Don't forget fighting middle management who somehow are in position deeming what's good or not - despite having no experience in the craft. I don't know how many times I've heard "it's good but I feel like something is missing". What's missing? Your constructive and rational feedback so we can proceed? Wandering around in the dark, wasting countless hours until it's good, or when the actual boss steps in and tells us it how it is. Seagull management.
I'm a 47 year old woman who switched careers at 37 to pursue Graphic design, I have been in the soul sucking corporate environment for 6 years now and I think THIS is the type of advice we should all get from day one. Thank you, I'm so glad I found your channel.
I would love a part 2 on this going into the two solutions in more detail. Maybe with examples. Pretending a client asks you to make something read or change something and you know it's gonna look horrible
I've been in the motion design business for 20+ years and this is good advice. When I've mentored student designers, I tell them: get a creative hobby that feeds you. Sculpt, paint, play an instrument, whatever. Relying on the creative business for personal satisfaction is a recipe for burnout (I know this from experience). 85% of your job as a designer is grunt work. Menial, bullshit tasks. Your ability to handle them efficiently and be pleasant to work with is what gets you repeat jobs, not your work. There are MUCH better designers out there than I am, but I stay employed because I am easygoing. If you want to be a hotshot, visionary creative who makes what they want: go be a lawyer and paint as a hobby, At the end of the day, the client always has the best taste.
Attitude is everything. I was successful in graphic design and held several positions within major corporations and smaller companies for forty years and navigated a diverse body of work well because I never had any attitude or thought that my client was an idiot. I agree with what you are saying. I saw each project as an opportunity to create something great. It did not matter the scale or what the end purpose was. I would listen to what the needs were and would always do multiple mockups and design comps with some being exactly what they wanted and some that utilized elements of what they wanted and my own take on it. It often ended up somewhere in between which was a win for both. I saw parameters as good. It became a challenge and a foundation of solving a problem. I worked with other designers who were like you said you in thinking they were superior, and I saw that stupidity you spoke of first hand. I never made things about me as a designer, and I saw that fatal flaw with other designers several times. They seemed to have their go to methods and looks and became predictable. It's important to be humble and look at the past and the greats of design and not just in graphic design. It's important to look at interior design, architectural design, industrial design, fashion design, branding, illustration, fine art and become fascinated by various design genres and periods of design. I'm sixty-four years old now and still learning and observing. We are never done learning. I have saved designers from getting fired by intervening as a senior designer and talking to management. The other thing is to forget about what school you studied at. It means nothing. I went to the Art Institute of Philadelphia back in the late 1970's and all the other art schools looked down on the Art Institutes. My father was a successful design director for four major companies in his career, and he always told me as I was growing up that he could care less about what degree or what school anybody went to. He just judged the work in the portfolio. The art schools today make a big business, but often deliver little. They rest on their past laurels which is dangerous and why we're seeing art schools fail and close. We just saw a major art school here in Philadelphia abruptly close after 150 years and the public said nothing. I think in general today there's a lack of respect for how design effects everyone's daily life. It's a shame and what is the future? Design was a superpower for decades. I'm not sure where the blame sits. In my eyes design and art are everything. I grew up looking at album cover design, magazine illustration, logo design and packaging design in the 1960's -70's. I have a great fondness for the past. It's so very important. It's funny thinking back in my own life that marketing vice presidents would call me up the day before a meeting and tell me not to wear anything artsy. One told me to get myself a navy sportcoat, conservative tie. dress shirt and pants. I took the advice, and it worked for years. It is very much a game like you said.
I think for some clients, you're sometimes better off just firing yourself. I worked for five years for an .. Unreasonable employer, and couldn't actually develop my own skill during that time - it wasn't until I started doing freelance work for a diverse set of clients that I feel that I actually improved. In retrospect, I should have moved on after a couple of years.
7:50 YES this is it right here. I have been incredibly guilty of this numerous times, of course without initially realizing I was allowing myself to fall into the trap, as you said requiring the individual project to act as a confirmation of my intelligence or creativity. This is such a surefire way to destroy your momentum and confidence when the thing inevitably falls short of that requirement.
