The design school conundrum

I routinely receive e-mails from intrepid high school students asking me what school they should attend if they want to pursue a career in design. Now the simple and easy response for me would be: "Go to RISD and then contact me in 4 years when you graduate."

Unfortunately, while this answer is quick and convenient it's also very, very wrong. Not that RISD isn't a truly stellar school (especially now that John Maeda is at the helm!) it's just that what works for one student may not work for another. I've seen brilliant designers from mediocre schools and mediocre designers from brilliant schools. There is no one right school for everyone.

Instead of focusing on what famous designers graduated from a given school it's far wiser to closely look at the program they offer and see if it's going to challenge you. An education that isn't challenging is worthless. Don't go to a school whose style and program closely mirrors what you're already doing. That might be good if you want to graduate with a 4.0 GPA but the reality is most employers don't care what your GPA was in school (especially if you're a designer!) Instead look for a program that will challenge your weaknesses.

Also pay attention to industry involvement. Does the school work with design studios to provide internship opportunities for their students? Some do, others don't which is too bad since internships are an immensely valuable learning experience for many designers. Beyond the learning experience, internships allow you to make valuable connections in the industry that you can use when you graduate to help you land your first job.

Finally, there is cost. No matter where you go, it won't be cheap and unless you're a trustfundarian you'll probably rely on student loans to pay for it. Just remember that those loans need to be repaid when you graduate and that you'll be graduating into a hyper competitive industry. A more expensive school isn't always the wisest investment and there are several smaller, below the radar, schools who have fantastic design programs.

Good post on Coroflot

Coroflot's Creative Seeds blog has a great interview with Jason Bacon of UNKL. The question they asked him is one that should be of interest to all designers: "What do you look for in a designer?" What's interesting is how little he talks about the actual work and how much he instead focuses on the ability of candidates to present their work. The man absolutely NAILS it! Doesn't matter how good your book is, if you babble your way through an interview sounding like a nerdy teen asking someone to the prom you're not going to get hired. Great designers not only have to design but they also have to be able to stand up and defend their work before their peers and sell the work to clients. At the firm I work at half the people we pass on we pass on because they fail to impress us in their presentation. Sadly, this is an area where too many students don't receive nearly enough training and practice before leaving school.

Read the full post at: Coroflot Creative Seeds

Who are you?

Here's a tip on how to make your resume stand out: give it a name! It's amazing how many people save their resume using the file name "resume.doc". Now I know that might seem like a perfectly obvious choice to you as the author but on the receiving end as a recruiter it's useless. On any given day I'm likely to receive a couple of dozen files with this name. Much better to give your resume a more specific file name that will keep it from being accidentally deleted. A couple of good examples:
John Doe-Designer.doc
Jane Smith-Portfolio.pdf

Feeling overexposed?

Like any good headhunter in this business I spend a fair chunk of time trawling the various portfolio and resume posting sites out there. Along the way I've noticed a few bad habits that certain people seem to follow.

For starters, updating your profile on these sites on a weekly basis isn't a good thing - especially when you're only doing it to increase your visibility. Sure it moves you to the top of the list but keep in mind recruiters look at these sites on a pretty regular basis. After a while we start seeing the same person who always seems to be available. This causes several hypothetical questions to pop into our heads:

• Why isn't this person working right now?
• If I hire this person will they continue to keep looking for a better paying opportunity somewhere else?
• Do they keep getting fired?

Now you might have perfectly good answers for all of those questions. Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to bother to take the time to ask them and instead move on to someone who doesn't look quite so desperate. Only update your profile on these sites when you have new work to show. If you're a freelancer don't update/re-list your profile more than once a month.

Next up is the crowd pleaser - the designer who applies to every job a company has listed in a desire to get their foot in the door. Don't get me wrong, enthusiasm DOES count, especially when you're just starting out. However there is a line between enthusiasm and desperation and applying for every single opening ensures that you're pole vaulting right over that line. Only apply for the job you're most likely qualified for. If your fresh out of school don't apply for the Design Director job. If you're a print designer don't apply for a Flash job.

If the company you're interested in doesn't have an opening that is a good fit your best bet is to send them your info and say in your cover letter something along the lines of: "I don't see any current openings that match my skills but am very interested in future opportunities as a [insert desired job title here]." Keep in mind that smaller companies may not bother to list or advertise all of their open positions and larger companies often struggle to keep all of their openings up to date on the various job posting sites. Don't let the lack of a posted job opening deter you from applying.

IDEO gets it right

IDEO is a strategy and design firm whose work can truly be considered best of class with little debate. As such, getting hired there is no easy task and they truly do pick from the best and brightest. As a recruiter, I can only imagine the deluge of resumes/portfolios they must get. In an effort to help manage this, IDEO has posted some very straightforward advice for people seeking full-time and internship opportunities. While some of the information is very particular to IDEO's needs much of it is applicable to anyone seeking a job at any decent design firm.

Read up: http://www.ideo.com/culture/careers/

Bright Lights Big City?

Summer is here and that means just one thing: masses of recent design grads heading to NY, SF, LA and Chicago like lemmings heading to the sea. The attraction seems simple enough: these 4 cities are where the action is at. If you want to be somebody in this business it's where you need to be.

Or is it?

