Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer E-Book

Steven Heller

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 515

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Begin your graphic design career now, with the guidance of industry experts

Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer is a single source guide to the myriad of options available to those pursuing a graphic design career. With an emphasis on portfolio requirements and job opportunities, this guide helps both students and individuals interested in entering the design field prepare for successful careers. Coverage includes design inspiration, design genres, and design education, with discussion of the specific career options available in print, interactive, and motion design. Interviews with leading designers like Michael Bierut, Stefan Sagmeister, and Mirko Ilic give readers an insider's perspective on career trajectory and a glimpse into everyday operations and inspirations at a variety of companies and firms.

Design has become a multi-platform activity that involves aesthetic, creative, and technical expertise. Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer shows readers that the field once known as "graphic design" is now richer and more inviting than ever before.

• Learn how to think like a designer and approach projects systematically
• Discover the varied career options available within graphic design
• Gain insight from some of the leading designers in their fields
• Compile a portfolio optimized to your speciality of choice

Graphic designers' work appears in magazines, advertisements, video games, movies, exhibits, computer programs, packaging, corporate materials, and more. Aspiring designers are sure to find their place in the industry, regardless of specific interests. Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer provides a roadmap and compass for the journey, which begins today.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Copyright

Title Page

Foreword

Glossary

Job Opportunities

Job Seeking

The Optimum Portfolio

First Impressions

Part 1: Graphic Design

Chapter 1: Inspirations and Motivations

Michael Bierut: On Being a Graphic Designer

Stephen Doyle: On Being Selfish—in a Good Way

Stefan Sagmeister: On Being Self-Motivated

Arnold Schwartzman: Still Designing after All These Years

Gail Anderson: The Joys of Print Design

Chapter 2: Starting a Studio or Working for Someone Else

Lynda Decker: Mapping Out the Future

Fernando Music: From Boss to Employee

Allison Henry Aver: Working Holistically

Romain Rachlin: Creative Space

Alexander Isley: Staying Independent

Agnieszka Gasparska: Small Is Sensible

Bobby Martin and Jennifer Kinon: Championing Design

Antonio Alcalá: What a Dream Client Looks Like

Mark Pernice: From Band Member to Design Leader

Tamara Gildengers Connolly: Balancing Studio and Home

Araba Simpson: One Person, All Alone

Matt Luckhurst: Designing for Design Firms

Chapter 3: Partners on Partnering

Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker: Not a Lot of Verbalizing

Stuart Rogers and Sam Eckersley: Sharing Responsibilities

Justin Colt and Jose Fresneda: How Partners Become Partners

Greg D'Onofrio and Patricia Belen: Two Partners, One Passion

Scott Buschkuhl: At Present We Are Three

Part 2: Design Genres

Chapter 4: Letters and Type

Marian Bantjes: Lettering as Art and Business

Andy Cruz and Rich Roat: There's a Type Designer in the House

Pierre di Scuillo: Typography That Speaks Up

Ross MacDonald: An Illustrator's Passion for Type

Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich: For the Love of Type

Chapter 5: Making Logos and Marks

Mark Fox: The Mark Maker

Chapter 6: Books and Book Jackets

Scott-Martin Kosofsky: Making a Living Doing Books

Michael Carabetta: Books and E-Books

Paul Buckley: The Bookeeper

Jim Heimann: Making Visual Books

Chapter 7: Editorial Design

Len P. Small: Print Is Bouncing Back

Susanna Shannon: Art Director Becomes Editor

Chapter 8: Social Innovation

Mark Randall: The Citizen Designer

Bob McKinnon: Socially Impactful Design

Chapter 9: Branding and Packaging

Sharon Werner: Approachable Design

Chapter 10: Illustration Design

Michel Bouvet: The Citizen Designer

Mirko Ilic: Design Is Like Classical Ballet

Steve Brodner: Graphic Commentary and Design

Steven Guarnaccia: The Old New Illustration

Neil Gower: Fraudulent Graphic Designer

Craig Frazier: Designing Pictures

Part 3: Transitional Design

Chapter 11: Understanding Change

Richard Saul Wurman: The Architect of Understanding

Petrula Vrontikis: Creating Interactions

Erik Adigard des Gautries: The Experience of the Information

Véronique Marrier: Graphic Design as a Cause

Chapter 12: Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness

Charles S. Anderson: Celebrating Commercial Art

Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz: Over-the-Top Digital D.I.Y.