I had a pretty much similar experience.. when I started I thought we were going to design and develop new ideas .. i was given a set of files with color codes and pictures and logos in different formats and of course guides on how to use them for our clients and was not allowed to change absolutely nothing.. after working there for months my portfolio was mostly pre-designed BS.. my job was resizing them..
Wow I've randomly been listening to your videos all day while I work and after you mentioned Michigan I remembered seeing your pieces being delivered to the gallery in my old loft building last year (Wasserman Projects), small world.
Love the process and not the end result. This advice I heard the other day. I think this is what you are trying to say. By the way I got fired several times too XD. I send love to all the fellow firees around the globe. Keep going.
When I graduated college I got a production artist job for an up-and-coming company. I had that arrogant attitude and after a couple years I got fired. This was in 2008 and the Great Recession happened at the same time, and I ended up getting out of graphic design completely because I couldn’t find a new job. I remember going to an interview and the guy told me he was shocked at the number of applicants. For years afterwards I regretted my decision to not just do the job and shut up, I could have had a secure, well-paying job. Nowadays I paint, and I have a non-art related desk job. I’m actually glad it worked out this way in the long run, but I had some lean years during the recession that I could have avoided with a better attitude.
Good morning class, today in Design 101 we will discuss the MOST important lesson in creating successful commercial art. So will everyone please open to chapter 1 of Machiavelli's The Prince so we can get started.
Ayyy y y y y! I think Magic: the Gathering is actually a pretty apt metaphor as it is asymmetric; you and your opponent are both trying to win by some means, but you can play different strategies and can have entirely different means to win the game. The client and you (the designer) both want the project done but are looking for different things; maybe they are thinking about company metrics they need to advance while you're trying to make an "award-winning" piece of design like you intimate. It could also be as simple as they just want to express that they are dominant over a younger, weaker, or poorer person and just want to fill the air with feedback. Worse than the prescriptive feedback you mention is when it is unclear and somewhere approaching abstract (ie "make it funkier"). I think the other part of this that is apt is that, I haven't played chess or go at a high level, but when you are playing someone who is one a comparable skill level it feels less like you are opposing each other but like you're...upholding a system you're both maintaining. Feels like you're spinning plates with someone else but also trying to make their plates fall over slightly faster. It's less that you lose when you lose an individual game, but you lose when you stop "playing the game" on a larger scale (ie fall down nine times but get up ten) That's the problem with many client relationships is that they can be or feel antagonistic, when you're actually not playing on or thinking along the same axis. When you're playing against someone new in Magic (which can happen often), you're kind of educating them, but you have to do it respectfully so they don't feel stupid. I think that's something that can often benefit both sides of a client/designer relationship. Something I've been struggling with talking to more people (mainly younger students), and probably watching too much finance bro RUclips stuff, is how art/design school has "infected" my thinking and separated me from other people. For example, I kind of...internally wince when someone casually talks about "modern art" to mean contemporary art...and have had to deprogram myself from implicitly judging them on some level. I don't know if you still talk about "flipping info burgers" but I think it is important to be able to do that, not in and of itself, but also to allow you to more efficiently give yourself time to work on the "serious gourmet"/freaky shit when you are not working.
It is always a challenge to design any kind of promotion for something that you're just not into. But that is a skill that will put you into the top tier of designers in any agency. You really need to step back and ask yourself the right questions like... "I'm not into the Eagles, but what type of design would make me curious about this music?" Every job becomes an opportunity to shine if you really want to succeed in graphic design. For all of you up and coming designers, people tend to remember really good design work and opportunities will present themselves.
And oh... by the way, a lot of smaller companies will begin to rely on AI to design their ads but that's okay. You wouldn't want to work for those cheap bastards anyway. The high-end companys will always prefer the human touch.
Thank you for the vid, these ideas resonate with me as a new designer at my first job (in-house). I believe I actually haven’t been fired mostly because of my lack of arrogance and “good attitude,” because my work is generally not AMAZING. Do you have any advice on improving my work WITHIN THE CONFINES of one visual identity besides simply practicing/studying?
Great video! What do you use for making those png s appear? I see you constantly pressing keys, does that help with avoiding a certain part of the editing?
So it's kind of like being in a band. Your job is not to play screamin' solos all over the entire song. Your job is to play the screamin'-est solo you can at the appropriate time in a way that elevates the song as a whole and doesn't outstay its welcome, and then to shut up and let the other musicians take the spotlight when appropriate.
