The Designer's Guide to Business and Careers

How to Succeed on the Job or on Your Own

Peg Faimon

• Publisher: HOW Books
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781440307898
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Design General

Find Your Niche and Be Successful Inside are the tools you need to get your design career off to a strong start–and maintain it for the long haul. Peg Faimon provides a comprehensive guide to basic business issues in today's competitive marketplace. Whether you just graduated from college, are building a freelance business, or are starting your own firm, this book will give you the confidence and knowledge to create a successful and fulfilling career. You'll learn how to:

• Research different career paths in design and organize your job search
• Craft an effective portfolio and master interview techniques
• Maintain a professional image and network to ensure a consistent stream of paying projects
• Collaborate effectively with clients, other designers and experts in other professions (like printers, writers, marketers and executives)
• Establish a freelance business, develop your in-house career or kick start your own firm
• Stay fresh and move forward in the ever-changing world of graphic design

In addition, real-world advice from working designers and an interactive format will help you apply your new skills right away. The Designer's Guide to Business and Careers will give you everything you need to experience immediate success in your career.

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THE DESIGNER'S GUIDE TO
BUSINESS
AND CAREERS

how to succeed on the job or on your own

Peg Faimon

THE DESIGNER'S GUIDE TO BUSINESS AND CAREERS. Copyright © 2009 by Peg Faimon. Manufactured in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by HOW Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., Inc., 57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 [phone]. First edition.

13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1

Distributed in Canada by Fraser Direct, 100 Armstrong Avenue, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada L7G 5S4, Tel: [phone]. Distributed in the U.K. and Europe by David & Charles, Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4PU, England, Tel: (*44) 1626 323200, Fax: (*44) 1626 323319, E-mail: [email protected]. Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link, P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756 Australia, Tel:[phone].

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Faimon, Peg, 1962-
The designer's guide to business and careers / by Peg Faimon. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-60061-156-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 13: 978-1-44030-789-8 (EPUB)
1. Graphic arts — Vocational guidance. 2. Commercial art — Vocational guidance. I. Title.
NC1001.F35 2009
741.6023 — dc22

2008048357

Edited by Melissa Hill
Designed by Grace Ring
Production coordinated by Greg Nock

DEDICATION

To my students. You've been my inspiration and joy throughout my years of teaching.

And to my family. You've been my support and passion throughout my life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is the result of many years of experience as a design professional and educator. At Miami University I've had the privilege of graduating seventeen classes of design students and witnessing their continued growth and development into seasoned professionals. The idea for this book actually arose from a course I teach at Miami called The Business of Design.

Thanks to everyone at HOW Books for giving me another opportunity to work with them. Special thanks go to several individuals at HOW who have shared their knowledge, skill and advice: Megan Patrick, Acquisitions Editor; Amy Schell and Melissa Hill, my project editors; Grace Ring, the HOW Books Art Director, and Jane Friedman, Editorial Director.

I'm also grateful to those that have contributed their ideas and knowledge to the book by responding to my inquiries and questions: Rita Armstrong, Todd H. Bailey, Erin Beckloff, Barbara Berne, Erik Borreson, Ken Bullock, Eileen Corey, Kim Cornwall Malseed, James Coyle, Juliet D'Ambrosio, Deidre Evans, Tammy Fink, Jeff Fisher, Jez Frampton, Bryan Gaffin, John Garofalo III, Steff Geissbuhler, Paul Ghiz, Thomas H. Gilmore, Nikki Glibert, Anne Haag, Mark Hamilton, Jim Hardy, Bennett Holzworth, Cindy J. Hurley, Joan F. Insel, Cole Johnston, Amanda Kohnen, Lisa Kuhn, Bob Konold, Jenny LaNicca, Jennifer Laino, Jennifer Merchant, Bridgid McCarren, Howard McIlvain, Jeni Moore, Hollis Oberlies, Nancy Owyang, Samantha Perkins, Ellen Petty, Cynthia Pinsonnault, Glenn Platt, Kevin Potts, Steve Reist, Grace Ring, Katie Rundell, Bruce Shaffer, Jim Sharp, Jennifer Specker, Brian Sooy, Sara Syms, Vance V. VanDrake III and Mike Zender.

At Miami, I'd like to thank all those who have supported me in this and related endeavors, especially Jeffrey Herbst, Provost; James Lentini, Dean, School of Fine Arts; Dele Jegede, Chair, Department of Art; Glenn Platt, Director, Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies, and John Weigand, Chair, Department of Architecture and Interior Design. Special thanks go to Tom Effler, my long-time colleague in Graphic Design; Samantha Perkins, visiting design faculty; and Howard Obenchain and Thomas Gilmore, adjunct faculty; for helping maintain a great design program in the midst of writing this book.

Lastly, and closest to my heart, I am especially thankful to God for His grace and blessings and to my husband Don, and children Anna and Noah, for their love, encouragement and support throughout this process and life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peg Faimon received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Indiana University and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University. Her academic honors include membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude honors from Indiana University, and the Yale University Norman Ives Memorial Award. Ms. Faimon has worked as a designer for corporate and small firm offices. She is currently a Professor of Graphic Design, the Director of Miami Design Collaborative, a program in collaborative design studies, and an affiliate faculty member of Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies and the Department of Architecture and Interior Design at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Her teaching responsibilities include a wide variety of undergraduate courses in design, including studio, history and interdisciplinary coursework. She was named the Miami University School of Fine Arts Crossan Hayes Curry Distinguished Educator in 2000, and the Naus Family Faculty Scholar in 2008. In addition to teaching, Faimon maintains a design consultancy. She has received national and international recognition for her design work.

