Work

So You Want To Work For Me, or Someone Else For That Matter

Recently I have been in a position to hire a new Experiential Graphic Designer for my department, and while the title sounds very focused the job requirements are slightly broader than the name implies. A detailed job description was posted in all of the major outlets, and the link to the localized description on my employer’s site was linked to via a handful of social media sites by myself and other employees. The word went out and we received just under 100 potential applicants. Let me rephrase that. We received just under 100 applicants. Not that many were even close to being potential for several reasons. Lack of experience, a complete misunderstanding of what the job is, a portfolio that demonstrated little to no skills required for the position, the complete lack of a link to any design work in either the resume or cover letter.

Perhaps it’s where I am at in my career, and the fact that I have applied for so many jobs over the years but I have a word of advice for not only those just starting out as well as those with experience under your belt. READ THE JOB DESCRIPTION, and after reading it ask yourself, “Am I really qualified for this position?” before submitting your application. Then take a step back, look at your design portfolio and ask yourself the following questions. “Does my portfolio reflect the kind of work I’ll be asked to perform?”, “Do I need to edit my portfolio, or add to it?” The reason I say this is that it felt like the majority that applied for my open position did not. Almost half of the applicants for the designer position that I posted lacked the required experience, and software skills, or showed a portfolio that was completely off track for the job at hand.

I was looking for a designer with at least 3 to 5 years under their belt. The ability to use more than InDesign with a level of proficiency. I wasn’t looking for were photographers, illustrators, 3D animators, videographers, or stationary designers. And yet I saw so many portfolios that fit that bill. Look I’m not knocking anyone’s talent. What I am saying is, if you are going to apply for a job, why waste your time or the person hiring if you and your skills don’t match.

Out of the 75 plus resumes and portfolios I looked through, more than a third of them were illustrators, and photographers claiming to have solid environmental graphic design skills, wayfinding design chops, publication layout skills, and more, but their portfolios didn’t reflect it in any way shape or form. In many cases, they showed absolutely nothing or little that would be considered graphic design, experiential design, or environmental design at all.

So, here are some things you might want to consider when you are applying for a design job.

Read the job description. Read it and then look up the organization that is hiring. Ask yourself honestly, am I qualified for this position? Am I overqualified for this position? Do my skills match what the job description is asking for? Will my current skills translate to the requirements they are asking me to fulfill? Don’t just skim the posting and fire off your resume and cover letter thinking that the hiring manager isn’t going to look at your background, your portfolio, and your experience.

Before submitting your resume and cover letter, make sure there is a link to your portfolio in it. If you are submitting a PDF of your resume, include an active link to your portfolio in the PDF. If there is no link to a portfolio in your resume or cover letter I immediately pass. If there is a URL and it isn’t an active link I hesitate. Most people reviewing want to click and go. Make it easy for the people hiring to get to examples of your work. No QR codes, no files to download, nothing that requires me to request permission to view. Things like QR codes might seem clever, but unless you are designing mobile apps and applying for a UI/UX design position most people don’t want to look at your graphic design portfolio on a small phone screen. Downloads and permissions are nothing more than a roadblock between the hiring manager and your work.

Look at the required software skills and do an honest assessment of yours. Are you an expert in every application in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite? Seriously, are you? I had so many applicants grading themselves as experts in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects, Audition, and XD it made my head spin. Knowing how to use an app and being an expert in it are two different things. I’d rather talk to someone that is truly an expert in one or two apps and is willing to learn others than someone that claims to be an expert in all and is a master of none.

Don’t include your assessments from job sites like Indeed and GlassDoor. You might have taken an online skills test and scored expert or highly proficient in verbal communications, work style, workplace safety, or something else but it means very little, at least to me. These are things I’ll find out when I interview you for the position, and they will not sway me to consider you for the job when listed on your resume. Here is a reality. Those skills tests are geared to the lowest common denominator. Why? Because Glassdoor, InDeed, LinkedIn, and the like make money from placing candidates. Those assessments are a tool that benefits them more than you.

Take a long hard look at your portfolio. If you have everything you have ever made in the last 5 to 10 years it’s too much. Learn to edit. If you are just starting out and your portfolio only shows 5 or 6 projects consider adding more – yes even more student work if it is quality work. You want to show a variety of work that demonstrates you know how to use more than one creative program. Some people list the tools used to create their work. That’s fine, it gives an insight into your toolkit and if you make it to the interview round, it gives the interviewers something to ask you about. Add descriptions. Not just what the project was about and the problem you solved, but how you interacted with a team to achieve the end result and the possible return on investment from the solution you provided. Did you work with a copywriter? Did you lead a team? Did you work with someone writing code to help realize your vision? Was the project multi-faceted, and if so how did you solve for multiple formats and deliverables?

