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Advice for Graduating Design Students

From time to time a job application comes across my desk. Often it’s a graduating design student looking for a placement. Many of the design programs in Alberta include some sort of internship requirement so when the end of a semester looms, the emails start coming. Many of the design programs I can think of have produced some really talented designers and I’m always interested to see a portfolio or sample of work when it accompanies an application.

Often, however; I find myself discouraged by some troublesome trends that I’ve noticed in a lot of design student's portfolios and applications. I thought it would be helpful to point these out for anyone in that position. If you can overcome these, I think that you’ll have a much better chance of starting your career the way you want.

Professionalism

Overall, this trait is lacking throughout the design industry. Hipsterdom has plagued the design industry since its inception and with it comes an overwhelming lack of professionalism. Hipsters prefer jeans/shorts with loafers and no socks, deliberately messy hair that was actually meticulously styled to look that way (hipsters love irony), excessive accessories, and poorly grown/groomed facial hair (for the men). Worst of all, the impression I’m always left with is that I’m not cool enough to be in the same room as them. This is a big problem in the employer employee evaluation process because the potential employee needs to understand that they are a subject and therefore, further down the totem pole of life in context to whoever they are appealing to for a job. Don’t act like you’re better than your potential employer. Being too cool to dress formally for your interview and subsequent job sends a message that you ARE too cool for them. Fortunately for the hipster, most art directors and creative directors lack this understanding as well so it’s not always as big a deal in this industry, but it should be. Formal attire is a form of courtesy and respect for whoever you’re dressing up for. People appreciate it when you put that effort in to show them that they are important enough for you to look your best. Design professionals really need to smarten up in this area. Students, it will help you out a lot if you can make this very small effort to show your counterpart (whether it’s a client or potential employer) that you care.

Work Samples

Work samples are essential. Nobody’s going to hire you based on your word. They need to see your work and know that you are capable. Every application should include work samples and ideally there should be an online option. You don’t have to be a web designer to showcase your work online. Get a Deviant Art or Flickr account, or setup a blog. It’s easy to get your work online and not having that shows a lack of initiative and effort. One of my biggest concerns with a lot of samples of art is that they are of an extremely personal nature. Some students may have a special interest in a certain video game or movie genre and preoccupy themselves with it in their work. Like anime for example. I’ve seen many ‘design’ portfolios that were full of anime drawings. That says nothing to me about your ability to accommodate a client’s needs through design. It’s a constant challenge for designers to overcome their desire to design for themselves and for their own tastes rather than for a client’s needs. When an employer sees these types of trappings in a portfolio, they’ll most likely conclude that that is going to be a particular difficulty with you. The best work you can showcase is real world projects (which if you can’t find any actual clients, do some pro bono work for a charity... it’s worth it) or some fake real world projects. When I say fake, I mean, pick a real company and design a spread for them and don’t make it your favourite band or shoe brand. Make it something obscure. Pick someone randomly out of the phone book for best effect.

Narcissism

Everybody likes to talk about themselves and design graduates seem to be no exception. It always starts with the whole, “I always liked to draw/paint when I was younger and that led to my interest into design”. They go on to spend paragraph’s describing themselves, their interests, hobbies, pet-peeves. Don’t get me wrong, employers are somewhat interested in gauging your personality, but some of these biographies look like they’re taken from a dating site. Far too many times I’ve felt like I was told way too much regarding a person’s personal philosophy and sentimental outlook on life and whether you like it or not, students, yours is a very naive one. You may have all sorts of expectations about what your design career will be like and what traits you have that will make you valuable to an employer, but believe me, your snowboarding skills and your shoe collection shouldn’t be brought into the conversation. Sprinkled throughout some of these autobiographies are some really in your face pseudo-wisdom and altruisms. Trust me; employers don’t need a philosophy lesson from someone with less life experience than them so keep that stuff to a minimum. Humility is your best card at this point so keep it simple and don’t include more information than you have to.

Conclusion

Remember your audience always and don’t give them anything they don’t need. This includes drawings of your favourite video game character or extensive and narcissistic autobiographies detailing the childhood art class experiences that led to the Michelangelo that you’ve become. Swallow your pride and dress to impress or keep your pride and watch other people excel past you in their careers because they were able to exercise a little humility. Get some real world experience. Charities have a really tough time finding the money to spend on their communications material and it is a vital component to getting awareness out for their cause, so give them a helping hand and you’ll have some great examples for your portfolio and some good experience with actual clients.