Reality is trying to break into the industry by heading to one of the big 4 may not be the smartest move after all. For starters, there's the issue of competition and supply. When I recruited designers in NYC and SF the pool of candidates seemed bottomless. For designers this has two unpleasant realities: First, more competition means it's going to be harder for you to land a job. Second, Economics 101 says the greater the supply of a given product the lower the price will be. Starting salaries for entry level designers in NYC, the design capital of America, are actually lower than in many smaller markets precisely because firms in Manhattan have so many people competing for so few spots. I know firms in Seattle who pay more than SF agencies. I know shops in Minneapolis that pay more than firms in NYC.

Next comes quality of work. If you go to the big city and wind up at a big agency it's a real safe bet you won't be doing big work! At many major agencies interns are little more than over-glorified errand runners assigned tasks deemed too menial for "real" designers. Entry level designers are treated only slightly better. Either way, it's a safe bet you won't be doing any major work on any major clients. You'll be a small fish in a big pond. At smaller agencies in secondary markets you're more likely to be treated as a contributing member of a design team. At these firms you're more likely to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. If your goal is to gain meaningful experience as a designer you're probably better off at a smaller sized shop in one of the secondary markets.

Finally, there's the issue of money. Rest assured your first job isn't going to pay a whole lot. Ours is an industry where you have to earn your chops and that means toiling away for little pay or glory for your first few years. Cities like SF and NY are painfully expensive places to live. For what you pay for a dingy studio in SF you could have a sweet 2-3 bedroom in Seattle. The price of a third floor walk up in Brooklyn would let you rent a house in Minneapolis. While cities like Portland, Minneapolis, Austin or Seattle may not sound terribly hip and happening to a recent grad each has a very vibrant creative community and all are more affordable than the major metropolises.

Looks DO count!

In the last post we talked about how to put together your resume. Now let's talk about what the hiring managers REALLY care about: your portfolio!! Here's a few tips that many applicants I encounter routinely seem to ignore:

• Design is a visual medium! I long ago lost count of how many people would apply for a job and not bother to include a portfolio or samples. There is absolutely no way to determine a candidate's design skills from looking at their resume. It's all about the work. Considering the huge number a responses the typical "Designer Wanted" job post attracts you can safely rest assured that if you don't attach a portfolio or include a link to your work you will not be getting called in for an interview.
  
• Know your audience. If you're applying for a job as a UI designer don't bother including examples of your packaging design work. If you're applying for a position with a branding agency don't submit samples of ad work. Take a look at the work the firm you're applying to has done in the past and select pieces for your portfolio that show work completed for similar clients or similar projects.
  
• Your first time isn't your best. Years ago a design director I know gave some rather blunt yet accurate advice to a group of students. She said "Your first paid experience as a designer will be like the first time you had sex: messy, clueless, unimpressive and you'll likely be the only person proud of the accomplishment!" This is something all junior designers should keep in mind. Don't include a piece in your portfolio simply because it was your first paid work.
  
• Bigger isn't always better. Don't include a mediocre piece of work simply because it was for a major client. Not all assignments will be creative masterpieces and often times the larger the client, the more mediocre the work. If you're not proud of a piece of work do not include it in your portfolio. Nothing kills an interview faster than having a design explain a piece of work they're not proud of. You can hide your lack of enthusiasm about as well as you can hide from a fart in a spacesuit.
  
• Process counts. When your just starting out it helps to include a complete case study for at least one project. This will help your prospective employer see how you think your way through a design problem. Seeing what you deliberately chose to leave out of a design can be as important as seeing what you put into the final outcome. Comps and sketches are a great way to show a potential employer how you think.
  
• Be flexible. Some employers will want to see a physical book while others may prefer a PDF or even a link to a site. Have your portfolio available in all three formats. Also make sure you have a PDF that is less than 5MB since that seems to be a pretty common file size limit.
  
• You're who exactly?? Simple as this may sound, it still amazes me how many portfolios and web sites I've seen that lack contact info! Be sure to include your name, telephone number and e-mail address on your portfolio or web site.
  
• Remember the KISS rule. Your web site should show off your work. Sounds simple enough but I've seen plenty of sites where seeing the work appears to be a secondary concern behind showing off fancy Flash tricks and clever navigation schemes. Rarely does this approach succeed. Keep in mind your typical recruiter or hiring manager is going to be a look at a LOT of portfolios. This means they're going to spend just a few seconds looking at your site before deciding if you're worth talking to. Your site needs to quickly and clearly show prospective employers your best work.
  
• Put your best foot forward. I like to ask designers to show me the work they consider to be the best piece in their portfolio. More often than not they flip to somewhere in the middle of their book. Again, this ignores the reality of how recruiters operate. If your best work is buried in your portfolio there's a good chance a recruiter will never see it. They're going to lose interest early on and toss your portfolio aside in order to move on to the next portfolio in their stack. First impressions count and you need to make sure the first piece they see will capture their attention.
  
• Give credit where credit is due. More than once I've seen two candidates show the exact same piece of work in their portfolio and claim it as their own. Not good! Be sure to include a line or two describing each project including your specific contribution to the effort. These days design is a team sport and it's unlikely any major client is going to hand off a major project to just one person. Showing that you're a team player will always win you points.