Please include in a Graphic Design Text

3 July 2016 gwilliams@keiseruniversity.edu Design Books and commentary 0

My friend, Robin Landa, posted today that she is updating her classic book Design Solutions, which I have been using as a text in our Intro to Graphic Arts course for over a decade. Each year I make 24 book recommendations which are approved or adjusted by the Graphic Arts instructors, and this book is the only one that has been unanimously approved every year. No book can be everything to everybody and any attempt to make it so would make the book both too expensive to be practical and too long to ever be read. That being said, I have been reflecting on concepts that could be emphasized for students just beginning to explore a possible future in Graphic Arts & Design and offer the following suggestions: 1) Attitude and Passion are everything. Graphic design is not just a profession, it is a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world and influencing it. I have never met a successful designer or design student who simply did the minimum required. Most successful designers are always observing, always questioning, always learning, and always experimenting. They doodle, sketch, blog, play in programs, and constantly watch tutorials and the creations of others in order to find inspiration and expand their own toolset. 2) CRAP matters. One of the most influential books in my quest to become a successful designer was The Non-Designer's Design Book, by Robin Williams. Of course, since my students want to be designers, I cannot use a title like this. Also, a book that can be read in one sitting simply lacks the depth needed to keep students engaged and ready for the next step in the process. That said, this book had an impact on me as a designer because of its focus on contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The first half of this book is the inspiration for the first lecture of every new Introduction to Graphic Arts class I teach. Whether I am critiquing the work of an entering freshman, the portfolio of a student about to graduate, or the work of a graduate student that I am mentoring; a great majority of the suggestions I make boil down to understanding and controlling: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. (CRAP is an acronym my students gave me for the principles in Robin Williams' book.) 3) You are not an expense, you are a profit center. People do not hire designers because they want a new brochure, a new web site, or a new package design. People hire us because they want to make more money, get more votes, or change public perception. Once we see ourselves as a partner in our clients' successes, it becomes much easier to understand our value and to demand it when taking on a new project. If a business wants a web site to bring in an additional $50,000 a year, why should I flinch at asking $5000 to do the job? Because it doesn't seem that hard? Because I love what I do so much it feels more like play than work? A designer deserves to receive compensation for the value of their results as well as the creative design work. Capital improvements, new employees, even stock market ventures are considered very profitable if they return only a 10-20% return in a year. A good design can easily return 200-1000% in the first year and is the most profitable investment a firm can make. Treat it as such. (My girlfriend, a small business owner. lawyer, and legal studies professor likes the term value-billing. It's not the just being paid for the time it takes to accomplish a job or the design work, but the value that job brings to the client.) 4) You don't have to be a superstar to have an amazing career and life. Include interviews and advice from designers at every stage of their career. We are not all going to be David Carson, Michael Beruit, or Erik Speikerman. That doesn't mean you aren't successful or that you don't enjoy your job so much that you could never imagine doing any other. There are thousands of designers at every level who are very successful and provide great results for their clients and their communities. Be one of them. We have recently started bringing in 4 working designers on the first night of each new class to be interviewed about their careers, the lessons they've learned, and what they are doing with their education. The designers then answer questions from the audience and stay after class to interact with the students and get to know them on an individual basis. These speakers are not yet well-known designers in our community like Tim Cox, or Kelly Green at Publix, Fred Kueler, a successful children's book writer and illustrator, or even Brian Hall who seems to have his fingerprints on anything innovative and creative in our community. Our speakers are designers who are just beginning to make a name for themselves like Justin Pugh who recently started working for the United Way, Tiffany Jones who is a freelance designer while a sophomore in college, and Emily Mort who works for a local real estate firm. These graduates help the students understand the plethora of career paths in our industry as well as to provide hope and inspiration to those just starting their studies. Perhaps, lots of true stories of every day designers offering insight and advise would be beneficial. And it may help our new professionals to know that success is not spelled f-a-m-e. 5) Share advice, not just by referencing an online source, but by discussing portfolios, job hunting, and interview skills in the textbook. To properly market yourself as a designer, it takes much more than a beautiful portfolio. You have to brand yourself and show that you know the latest techniques in order to engage an audience. Yes, a great online portfolio is essential, but so is a YouTube channel, a professional blog, and well-managed social media accounts. Ultimately, as design educators, we do not want to educate great designers, we want to create great, employed, designers who successfully deliver results throughout their careers. Getting the job, whether it is free lance or at the local screen print company, is the ultimate goal of what we do. The earlier we help our students start thinking about what it takes to market their talents, the sooner after graduation they will be able to grow into the professional designers that we know they can be. While sharing this advice also include the advice of employers. I love the response Brian Hall gave to a question about what employers really want and use it often as practive text in page layout or html coding. A small section from the perspective of client-employers would be very helpful to students. Other ideas: Understanding the why and the how are just as important as making a pretty design. "If it does not serve a purpose, it is just decoration." - Tim Cox. It doesn't matter how great it looks on screen if you cannot make it in the format for which it is intended. All online material is not created equally. Don't waste your time learning poor technique and bad habits from random videos. Learn from quality resources: Adobe.com, Lynda.com, KelbyOne, and Video Co-Pilot. Perhaps you could provide video in your ebook and online video for your print version. Math matters. From points and picas and resolution to proportions, Golden means and Fibonacci series. You don't have to love math but you better be able to do the basics. Spelling and Grammar matter. If you cannot communicate effectively in print, start practicing and visiting the Writing Center now. One Misspelled word ruins great design. Misuse of apostrophes is another destroyer of good design. We are in the communication business. Your ability to communicate effectively will determine your success. Join Toastmasters, write every day, and always begin with "What do we want the audience to do, and what audience can we get to do it." Robin, I have enjoyed the first 5 editions of your book, as well as many of your other titles. Thank you for giving your audience a chance to interact and express our opinions.
