What is a trend? I’m not going to quote the dictionary. I’m going to just tell you my interpretation. Once a design style starts to seep into usages beyond it’s original purpose, it has become a trend. For example, a wood background on a camping website makes sense. When the local bank is using a wood background on their website, it has become a trend. An illustrated mascot on an illustrator’s site makes sense. Now that everybody with a face has an illustrated version of themselves on their website, it is a trend.

So, what were the biggest trends of 2009? Here are my top 10 (in no particular order):

1. Grunge

I think this one is fairly obvious. Dirty textures, torn photos, and worn type ruled the web in 2009. I think we all took to the texture and interest of this trend because it was so far from the squeaky clean glossy buttons we had been looking at for years prior.

What’s next for Grunge? As much as I love a well-done grunge-inspired website, I have a feeling it’s time is almost up. I’m sure that there will be plenty of latecomers taking on the grunge look for themselves, but most innovative designers have moved onto something else. When something hits as hard as this trend, it spreads fast, and disappears almost as quickly.

2. Collage/Texture

Collage was EVERYWHERE in 2009! Some sites have been extremely creative in their use of collage (I think that WebDesigner Wall was a big inspiration to many designers), but others of us have fallen into the collage pit-of-shame. If your website or twitter background includes a photo (most likely Polaroid), paper-clip or thumbtack, and coffee stain (with no other creative elements), please try again. I know it was awesome the first time you saw it — but now it’s the official twitter background of the “Social Media Expert,” and its creative time has passed.

What’s next for Collage/Texture? I don’t think collage is going anywhere. I think we’ll still see a lot of it, but I have faith that we’re going to progress past the Polaroids and continue to find innovative ways to build on this trend.

3. Big Headlines

Oh, yes, I’m on board with the big headline trend — as you can see by the large headlines on Creative Opera. Again, I feel this trend is in response to the tiny fonts that have been in vogue in the past. Remember those flash sites with the teeny-tiny text? Well, no longer! “The bigger, the better” seemed to be the theme of 2009.

What’s next for Big Headlines? I don’t see big headlines going anywhere. I think they will continue to be a strong trend in 2010. In fact, toward the end of 2009, headlines seem to be growing — not shrinking — so say it large!

4. Introductions

Hello! My name is Manda and I make websites. Apparently I am not alone. There are people all over the internet introducing themselves. I’d like to blame the talented Jason Reed for this. His website was so well marketed and so well designed, that designers all over started introducing themselves on their homepages. This trend is so strong, that even portfolio templates are including the hello line.

What’s next for Introductions? I think we’re going to continue to see introductions. Let’s face it, it’s a great idea to tell your audience upfront what you and your site are all about. But, I do think we’re going to break away from the standard “Hello, my name is blank and I blank,” and start to see some more creative interactions (as demonstrated on the Kidd81 site below).

5. Nature/Wood

I’m a nature girl. I grew up on a farm, and still prefer to walk through the grass in my bare feet. In 2009, I didn’t have to look far to find nature. There were trees and grass and blue skies everywhere online. It doesn’t matter if the company manufactures sock puppets or sells office furniture — a wood background and grassy hills work for everyone. So it seems anyway.

What’s next for nature-inspired web design? I think there will be plenty of nature in design in 2010, but I think that the wood trend will die down a bit. It is a wonderful answer for some sites (check out the Outlaw Design Blog), but it just doesn’t have the same pop on a banking site.

6. One-page Scrolling Sites

One-page sites exploded online in 2009. Moving horizontally or vertically, scrolling sites gave an added element of animation to website navigation. Check out some of my favorite scrolling one-page sites here.

What’s next for one-page websites? I think that this trend is going to continue to grow in 2010 – with more and more people taking advantage of the ease and simplicity of a one-page website. I believe we will even begin to see more non-scrolling one-page sites. With everyone building profiles across the social network, why waste time with web pages when you can just provide links to your Facebook, Twitter, and FlickR pages?

7. Exaggerated Grids

Grids were hot in 2010. Balance and symmetry were everywhere – exaggerated by perfectly aligned elements in table-like form. And why not? It’s a great way to visually organize large amounts of content.

