Things Designers Ask

Welcome and frequently asked questions

0:00Blowing ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them. That's bull spend. And marketers are calling it out in Dashboard Confessions. I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand, when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't. Cut the bull spend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit. Go to linkedin.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply.

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1:00What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Deeply Graphic Design Cast. I'm Nick Longo. I've been asked so many questions over and over and over again. It could be just at a meetup or from my students or from colleagues or from people that I have been mentoring. And I made a list of some of, I think, the most frequently asked questions.

1:30And I thought this would make for a really good kind of episode idea. So, first one I got here.

What makes a junior designer stand out

1:36What actually makes a junior designer stand out? I think there's so many different things you can answer that with. And it's not the obvious, right? The most incredible portfolio, all of your software skills. What I think really shows the most nowadays is your love for the industry, your kind of like desire for curiosity, all the things that like make you a better designer. I think if you show that off a little bit more and let people understand that this is what you live and breathe and it shows,

2:10that's something you can't match in a portfolio or any kind of written or visual thing that you're going to show them. This idea that you can show how enthusiastic you are is fantastic. And nowadays, I think that's probably one of the best ways to stand out because I know how competitive it is. So many people I talk to about job hunts and things like that, that to me is what would really stand out. Recommendations, obviously having incredible people ready to go and sell you to the best of their ability,

2:40that would be amazing as well. But the things that you should really be talking about a little bit too are the things that really shine to the business side of someone hiring you. They want to make sure you're reliable, you have good communication, you've developed taste over the years, your initiative is like through the roof. Things like that are what they want to hear. So just picture yourself being in that situation where you're going to be hiring someone. What would impress you from somebody, right?

3:12So just think of all those good things you've done and you just all around, you want to be the person that they want to be around. Like that makes so much sense. Think about it that way. They're bringing you onto a team. They probably have a ton of other people on that team as well. So you want to make sure you are truly that person that they can see fit in perfectly and be a good fit. Will you make their lives easier? So that's my answer to that one. The next one.

Building and enhancing a portfolio

3:41How good does my portfolio really have to be to get hired? So think about it. It is the invitation to even being getting called back. So it has to be fucking amazing. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Why would you put out anything mediocre? Why would you put out anything just simple and safe? There's got to be some ways to enhance, take it to the next level. I've spent a lot of time showing on our Adobe Live channel how you can use things like Firefly and other stuff to enhance old jobs.

4:14Inject them with a new life. Amplify them. Make them look grander than they were. Just because a project you did was kind of not the biggest thing in the world, you can make it look like the biggest thing in the world. That's your choice. Those are the things you can do with your work. Just because it's somebody else's project or you did it at someone else's work or something doesn't mean you can't enhance the shit out of a thing and make it look incredible on your portfolio. This is your work. This is what you're showing that you can do. So accelerate it.

4:45Amplify it. Make them better. So, yeah, it does have to be amazing. I think that's the gate into getting the callback, getting the first interview. In most cases, you know, they've already looked at your work if you are coming in and doing that. So you are, you are, if you're not in that position where it's not that solid and you can be the best judge of that, nobody else really can, look at it and say, I can do better, make it better. I think that's super important. Flowing ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them, that's bull spend.

5:17And marketers are calling it out in Dashboard Confessions. I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't. Cut the bull spend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit. Go to linkedin.com slash campaign terms and conditions apply. Experience a membership that backs what you're building with American Express Business Platinum.

5:47Enjoy complimentary access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection and apply to find out your welcome offer, which could be as high as 300,000 membership rewards points. American Express Business Platinum. There's nothing like it. Terms apply. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business dash platinum. What if you don't have any real client work yet? Of course, many people are in that same situation.

6:19I just talked to somebody the other night at an event and she mentioned she's doing this all on her own and she's being self-taught and she didn't go to school and she knows she has great taste and she can design, but she doesn't have a book. And I'm like, well, make it and make it out of fake work. I don't care. Honestly, if someone doesn't appreciate your really amazing work because it just happens to be a fake thing or a passion project, screw that. Why would you want to work for that person? You know, make the work you want to do. Make it as best as you can. You are the art director.