Ludovic Houplain / H5: Getting an Oscar for Graphic Design

Cary Murnion: Designing Cooties

Nick Ace: Speaking Frankly

Chapter 13: What Comes Next

Timothy Goodman: Disposable Ideas

Ryan Feerer: Making Design Meals

Franco Cervi: “I'm Reckless!”

Part 4: Digital Design

Chapter 14: Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces

Jeroen Barendse: Subverting the Mental Map

Julien Gachadoat: Demomaking for a Living

Ada Whitney: The New Motion

Jean-Louis Fréchin: Asking the Right Questions

Chapter 15: Designing Apps for Mobile Devices

Sean Bumgarner: Between Text and Images

Michel Chanaud: Always Learning

John Kilpatrick: Designer as Accelerator

Nicolas Ledoux and Pascal Béjean: Digital Books and Magazines by Contemporary Artists

Frédérique Krupa: Games as Powerful Motivators

Chapter 16: E-Commerce with a Soul

Randy J. Hunt: Growing into a Job

Lucy Sisman: Online Editorial Ventures

Nancy Kruger Cohen: Addicted to Start-ups

Chapter 17: User Experience Specialists

Bruce Charonnat: Understanding Human–Computer Interaction

Michael Aidan: Using the Audience as Media

Hugh Dubberly: Mapping the Relationship between Ideas

Matthew Stadler: To Publish: To Create a Public for Books

Chapter 18: Geeks, Programmers, Developers, Tinkerers

Frieder Nake: Controlling Computers with Our Thoughts

Mark Webster: Iterations and Algorithms

Part 5: Design Education

Chapter 19: Making Choices

Andrea Marks: Old School, New School

Lita Talarico: Educating Design Entrepreneurs

Rudi Meyer: Developing the Right Attitude

Lucille Tenazas: Idiosyncratic Contexts

Liz Danzico: Interfacing with UX

Allan Chochinov: The Maker Generation

David Carroll: Students and Surveillance

College Directory

Additional Reading

Index

End User License Agreement

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Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Foreword

Part 1: Graphic Design

Begin Reading

Cover image: Rick Landers

Cover design: Rick Landers

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

ISBN 978-1-118-77198-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-04470-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-04496-3 (ebk)

BECOMING A GRAPHIC & DIGITAL DESIGNER

A GUIDE TO CAREERS IN DESIGN

STEVEN HELLER & VÉRONIQUE VIENNE

FIFTH EDITION

Foreword

This is not your grandmother's graphic design. Nor is it your older brother's or sister's. The rate of speed at which the practice moves is cyclonic. All you have to do is look around to see that the world of design involves media that were inconceivable when grandmas were starting their careers.

– From the Preface of 4th Edition

This brand new edition represents a brand new era of graphic design, which is part graphic, almost entirely digital, and decidedly transitional. One of the proposed titles for this book was Becoming an Integrated Designer because traditional graphic and relatively new digital design are indeed merging into one practice. Likewise, it could have been called Becoming an INTEGRAL Designer because it is integral for practioners to be prepared for the present and the future, having fluency in a variety of media and platforms—those that exist now and those yet to be discovered.

Building on the past successes of Becoming A Graphic Designer with Teresa Fernandez and Becoming a Digital Designer with David Womack, this new edition addresses the demands of starting a design career in the early twenty-first century. This new volume is not a revision but, rather, a complete restructuring of form and content. All the interviews were done specifically for this edition, and the international coverage is unique as well. Starting with a new definition of design as a multiplatform activity that involves aesthetic, creative, and technical expertise, this edition will guide the reader through print and digital design, emphasizing the transitional and improvisational methods so prevalent today. Through over 80 interviews and essays that address inspiration, theory, and practice, the reader will come to understand that field once narrowly known as “graphic design” is much richer and more inviting of thinkers, managers, and makers.

