean Hanson’s smart advice: “That strategy has worked since the beginning of the industry. I’ve never met a good creative that didn’t follow this route to some degree.”

When I was a senior design major at UCLA I couldn’t afford a sofa, so I made giant floor pillows for my West Los Angeles apartment. People liked them so much that I created a little home-based business, for which I designed flyers and black-and-white ads. I would take customers to stores, help them choose fabrics and trim, then stitch up pillows and cushions and bolsters. I soon got tired of having shredded foam everywhere and stopped advertising. But the “real” flyers and ads in my portfolio helped me land my first real job, art director at UCLA’s Alumni and Development Center.

It also helped that I had taken the time on my own to master some of the techniques that weren’t taught in school—and still aren’t. When I wasn’t sewing (or attending peace marches), I studied type books, ink swatch books and paper sample books. By the time I graduated I knew the difference between Franklin Gothic and News Gothic, between Strathmore Grandee and Curtis Tweedweave. When I got hired, my future boss, who was looking for a recent graduate who could art-direct a 24-page alumni monthly, said, “You were the only person who knew anything about type.” Maybe it was those pillow flyers that sold him.

Designers can get very far and still lose
One of the biggest problems design firm principals have is that after all that effort put into making contacts, marketing services, attending meetings, writing proposals, negotiating prices, getting an agreement signed and undergoing the entire first phase of a project, they can still be out of a job. It happens all the time. The contract is finally signed, the work is ongoing and something goes wrong.

As a student or junior designer entering the professional world, you should be aware of and sensitive to the challenges your boss is facing. It’s not all about you, your portfolio and your cool work.

“They just didn’t give us what we wanted,” clients say.
“They got locked into one design idea, which we didn’t think was right for us.”
“After all that selling, they put junior people on the job.” (Don’t take this personally, clients complain about this. Your work has to look like your boss designed it. Alas, they are paying the bucks to hire him or her, not you).
“They didn’t listen.”
“The work was incomplete.”
“It was late.”
“There were too many surprises.”
“They kept trying to sell us stuff that was too expensive.”
“They didn’t tell us what the changes would cost.”
“There were problems with the printing and the finishing or fabrication.”

The bill gets paid (or a portion of it), and the client is already working with someone else.

Be prepared to meet all their expectations
In my senior seminar class I use a teaching aid entitled, “What Design Directors and Firm Principals Do.” It’s a chart with five rows of boxes. The top row is labeled “Preliminaries” and includes a box labeled, “Meet with client to discuss project, define audience, and communications objectives, budget, delivery date.” Another box is: “Ask probing questions; write and deliver or present proposal; negotiate proposal terms; get retainer and signed agreement.”

The second row is called “Concept Development” and includes “Research and determine specific, ideal content, format, look and feel, materials and production techniques that will accomplish client’s goals.” I tell the students that this is all about understanding the client’s business; not just doing what you think looks cool, expresses your personal feelings, or might win an “A” or the admiration of other designers or awards-show judges.

The third and fourth rows, “Design and Art Direction,” includes “Select photographers, illustrators; give creative direction.” The last row, “Production Supervision,” includes boxes labeled, “Deliver errorless files to vendors,” “Make sure the project gets fabricated correctly,” and “Follow up on delivery.”

“Where Do You Fit In?” asks the headline.

Many students are a bit stunned. For four years their efforts had been solely focused on the activities described in one or two boxes out of 28—creating designs with images and type; designs that pleased them and that expressed their feelings and opinions.

Clients expect more, I explain. You can’t even begin designing until you understand the clients’ organization, what they are trying to accomplish. Then, if you screw up one or more of these other areas, the client may go somewhere else anyway, even if your creative concepts are excellent.

That’s a major reason it’s a good idea to start your career at a firm where you can learn from experienced people, rather than as a freelancer.

Talk the talk
Students spend four or more years learning to talk about juxtapositions, imagery, irony. I surprise them when I suggest that they read the business press. Those pages are where you learn to talk client talk. A senior designer or firm principal should be almost as comfortable discussing return on investment and marketing strategies as Garamond vs. Sabon, Flash vs. Shockwave.

You’ll be hired to make the right choices. You should be able to justify those choices, if asked. And the answer should make business sense. It should not be just about decoration. “Why did you choose this paper?” Answers like, “Because it looks cool,” or “I saw this really awesome promotion designed by so-and-so” will always be wrong. “Because it has the right color and texture to communicate the following characteristics of your organization” is more like it. And while you’re at it, don’t fall into the clichés associated with “flaky creatives.” Don’t miss deadlines. Show up on time—no, 10 minutes early—for meetings. Be prepared. Look and act businesslike.