6:50You're getting to create this thing from scratch. So make it incredible. Go over the top with these things because no one else is art directing it but you. So if you don't have that real work, make sure it's in there. Show the self-initiation. Show the things that you did to push the boundaries of this project. Again, if you have a lot of safe work and you're going to build a few of these passion projects for your portfolio, make them game changers, right? Take a risk. Do something you would never do for that one. You'd be surprised that that might be the one they talk about the most when you do me.

7:24How many projects should be in your portfolio? There's no magic number. You know, I've seen people win with three and three really good, intensive, like, you know, fill to the rim case studies, meaning storytelling, a beginning, a middle, an end, a conclusion, all those things. Three is a magic number. If you have three incredible things and it shows all the things you can do, think about those case studies and how much stuff you can show in there. UX, UI, motion, copywriting, photography, creative direction, all those things, packaging, wayfinding, endless.

8:03Why aren't you showing those things? Get them in there and show off your work. So there's really no magic number as far as how many projects should be in there. Think of them as like encyclopedias, right? And how many encyclopedias do you want? How many books do you want there? A lot of times I tell people, have five, but then you can customize them to the job opportunity. So if something is 1,000% a packaging job that you're applying for, make sure those top three are super packaging heavy. Don't go showing a ton of UX, UI stuff.

8:34It doesn't make sense. So if you have a good core library to choose from, you can pull from there and show the specialties that are being asked for in that job application or in that job description. Freaking go for it.

Navigating company process and interviews

8:48Next up, do employers actually care about my process? It depends. I mean, some of them are going to have a pretty established and decent process already. So in that case, do your homework. And if that place is a big name or something you know exists and they've got an incredible department already, I would find some keywords to say on how adaptable you are to a process that's already in place. You can obviously sprinkle in a little bit of, you know, oh, I also have created my own processes and so I have that ability.

9:21But I would push more to the thing that you are flexible and completely able to drop into any process and be fine. Now, if it's a smaller company and they don't have a process, then you're going to sing the praises as far as you can that you have made process and you know how to do it. I've spoken to a lot of people that get these jobs and next thing you know, they're there on day one and there's absolutely zero process. That is your moment to shine and put something together quickly. Show the powers that be that you can do this stuff and why it's so important.

9:53Why it makes for better process, better communication amongst different departments and then in turn, better creative because there has been a process that makes it work. So make sure you are reading the room on who that particular job is and do they want you to be a process follower or a process kind of owner. So think about it that way. What's the biggest mistake you see young designers make in interviews? Again, not showing the enthusiasm, not not showing up with that, just the body language, all of those things.

10:26I think that I heard something the other day saying like Gen Z was saying, well, is it OK to bring a coffee into a interview? And I was like, are you kidding me? Are we actually asking that question? That's an instant out. I'm sorry. I'm just old school. I think of it like you're coming here to show me your best possible kind of presentation of who you are. Be ready, do your homework, look and see what that company's done. Be knowledgeable, be kind, be generous, be all those things. Why wouldn't you do that for that hour?

10:57It's one hour to be your best person. So think about it. What would you want to see if you were the interviewer? What would you accept? What would you not? Like, I think it's that way of just thinking, man, this is my opportunity. I'm going to give it the best I can. So go for it. But the mistakes you make, I think are like, you know, again, it's just first impression. Show up like you care. Dress for it. Figure out who they are, right? Dress slightly higher. That's always what I always say.

11:27And just, you know, don't over explain things. Show your process. Be excited about the work you talk about. Never make excuses. Don't apologize for anything that you've done. And just own the projects, you know? Own those things. Tell me why you made decisions. And if they lead to the consumer or the person that's going to be buying or consuming the project that you're working on, then you won me over instantly. That's the only person we need to talk about when it comes to like why you made these decisions in there, right?

11:59What if I get a job and then realize I'm not good? I'm not as good as everybody else. Get better. If it's way harder to get better in that thing, you know, obviously reexamine if that's the right job for you. But this is a very real thing that everyone gets in their first real job. Everyone's going to feel I'm not good enough. I've been there almost every day one of any job all the way back from 16 in your first kind of part-time job working anywhere.

