13.2 Design Questions From Students
Jacob Cass from Just Creative Designs put up a post last week with some questions from design students originally posted on Speak Up. I thought they were worthwhile questions and decided to have a go at them myself. If you’re an up-and-coming young design student or someone who dabbles in graphic design, pull up a chair, grab a beer, and have a read.
1. I can’t draw at all, so will that hurt my chances of succeeding as a designer?
You know, I thought this question would be easy to answer, but I really had to think about it.
I started out as an illustrator. For a long time, drawing and design meant the same thing. When you look at both jobs, though, they aren’t the same.
You might be able to render the most realistic figures on the face of the earth, but if you don’t know how to arrange them in a proper composition on a page, you’ll never be a designer.
Designing takes in more than figures or the way the light falls on a subject; it involves color combinations, fonts, and shapes – and knowing how all of these pieces fit to make the final product appealing.
2. Why do I have to know the differences between Helvetica, Arial, and Univers?
Look at the previous answer. You have to know your fonts like the back of your hand in order to understand which fonts work together and which don’t work well together at all.
Some fonts are strictly for decorative purposes, while others are used for readability. Old school teaches that you should never mix your fonts. That’s a theory that has fallen to the wayside over the years.
When you understand the basic principles of font design, you can mix and match – and still pull the combination off nicely.
3. Is it true that I have to know Quark?
You don’t “have” to know anything, but if you want to remain competitive in your field, you need to learn the ins and outs of as many programs as possible.
There used to be a time when many print houses only used the Mac platform. If you created your project in Adobe, you were SOL, buddy. The printer couldn’t do anything with your files because printers used Quark.
Now, many printers and publishers use both Quark and InDesign (although Quark is still the program of choice).
What I’ve found is that once you use one graphics program, you can figure out how to use any other. They’re all basically the same, with only a few minor changes that take some getting used to.
I prefer Quark over InDesign. It’s less confusing – but that’s just my personal preference.
4. What’s wrong with downloading illegal copies of software because I can’t afford to buy them as a student?
Legal use of software is a choice you’re going to have to decide for yourself. Graphics software is damned expensive. Who doesn’t have one or two pirated copies of any software on their computer these days?
When I was in college, illegal software wasn’t an issue because we didn’t have computer graphic design. Use what your school has to offer now and save your pennies for your own copies later on.
5. How long should my resume be?
One page.
Some people might debate the length of a resume, but having read a few resumes myself, I know a potential employer does not want to have to read the novel of each person applying for the job.
Unless a previous job pertains to the position you’re applying for, leave it out. You don’t have to list every summer job you’ve had for the past eight years.
6. Should I work for free just to get some experience?
I have answer this question with a resounding “NO!” If you’re doing an internship, that’s a different story, because you’re gaining valuable experience.
If you’re working for free hoping to get noticed, you’re an idiot. No one works for free.
7. Will I have to leave (the city where I live) in order to get a job?
Maybe you will, and maybe you won’t. If your area is saturated with designers, it might do you good to seek your fortune elsewhere. Or, you might have luck freelancing over the Internet. Then you can live anywhere you want, as long as you have your computer and an Internet connection.
8. How do I get work as a freelancer right out of school?
You work your ass off pounding the pavement – and you start before you graduate.
9. What if a job description asks for print and interactive design experience, but I don’t have interactive experience?
Then you need to plan ahead. Do a few projects on your own or take a class to create those interactive pieces for your portfolio. As the Boy Scouts say, “Be prepared.”
10. Can I get a job working in the video game industry by learning about graphic design?
I’m sure you could – the two are closely tied together.
Learn all that you can before you hit the work force. If you think you might like to design video games, take a few classes. Learn about animation and the programs involved. Learn about video production and making movies. This field means you will need to know how to draw.
So there you go, some straight answers from someone who has been where you are now.
Any more questions?
This post was written to help Harry win some cool prizes in the Just Creative Design contest. Head on over to the contest rules and toss your name into the hat to win!
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After reading your answers I think I can agree with you on pretty much everything there. I think working for free in a design studio just as work experience is quite valuable though especially for students. Good luck in the comp.
Harry, I really like this post, because I think most of it could be applied to just about any field when starting out.
(Just thinking of it from my own perspective as someone starting out as a blogger, and writer – in my mind I made the appropriate changes to the specifics, and the questions and answers still applied.)