In addition to reading the design magazines, try to make the Wall Street Journal a habit, at least weekly. The writing is superb. You will gain many insights into how clients think and what they are looking for. The ads can teach you a lot about branding. Read the business pages of your local paper, too. And Fortune, Business Week and Fast Company never hurt a designer, either.

But don’t lay it on too thick
It’s a long way from “because it looks cool” to “dynamic sensibility of vision” and “coherent yet multi-layered visual message.” Where did all the designer jargon come from? Once upon a time, in order to communicate with high-level executives and charge higher fees, designers at big-time corporate identity firms must have taken a look at The Harvard Business Review or Artforum and said, “Ah ha, here’s how to do it.” Great visual communications masters like Herb Lubalin and Saul Bass, if they were still among us, might not be able to recognize the epidemic of verbiage that resulted. As just one example, I found the following in an article about a new institutional logo:

“The contemporary and dynamic geometric asymmetry of the color planes sit in contrast to the elegant academic tradition of the classic typeface. Distinct negative/positive relationships invite the viewer to complete the message by attributing form and meaning to negative space. This exchange makes the mark more memorable. The chosen colors . . . achieve a pleasant, yet energetic high-contract interaction that communicates clarity and determination.”

Heaven help us. I mean, it’s an okay logo. And sure, a successful solution needs a bit more documentation than “because it looks cool.” But let’s not gag clients with pages of purple bureaucratese. Graphic design is a visual art. Most intelligent people can see if something works or not, looks good or not, right away. That’s the whole point. The flowery rationale isn’t going to be there when a future customer looks at the thing, scratches his head, and asks, “What the hell is that supposed to be?”

And, by the way, the correct grammar is: “asymmetry (singular) sits.” I don’t mean to sound cantankerous, but when you write, make sure your subjects and verbs agree. To write well, try to follow the advice of Strunk and White in their classic The Elements of Style (Macmillan, 1959), a must for every reference shelf: “Write in a way that comes naturally. Omit needless words. Do not overstate. Do not explain too much. Do not inject opinion. Be clear.”

Presentations must speak for themselves
The most successful designers know how to present work in a way that is not only clear, that not only “sells,” but that begins and continues a dialogue with the client.

Ed Gold, codirector of the communication design department at the University of Baltimore and author of The New Business of Graphic Design (Watson-Guptill, 1995), has identified what he calls “the 10 common characteristics of great designers.” After “talent” (“their work flat-out looks good”), Ed ranks “advocacy” as the number-two necessary characteristic. “A designer who can’t sell an idea is probably not going to be very successful,” he says, adding, “I’ll go a step further. A designer who can’t sell an idea will never be a great designer.” He advises all designers to take courses in persuasion and presentation.

There is nothing less inspiring than a portfolio presentation in which a job candidate recites in a monotone: “This is a piece I did for so-and-so; this is a piece I did for so-and-so.” It’s equally depressing to clients when designers start explaining how they used type or images. The results are there right in front of their eyes.

New York multimedia phenomenon Hillman Curtis, author of MTIV (Making the Invisible Visible): Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer (New Riders, 2002) cautions: “Never, never, never sell your design. You should be able to lay out your comps in front of clients, and if you have heard them, stayed true to their desires, and included them in your creative process, the designs will speak for themselves. You can stay quiet, answer their questions if necessary and listen to their feedback. Take notes and bring it closer on the next rev[ise].” Curtis writes that he always tells his designers that if they find themselves saying things like, “We used Helvetica because it’s simple yet strong,” then they haven’t done their jobs.

I have been preaching the same thing for years to students and to the designers who’ve worked for me. You, the designer, won’t be there when the reader opens the brochure, turns the page, clicks on the home page, or sees the logo or ad for the first time. Like the student portfolio, if it needs an explanation, something’s wrong. Verbal pyrotechnics and even reams of support documentation can’t transform an unsuccessful design into one that works.

To read more, look for The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Clients.

Ellen Shapiro is an Irvington, New York–based graphic designer, writer and design educator. She has taught at Parsons, Pratt and SVA, and is currently the Senior Seminar instructor at Purchase College, State University of New York. This excerpt has been adapted from her upcoming book, The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Clients, to be published by Allworth Press in May 2003.

BOOK TIPS FROM THE TOP: MARGO CHASE

More books from top designers.