What’s next for exaggerated grid layouts? I think we’ll continue to see grid layouts in websites that must provide a lot of content in a small area (CSS showcase sites, for example) however, I think that the trend for most new sites in 2010 will be toward more organic – less structured layouts.

8. Content Sliders

This may be the most overused and abused trend of 2009. It’s hard to even find a site that isn’t using this technique on their homepage. I totally get it — it’s an attractive, attention-grabbing way to showcase lots of information and images in a small space. But, I’m already bored with it and can’t wait to see how this trend evolves.

What’s next for content sliders? I don’t think we’ll see this trend die out in 2010. I am crossing my fingers, though, that we’ll see some real variation this year in both the design and functionality of these sliders. Already, there has been a lot of improvement. I’m afraid, though, that we’ll probably still be seeing the basic numbered 4-screen slider on corporate sites for many years to come.

9. Illustration and Paint

In another fabulously successful backlash against Web 2.0 design, illustrated and painted web elements were all the rage in 2009. Maybe it’s because I started my design training in print – and still love the look of raw pencil on paper – but I love these colorful, sketchy, arty sites. Check out some of my favorite illustration websites from 2009.

What’s next for Illustration and Paint? I think we’ll continue to see this trend in 2010 – although because sites like these can be so time-consuming and costly to create (so much original artwork!), we may see less of this in corporate sites, and continue to see it mainly in our own design circles.

10. The Official Layout of 2009

It seems to me that if you created wireframe drawings of all of the websites created in 2009, a gigantic percentage of them would use what I am calling “The Official Layout of 2009” A large rectangular graphic at the top of the page (often a content slider!), with three or four sub-categories beneath. This layout has been tweaked here and there, but the concept is still the same. This is one category where I didn’t have to search long for examples. The hardest part was deciding which of the hundreds I found to include. I tried to include interesting designs — despite the common structure.

What’s next for the official layout? This trend has already started trickling down. The template designers have used it. The copy-cats have copied it. People have created their first websites using it. I hope it’s almost over – we need an official layout of 2010!

SO WHAT’S COMING IN 2010? WHAT TRENDS AM I PREDICTING FOR THIS YEAR?

Find out in part 2:
Web Design Trends: Predictions for 2010

I’d love to hear from you! What do you think was the biggest trend of 2009? Is is going to stick in 2010?

This was a challenging post to put together. I googled logo and identity designers, and clicked through pages of websites to gather these logos. I thought it would be really interesting to see the logos of logo designers. I thought, who better to learn from? Who better to inspire us? Logo designers should have the very BEST logos, right? Well, not exactly. Like anything else, there are some extremely talented logo designers out there, and there are some who are not so talented.

Here are a few things I learned by looking at so many logo designer logos:

1. A creative company name does not have any connection to the quality of the company logo. I would get excited to click on the links of companies with fun or creative names, assuming their logo would be equally compelling. Not usually.

2. The quality of the company logo does seem to accurately reflect the quality of the logos each company provides for their clients. If the company had a clean, creative logo, their work was equally good. If the company had a clip-art logo filled with gradients, their portfolio was filled with the same muddled work.

3. Some logo designers should accept the fact that they are not web designers and hire a professional. I saw some very nice logo work, presented quite poorly online. I have a feeling these designers decided to experiment with web design. Perhaps not the best decision.

4. A surprising number of logo designers don’t have logos. Um. What?

5. Many many (many) logo designers are missing the boat completely. For a nice, quick explanation of logo design 101, check out these fantastic posts: Good Logos Are Flexible: Tips to make sure yours is, from The Design Cubicle and 10 Common Mistakes in Logo Design from Smashing Magazine.

6. Some of my least favorite fonts are still alive and well, and being used in professional logo design.

7. There are a lot of not-so-good logo designers out there, and they are somehow managing to get paying clients. If you have a talent for logo design, don’t be discouraged by the sheer number of logo designers out there. QUALITY logo designers seem to be few and far between, and the market doesn’t look to be that overly saturated with talented designers. I’m sure that we can use a couple more good ones

Now that I have that out of my system, just a few more words on the logos in this collection:

1. I did not choose these logos because I thought they were mind-blowing or the best logos I’ve ever seen (although some are simply fantastic). I wanted to give you a real-life sense of what professional logo designers are doing with their own identity – good or bad. I’m hoping that you will decide for yourselves which of these are good, and which of these logo designers need to go back to the drawing board.