Traditional graphic design and typography platforms (i.e., print) are important yet now comprise a smaller portion of this book. After all, many of the print platforms are now gone, near obsolescence, or subsumed. Digital is, however, an umbrella term for all manner of graphic design, information design, interaction design, and user experience, where the computer is the tool of today. Every “communication designer” must be able to use digital tools whether he or she designs for print magazines or iPhone apps. Also, since the 4th edition, the fact of design entrepreneurship—or “start-up” culture—is now reaching new levels of ubiquity and accessibility. Education is changing to better integrate new technologies: graphic, typographic, product, interaction, branding, and other subgenres. This excerpt from the previous edition still resonates:

Becoming a Graphic & Digital Designer is not going to teach the neophytehow to use the computer. Scores of books and thousands of courses offer basic, intermediate, and advanced instruction. Rather, this book is an introduction—a navigational guide, if you like—to what in recent years has become a complex profession comprising many print, film, and electronic genres. In the music business, it is not enough to play a few chords on the guitar; it is useful to be proficient in R&B, folk, reggae, punk, hip-hop, and so forth. Likewise, graphic design is not simply about the exclusive practice of editorial, book, advertising, or poster design; all these forms can (and even should) be practiced by individuals depending on their relative skill, expertise, and inclination. More important, with the recent development of desktop publishing as well as computer-driven multimedia, the field has expanded to such an extent that entirely new divisions of labor, unprecedented collaborations, and specializations have emerged. This book describes both traditional and new disciplines.

And this quote from Milton Glaser in the previous edition balances the reality of being a designer and an artist with the disciplines necessary to practice effectively:

One of the great problems of being a designer is that you get parochialized and you find yourself increasingly narrowed, doing more and more specialized things that you've done a hundred times before. For me, the way out was to broaden the canvas, to try to do things that I was not very experienced doing, to try to develop a range of activities so that I couldn't be forced into a corner and left to dry. While that is not the solution for everyone, that is a consideration people must at least examine before they embark on a course, for once they have mastered the professional requirement, it may no longer have any interest in it for them.

So, you learn the “lay” of the present landscape and perhaps the future, too. Advice through interviews with designers, design managers, and design educators, each with a distinct practice, will help the navigation. There are so many options for employment today in so many different venues that it is easy to lose track of why one becomes a designer in the first place—to make inventive, imaginative, and useful things that will have value to both the user and the maker.

Glossary

Job Opportunities

The field is changing quickly, and with this comes an entire glossary of new job titles. This is a selection of some of them, but don't be surprised if you come across others in your job hunt.

Job Divisions

Graphic designers are employed in virtually all kinds of businesses, industries, and institutions. Here are some of the typical terms used interchangeably for “in-house design department.” (The words group and team are also commonly used).

Different companies are organized differently, depending on their focus and goals. A large corporation may distinguish package design from promotion design, or editorial design from advertising design; a smaller business may keep all design activities under one umbrella, such as Design Department.

Likewise, proprietary or independent design firms, studios, or offices—design businesses that service large corporations and small businesses—may or may not distinguish among design functions, such as having a print design department separate from a multimedia design department, or promotion and collateral separate from editorial departments.

Art Department

Art and Design Department

Art Services Department

Design Department

Design Services Department

Creative Services Department

Creative Group

Graphics Group

Interaction Group

Research and Development Department

User Experience Group

Job Titles

The titles given to specific jobs and tasks throughout the design field vary according to the hierarchy of the specific company, institution, or firm. For example, an art director for one company may be a design director at another; a senior designer at one may have different responsibilities than a senior at another. Starting from the top, here are typical job titles as used by in-house art departments in publishing, advertising, corporations, and proprietary design firms and agencies.