Margo Chase: Chase Design Group

As a designer and executive creative director, I am asked to solve all kinds of different problems, yet my own experience is often too limited to provide me with the insight or understanding I need. I think the part of my brain that intuitively “gets it” and surprises me daily with ideas is the part that has unconsciously absorbed the stories and concepts I’ve read in books.

Reading is an extremely important part of my life. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those who don’t enjoy it. At the very least, it broadens my horizons and makes for interesting conversation at the dinner table!

The list of my top five all-time design recommendations includes several books that are about reading the pictures at least as much as reading the text.

The Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (a facsimile reproduction of an original manuscript in the Getty collection)
By Georg Bocskay and Joris Hofnagel

Undisputed at number one, the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta is the work of two collaborators who never met. The first, the calligrapher Georg Bocskay, produced a tour-de-force showcase of the incredible breadth and innovative forms he was capable of creating. Then, many years after Bocskay’s death, his manuscript was illuminated by Joris Hofnagel with delicately detailed plants, flowers and insects that beautifully embellish the lettering. The result is perhaps my most treasured book.

Lettering as Drawing
By Nicolete Gray

It’s soft bound and I’m on my third copy (having worn out two). The author collects eclectic and arcane examples of lettering and discusses their creation and relevance as communication and expression. It’s a great tool for shaking up my mind and helping me think.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character
By Richard P. Feynman

A Nobel Prize–winning physicist, Feynman had an unsinkable intellectual curiosity that included everything from math and physics to painting and music. He once created a drum accompaniment to a ballet and started the practice of exhibiting art at Cal Tech. His writing is completely accessible in a way that never fails to amuse and inspire me.

Le Chemin d’un Calligraphe (A Calligrapher’s Journey)
by Hassan Massoudy

Massoudy is an incredible calligrapher. This book is in French and Massoudy is Iraqi, but you don’t need to be able to read the pieces to appreciate his beauty of form and grace of gesture. The power of his lettering transcends language.

I Am Almost Always Hungry
By Cahan & Associates

I love the humor and texture of this book. It’s not just pretty; it’s smart in how it’s constructed. The book is a cleverly organized assembly of images and textures that demonstrate the process and difficulties of communicating complicated concepts simply and clearly. I especially love the section of brick walls—something all creative people run into at some time or another. Don’t bother with the essays themselves. 

I really love to read and I spend lots of free time doing it. I have rather catholic tastes when it comes to books, and they don’t all have direct bearing on design. I read both fiction and non-fiction. Really great writing can cause me to lose sleep and large chunks of my weekend until I’ve finished. Books I’ve recently read and found interesting or compelling include:

Germs, Guns, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
By Jared Diamond

Many books, often non-fiction, have indirect but important relevance to my practice of design and business. Germs, Guns, and Steel affected my thinking because it deals with the reasons why some societies are more successful than others, which I think offers insight into the way some businesses are more successful than others. The author suggests that success is based on access to resources rather than to some innate superiority or intelligence. As a scientist he would surely shudder if he thought I was applying his ideas to the design business.

This is Modern Art
By Matthew Collings

This is Modern Art is a wonderfully sardonic and insightful overview of what’s happening in modern art these days. Collings’s comments and observations keep coming to mind in both positive and negative ways. I’ve quoted him to my design students more than once.

Liars, Lovers, and Heroes: What the New Brains Science Reveals About How We Become Who We Are
By Steven R. Quartz, Ph.D. and Terrence J. Sejnowski, Ph.D.

Liars, Lovers, and Heroes has been fascinating. It discusses the role of genetics in human behavior and has given me numerous insights about creativity.

Possession: A Romance
By A. S. Byatt

A lot of my reading is just decompression and escape. A.S. Byatt’s richly romantic writing falls into this category. So does Umberto Eco’s Baudolino which I’m currently reading.

The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters
By Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd’s book, a witty and sometimes painful story about the trials of surviving design school, has more direct relevance to design than the my usual entertainment reading. My all-time favorite piece of escapist literature has to be Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings, which I’ve just reread for the fourth time. The secret’s out—now you know I’m a geek!

Publisher
AIGA Transitions is published once a month, September through May, nine times a year by AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), 164 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, www.aiga.org. The executive editor is AIGA national board member Petrula Vrontikis. AIGA Transitions is a benefit of student membership and is not available to nonmembers. AIGA seeks articles for this publication from knowledgeable, respected and experienced authors whose opinions are deemed relevant to the student and educator community. The opinions expressed by the authors are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or judgment of AIGA; further, they represent only one point of view and are not intended to be an exhaustive treatment. For further discussion of the issues with your colleagues and peers, please visit the AIGA Design Forum at www.aiga.org.