2. I did have to leave some good logos out. They just weren’t presented in a way on their website where I could get a good screenshot. Some were tiny, some were animated, and some were on a completely distracting background.

3. I had to draw some lines. I didn’t include any logos that made my stomach turn. Even though it might have been fun to see them for shock value, I just couldn’t bring myself to include those that made me sick. I also left out the completely mundane or boring. If you just typed your company name in Times New Roman, you didn’t make this post. Finally, I skipped any company with a stock photo of a call-center lady willing to answer my questions 24-7 or with a price list in the same range as the drink prices at a concert. I don’t think I need to explain why.

4. I’ve linked each of the logos back to the logo designer’s logo portfolio. I thought it would be interesting for you to see their other work, and also to see how they presented their work on their website.

Okay, enough of my babbling, here are the logos, each and every one designed by a designer or company specializing in logo design.

So, what do you think? Which of these designers would you hire? I know some of these designs are excellent. Which are your favorites? On the other hand, are you surprised that any of these logos belong to professional logo designers? I’d love to hear what you think!

To really get an idea of how varied the skill range is in professional logo design, google “Logo and Identity Design” and check out some of the companies. If you find anything you would like to add to my list above (#8?) please share it in the comments below. Also, if you are a logo designer yourself, and you would like me to add your logo to this post, please leave your url in the comments below.

I’ve categorized each of the blogs into one of ten main categories: All-in-One, Inspiration, Tutorials, Web Development/Code, Freelance, Logos & Typography, Advice & Discussion, Freebies & Giveaways, Blogging, and Micro-Blogs/Links. That does not mean that the blog doesn’t offer anything else. It just means that the blog has a main focus. Creative Opera, for example, really focuses on giving advice to new designers or design students. But, we offer many other things as well — and have plans to expand greatly in the upcoming months. I’m not trying to pigeonhole anyone, I just want to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. Hopefully you’ll be able to find a few blogs here that will be helpful to you in your design career. As an added bonus, I’ve chosen one of my favorite posts from each to share with you. Enjoy!

ALL-IN-ONE:

These blogs have a little of everything, and are a one-stop-shop for anything and everything design-related.

Smashing Magazine | 10 Common Mistakes in Logo Design

Webdesigner Depot | The 960 Grid System Toolbox & Resources

Six Revisions | Feedback. The Creativity Killer.

You The Designer | 7 Perfect WordPress Portfolio Themes

Hongkiat | 50 Beautiful Hand-Drawn Web Design

The Design Cubicle | 10 Common Typography Mistakes

My Ink Blog | How to Create Your Own Photoshop Brushes

Web Designer Wall | 30 Untypical WordPress Sites

Web Design Ledger | 16 Best Photoshop Tutorials for Creating Web Designs

Noupe | Going Freelance: The Pros & Cons With “Top Web Designers”

Design Reviver | 200+ Textures, Brushes, and Fonts: Ultimate Grunge Roundup

Line25 | How to Convert a Photoshop Mockup to XHTML/CSS

Arbenting | Details on the 10 Most Helpful WordPress Design Blogs

Vandelay Design | Gallery of 3D Elements in Web Design

Outlaw Design Blog | How to Resell Hosting: A Guide For Web Designers

Fuel Your Creativity | 30 Dual Element Logos, Do You See Them All?

Speckyboy | 14 Essential Wordpress Development and Design Cheat Sheets

Graphic Design Blog | 25 logos with hidden messages – Amazing Graphic Designing tricks!

Spyre Studios | Top 12 Free Content Management Systems (CMS)

Smashing Apps | 23 Colorful And Inspiring Web Designs Where Textures Are In Full Action

DesignM.ag | 30 Top Sources of Typography Inspiration

Function | How-To: Taking WordPress One Step Further

Minervity | 14 Invaluable Tools to Check the Real Worth of Your Design Work

Crazy Leaf Design Blog | Web 2.0 Guide and 2000+ Resources

instantShift | 40 Sources To Download High-Quality Free Photoshop PSD Stuff

Design was Here | 80+ Inspiring Quotes about Design

Naldz Graphics | 60+ Most Beautiful and Creative Business Cards Design

Spoon Graphics | Twitter Background Design How-To and Best Practices

GoMediaZine | 12 Tips For Flawless Service & Happy Clients

Inspired Magazine | 15 Fresh Wordpress Themes To Get The Coolest Portfolio For You Or Your Studio