Finally, you might be the best painter of dragons, robots, aliens, monsters, and Vikings in the world, but that doesn’t make you a graphic designer. You might be the best painter in the world of robot aliens fighting Viking dragons, pulling a chariot of imps on their way to a Game of Thrones rally at the local Holiday Inn, but that doesn’t mean you are a graphic designer. If the job description calls for design skills and you submit something completely off base, you’ve wasted not only your time but the time of the person looking to hire. If your passion lies outside the job offering, then pursue your passion and be happy. Life’s too short.

By the way, I really did see a bunch of dragons fighting Viking like people and robots. Aliens too. And Fairies.

What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today, I received an email invite at work telling me to report to employee relations the following day at 2:00 in the afternoon. The time had come for me to go. Hallmark didn’t love me anymore. This didn’t come as surprise. I had actually been given a heads up by my Art Director 8 months earlier that I was probably on my way out. I met all the criteria. I was over 50, made too much money, and didn’t check off any of diversity boxes. Plus the downsizing had been going on since December of 2012. I’d dodged the bullet for the last couple of years, but there was no way I was going to dodge it this time.

The reality is that being let go from Hallmark was the best thing that had happened to my career in over a decade. Since returning to Hallmark in 2005 I had struggled to advance my career there. I had hit the internal glass ceiling in a sense and over time was given less and less challenging work. There are only so many senior level positions and with a creative pool the size of Hallmark’s moving up the food chain can be difficult.

I’m not angry, I’m not disgruntled, I’m not even irritated. I’ll admit that I was a little pissed off at first. When you are told you aren’t needed anymore, it kind of stings, no matter how shitty the situation is. By the beginning of last June I was creating crappy banner ads for products I didn’t believe in, for a brand I personally feel is dying. The timing was right, it was time to go.

On June 2 2015 I met with employee relations and was told I qualified to “Retire”. My position was being eliminated as a cost cutting measure, and I was one of 165 creatives that were no longer needed. I was told by ER that I was allowed to work until June 10, and then I would have to leave the building. I hung around for a couple of days, but coming into work just made those that didn’t lose their jobs feel uncomfortable for the most part. By Thursday it was time to go. I backed up my Mac to a server, powered down and walked out. My “Give A Rip”, factor was zero at this point, and all of my assignments had been given to the remaining studio creatives. Sticking around just seemed like delaying the inevitable. I said adios to a few people and walked out the door for the last time. Thankfully I didn’t have any personal items to carry out. At 11:30 that morning I became a free man. It felt like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders, and driving home I remember thinking how great it felt to know I wouldn’t be going back there. I knew things were going to work out for the best.

So, how’d it all turn out? Pretty damn good. I had a new job before the end of the week. I had additional freelance work lined up. I got a solid severance package, and I never missed a paycheck. At the new job my opinion matters, I’m challenged creatively, and from the business side of things. My colleagues listen to me and engage me for feedback and insight. I’m helping to develop a new brand voice for a company that is actually growing and is looking to the future. I feel valued, something I hadn’t felt at Hallmark for years. At Hallmark I felt the complete opposite. I had no motivation or desire to be there. The work I was given could have been done by someone fresh out of design school. My opinion was hardly ever asked for or wanted. I simply wasn’t being challenged on any level.

That isn’t a personal dig at anyone, it’s simply how I felt, and how I know others feel as well. Not just the 165 that walked out the door a year ago, people who still work there as well. In my opinion, It’s a reflection of Hallmark’s corporate culture, and something that probably won’t change any time soon. It’s too bad, because when I first started working there in 1994, I loved the place. When I left in 2000 I missed it, and when I returned in 2005 I thought I had made the right choice to come back. At the time I felt that my career had a future, that I’d be given opportunities to grow as a designer. By 2009 I knew that probably wasn’t the case, but I had settled in for the long haul. It’s easy to

In the end I know I worked with some extremely talented individuals. (I also worked with people who had little to no talent, but played the system and bullshitted their way into positions of authority; but that is story for another time) At Hallmark I made some of the best friends I’ll ever have, and I miss seeing them on a regular basis. That doesn’t mean I’m not better off though. Like I said earlier, leaving Hallmark was the best thing that happened to my career in over a decade, and I can’t thank them enough telling my I was to old and made too much money. I’m doing better design work than I have in years, I’m more creative than I have been in ages, and I’m happier. And that is what is most important.