My friend, Robin Landa, posted today that she is updating her classic book Design Solutions, which I have been using as a text in our Intro to Graphic Arts course for over a decade. Each year I make 24 book recommendations which are approved or adjusted by the Graphic Arts instructors, and this book is the only one that has been unanimously approved every year. No book can be everything to everybody and any attempt to make it so would make the book both too expensive to be practical and too long to ever be read. That being said, I have been reflecting on concepts that could be emphasized for students just beginning to explore a possible future in Graphic Arts & Design and offer the following suggestions: 1) Attitude and Passion are everything. Graphic design is not just a profession, it is a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world and influencing it. I have never met a successful designer or design student who simply did the minimum required. Most successful designers are always observing, always questioning, always learning, and always experimenting. They doodle, sketch, blog, play in programs, and constantly watch tutorials and the creations of others in order to find inspiration and expand their own toolset. 2) CRAP matters. One of the most influential books in my quest to become a successful designer was The Non-Designer's Design Book, by Robin Williams. Of course, since my students want to be designers, I cannot use a title like this. Also, a book that can be read in one sitting simply lacks the depth needed to keep students engaged and ready for the next step in the process. That said, this book had an impact on me as a designer because of its focus on contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The first half of this book is the inspiration for the first lecture of every new Introduction to Graphic Arts class I teach. Whether I am critiquing the work of an entering freshman, the portfolio of a student about to graduate, or the work of a graduate student that I am mentoring; a great majority of the suggestions I make boil down to understanding and controlling: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. (CRAP is an acronym my students gave me for the principles in Robin Williams' book.) 3) You are not an expense, you are a profit center. People do not hire designers because they want a new brochure, a new web site, or a new package design. People hire us because they want to make more money, get more votes, or change public perception. Once we see ourselves as a partner in our clients' successes, it becomes much easier to understand our value and to demand it when taking on a new project. If a business wants a web site to bring in an additional $50,000 a year, why should I flinch at asking $5000 to do the job? Because it doesn't seem that hard? Because I love what I do so much it feels more like play than work? A designer deserves to receive compensation for the value of their results as well as the creative design work. Capital improvements, new employees, even stock market ventures are considered very profitable if they return only a 10-20% return in a year. A good design can easily return 200-1000% in the first year and is the most profitable investment a firm can make. Treat it as such. (My girlfriend, a small business owner. lawyer, and legal studies professor likes the term value-billing. It's not the just being paid for the time it takes to accomplish a job or the design work, but the value that job brings to the client.) 4) You don't have to be a superstar to have an amazing career and life. Include interviews and advice from designers at every stage of their career. We are not all going to be David Carson, Michael Beruit, or Erik Speikerman. That doesn't mean you aren't successful or that you don't enjoy your job so much that you could never imagine doing any other. There are thousands of designers at every level who are very successful and provide great results for their clients and their communities. Be one of them. We have recently started bringing in 4 working designers on the first night of each new class to be interviewed about their careers, the lessons they've learned, and what they are doing with their education. The designers then answer questions from the audience and stay after class to interact with the students and get to know them on an individual basis. These speakers are not yet well-known designers in our community like Tim Cox, or Kelly Green at Publix, Fred Kueler, a successful children's book writer and illustrator, or even Brian Hall who seems to have his fingerprints on anything innovative and creative in our community. Our speakers are designers who are just beginning to make a name for themselves like Justin Pugh who recently started working for the United Way, Tiffany Jones who is a freelance designer while a sophomore in college, and Emily Mort who works for a local real estate firm. These graduates help the students understand the plethora of career paths in our industry as well as to provide hope and inspiration to those just starting their studies. Perhaps, lots of true stories of every day designers offering insight and advise would be beneficial. And it may help our new professionals to know that success is not spelled f-a-m-e. 5) Share advice, not just by referencing an online source, but by discussing portfolios, job hunting, and interview skills in the textbook. To properly market yourself as a designer, it takes much more than a beautiful portfolio. You have to brand yourself and show that you know the latest techniques in order to engage an audience. Yes, a great online portfolio is essential, but so is a YouTube channel, a professional blog, and well-managed social media accounts. Ultimately, as design educators, we do not want to educate great designers, we want to create great, employed, designers who successfully deliver results throughout their careers. Getting the job, whether it is free lance or at the local screen print company, is the ultimate goal of what we do. The earlier we help our students start thinking about what it takes to market their talents, the sooner after graduation they will be able to grow into the professional designers that we know they can be. While sharing this advice also include the advice of employers. I love the response Brian Hall gave to a question about what employers really want and use it often as practive text in page layout or html coding. A small section from the perspective of client-employers would be very helpful to students. Other ideas: Understanding the why and the how are just as important as making a pretty design. "If it does not serve a purpose, it is just decoration." - Tim Cox. It doesn't matter how great it looks on screen if you cannot make it in the format for which it is intended. All online material is not created equally. Don't waste your time learning poor technique and bad habits from random videos. Learn from quality resources: Adobe.com, Lynda.com, KelbyOne, and Video Co-Pilot. Perhaps you could provide video in your ebook and online video for your print version. Math matters. From points and picas and resolution to proportions, Golden means and Fibonacci series. You don't have to love math but you better be able to do the basics. Spelling and Grammar matter. If you cannot communicate effectively in print, start practicing and visiting the Writing Center now. One Misspelled word ruins great design. Misuse of apostrophes is another destroyer of good design. We are in the communication business. Your ability to communicate effectively will determine your success. Join Toastmasters, write every day, and always begin with "What do we want the audience to do, and what audience can we get to do it." Robin, I have enjoyed the first 5 editions of your book, as well as many of your other titles. Thank you for giving your audience a chance to interact and express our opinions.