Typesett Magazine | How To Properly Archive Your Design Work

1st Webdesigner | 31 Useful Twitter Plugins For Wordpress To Choose From

Veerle’s Blog | Placing a CSS background image horizontally right on an h2 using a span element

PSD Fan | 20+ Photoshop Light Effects Tutorials to Light up Your Day

Velvet Ant | 30 Designer-Driven Showcase Sites

Lee Munroe | Popular Design Blogs Share Their Stats

INSPIRATION:

These blogs are a constant source of inspiration, with showcases and galleries galore.

Abduzeedo | 45 Amazing Type Faces – Typographic Portraits

Dzine Blog | 50 Beautiful Website Designs For your Inspiration

Inspiredology | 37 Examples of Unique Navigation

Toxel | 20 Unusual and Creative Packaging Designs

WellMedicated | 40 Beautiful Web Design Portfolios

Design Shard | Amazing Ornamental Design Inspiration – Baroque Style

Styletime | Inspiration from Collage Art

Francesco Mugnai | 70 more fantastic 404 error pages

2experts Design | 15 Coolest Minimalist WebDesigns Using Photograph as Background

Designflavr | Beautiful High Speed Water Photography

Web Urbanist | Faux Photoshop: 15 Incredible Images That Look Altered but Aren’t

Fresh Creation | Top 10 Webby 5 Word Speeches

TUTORIALS:

Looking to learn something? These blogs are for you!

PSD Tuts+ | Using Your Camera’s Histogram to Take Better Digital Photographs

Vector Tuts+ | How to Use Multi-Layered Illustrator Artwork in InDesign

Tutorial9 | How To Create An Abstract Floral Explosion in Photoshop

PSD Vault | Create a Realistic Break-Apart Effect with Debris Brushset in Photoshop

TutorialBlog | 10 Quick & Dirty Tricks for Easy Custom Web Backgrounds

PSDVibe | Coding: Corporate WordPress Style Layout

WEB DEVELOPMENT/CODE:

These blogs focus on web design and the programming side of design, covering topics like XHTML, CSS, PHP and many more.

CSS-Tricks | Designing for WordPress: Complete Series & Downloads

Net Tuts+ | 24 JavaScript Best Practices for Beginners

DevSnippets | Styling your Lists: 20+ Brilliant How to’s and Best Practices

Usability Post | Drop IE6 Support — Give People a Reason to Upgrade

FREELANCE:

These blogs are geared toward freelance designers. They are full of helpful advice and resources.

Freelance Switch | 101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads

Guerrilla Freelancing | The 10 biggest mistakes people make on twitter

Freelance Folder | Increase Your Freelancing Income by Narrowing Your Focus

LOGOS and TYPOGRAPHY:

These blogs feature logo design posts, and/or focus on typography.

Logo Design Love | 85 of the best logo design resources

Just Creative Design | The Logo Design Process of TOP Logo Designers

ImJustCreative | 9 Solid Logo Design Tips for Beginners

I Love Typography | So you want to create a font.

ADVICE and DISCUSSION:

These blogs dig deep with relevant posts, professional advice, thoughtful answers to timely questions, and much user discussion.

Think Vitamin | Launch a Business, Not a Side Project

David Airey | Getting your foot in the door

A List Apart | Taking the Guesswork Out of Design

From The Couch | The Letterpress Trend Has To Go

Ideas on Ideas | More mess; less B.S. (or: Nine simple suggestions for using social media)

We Are not Freelancers | We’re not machines, why do we work like ones?

Positive Space Blog | SEO Works, Just Not to the Client’s Expectations

FREEBIES and GIVEAWAYS:

These blogs are packed with free brushes, icons, patterns and more.

Colorburned | 10 Incredible Seamless Destroyed Vectors

Think Design | Free Vectors – 27+ Abstract Geometric Wireframe Vectors

BittBox | Free Hi-Res Photoshop Brushes: Abstract Splatter

BLOGGING:

Blogs about blogging and blog design.