Peg Faimon is also the author and designer of Design Alliance: Uniting Print and Web Design to Create a Total Brand Presence, and the co-author, with John Weigand, of The Nature of Design: How the Principles of Design Shape Our World — from Graphics and Architecture to Interiors and Products, both published in 2003 by HOW Design Books. The Designer's Guide to Business and Careers is her third book.

At home, Peg shares her life with her wonderful family: Don, Anna, and Noah. They love to travel and spend time together.

CONTENTS

About the Book

PART ONE: KNOWING YOUR CAREER OPTIONS

Chapter 1: Design Specialties

Chapter 2: Other Career Paths

PART TWO: SEARCHING FOR DESIGN JOBS

Chapter 3: Job Search Strategies

Chapter 4: Persuasive Résumé and Business Correspondence

Chapter 5: Effective Portfolio and Self-Promotion Strategies

Chapter 6: Interviewing Skills and Etiquette

PART THREE: PRACTICING CRITICAL SKILLS

Chapter 7: Basics of Effective Time Management

Chapter 8: General Communication Skills

Chapter 9: Key Ethical Guidelines

PART FOUR: STAYING FRESH

Chapter 10: Continuing Education and Professional Development

Chapter 11: Community Involvement

Chapter 12: Creativity and Innovation

Chapter 13: Design Thinking and Strategic Synergies

PART FIVE: WORKING WITH OTHERS

Chapter 14: Partnering Effectively With Clients

Chapter 15: Collaborating With Other Creative Disciplines

Chapter 16: Working With Other Designers

PART SIX: DOING YOUR OWN THING

Chapter 17: Freelancing and Running Your Own Firm

Chapter 18: Setting Up a Successful Work Environment and Business Structure

Chapter 19: Pricing, Proposal and Contract Basics

Chapter 20: Intellectual Property Basics for Designers

PART SEVEN: PRACTICING PRODUCTION BASICS

Chapter 21: Working With Printing and Paper Companies

Chapter 22: Printing Processes

Chapter 23: Pre- and Post-Press Production

PART EIGHT: EMERGING DESIGN PERSPECTIVES

Chapter 24: Trends in Digital Marketing

Chapter 25: Universal Design

Chapter 26: Sustainability

Resources

ABOUT THE BOOK

Design is certainly about aesthetics, but there is much more to being a successful designer than understanding color and composition. If you are like most design students, you realize this during the last year of college, while busily looking for that magical first job. How do you create an effective résumé? How do you correspond with prospective employers? What is good interview etiquette? Then during the first five years in the profession, you come to the realization that there are many aspects to business practice that you have to learn on the job. How do you develop a strategy? What are the best practices for working with vendors like photographers and printers? How do you communicate with marketers and other business people? What about clients?

The Designer's Guide to Business and Careers is a comprehensive guide to basic business issues for designers in today's competitive marketplace. It is for students who are newly entering the world of design and for young professionals who are trying to figure out all the details of day-to-day living as designers in business today. Additionally, individuals who are interested in venturing out on their own, whether through freelancing or officially starting their own firm, will find this information beneficial.

The book is written in an interactive format to provide you with case studies, tips, examples and exercises that will help make new careers and businesses successful. The book is divided into eight parts from choosing a career path to staying fresh as a “creative” to understanding production basics. Each part is divided into more specific topic areas that include exercises to help you put the information into practice.

It is increasingly important that young professionals understand the larger context in which they work, as more and more, designers are called upon to work in a multidisciplinary business environment. Long gone are the days of working alone in an isolated studio on a simple logo job. As the world and its problems become more complex, experts who are also broad in their contextual understanding are highly sought after for their skills and knowledge, as well as their abilities to communicate and connect with others. Even if you are working in a one-person studio, you are going to be collaborating more and more with individuals whose expertise is outside the specific world of graphic design. To be a leader in tomorrow's economy, it is key to have depth and breadth — to have the specialized knowledge of a professional graphic designer, along with a general understanding of related fields and their vocabularies. This ensures that collaboration and communication are efficient and effective. This book will help you gain a better understanding of the language of business and the communication skills to connect with colleagues in related disciplines.

The following pages spotlight those sometimes intangible skills that set a person apart in today's marketplace. Unfortunately, in many design schools, these skills are not taught and are rarely even discussed. As a university professor, I believe it's my responsibility to teach and share this important information. You shouldn't have to learn it through trial and error — the field of design should not be the school of “hard knocks.” By being immersed in the information and inspirational ideas of the contributing designers on the following pages, I hope to motivate and educate you about how to be a more effective professional in this fast-paced field — from day one.

Enjoy!

Peg

PART ONE

KNOWING YOUR CAREER OPTIONS

Knowing and understanding the breadth and depth of the graphic design discipline will help you make more educated choices about your career and your future. Many people find themselves moving from one specialty to another at least once, if not multiple times, throughout their career. It's important to understand and be aware of the connections and relationships between these various specialties so you might better plan your path. Being intentional about your career is important. Don't just drift from one job to another — rather, carefully and thoughtfully build your portfolio, experien...

Table of contents

• RESOURCES