12:31You never feel like you're as good as everybody else. But guess what? They have a head start. They've been there for a long time. They've all been in your position. I would just wait it out and make sure do your best, do everything you're being asked, ask for what you can do to do more, be that person, be undeniable through everything and see how it works out. You know, if it goes further and you're still feeling that and that is the case, maybe everyone is a tad bit better, pick their brains, ask them how they got better, ask them how they're doing this work that's just so stellar or whatever it might be,

13:02and pick their brains, figure out how do you get better? That's the best thing you can possibly do. And God knows if you show some of that improvement and people see it, I mean, yeah, you're a superstar there. How do I take criticism without losing confidence? Well, you've got to separate that. Taking criticism means you're taking criticism for the work, not you. This isn't a personal thing. This is criticism, hopefully if it's good criticism by someone who understands the project brief and what we've all agreed on,

13:38you've got to learn to kind of say like, okay, maybe my work did not kind of like portray what we needed this to be. So be honest first with that, you know, and be humble. I think that was once I got past that hurdle and now I can take that criticism and I can look at it and I'm like, they're 100% right. Yeah, we've got to make this change. Now, if it's something that's not right and it goes against what everybody agreed on, that's your time to stand up and really defend it. I think you could do that in a very polite and civilized way by saying, let's go backwards.

14:10Let's look at the brief. It was supposed to be, you know, funny, lighthearted with a clean sense of humor and we've gone completely off track with this thing. So I do think where I'm at is 100% correct. So you can fight the battle there, but make sure what you're fighting for is truly, truly right.

Collaboration, criticism, and specialization

14:29How much should I speak up in a meeting when I'm the junior person in the room?

14:36That's a tough one. I think you got to earn your place and you got to earn your voice a lot of times. If you are the most junior in the room, don't perform expertise that you don't have. So you can ask questions to ask someone to clarify something or whatever, and that makes, that gives you an involvement. But unless you are fully the expert in something, I would listen, I would take notes, you know, I would ask questions, that kind of thing. But again, you just don't want to disappear either.

15:08So some involvement is great. And I think it shows even as a junior, I remember juniors asking questions in meetings and I thought, wow, that was great. It was neat to see it from their perspective. We were so jaded by doing like, you know, brainstorm after brainstorm, it might have been. And then some junior comes in and asks the simplest question and we were all like, wow, we forgot about that part of the whole experience here. So, you know, I think it's one of those things. Try to figure it out. Don't just disappear, but also don't throw out anything unless you really feel like you are the expert there as well.

15:42What makes someone great to work with besides being a great designer? Do you communicate? Are you fun to work with? No freaking drama. Keep it out of the workplace. You're going to be known as that person if that's all you do. Do you meet deadlines? Do you own a mistake? When you make a mistake, own it. Do it fast. Don't let it linger. That looks horrible. Do you help other people? You know, do you, if you have that extra spare minute, are you helping somebody else? Are you championing a junior below you or whatever it might be?

16:16You know, could someone say, hey, you're still learning. That's great. I see you growing, learning new skills. You're challenging yourself all the time. You know, so again, think about what you want people to say about you. And that's the kind of stuff that makes you a great person to work with. When should I leave my first design job?

16:38Not after two years because LinkedIn told you to, right? Like that's the thing. I think you see these being things. There is no answer. My first job kind of technically became my only job because it kept changing. It kept evolving. And we had mergers. We had acquisitions. We had buyouts. We had a big competitor bought us. And then we split up. And then it was like, and that just became my job. I never quit, you know, until I did finally quit. But that was a long journey. So again, there's no right answer to this.

17:09If the job sucks and you're not learning anything and you have no good creative direction above you and maybe the pay is low. I mean, like there's all those scales you've got to look at. And you're the only person that can make that decision. But I think going with your gut probably means there's four to five things there that aren't working for you. And it's a good chance to maybe change. I would never quit without something else. Obviously, I know a lot of people who've had to stick with a kind of nowhere job for quite a while until the new one showed up. So, you know, finances are a real thing.