Pro Blog Design | 10 Ways to Speed up Your Wordpress Blog

ProBlogger | How To Land Big Interviews When Your Blog Is Still Small

In the Woods | Tips For Creating High Selling Templates

Designers who Blog | Killed Ideas Blog

Skelliewag | Tutorial: How to Write a Viral-ready Article in 2 Hours Flat

MICRO-BLOGS/LINKS:

These blogs gather and post design-related links from across the web.

Creattica Daily

Script & Style

Design Newz

Andy Sowards

CSS Globe

Photoshop Lady

Webdesign-Ne.ws

Sharebrain

Zach Krasner Times

The Design Inspiration

I hope that you enjoyed this post, and have found some new amazing blogs to visit! Is it possible I forgot a few good ones? Of course! If I’ve left out one of your favorites, please let me know about it in the comments.

Every class is important

It’s easy to look at your college schedule and think that some classes are just a pure waste of time. Math? Science? English Composition? I have to admit, there are some professions where I might say some classes aren’t going to have any effect on your career. Why does an accountant need to know how to write a research paper? Why would an English teacher need to understand chemistry? As designers, we will put ALL of our subjects to use. Math, business, accounting, speech, and writing skills are an absolute necessity in the design field — if you want to be successful. As for the science classes, psych classes, and philosophy classes, take advantage of them while you can. As designers, we work in EVERY field. When you have a client who has a business in one of these fields, all you’ll have to fall back on is the knowledge you gained of these subjects in school (and all of the research you’ll have to do if you get the job). Clients will expect you to take the time to learn about their field — to understand where their clients are coming from and what their product offers. I’m constantly surprised by the subjects I find myself immersed in. Thanks to my clients, I’ve had to become knowledgeable in finance and investing, human interaction and psychology, skin care, publishing, engineering, distilling liquor, and so much more. Thanks to my college classes (the ones that I thought were useless) I had some knowledge to draw from when I first started working with these clients.

The most boring parts of class are the most important parts

Now when I look back, I realize how fortunate I was. My prepress teacher owned a large printing business. My Photoshop (Photoshop 3.0!) teacher wrote some of the original Photoshop books. My business teachers ran their own agencies. But, was I amazed by their talent and in awe of their experience? No. I was bored. My photoshop teacher droned on about resolution and moire patterns. My prepress teacher put me to sleep talking about bleeds and paper weights. After graduation, I quickly found out that those parts of class that I found most intolerable were actually the most valuable. Drawing classes were fun, but they didn’t help me the first time I got drug out to the presses and scolded for not setting up my files correctly. Color theory was fascinating, but it couldn’t help me when I had to figure out how to get a scanned image to print well on a press. The pen tool was hard in school. I avoided it as much as possible. Now it is my best friend and I could never survive without it.

As an instructor who works as a designer, I know what the important things are. And I try to hammer those things into my students when I teach. But, I see the bobbing heads and the rolling eyes, and I know they are thinking the same thing I was — just shut up and let me play with the filters. I know it’s hard when you’re young and excited and impatient, but try to pay attention to the boring stuff. It will pay off later, I promise.

Electives Matter — Choose Wisely

When you’re in school, you’re really looking for two things when it comes to electives. You want something easy and fun, and you want something that will fit into your schedule. As an old fuddy-duddy with years of experience, I am begging you to choose your electives based on your career goals. You are PAYING for those classes. A lot. Don’t waste your money on Bowling 101 or Cake Decorating. Think about what will help you as a designer. If you want to be a web designer, pick up some extra programming languages. If you want to be an animator, find a 3-D class or Actionscript class. Even a drawing class will be useful. Just don’t throw your time and money away on Introduction to Dinosaurs.

College isn’t a Race

I was in a hurry to graduate. I finished my BFA with a minor in three years. (Sidenote: don’t choose a school because they say you can graduate in three years instead of four. You can do that anywhere if you go summers — as you will in the schools that use that as their advertising focus.) I loved school. I was the nerd I am now and worked hard and got good grades. But, after I got out, I was a little dissappointed. What was my hurry? I lost one year of being inspired by fellow students, learning from amazing professionals in the field, and taking daily trips to the Art Institute. I wish I had slowed down, graduated in four years, and enjoyed myself a little more. If you have a family to support, or are on some sort of goal schedule, that’s different. But, if you’re just a regular kid in college, there is no reason to rush through school. Take the time to do well in your classes and really create some beautiful portfolio peices. Those years fly by. Enjoy them.