My friend, Robin Landa, posted today that she is updating her classic book Design Solutions, which I have been using as a text in our  Intro to Graphic Arts course for over a decade. Each year I make 24 book recommendations which are approved or adjusted by the Graphic Arts instructors, and this book is the only one that has been unanimously approved every year.

No book can be everything to everybody and any attempt to make it so would make the book both too expensive to be practical and too long to ever be read. That being said, I have been reflecting on concepts that could be emphasized for students just beginning to explore a possible future in Graphic Arts & Design and offer the following suggestions:

1) Attitude and Passion are everything. Graphic design is not just a profession, it is a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world and influencing it. I have never met a successful designer or design student who simply did the minimum required. Most successful designers are always observing, always questioning, always learning, and always experimenting. They doodle, sketch, blog, play in programs, and constantly watch tutorials and the creations of others in order to find inspiration and expand their own toolset.

2)  CRAP matters. One of the most influential books in my quest to become a successful designer was The Non-Designer’s Design Book, by Robin Williams. Of course, since my students want to be designers, I cannot use a title like this. Also, a book that can be read in one sitting simply lacks the depth needed to keep students engaged and ready for the next step in the process. That said, this book had an impact on me as a designer because of its focus on contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. The first half of this book is the inspiration for the first lecture of every new Introduction to Graphic Arts class I teach. Whether I am critiquing the work of an entering freshman, the portfolio of a student about to graduate, or the work of a graduate student that I am mentoring; a great majority of the suggestions I make boil down to understanding and controlling: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. (CRAP is an acronym my students gave me for the principles in Robin Williams’ book.)

