Monday, June 1, 2009
In art school, we had to take a career class. I always thought its sole purpose was to suck more money out of us, rather than impart anything of value. One of our assignments was a group presentation on one of the different graphic design jobs out there (ie. small ad agency, large marketing firm, non-profit, in-house, etc.) Our group presented on the pros and cons of working at a small ad agency since I was already interning at one. The group that presented on in-house design was hard-pressed to convince us of any pros. Our professor tried to point out that working in-house for a company like Target or Coca-Cola would actually be really fun, but none of us would believe it.Fast forward three years, and I'm working in-house for a national appliance and home theater installation company. I never would have seen myself here in a million years. And you know what? I really do love my job!
The first advantage of working in-house for a company is that you are the design expert! Different companies have different set-ups, so you may be the sole person in the art department, or you may be working on a design team. Either way, the rest of the company is focused on doing what it specializes in, leaving you to make the design decisions. You knowledge and your opinions are actually respected by your coworkers because they realize the importance of what you contribute.
Another advantage of in-house design is the variety of projects. I know it sounds shocking, but it's true! Your position, in all likelihood, will require you to be a jack-of-all-trades. You'll work on a variety of marketing materials like brochures, post cards, product catalogs, banners and signs, tradeshow booths, interactive media like websites and Flash presentations. You name it, you'll get your hands on it. I love this aspect because I get to use all the different Adobe products, and hone my skills in each. And, just when you think you don't have anything else to work on, you're company will have to create a new brand or product position or co-brand, so you'll whip out your corporate identity skills with logo creation.
One more advantage I've discovered is the challenge of taking something old and familiar, and putting a new spin or edge on it. This is no easy feat! Most, if not all, companies will want to keep their brand current and fresh, so you'll have to change things up, but in a way so that customers will still recognize the brand. This is a great way to flex your design muscles.
I hope I've given you some reasons to re-consider the in-house design career. It really is worth exploring, especially in today's economy. In-house design opens up a whole new avenue for finding a job. You can start by checking out some of your favorite companies, no matter what field they are in. Everyone needs design!
Labels: career, economy, graphic design, in-house design, skills, variety
posted by Steph Timms at 5:18 PM 0 Comments
Friday, April 10, 2009
[Re-]Designing Your Identity
In my experience, it doesn't matter who you talk to in the design world - everyone will agree that branding yourself is the hardest thing you'll do. What makes branding yourself so different from branding your clients? You.When you acquire a new client, one of two things happen - another designer has paved the way for branding your client, so you work with what's already established, or you get to start from scratch. It's always a challenge (a fun one, no less) to bring a fresh look to an existing brand, and almost instantly, you become comfortable working with the brand. The more you tweak and play, the easier it is to arrive at a new-yet-familiar solution for your client.
When you get to start from scratch, the client's solution is a foreign object. You have to explore your client's needs and desires, and translate that into a powerful brand. Before long, you start to eat, breathe, and think like your client. And once the initial branding is complete, any subsequent work is comfortable and familiar.
Regardless of whether you're starting from scratch or working with an existing brand, at the end of the day, you get to go home and be yourself again. You're no longer wearing Client X's skin. Unless it's deadline time, and then you're stuck in Client X until deadlines are met.
However, when you're designing your own brand, you don't get to go home at the end of the day. Compared to the days or maybe months of knowledge we have about our clients, what we know about ourselves is infinitely vast. And somehow, we have to weed through that knowledge to manifest the most important aspects of ourselves in our design. Holy crap! Instead of rationally designing a brand for a unique, up-and-coming freelance agency, we're spending hours wondering how one logo can represent our veggie-eating/rodent-loving/polka-dotted-shoe-wearing/cupcake-baking/yoga-practicing personality.
And the truth is, it doesn't have to! Clients want to see something simple that communicates its point succinctly; they're not hiring you based on your life-story-of-a-logo. They don't need to know that you broke your leg falling off the jungle gym in third grade, or that your Aunt Mildred used to date an almost-pro hockey player. Skip the irrelevant details, and start examining the important stuff - like your work.
Some things to consider when [re-]designing your identity:
1. How would you describe your agency? Are you running around in smart suits or chilling in jeans and t-shirt? Is your style more chic and sophisticated, or casual and comfortable?
2. Who are your clients? Are you working on a lot of corporate real-estate and banking accounts, or are you catering to your local arts community?
3. What kind of design do you WANT to do? This one is pretty important, actually. If you really enjoy designing concert posters, your logo should reflect this fact.
4. And finally, can you explain your logo if a client asks you about it? As designers, we always have a reason for our design, and this is no exception. "It just felt right" really doesn't cut it.
Once you've created your branding, stop fiddling! There's nothing wrong with refreshing your design every couple of years, but totally re-branding yourself every six months is unnecessary.
I actually re-visited my branding recently, because I hadn't touched it since I graduated over two years ago. And you know what? I am pretty happy with everything. I made some subtle tweaks to my logo because I've grown as a designer, and my logo needs to reflect that. But, everything else gets to stay the same. My brand is comfortable and familiar to me, and it still works for me, even though I've had massive personal changes since the original design. Designer Steph is a separate entity from Person Steph, and that's the way it should be.
Labels: branding, graphic design, identity, logo, rebranding, self promotion, tips
posted by Steph Timms at 11:45 AM 0 Comments
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