From graduate to junior designer

That time of year is again approaching when a new batch of graduates begin to look for that elusive first job in the design industry. This time last year, it was my friends and I preparing to leave University. Since then I have been fortunate enough to find a good job. This article I hope gives advice and encouragement to those students who want to make the transition from graduate to junior designer from someone who has just experienced this.

It may take time to get that first job, so I think it is really important to seek out freelance work in the mean time. This can help you improve your portfolio, give you experience of taking a job from the brief through to print, but most importantly keeps you active with your design work.

If you have not already done work experience, then get placements organised. This gives you first hand experience of the running of a design business and allows you to make contacts. All this keeps you fresh and motivated with your work.

Two of the most important factors of you getting a job are your CV and portfolio. CVs are very easy to get wrong. From my experience everyone has a differing opinion on the design approach of a CV, some want something clean and professional, others like to see something different and off the wall. In my opinion CVs should be treated as information design, but this does not mean it has to be boring or predictable. Your portfolio has to be strong. Be confident about your work. If you find yourself apologising for pieces of work, then this should tell you that it is not yet good enough to be representing your abilities.

Send work to design agencies. We get things sent to our office all of the time and we really do look and pass things around. Something I would have done in hindsight would be to have an online portfolio which allows you to send out a teasing and engaging piece of work that inspires and encourages designers to look on your website.

I believe one thing is key for young designers to get that first job and that is your motivation. I think the best piece of advice is to take every opportunity that comes your way, never turn down a chance to show somebody your work. I met my current employer at a portfolio clinic organised by the Cardiff Design Festival. It was an opportunity for third year students to meet Creative Directors and get feedback on our work. This was open to my class of about forty students. Out of the forty, only about eight of us went and for me it paid off as a few months later I was working as a result of taking that opportunity. If you have good motivation and put together a great portfolio of work, take opportunities or make opportunities, sooner or later someone will see that you have something to give in the design industry.

Steve Leard
Junior Designer, Black Sheep

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Assuming that you’ve sent in a CV (See tips archive for CV advice) and got an interview. Here are a some tips for getting your first job at a creative agency.
 
Do your research.
Wherever it is that you’re going? Find out about the company / people / their work, before you go. Otherwise how do you know if you’re going to like what you’ll be doing when you get there? Worse still, they ask you, “So what do you know about the company?”, you answer, “errrr- I was going to ask you”. Wrong answer, a little research goes a long way. It demonstrates your interest in the company and the fact that you want to work there. Plus, employers like nothing better than a little bit of flannel when it comes to their company, so ham it up!
 
Whatever happens, don’t be late!
If you can’t arrive on time for the interview, are you going to be in work on time?
 
Dress code?
Don’t overdress if you don’t have to, especially if you’re not comfortable wearing a suit, as you probably won’t have to wear one at work. You won’t feel comfortable in the interview and arguably won’t make the right impression. Check the form with the interviewer before you go, usually smart casual is fine.
 
Big isn’t always best
There are no hard n’ fast rules about this, but I think that big portfolios are cumbersome, bloody heavy and hard to work your way around when you’re in front of an interviewer. They put an uncomfortable space between you and the interviewer making it more difficult to really connect with each other and the interviewer engage in presentation of your work. Plus the weight of an A2 / A1 sleeve with mount board and the visual in it, usually means that when you open up your folio, the binder mechanism has opened and your sleeves fall all over the table. You start fumbling with it in a desperate attempt to hold it together, your sleeves are out of order, you’re flustered - not a great way to start.
A3 portfolios are more than big enough - you could even go to A4 if you’re brave enough.
 
Easier said than done
Try not to be nervous! If you’ve made it to interview, its a safe bet they like what you’ve sent them and its all done to whether you’re the right fit for the team.
 
Sell yourself!
Your ideas are your currency and we want to see you demonstrate this. It’s your work, you should be able to speak confidently about it. Sell the work as though you’re pitching it in to a client. As we’re looking to see whether you can present the work as well as produce it.
 
Good luck

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It’s thought that to be a success in business you need a new concept, a new angle, something that makes you stand out from the crowd. With web design however, this could not be further from the truth.

In fact, making design choices to distinguish you from the competition can, and will have a detrimental effect on your success. We’ve chosen five example ecommerce websites to compare, all of them extremely successful at turning visitors into sales. You will notice that each site follows the same design style, not because of a lack of originality, but because it works, and it makes money.

Each one of these website has been constructed using a three column layout, with the product information in the middle. They all position the product images aligned to the left, with the information, price and buy buttons to the right. The price is always a different colour, the product text is always dark (usually black) and the background is always white.

The primary navigation is always at the top, usually in a tab layout, and the secondary navigation, or sub categories are always down the left side. The third, right side column is used for adverts and chart listings, always. The website, or brand logo is always featured at the top left of the page, and is a link to the home page of the website.

The secret is, rather than trying to be different from your competition – simply to be better than them. Offer clarity of design, more information and better images. The success of all of these websites can be measured by the volume, and quality of the information they provide. The golden rule is always ‘content is King’. Forget that, and you are doomed to failure.

Source web sites:
www.amazon.co.uk
www.play.com
www.dvd.co.uk
www.game.co.uk
www.sendit.com

Darren Jamieson, former member of the flock & undisputed king of the internet

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Do your research and find out who you are sending it to? It’s not that hard to phone up the company.

Every word processor has a ‘Spell Check’ these days - why not you use it?

And finally…put the correct postage on your letter/package as it’s a sure fire way of not getting the job.

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Sell yourself
You want work in a creative industry, but your CV doesn’t demonstrate any creativity! Standard A4 CVs are for getting a job stacking shelves in Tesco, not a junior designer position at a creative agency. We want our new blood to look exciting, bring something new to the party. We want wow factor that’ll push us in new directions not more of the same. Make sure that whatever it is that you send, firstly - blows you away. If it doesn’t then it won’t have the effect on us. Showing off is what designers do best, use that small window of opportunity to impress.
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Hyphens et al.
Hyphens are the most bastardized character in design. The shortest of the group—hyphens—are for hyphenating compound words or words over line breaks. It is slightly bigger brother, the en-dash, is used to describe a range, as in “1865–1904.” The em-dash is the heavyweight champ of the three and is used as a graceful pause or interjection in a sentence. And remember the golden rule: two hyphens don’t make an em-dash.
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