Your Design Work Is Owned By Your Client, and That’s OK.

Last night I was having a conversation with someone who entered the professional field of graphic design a few years ago. The said designer was griping about client input, changes, feedback and a lack of immediate recognition of the genius of their work. I tried to explain that what they don’t teach you in art school is, this is the nature of the job.

Over the last 25 years there are a few things I have learned about being a designer. Most, well all of it actually was never taught in art school. In art school they never explain to you that in the real world when you are working on an assignment that you are getting paid for, you no longer “own” it. When you take on a job, you are working for a client. When the client is paying you, their input is equal to yours. Like it or not. There are exceptions to this rule, you know, if you are one the chosen design greats that never gets questioned. (even designers like Stefan Sagmeister, Chip Kidd, Paula Scher, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Jacqueline Casey, Ruth Ansel, Herbert Matter, Alvin Lustig, Lillian Bassman, and Milton Glaser, get questioned by clients, make changes, and accept client feedback.)

The reality is, if you want to produce work that you never have to change. If you think your work is so good it doesn’t require or accept feedback, you might want to think about changing careers. Like all forms of the visual arts, especially the commercial paying arts, the perception of your work is subjective. There are no guidelines on taste. One persons black velvet Elvis is another’s Picasso, and once you present your work to the public you no longer own it. The public, and your client does. Because they own it, they can do with it as they please, and with that comes commentary, praise, loathing, judgement, or worse total indifference to the work you have slaved over. It is an unfortunate fact about working in this industry, and one they never teach you in school. It is a lesson you learn on the job, as you grow your career over time.

The point of all of this is, you need to look at your work not just from your perspective, but from the public perspective as well. This is critical if you want to succeed. You aren’t making art, you’re making money from your aesthetic choices, critical thinking, problem solving, and your ability to sell that. With that said you won’t always win every battle. In the end however, you might be a bit happier if you realize there are things you can do to ease the pain.

First; It’s not about awards. To many are in it to collect the most awards possible, for bragging rights. Stop looking for praise and create work that is meaningful to you, and your client. Create work that solves the problem, not work that gets you liked on Dribble.

Second; Do the absolute best work you can do every single time no matter what the job is, or no matter how many changes the client requests. If you are phoning it in, everyone is going to know.

Third; You need to understand and remember from the start, if you are getting paid the client owns your ideas in the end. If you want to keep your work precious, and never change anything you need to lock it away and keep it out of the public eye. If your client wants you to use yellow, brown and red, you use yellow, brown and red. Even if you hate that color combination.

Fourth; You get the strikes when selling your idea to your client. Three, that’s it. If your ideas don’t resonate with your client by the third time you pitch them, the client has stopped listening to you. Give it up, ask the client more questions about what they are looking for, and start over. You haven’t failed. Like I said earlier this is all subjective. Sometimes things just don’t resonate with others the way they do with you.

Fifth; You aren’t curing cancer, ending world hunger, or ending global climate change. No one has ever died from a or bad logo design, or a crappy page layout. You need to stop taking yourself so seriously. 80 percent of our work ends up on the cutting room floor by the time it’s all said and done.

Sixth; If you are an creative director, art director, or senior designer, your job is improve the design work presented to you. You don’t need to make it your own, or pee all over it. Your job is to help the designer improve the work by tweaking it into greatness. Designers, you need to listen and learn from what the CD, AD and senior level designers are telling you. All of this is a collaborative process, and believe it or not, collaboration is a good thing.

Seventh; Building on what I just said, collaboration can produce the most amazing results. It often produces the best end results. You don’t always have to have things your way. Working with others and building on collaborative ideas is something all designers should practice.

Eighth; Stop thinking of constraints as a pain in the neck, and treat them like a design challenge. There will always be constraints. From budgets to the number of colors you can use, to file size, to time, whatever. Embrace it and think of it as a problem you have to solve with the amazing skill set you possess. In the end you and your client will be thankful you did.

Ninth; If you aren’t having fun, it’s time to think about a career change. Seriously, life is too short. You spend at least 8 hours a day doing your job. If you don’t love what you are doing, it’s time to switch careers and start doing something you do love. This is applicable to any career, not just that of design.