17:40And keep that in mind. So don't just drop it because it's not good. Either try to improve it or find the alternative solution. Should I specialize or try to do everything? Well, yeah, in your own world, I think you've got to figure that out. If you're a badass at some incredible niche thing and you can make a living at it and people are like knocking on your door for it constantly, then you've got a niche and it's probably worth something. If it's not that, you know, I think it's depending on your age bracket and your experience bracket.

18:11If you're young, I'd be the jack of all trades. I really would. I would learn everything. I would be as ready as possible for anything. And just like we said with case studies, you can pick and choose three or four of your core like things that you do best and package that up as a thing specifically for a job opportunity. And you'll look like a bit of a niche, but you're just bundling a few of your specialties. So try that out as well.

18:36I think that's when you're early, right? If it's later in your career. Technically, you might have a you might have a niche, you might have a specialty, but I would broaden it as much as my specialty might be branding for food and beverage and restaurant. Sometimes that could be too niche and then a bank goes, well, you're not you're not our person here. So maybe you niche to I'm branding. I'm 1000% branding A to Z, whatever you need. So there's ways to customize that.

19:06I think. How do I figure out what kind of a designer I actually want to be? Um, well, you know, again, it's around your age and your experience when you're really young, unless you have that one thing that you're dying to be a part of or an industry, you know, just just be that person that can do it all, you know, be the kind of designer, feel it out, try. I had no idea packaging would be my thing until the job that I first landed was a packaging designer. Then an opportunity came up into product design, actually creating and designing the products.

19:41I knew nothing about that. But guess what? I had enough in with the company and my learning curve was easy to get into there. So, again, I would have never predicted where it went. I've never would have predicted I'd become a teacher. All these things. So, like, planning it. I and in this world that we're in now and how it's so ever changing. I just think planning something five, 10 years in advance seems a little bit odd. Like, just look at the forecast. Now, and try to figure that out. Do I need a personal brand as a designer? You need a well typeset first and last name.

20:13That's about it. I don't know. I unless you have the most kick ass logo and you're really proud of it. This is a lot about you. And it could work in the environments of being hired or advancement in your career. Cool. But like, honestly, I think most designers I would like for the work to really speak for themselves. And it looks like you have a beautiful kind of curated first and last name, letter mark, word mark, whatever it is. And that's cool. I don't think you really need anything else. The work is what I'm going to remember. And you, you and your personality are what someone's truly going to remember.

20:46And that's where I think you want to shine. How do I get opportunities when no one knows who I am? Make them know who you are. I mean, it's so simple. We have such an incredible time right now to let the world know who you are. Like, 30 years ago, Bond, all you had was your portfolio and your feet. Like, honestly, you just didn't have all this stuff now to tell the world who you are. And you got to get over that thing. If it's something you don't feel comfortable doing it, you just got to do it.

21:19I think if you put yourselves out there and you put yourselves in those rooms, think of the last episode we had a while back about making yourself more lucky. You're giving yourself more surface space to be found. And I think that's just the thing. Share your work. Ask follow-ups. Create more opportunities for luck to find you. That's the thing. If you're not comfortable with everything on being digital, do it analog. Do it for real. Knock on doors. Talk to people. Make people know your name and your work and your reputation.

21:49It's as simple as that. Should I take a job that isn't exactly the kind of design I want to do? Again, it depends on if you need that job tomorrow. That's a freaking hell yes. You take it. You deal with it. You figure it out. It could turn into something great. It might be just mediocre and get you through to the next job. But again, if the question is, should I take that job and it's not what I want, it's all about all your feelers. Is this the only place that's called you back in six months? You see what I mean?

22:20Like, maybe that's the one to take and figure it out. How do I know what I'm worth? Again, it stacks, right? All of your years and work experience stacked upon each other tells you what you're worth, right? So, salary, freelance, hourly, and all that. You got to do a little bit of homework. You got to look. Again, you have ample resources all throughout the internet to find those answers. Use ShatchiBT. Start maybe a salary or a what I'm worth kind of project.