Your Supplies will Last a Lifetime

When you start your design classes, you will be required to buy hundreds of dollars worth of art supplies. Even now, when much of the design process is digital, most colleges require a number of drawing, layout, and theory classes — all performed on good old fashioned paper. Love your supplies. Take care of them. They will last forever. Well, okay, that stick of charcoal isn’t going to last forever. But, your beautiful metal t-square will be with you the rest of your life. Your large cutting mat, your favorite x-acto handle, your Prismacolor pencils, and your kneaded eraser have years of life ahead of them. Take good care of your supplies.

Learn to Type (the right way)

I didn’t miss out on this one personally, but I have many (many) friends in the design field who can’t type. We are all required to take a typing class in high school. A very (very) small percentage of us pay any attention. And, do designers need to know how to type? YES!! You’ll type EVERY day. Some days it will just be emails, and some days you’ll be transcribing entire pages. I know that most current students grew up with computers, and many of you CAN type. But, for those of you who can’t, get in a typing class. Suck it up. Be a nerd. Don’t look at your fingers or the keys. And reap the benefits later when you’re working as a designer and cranking out emails like a machine.

Use Feedback to Your Advantage — Especially Criticism

You’re not going to get through any (decent) design class without a healthy dose of criticism from your instructor and fellow students. At a young age (highschool and college age especially) it is difficult to take criticism. You naturally think that you are right and they are wrong. It’s even harder in design because art is so subjective. Everyone has a different opinion. Math is easy. There is one right answer. With design, there might be many successful solutions to any problem, so the possibility for disagreement is high. As a student, though, you should understand that your instructor is standing in front of you for a reason. They have the experience and training to help you grow and improve as a designer. If they are giving you constructive critisicm or suggesting that you make a change to your design, try to respect their advice. I can assure you that it is MUCH easier as an instructor to pat everyone on the back and tell them that their work is great. If a teacher is taking the time to give you tips on improving your design, it is only because they want to help you.

Why is it so important that you are good at accepting criticism? There are two main reasons. First, you should use that criticism to revise and improve your designs so they are prepped and ready for your portfolio. Second, you’re going to spend the rest of your life being criticized and making revisions to your original designs. And, these critiques and requests won’t be coming from professional designers with years of experience. They will be coming from your clients, most of whom have absolutely no design training whatsoever. Get used to it. Your job will not be to please yourself. It will be to please your clients. And, listening to their critiques is the first step in creating designs they will love.

Take Advantage of Your College

Most colleges offer so many amazing things to their students. Clubs, trips, and social events are just the tip of the iceberg. If you are having trouble paying for school, check out any work-study or student aide positions that might be available. Take advantage of your financial adviser and get help applying for your loans. Don’t be scared to ask questions, and make sure that you understand EVERYTHING that you sign. After or just before graduation, meet with the job placement people. Let them help you get your resume into the right hands and set you up on some interviews. If your college offers retraining, you have a HUGE advantage. Go back and take classes to learn the latest programming languages and updated programs. You’ll never again be in a place with this many resources and opportunities. Take advantage of them.

All Positive Experiences are Worth Your Time

When you are in college, it’s hard to see the big picture. There were two times I distinctly remember turning down amazing opportunities. The first time, I was asked to present some research I had done at a conference down state. I had discovered something new, and my instructor was impressed enough that he asked that I continue my project and present it. It was a huge deal. What did I do? I passed. No thanks, I said. You can go ahead and use my research. I’m going to be a designer, so this really doesn’t pertain to me. Was I an idiot? Yep.

Later in my college career, we took a field trip to meet a pretty famous director of television commercials. I wanted to work in advertising, and really enjoyed the trip. My instructor was friends with the director, talked to him, and offered me an internship working with him. I turned it down. No thanks. I don’t want to work in TV. What was I thinking? Ugh!

