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by Andrew Lam-Po-Tang
About this series of articles
This series is a shameless teaser to get more students enlisted as AGDA
members. There will be two more articles coming out over the next month,
based on material that AGDA uses in a presentation to graduating
students. The last in the series will be for AGDA members only and will
include current data on graduate starting salaries and what those
employers are looking for.
An overview of the issues
Below is a laundry list of the issues you need to think about in advance
of getting out there and hunting for a job. Yeah, it's a lot of stuff,
but we are talking about getting a job here - this is information for
students who give a damn about their careers and their design. It will
be useless to you: if you are just looking for a job, any job; if you're
a prima donna; if you believe that getting a job should be easy.
What type of work and what type of place? (this article)
- which areas of design?
- what type of studio?
Finding and landing a job (next article)
- the job-finding process
- what studios look for and how to demonstrate that you have it
Reality check (last article)
- how much are people getting paid?
- what are you expected to do?
- what will be your role in the studio?
A sobering thought: according to Ed Gold, author of 'The Business of
Graphic Design' 1995 edition, only about 10% of design graduates in the
US actually find work as designers (!)
It's hard to land that 'dream job' without having a clear idea
of what you want to do...
What type of work?
At design school, the subjects you follow are organised around areas of
technical expertise, such as: illustration, photography, etc. Out there,
in the world of practising designers and studios, the work follows areas
of application of design skills, eg,
- corporate identity: small, large.
- corporate communications: brochures, annual reports, leaflets,
posters, etc.
- packaging: supermarket goods
- architectural graphics: interior and exterior signage systems, 3D
displays
- multimedia and internet: fastest-growing area of graphic design
- publishing: books & magazines ( specialised)
When designers talk about 'experience' in a particular field, they are
referring to a familiarity with the design and production problems in
that particular field. For example, in annual reports, it is critical to
establish the 'drop dead' deadlines and the major text
contributors/editors, even if the client manager appears to have that
under control. That means, in further detail, knowing that it is the
Company Secretary who is legally bound to sign-off on much of the text,
etc.
Key points
Be aware that this is how studios think of 'types of work'
What type of work do you have a genuine affinity for?
Does anything attract you as a long term prospect?
Hot Tip
Show genuine interest (and score brownie points) during an interview by
asking the interviewer what they think the specific problems in their
particular area of expertise.
...And what type of studio you want to work for
What type of studio do you want to work in? Sure, everyone knows they
come in varying flavours, shapes and sizes, but have YOU though
sufficiently about what you're looking for? When you're doing that, you
need to be able to look beyond "uh, seems like cool work, nice looking
people and office." Here are some dimensions you can use to compare
different studios.
Size of studio
small (1-2 people) to large (10+)
Larger studios are generally better organised, usually have a higher
proportion of large clients and projects and are more stable places to
work (i.e. there is not a high risk they will go out of business over
the weekend)
Small studios often offer 'accelerated' learning opportunities but also
have a higher risk of
going out of business
Experience
inexperienced (<1 year) to experienced (5+ years)
"p2"
A studio that has been around for a while is more likely to stay in
business and therefore be able to offer relatively stable employment - the principals are less
likely to be stress-buckets worrying about how they are going to meet
next month's bills
"p2"
On the other hand, I have noticed that quite a few of the principals in
younger studios (e.g. "Storm Design", "DTD", "Urban Buffalo" and many others) have an exceptionally professional approach to
the management side of the design game
"p2"
"AGDAH2" Type of clients "AGDAH2/"
direct vs indirect clients, small to large, focus of work (see "types of work")
An indirect client is someone like an advertising agency or marketing
consultancy or signage company. They are indirect in the sense that they
are commissioning the design work on behalf of the 'real' client. Most
experienced designers prefer to work with direct clients as there is
less chance of misunderstandings occurring as designs and critiques get
passed between client and designer. Some indirect client can add a lot
of value to the process by clarifying what it is that the client
actually means/needs, but in my experience, this doesn't happen often.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a 'small' business in
Australia is defined by the number of people that work there: for a
service industry, it is 1-20 people, for a manufacturing business, it is
1-100 people. Large companies are defined as having more than 500
people, and the medium sized ones are in between.
If you want to work in a studio that has a lot of smaller, funkier
clients, you have to accept the business risk that goes along with that
don't forget that (in Australia as well as the rest of the world) 90%
of small businesses fail in the first 5 yrs.
A stable studio will tend to have a 'core' client base that drives the
focus of its work eg. Harcus Design does a lot of retail ID and
architectural graphics, Horniak & Canny have the pole position in large
Australian annual reports, FHA and Cato Design are well entrenched as
the designers of choice mega-identity programs, etc.
Status
"awards are not everything"
This is true but it is a quick way to see if the studio is well-known
and respected by other designers, and to understand whether or not the
studio keeps an eye on design developments in the broader world.
Key Point
In order to effectively work out what kind of studio you are looking
for, you need to think about a number of different dimensions (not all
of which may be important to you).
Hot Tip
Listen to what studios tell you about themselves with a critical ear -
don't be a smartass about it, just don't be gullible either (anyone who
talks about design and client management as being 'easy' is probably
either lying or may not know what they are talking about).
So that's the end of our first article - in the next article
we talk about the end-to-end process of getting a job: all the steps,
and tips to help you get through them. And then there is "How To Get A Job - Part Three">article 3< 
PS. Did you know that you can renew your student membership as late as
March the year after you graduate? That means you get a full year's
membership benefits at student rates, even though you are out there in
the working world!
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