The managerial level,

where jobs may or may not involve hands-on design work in addition to the oversight of the designers:

Creative director

Design director

Corporate art director

Creative service manager

Design manager

Brand strategist

The support level,

which involves working directly with the seniors in both design and production capacities:

Junior designer

Assistant designer

Deputy art director

Associate art director

Assistant art director

Production artist

Art associate

The creative or design level,

which involves directly serving clients. These titles embody different responsibilities, depending on the organizational hierarchy of the particular business:

Senior designer

Designer

Senior art director

Art director

Graphics editor

Entry level

Assistant designer

Junior designer

Intern (This category is temporary—a stepping- stone, perhaps—and is often unpaid.)

New Jobs

Since this book was first published, interaction design has become a dominant career choice for designers. Although communication is the common denominator between the graphic designer and interaction designer, there are profound differences. For more detailed information, see Becoming a Digital Designer by Steven Heller and David Womack (Wiley, 2004). In addition to familiar titles, like “art director,” new jobs in this field (see page xi for list of titles) include the following:

Information architect

Interaction designer

Service designer

Web designer

UX (user experience designer)

Freelancer

Freelancers, as opposed to principals of proprietary studios or firms, do not manage businesses with additional employees (although they may hire assistants as needed). They often take on individual, finite freelance projects either on the premises of the client or in their own studios. Freelancers usually do not use titles but, rather, advertise themselves as “Jane Doe, Graphic Designer,” or “John Doe, Design Production.”

Job Seeking

Social media have revolutionized our interpersonal and professional interactions. Now, not only are graphic designers expected to have a well-crafted resume and online portfolio, but they must also be part of networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. Increasingly, message apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Pintrest are promotional tools for designers.

Of all the new social and professional networks, LinkedIn is quickly becoming a way of connecting with future employees for an increasing number of recruiters and hiring managers. In a segment on NPR, Yuki Noguchi wrote, “Not having a profile on the social networking site LinkedIn is, for some employers, not only a major liability but also a sign that the candidate is horribly out of touch.” Monica Bloom, a design industry recruiter for Aquent in Los Angeles, says that it is essential for graphic designers seeking employment to have a LinkedIn profile—more so than Facebook, although that is debatable.

And what about a designer's Google factor? Take a minute, open your Web browser, and do a search on your own name. What comes up? Are there any pictures that come up when your name is searched that you wouldn't want a future employer or coworker to see? What about things you may have said online? Prospective employers, like prospective blind dates, use the Web as reference. So be sure that you are aware of what others might find when they search for you in digital space.

As the design industry has become more and more digital, the portfolios are more interactive. Samples alone are not enough. Linking to successful projects increases credibility. While, in most cases, designers should still bring a physical copy of their portfolio to a job interview, an increasing amount of legwork is done when designers have their work posted online at all times for anyone interested to see.

Since many recruiters, headhunters, and employers reach out first to their online contacts with job openings, it pays to get on board all major networking and portfolio websites. There are many portfolio-hosting services, which gives designers an opportunity to circulate their work online for little or no cost. Check out Coroflot.com, Behance.com, DesignObserver.com, and CreativeHotlist.com for portfolio hosting and job notifications. Some employers also use Facebook and Twitter to announce job openings. Be sure your profiles and portfolios are up to date and professional.

When posting online or sending portfolio samples as an email attachment, it is easiest if the files are PDFs and not more than 2 MB in size. In many cases, if the attachment is larger, it will take too long to open online or clog up the recipient's inbox if e-mailed.

The Optimum Portfolio

Portfolios are now mostly online either on your own site or on a service, and/or stored on your tablet or laptop. You can have an analog version, but the days of bulky books and oversized cases are over. There are specific requirements for each discipline, but, on average, the idea is to show no more than 15 examples.

Entry Level

Most entry-level portfolios include a high percentage of school assignments and often one or two redesigns of existing magazines or fantasy magazines. This work exhibits original thinking, unfettered by the constraints of a real job, and yet the solutions are realistic.