Those stories make me sick to my stomach. How could I be so closed minded? So near sighted? I was just a normal self-centered college student who didn’t want to put myself out for something that I didn’t think would directly impact my career. I was wrong. These stories are embarrassing, but I hope that they will help some of you avoid making the same mistakes. If you have opportunities like these, jump at them. I may have still ended up in the same place (and I love where I am in my career) but I would have had some great stories to tell. I really missed out, and it was my own fault. Don’t be like me — leap at the chance to broaden your horizons and learn something new.

A Referral is a Gift — Don’t Take It for Granted

If you ever are in the position where a teacher refers you to a friend, please realize what a huge deal this is. Instructors and design professionals meet hundreds of people, and their reputation is everything. They will only give referrals to the best of the best students. Don’t take it lightly. Be thankful, be gracious, and FOLLOW UP!! Don’t let it go to waste! Go in for the interview, make the phone call, and carry through with all of your promises. That referral could be the beginning (or end) of your career. Be sure to give it the time and attention it deserves.

Keep Track of EVERY Contact you Make

You’ll meet a lot of important people in college. Your instructors, speakers, and those you meet on field trips should be the first entries in your professional Rolodex. You never know when you’ll need those contacts later — maybe 10 years later. Every time you meet someone, try to get a card and jot down any notes about that person on the back. Save that card. Forever.

Don’t Take a Break After College

This is probably the biggest mistake I see students make after graduation. They worked hard in school, and they want to “take a break.” Sometimes they are just burnt out, and sometimes they want to perfect their portfolios, but 99% of the time, a break like this will lead to a career as a (insert any profession here – other than designer). Taking time off after school is never a good idea. You know how fast programming languages and design programs are updated. You’ll be left behind in no time. You’ll lose touch with your instructors and other contacts. You’ll fall away from the industry, and before you know it, you will feel too lost to even try to apply for a job. Do everything you can to work right out of school. Even if you have to take a low-paying job or internship and then work another job at night or on the weekends (like I did) — it will be worth it in the end. Don’t quit looking until you land a job in the design field.

Live at Home While You Can

I’m going to end with the most controversial of my lessons. Live at home while you can. If you have generous parents and a decent relationship with them, it will work to your advantage if you can stay with them for a couple of years after graduation. I know that in your early twenties, all you want to do is move out and get a place of your own, but living at home will give you many advantages that will carry through the rest of your life. Without having to pay rent, you will be able to take a lower-paying design job to start off your career. You may not have that option if you are trying to support yourself. You can also pay off any credit card debt you ran up while in college and start paying down your student loans. You’ll find that after you move out, paying off anything is very difficult because your entire paycheck seems to barely cover living expenses. I know it’s not fun, but starting life on your own with your career on track, no credit card debt, and lower student loans will put you leaps and bounds ahead of those who don’t have those advantages. (Sidenote: if you do live at home, be respectful of your parents. It is still their house. You won’t have the freedoms you had while you were away at school. Try to help with some of the bills, do as much housework as possible, and when you do get a good job — or a promotion — get out and do whatever you can to pay them back for being so supportive.)

So, those are my lessons — things that I know now that I wish I knew in design school. What about you? Do you have any lessons you would like to share?

In graphic design, there are many many options when it comes to choosing a career. You can go into web design, print design, advertising design, animation, illustration, etc. Within those facets of design, there are also many different types of companies to choose from. You can work for a print shop, a magazine, a newspaper, a design studio, an advertising agency, and so on. Within THOSE specific places, you can hold many different positions from intern to creative director. It is extremely important that you know what direction you want to go BEFORE you start sending out resumes.

Why do I Need to Choose a Path First?

Once you start down one path in design, you will find it difficult to move away from it. For example, if you start off working for a newspaper, you’ll see that your career will advance — within the newspaper industry. If you start out as a web designer, it will be hard to convince a company to give you a shot as a senior prepress manager. They will be looking for someone with print and prepress experience — not someone who can write clean css. This is why it is important to decide now what type of design job you really want. You don’t want to start your career in a design field that you don’t enjoy because — before you know it — you’ll be stuck in that field, and unhappy. Take the time now to make the decision so you can build the career you really want.

What Type of Design Job Do I Want?

Not sure what you want? Think about what you are really good at. What classes did you excel in? What types of design work do you find enjoyable? Does time fly when you code websites? Can you not get enough InDesign? Do you thrive on tight deadlines and concept work? You want to put yourself in the position to start your career at the bottom of your chosen field of design, so that you can end up on top in that same field.