3) You are not an expense, you are a profit center. People do not hire designers because they want a new brochure, a new web site, or a new package design. People hire us because they want to make more money, get more votes, or change public perception. Once we see ourselves as a partner in our clients’ successes, it becomes much easier to understand our value and to demand it when taking on a new project. If a business wants a web site to bring in an additional $50,000 a year, why should I flinch at asking $5000 to do the job? Because it doesn’t seem that hard? Because I love what I do so much it feels more like play than work? A designer deserves to receive compensation for the value of their results as well as the creative design work.  Capital improvements, new employees, even stock market ventures are considered very profitable if they return only a 10-20% return in a year. A good design can easily return 200-1000%  in the first year and is the most profitable investment a firm can make. Treat it as such.

(My girlfriend, a small business owner. lawyer, and legal studies professor likes the term value-billing. It’s not the just being paid for the time it takes to accomplish a job or the design work, but the value that job brings to the client.)

4) You don’t have to be a superstar to have an amazing career and life. Include interviews and advice from designers at every stage of their career. We are not all going to be David Carson, Michael Beruit, or Erik Speikerman. That doesn’t mean you aren’t successful or that you don’t enjoy your job so much that you could never imagine doing any other. There are thousands of designers at every level who are very successful and provide great results for their clients and their communities. Be one of them. We have recently started bringing in 4 working designers on the first night of each new class to be interviewed about their careers, the lessons they’ve learned, and what they are doing with their education. The designers then answer questions from the audience and stay after class to interact with the students and get to know them on an individual basis. These speakers are not yet well-known  designers in our community like Tim Cox, or Kelly Green at Publix, Fred Koehler, a successful children’s book writer and illustrator, or even Brian Hall who seems to have his fingerprints on anything innovative and creative in our community. Our speakers are designers who are just beginning to make a name for themselves like Justin Pugh who recently started working for the United Way, Tiffany Jones who is a freelance designer while a sophomore in college, and Emily Mort who works for a local real estate firm. These graduates help the students understand the plethora of career paths in our industry as well as to provide hope and inspiration to those just starting their studies. Perhaps, lots of true stories of every day designers offering insight and advise would be beneficial. And it may help our new professionals to know that success is not spelled f-a-m-e.

5) Share advice, not just by referencing an online source, but by discussing portfolios, job hunting, and interview skills in the textbook. To properly market yourself as a designer, it takes much more than a beautiful portfolio. You have to brand yourself and show that you know the latest techniques in order to engage an audience. Yes, a great online portfolio is essential, but so is a YouTube channel, a professional blog, and well-managed social media accounts. Ultimately, as design educators, we do not want to educate great designers, we want to create great, employed, designers who successfully deliver results throughout their careers. Getting the job, whether it is free lance or at the local screen print company, is the ultimate goal of what we do. The earlier we help our students start thinking about what it takes to market their talents, the sooner after graduation they will be able to grow into the professional designers that we know they can be.

While sharing this advice also include the advice of employers. I love the response Brian Hall gave to a question about what employers want and use it often as practice text in page layout or html coding. A small section from the perspective of client-employers would be very helpful to students.

Other ideas:

  1. Understanding the why and the how are just as important as making a pretty design. “If it does not serve a purpose, it is just decoration.” – Tim Cox.
  2. It doesn’t matter how great it looks on screen if you cannot make it in the format for which it is intended.
  3. All online material is not created equally. Don’t waste your time learning poor technique and bad habits from random videos. Learn from quality resources: Adobe.com, Lynda.com, KelbyOne, and Video Co-Pilot. Perhaps you could provide video in your ebook and online video for your print version.
  4. Math matters. From points and picas and resolution to proportions, Golden means and Fibonacci series. You don’t have to love math but you better be able to do the basics.
  5. Spelling and Grammar matter. If you cannot communicate effectively in print, start practicing and visiting the Writing Center now. One Misspelled word ruins great design. Misuse of apostrophes is another destroyer of good design.
  6. We are in the communication business. Your ability to communicate effectively will determine your success.  Join Toastmasters, write every day, and always begin with “What do we want the audience to do, and what audience can we get to do it.”

Robin, I have enjoyed the first 5 editions of your book, as well as many of your other titles. Thank you for giving your audience a chance to interact and express our opinions.