The Job Shadow Knows!
April 10th, 2007 by Chief NutA hearty thank you to my peeps. They played host today for a local high school student who visited our office as a job shadow. Alexandra Wexler, a 15 year old at Moultonborough Academy, has dreams of getting into the design biz. After a one hour Q&A session with me about our company and her career plans, she dove right into the ’shadow’ part of the day and helped Katie Oddy, one of our designers, complete two drafts for a new web site design. Aided by Sandy Pogue, our Senior Designer, and Renee Capen, our Project Manager, the designs came out smmmokin’.
Interested in getting into this business yourself? What I told Ali isn’t rocket science but I think it’s good advice. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of what I told her;
- Master your craft …€” learn as much about the tools as you can, as quickly as you can (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, etc.) Know that you’ll nevvvvvver stop learning.
- Learn from the pros …€” There’s design all around us! Billboards, advertising, magazines, flyers, packaging … it’s endless. By reading design journals (Communication Arts, Adweek, Metropolis, GA Monthly, Print Magazine, GD USA, etc.) and books on design, one can visually absorb the styles and visual techniques of the pros, and then (here’s the hard part) recognize that the majority of design that surrounds us is actually pretty bad.
- Learn to communicate verbally …€” It’s certainly a visual medium BUT you’ll need to communicate your ideas to peers, clients, bosses and affiliates … everyone from the smallest solo-preneur up to the multi-gajillion dollar CEO. This includes phone consultations, presentations to groups, speeches, etc. This is probably the most important yet under appreciated skill in our industry.
- Start your portfolio sooner, rather than later …€” By starting her portfolio now, she’ll have a 6 or 7 year leg up on her competitors by the time she gets out of college. I’m not talking about ’sit at home and make up a brochure’ kind of pieces … or a ‘I did this in my design class’ kind of project. I’m talking about going out and finding a needy organization or company that would LOVE to have her do design real work for free (or really cheap). Some examples; business cards for a local bait shop … a web site for a local quilting club … a flyer for a Kiwanis event … the list is ENDLESS. By doing real work now, she’ll learn real world challenges and have to make real world decisions. In 6 or 7 years, she’ll be doing real world design!!! AND, she’ll have a much better portfolio to boot. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
Ali … It was a pleasure having you in our office for the day!! I hope you learned a lot. P.S. Don’t tell anyone about how nutsy everyone is here. 
