#16
Experience is Cumulative
How do you begin to count the actual hours that went in to any given design without counting the years of experience that led up to that point?
Articles
Written by Elbongurk
#15
Getting Paid for Design Work
Talking about money isn’t easy for most of us. It’s not in our nature to make demands or initiate difficult conversations, but nothing easy is really worth doing and if we don’t do it, who will?
#14
Craft Matters
Setting high standards for yourself and your work ensures that your work will not be judged for its poor craftsmanship, but instead for its merit.
#13
Design Interviews Part III: Preparing the Presentation
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you practice your presentation… Some people are naturally better presenters than others, but the most out-going easy breezy personality cannot pull a great interview from thin air.
#12
Design Interviews Part II: Choose Your Portfolio Pieces Carefully
You want to make a careful selection of work that allows you to show and speak to your strengths and to your ability to fit the role the company is looking for specifically.
#11
Design Interviews Part I: What to Ask in Advance
Though you cannot predict and prepare for everything, there are several variables that you can plan for if you just take the initiative to ask the right questions in advance
#10
Starting a Design Project
If you find yourself wanting to immediatly hop online to find inspiration first, you aren’t alone. Unfortunately, it can be the most destructive initial activity you can do.
#9
It Goes Both Ways: Choose Your Clients and Your Projects Carefully
Choosing which clients you’ll work with and what projects you’ll take on is among the most important decisions you’ll make as a working designer.
#8
Every Design Project Needs a Contract
I’ve put together a laundry list of some of the most important things to be included in any contract agreement…
#7
Just Use Arial
There are a few simple rules that anyone can follow to make any content better designed, even without specialty training.
#6
Become a Better Designer by Giving Back
Is it by accident that the same people we can list as some of the most known and influential people in the industry are also the people that run the blogs, record the podcasts, and write the books?
#5
Learning the Pen Tool: A Professional Responsibility
Professionals, both practicing designers and design educators, are the ones responsible for understanding the standards and requirements of our industry and owe it to our students, our clients, our peers, and to the discipline itself to perform at a professional level.
#4
Do Designers Need to Learn to Code?
Yes, but just how much you need to know will very much depend on what you want to do.
#3
Resumes for Landing a Great Design Job
I heard that cover letters are dead and that I should just focus on designing a great resume. Is this true?
#2
Applying for a Job is a Design Problem
Applying for a job is a scary thing. There are so many unknowns and nobody likes to be rejected. The most important thing you can do to ensure that you get a fair chance at any job is to treat is like any other design project you would do. The design process is a time tested method that greatly improves your chances of successful projects, why not use it to land a job?
#1
A Brief Guide to Copyright for the Beginning Designer
There is a terrible, but common misunderstanding among beginning designers, that there is a certain percentage of change that needs to happen to make an image your own. I’ve heard everything from 20% to 50% to 80%. Unfortunately, this is very much false. There is no percentage of change that actually makes up for originality. It is never ok to use an image that does not belong to you in your work.