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rocks.
@Jacob: That’s what I was saying, if it’s an internship or apprenticeship program, that’s perfectly reasonable. You may be getting paid little to nothing, but the people you’re learning from are taking time from their busy work schedule to teach you the ropes with lessons you won’t learn in books.
@Brett: Exactly.
Hey Harry. I’ve only read part one up to this point and wanted to make this note before I forget.
You’re absolutely correct. There is a fundamental difference between a designer and someone who knows how to draw, create graphics, or build something. This is true in all areas of business:
- a house builder does not equal a real estate investor who knows where profits lie
- a web designer is quite different than a web coder
- a computer programmer is not the same as a computer engineer
On #4 there are lots of educational versions of programs out there that cost WAY less than normal versions. They typically have all the functions as well. If you go to school and can afford over-inflated torn up used books, you can afford $80 for Adobe educational version.
On #8 – you most definitely have to start before you graduate. I’d like to add something a professor told me when I was in college (I have a computer degree). He told us that school only teaches you its curriculum. It doesn’t really teach you how to do everything you need to know in the real world. He urged us to spend extra time learning how to use different programs. How to use Unix. How to do things that accompany what you learn in school and you must use in the real world.
Like you said, learn all you can before you hit the workforce. Don’t expect to walk out of school and know everything you need to know about your trade.
John Hoff’s last blog post..The Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Heard – You Don’t Learn From Your Successes
“13.2″
(Although I like how WordPress strips out the decimal in the permalink, so that it’s “132″
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@ Harry – see, I *do* read for comprehension!
(Miss Crabtree was wrong…)
@ John – I had an engineering professor who encouraged us to become an “expert” in some kind of product – an expert in valves, fittings, or the like – just for fun. Do some extra learning, he said. I decided to learn about pneumatic actuation, and eventually electropneumatic actuation, as my “fun” area. It didn’t hurt that I was into paintball at the time. But every so often, someone asks me for advice at work in that area…
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rocks.
@Brett – I have no clue what those things are but it sound like . . . fun
I hear ya, though. And it’s good to be “useful” to people.
John Hoff’s last blog post..The Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Heard – You Don’t Learn From Your Successes
@ John – if you know what a hydraulic cylinder is (say, on a bulldozer), then think about a very small one powered by air and used for automation in a factory, to move some part of a machine (for instance)… the main point of course
being to agree with what you had said about continuous independent learning, during and after formal schooling.
Brett Legree’s last blog post..rocks.
Damn, I was actually feeling like I had a chance to contribute to a post, being a designer myself, but it looks like you covered most of the bases. A couple nuggets of advice would be:
• If you can do an internship while still in school, jump at it even if it’s unpaid.
• Typography skills are more important than Photoshop skills
• The client will almost always ask you to make the logo bigger. Save yourself the pain and just do it.
• Be sure you know how to properly justify your design to a client, and I don’t mean saying, “I just like those colors/fonts”.
Dave Conrey’s last blog post..Seasonal Offerings That Set You Apart
@Dave: good points! Internships were made for students, that’s the best time to do one. Ideally, you don’t have a “real” job yet, you have plenty of time and the internship is like an extended classroom.
Typography more important that photoshop? Maybe, I really can’t say since I’ve never had any formal typographical training. I’m lucky enough to have a good eye for what goes together. But, I do remember typography being a part of the graphics curriculum at my school and it was a mandatory requirement for freshmen (I entered the university as a sophomore since I had already spent two years at a community college).
Bigger logo…yes, I’ve run into this several times.
And justifying your design? Very smart. That’s one tip I take for granted. It doesn’t help the client to understand why you did what you did if you just say “Because I like it and it’s pretty.” When something isn’t going to work in a design, I explain exactly why it won’t work and suggest an alternative. Most of the time it falls on deaf ears, but you can’t say the client wasn’t properly advised.
@Harry – Admittedly, I did my internship under a master typographer and now that I spend a lot of my time with type, I realize that the nuances of typography are essential to great design, not that I’m a master typographer or a great designer, but every design job I’ve gotten in my life was usually secured by my type skills. Photoshop is easy in comparison.
Dave Conrey’s last blog post..Seasonal Offerings That Set You Apart
@Dave: I think that goes for any specialty. Once you dig a little deeper into any aspect of design, writing or anything else for that matter, you begin to understand how best to use it.