Junior/Senior Designer

By this stage, portfolios should include a large percentage of published (online or printed) work. The junior may continue to include school projects, but the senior should jettison them. The samples should be of high quality. Not everything that has been published rates showing in a portfolio. Through these samples, the important thing is to show your taste, talent, and expertise.

First Impressions

Often your first impression will be made through a letter or e-mail sent to a potential employer. This is an opportunity to let them know who you are. So your letter should be simple and straightforward. Avoid flourishes and eccentricities. Be professional. This is an example of how familiarity can be too cute (note the critical annotations):

Hello

(To start, this is too informal; stick to “Dear Ms. Jones”)

I'm sure by now, you've received my little mailer from sunny . . ., where I was working for . . . . studio. I've since returned to the good ol' US of A and I am looking for full-time employment!

(Never assume anything. Never send your work separate from your introductory letter. And watch out for sayings like “good ol' US of A.” It may be fine in speech, but in a letter, it is an annoying affectation.)

I'm looking to work in a place where I can implement all of my creative and professional skills to create high-quality work. That's why you've received a little mailer from me—You've been hand-picked! You're obviously talented, and I'd love the opportunity to work with you.

(YOU'VE BEEN WHAT?!!? Never suggest that you are doing a prospective employer a favor.)

Please see attached resume; I look forward to hearing from you! Kind regards,

(This letter will ensure you will be ignored. Remember, the quality of your work will get your foot in the door. The brevity and sincerity of your request to be interviewed will get you the appointment you need.)

Part 1Graphic Design

What is graphic design? That question has vexed most practitioners who were compelled to answer when a parent asked, “What is it you do again?” Graphic design was once enigmatic—a specialized field that was visible and yet a mystery. Then the computer revolution of the late 1980s brought enlightenment. Apple Computer ran a TV commercial showing a pair of hands doing a pasteup. To paraphrase the voice-over: This is what a graphic designer does. With the Apple you no longer need a graphic designer. With one 30-second spot, the world was introduced to graphic design and told it was obsolete—anyone with a Macintosh could do it. That was the age of “desktop publishing,” a moment in time when it seemed that graphic design was about to be devalued. But clear heads and machines prevailed. Instead of taking over the field, the Mac became its foremost tool. What's more, graphic designers became culturally significant as communicators, aestheticists, stylists, and even authors.

The world became aware that all those beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) books, book covers, posters, magazines, record covers, typefaces, signs, packages, exhibitions, trademarks, and information graphics were all components under the graphic design umbrella. Graphic design is not just about making pasteups and mechanicals or the equivalent on computer using InDesign; it is about conceptualizing, conceiving, imagining, constructing, producing, managing, and realizing an aesthetically determined functional piece of visual communication. Once it was primarily paper; now graphic design affects screens of all kinds. But the fundamental definition of graphic design as a way of organizing, “formatizing,” and functionalizing word and image remains constant.

Graphic designers all speak the same basic language (and use the same jargon), but graphic design is not an intuitive endeavor: Some designers are more adept at fine typography than others, who may be better skilled at sequential narratives or information management. It cannot be done without knowledge of the task, genre, or medium in question. Graphic design must be studied, learned, and continually practiced to achieve even basic proficiency. To go further, to transcend simple service and craft with inspiring work, graphic design must be totally embraced—body and soul.

This section offers a brief survey of some of the current design specialties and hybrids. Some of the viable opportunities discussed in the previous edition have disappeared or are now marginalized. Print work is increasingly being integrated with digital (online or handheld). The following interviews provide insight into and wisdom about the overall graphic design experience—how people became designers and how their careers evolved—with emphasis on each designer's unique specialties.

Chapter 1Inspirations and Motivations

The decision to become a graphic designer can hit you on the head like a wave on a beach or sneak into your consciousness like a fragrant aroma. Whatever the reason for joining the ranks, inspiration and motivation must be present. This is not just a job—graphic design is a passion. In these next interviews, designers reveal the various ways they were drawn into the vortex by inspirational yet magnetic forces.