By Katie Tully, art director

Dear Young Designers,

Welcome to the world of creative employment! Looking forward to seeing your creativity in action. Your first real-world design job will be a steep learning curve. Internships during college can help to soften that curve. There will still be learning to do, and the learning never stops. Design programs change, new techniques pop up, and curveballs are thrown. (*cough* AI *cough*). Here are some helpful hints, a bit of elder wisdom, and some struggles I have experienced in my years in the creative field. 

Communication

Ask questions. Have them and ask them. Take time to read up on the project brief and jot down questions. Be that person who goes to a meeting with a list of inquiries. Make sure you have a better understanding of direction and double-check any misunderstandings. As an introvert, I, personally, have had the most trouble with this. With some pre-planning, I feel comfortable participating in the discussion. Not everyone in the creative field is gregarious. It takes time to understand the best way to communicate.

Critiques are scary, yes. They are an integral part of the creative process, yes. They are only for the betterment of the overall design, yes. Getting feedback from the team is so helpful. Someone else will pick up on a way to address that nagging problem. The end design should be in focus after the critique. Getting feedback is just as important as providing feedback. Remember: subjective and objective feedback are two different things.

Clients

Let us talk about clients. You can steer the design process and make recommendations, but they know their brand best, and compromises will be made. Every design is not a winner, and rejection is never personal. The client did not choose your design? Now you know what not to do. Every project is a learning experience to adapt and make changes. 

Inner Critic

La la la. My fingers are in my ears. Not listening!

Creatives all have that tiny negative voice in the back of their head. It never completely goes away, but each successful project makes it quieter. Give that voice a name, a cardboard box, and packing tape. Promptly put them in the box, tape it up, and poke some holes in the top. Tell the voice, “You can come out when you have something positive to say.”

Creative Block

Yep, creative block is a common occurrence. How do you overcome creative block? It is a mixture of things. Inspiration is an essential component in breaking through your creative block. I keep a running list of blogs, websites, and magazines for inspiration. Sketching focuses your ideas. If you are unsure of a design, make another option. Get those ideas out; there are no bad ideas.

If all else fails, reference the Take a Break section.

Take a Break

Take a break. Take your lunch break, even if it is putting together a puzzle while eating your mac and cheese. Design fighting you? Take a break, get a coffee, walk around the block, and do some deep breathing or primal screaming. Whatever you have to do to clear your mind. The weekend is not for work emails. Leave it at work; creatives are creatives and not surgeons for a reason. That digital ad can be completed tomorrow, and the Earth will keep spinning. 

Smörgåsbord

Keep your passions, particularly your artistic passions. Enjoy Plein Air painting? Make time to set up in the park and paint the scenery. Keep your artistic mind flowing and creating. Anyone interested in joining my print exchange that I am totally gonna start?

LEARN INDESIGN! Notice all the caps? It means yell that to yourself. Illustrator is not a catch-all program. No designing print ads in Illustrator.  

Let it breathe and release tension. Not just buzzwords your college professor casually inserts into every critique. Is the headline too close to the margin? Decrease the size and/or move it away from the edges to give it breathing room. Does the design call for the running of words off the page? Make it look intentional.

Slug: not just a common, tough-skinned terrestrial mollusk. It’s a printing term for extra space in the bleed area for printer notes or to show where folds would be.

Don’t worry about learning every hotkey. It takes years to remember them (mostly) all. Did you get stuck in quick mask mode in Photoshop? Hint: it’s the Q key.

You will make mistakes. Mistakes are normal. Say @#%&^!@#^%$#!, then correct those mistakes. You deserve an award if you make it through your entire career without one incorrect printing.

Ending this note with the most meaningful design advice I’ve received and can still remember: When in doubt, K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid). Does the ad need that extra flourish? Simplify. More than three different typefaces? Simplify. 

Now, young designers go out into the world and make those mistakes, adapt, and above all, create.

With love,
A Design Elder