22:53Feed it in all of your stuff. Your resume. Your portfolio. Your website. Your LinkedIn. All the things, all your achievements, any awards, scholarships, honors, features. Have you been on a podcast? Whatever. Put it all in there and see what it says. I think, you know, you got to know some numbers. So, when you are asked what you're worth, you have an answer. I think the better answer there is to have an answer for that, right? Figuring out is probably the easier part. So, what career mistake do you see designers make around year three to five?

23:30Gosh. From years three to five, it might be a little bit of comfort level. You might go, whoa, I've gone through three to five years here. I'm smooth sailing. I'm no longer in school. You know, I'm making decent money. I have a job. And it's almost like taking your hands off the wheel a little bit. Always try to check in with yourself every six months and be like, how am I doing here? Do I really like this? Am I being intentional? Are there goals I have? Have I asked my boss for that yearly list of goals to achieve my review, my promotion,

24:06my raise, whatever it is? Don't just go smooth sailing after three to five years. I think that happens. We can hit plateaus. And on the flip side too, maybe you did get comfortable where you're at and you're not being as aggressive with your growth and your future any longer. So, make sure you're being intentional with the building of your career still. I'm telling you, after three to five years, that's nothing. You'll blink your eye and it'll be 10, 15, 20 years and you don't want to be making changes

24:37at that point. So, three to five is a good time to do it.

Advice for starting out today

24:40And lastly, if you were 22 and graduating design school today, oh, I hear this all the time, what would you do differently? Flowing ad budget on metrics that look great till the CFO sees them, that's bull spend. And marketers are calling it out in Dashboard Confessions. I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't. Cut the bull spend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more.

25:10Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit. Go to linkedin.com slash campaign. Terms and conditions apply. Experience a membership that backs what you're building with American Express Business Platinum. Enjoy complimentary access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection and apply to find out your welcome offer, which could be as high as 300,000 membership rewards points. American Express Business Platinum. There's nothing like it. Terms apply.

25:40Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business dash platinum. Gosh, take advantage of every single thing in front of you to make the career you want. Write down what you want. Write down all the little things that you dream of. Don't think of dream jobs and dream companies because we've experienced that before. Sometimes they're not a dream, right? It's more, where do you want to be in 10, 15 years?

26:11What's your goal down the road? What role does technology and everything that's happening right now play in your future? Are you open to it? Are you ready to dive in more, right? I would try to reinvent the presentation of a designer looking for a career. And I don't want to give you specifics, but look what everybody else is doing.

26:42Portfolio, case studies, resume, social media. Kind of auto-playing it, right? Pump those freaking things up as best as you can. Take the initiative and make them bigger, better, bolder than anybody else. Copywriting. Please turn things around by better copy. Storytelling in your own world, not just your case studies and everything else, but who you are, how you're presenting yourself, who you'd be if I hired you. If you think about the hiring manager as your consumer, the same way you think of the consumer

27:16for any brand or something you work on, that means you're going to customize all this stuff to that person to truly answer all the questions, tick off all the boxes of, would this person be great to work with? Would this person make my day easier and my job easier by bringing them on? Make it 1,000% crystal clear that you're that person. If there's any doubt, you're off. You're off. It's on to the next person. Show me you can be that person, right? So that's what I would do.

27:47I would build myself the most like unique and different style of website. Maybe it's got some video consultations on it or video kind of like walkthroughs of your case study intent to a future episode I'm working on. I think there's a future there in not just having the static thing waiting for people to find. Just like we use social media and all the other stuff, maybe the portfolio evolves down the road here. And your presence, when someone clicks on it, there's no doubt of who you are, what kind

28:22of designer you are, what you're going to give to that person if they hire you. So that's my closer. I hope those were helpful. If you have further questions that you think are worthwhile to discuss, like we can even blossom into bigger episodes that really revolve around that topic, let me know. Send them in the comments, wherever you see this. So I hope that was helpful, guys. Go out there. Make a difference. Elevate your work.

28:52Bring it to a whole other level. See what happens. I wish you guys good luck. Peace. If this conversation helped you think a little longer term about your creative career, hit like and subscribe. It helps more than you think. And if you know a creative who's trying to figure out their next move, share this with them. That's how we get this community to grow. Every act of change begins with a neighbor. When neighbors connect through the Feeding America network, small actions ripple into lasting

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30:00Thanks.