Tenth; Keep an open mind. Influences come from everywhere and everyone. Sometimes, even your client might suggest something that is profound, enlightening, or influential in the final outcome of your assignment. Just because they are the client, doesn’t mean they are design ignorant, or the enemy. If you keep an open mind and look at all the input you will have a much better relationship with your client, and you’ll get more work. People talk, and you want your clients telling everyone how great you are to work with, and how you did the best job in the world for them.

With all that said, there are no hard fast rules. This isn’t a manifesto, it’s simply common sense gleaned from experience that will hopefully help ease the pain of working in a field of subjective ideas, revisions, and input from others.

A Few Suggestions For a Succesful Year as a Designer

As 2010 starts out, many people are facing the reality of either starting a new job or a new career. Below are a few common sense rules that I am going to try to follow through out the course of the next year. While I have listed these in reference to a career in design, they are applicable to almost any job.

• Find the right place to gain as much experience as possible in the shortest amount of time that you can. This may mean a small independent design studio, a large agency or it could be hopping jobs every 2 years depending on what’s available in your area.

• Work in a place that is worthy of your time and talent. Don’t settle for any job. If you settle, you won’t learn anything. You’ll be depressed and resentful, and that means no room for growth.

• Put more effort into your job than expected and do it cheerfully. If you are the whiner or the person that just does the status quo, you will be perceived as less valuable. Like it or not, this is the way it works. It’s human nature.

• Be generous with your contributions to the team’s work. Do not try to take credit for every idea you came up with. It’s a team effort. The mark of a true leader is a person that gives credit when credit is due. It shows professional maturity, and makes you look like a champion of others skills and talents.

• Become the most positive and enthusiastic designer at your workplace. A positive attitude does more to sell your skills than just about any other thing you can do.

• Be forgiving of yourself and the people you work with. Everyone makes mistakes even when they only have good intentions. Don’t let your mistakes or the mistakes of others make you lose sight of long-term goals.

• Commit yourself to quality. Never settle for something less than your very best. Perfect what you do, become a master at your craft.

• Persistence pays off. Great work never just falls into your lap. You need to work for it, refine it, perfect it.

• If you clearly see you’re going into the wrong direction with your strategy do not be afraid to stop and rethink everything. This means even if you have to start everything from scratch. Better to get it perfect then turn in shoddy work that undermines your skills.

• Discipline yourself to save money on even a modest salary. This will give you the freedom to change jobs when things go bad and will allow you to take meaningful breaks that refresh your mind and body. Think about the age-old story of the ant and the grasshopper.

• Don’t blame others. If you’re unhappy about something take the initiative to change instead of whining about it. Nobody likes a finger pointer, and you never know when you might end up working for the people you are complaining about. The design world is a tight community, and you can never predict who you might be working for or with in the future.

• Commit yourself to constant improvement. Technology and the industry changing very quickly. You have to keep up. This means carving out time to learn new skills, software, strategies, etc. If you don’t keep learning and improving, you will fall behind.

• Treat your colleagues and clients with respect. Your professional happiness isn’t based on the number of awards you have or how much money you make. It’s based on the relationships you have with your colleagues and clients. Treat them with respect, and they will respect you. It’s a two-way street.

• Be loyal to your clients and your employer. It will be appreciated even by the competition. If you go around bashing your employer, the people you work with, a client you have, this all comes back around. The world is a much smaller place these days. If you shoot your mouth off, it will get overheard or spread by someone else.

• Be a self-starter. If you identify an idea take charge and go for it. This shows that you are a leader, and that you have the kind of business acumen that leads to success.

• Be decisive even if it means you’re sometimes going to be wrong. Trial and error are the best ways to get experience, learn and grow. I don’t know of a single individual in the creative field that has hit a home run every time. Failure is a great tool that can help you learn, and contrary to popular belief failing isn’t something to be ashamed of. It’s called trial and error.

• Be bold and courageous with your work. When you look back on your professional life, you will regret the things you didn’t try more than the one you did.

• Don’t take all advice for granted. Pick what’s useful for you. Make up your own rules and change them at your will. It’s your life and your career. The more experience you have, the more the rules will change. As you gain more and more experience your role will begin to shift from advice getter, to advice giver. That shift is more powerful than you think, because you become the source of influence for a younger generation of designers starting out.