Still confused about your options? Don’t feel bad — you have many, so it’s hard to be educated about them all. Here are two helpful articles that break down some of the fields of design:

• Graphic Design job descriptions from Design: Talkboard
• 16 Designer Job Descriptions by Jacob Cass on his blog, Just Creative Design
  

You can also search the want ads and the online job boards for types of jobs in design. Look at the job requirements and duties to see what fits you best.

Another great way to find out about specific careers in the design field is to ask someone working in that position. Call, write, or email a professional working in a job that you think you might enjoy. You won’t believe how open and friendly most designers are — and how willing they are to share advice with new and upcoming designers. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them with your questions — find out first-hand what their daily responsibilities are, how many years they had to work to get to their current position, and what the best and worst parts are of their job.

Be Realistic

Try to be realistic while you are making your decision. Be sure to take into consideration the current and future job market. Is there a big call for Photoshop artists or t-shirt illustrators in your area? Can you really make a living playing video games? How secure will a job at a newspaper be for a print designer in ten years? Can an animator find work in your area, or would you have to move to California? Here is a brief outlook for graphic designers provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Do your own research to find out what types of jobs and design companies are in your area.

You also want to consider your current skillset, your education, and your experience. If you have a BFA in print design, it will be very difficult for you to get a job in animation. If your last job was in web design, you should probably be looking for a web job. If you have limited experience, you shouldn’t expect to get a senior design position. You’ll need to put in more time on the job — probably 5 years or so — to earn a position like this. If you are a new graduate, you will have to start out in an entry-level position. Be realistic and be aware of your talents and experiences when deciding what your next steps should be.

Other Considerations

Worried about which design paths will bring in the most income? Check out this Creative Opera post: How Much Money Do Graphic Designers Make? to get a handle on the best paying design careers. Realistically, you may have to choose between what you love, and what can pay the bills. The choice is yours — but you want to make it yourself, not have it made for you. Think long and hard about what type of life you want for yourself. Personally, I chose what I loved over what would make the most money. But, I have friends who chose the other way — and they go on many more vacations than I do!

What about work hours? Do you have (or want to have) a family? Do you need to be home by 5pm every night, or do you enjoy the challenge of a more demanding work schedule? How do you feel about travel? Most positions with smaller design firms won’t require any travel, while it is hard to get a job in an ad agency without travel requirements.

What about stress or responsibility levels? I love multi-tasking, jumping from project to project, and working under demanding deadlines. It’s fun for me — but it’s not for everyone. Think about how you work best. Do you need to concentrate on one thing at a time? Do you prefer to work alone or in groups? These things will often depend on the size of a company. If you work in a smaller company, you will be required to perform various job duties like managing your own projects, dealing with clients, and sometimes even making sales calls. In a larger company, you may have a more specialized job — working for only one client with a large team. You’ll want to think about what situation would be best for you.

Create Your Path

So what do you do now that you have done all of this research? Now that you have delved deep inside your soul to find out where you belong in the world of design? You need to use all of your new found information to create a path for yourself. Start with your dream job and work backwards.

For example, if my dream job is to become the senior designer at a small prestigious design firm — working mainly on identity design, then that is where I will start. I will find some job openings similar to my dream job, and look at the requirements. How many years of experience do I need? What type of experience do I need? I might even call or email the company and mention that I am just starting out, but someday would like a job like this one, and ask what type of experience they suggest I get to increase my chances of landing a job like this one in the future. I can then use all of this information to create a path from where I am now to where I want to be. I can try to get an entry-level job that will give me the experiences I need to get a mid-level job that will give me the experiences I need to eventually interview for my dream job.

It sounds like a lot of work. I realize that this is the most boring part of the process. But, it is such an important step, and is almost always skipped over. I wish someone had stressed the importance of knowing where I was going when I was starting my career path. The more clear your destination, the easier it is to choose your roads. Take the time and do the research that you need to decide what is going to be right for you. You may not land in the exact job that you hoped for, but taking the time to think through your goals will give you a much better chance at building a career that works with your life and makes you happy.

Continue to Part 2 of the “How to Land a Design Job” series: Get Your Ducks in a Row.