Don't forget fighting middle management who somehow are in position deeming what's good or not - despite having no experience in the craft. I don't know how many times I've heard "it's good but I feel like something is missing". What's missing? Your constructive and rational feedback so we can proceed? Wandering around in the dark, wasting countless hours until it's good, or when the actual boss steps in and tells us it how it is. Seagull management.
Skill issue
I'm a 47 year old woman who switched careers at 37 to pursue Graphic design, I have been in the soul sucking corporate environment for 6 years now and I think THIS is the type of advice we should all get from day one. Thank you, I'm so glad I found your channel.
You go girl
I would love a part 2 on this going into the two solutions in more detail.
Maybe with examples. Pretending a client asks you to make something read or change something and you know it's gonna look horrible
I agree. Examples would be great.
I've been in the motion design business for 20+ years and this is good advice. When I've mentored student designers, I tell them: get a creative hobby that feeds you. Sculpt, paint, play an instrument, whatever. Relying on the creative business for personal satisfaction is a recipe for burnout (I know this from experience). 85% of your job as a designer is grunt work. Menial, bullshit tasks. Your ability to handle them efficiently and be pleasant to work with is what gets you repeat jobs, not your work. There are MUCH better designers out there than I am, but I stay employed because I am easygoing.
If you want to be a hotshot, visionary creative who makes what they want: go be a lawyer and paint as a hobby,
At the end of the day, the client always has the best taste.
probably the best channel I ever find about graphic design journey...Thx
Keep your taste and hold onto it, but the cure for this is to collaborate with others, let go of ego, save your personal taste for the right job.
This is real content and no bullsh*** around ads and coaching. Love it, really needed.
Attitude is everything. I was successful in graphic design and held several positions within major corporations and smaller companies for forty years and navigated a diverse body of work well because I never had any attitude or thought that my client was an idiot. I agree with what you are saying. I saw each project as an opportunity to create something great. It did not matter the scale or what the end purpose was. I would listen to what the needs were and would always do multiple mockups and design comps with some being exactly what they wanted and some that utilized elements of what they wanted and my own take on it. It often ended up somewhere in between which was a win for both. I saw parameters as good. It became a challenge and a foundation of solving a problem. I worked with other designers who were like you said you in thinking they were superior, and I saw that stupidity you spoke of first hand. I never made things about me as a designer, and I saw that fatal flaw with other designers several times. They seemed to have their go to methods and looks and became predictable. It's important to be humble and look at the past and the greats of design and not just in graphic design. It's important to look at interior design, architectural design, industrial design, fashion design, branding, illustration, fine art and become fascinated by various design genres and periods of design. I'm sixty-four years old now and still learning and observing. We are never done learning. I have saved designers from getting fired by intervening as a senior designer and talking to management. The other thing is to forget about what school you studied at. It means nothing. I went to the Art Institute of Philadelphia back in the late 1970's and all the other art schools looked down on the Art Institutes. My father was a successful design director for four major companies in his career, and he always told me as I was growing up that he could care less about what degree or what school anybody went to. He just judged the work in the portfolio. The art schools today make a big business, but often deliver little. They rest on their past laurels which is dangerous and why we're seeing art schools fail and close. We just saw a major art school here in Philadelphia abruptly close after 150 years and the public said nothing. I think in general today there's a lack of respect for how design effects everyone's daily life. It's a shame and what is the future? Design was a superpower for decades. I'm not sure where the blame sits. In my eyes design and art are everything. I grew up looking at album cover design, magazine illustration, logo design and packaging design in the 1960's -70's. I have a great fondness for the past. It's so very important. It's funny thinking back in my own life that marketing vice presidents would call me up the day before a meeting and tell me not to wear anything artsy. One told me to get myself a navy sportcoat, conservative tie. dress shirt and pants. I took the advice, and it worked for years. It is very much a game like you said.
I think for some clients, you're sometimes better off just firing yourself. I worked for five years for an .. Unreasonable employer, and couldn't actually develop my own skill during that time - it wasn't until I started doing freelance work for a diverse set of clients that I feel that I actually improved. In retrospect, I should have moved on after a couple of years.
That is a EXCELLENT point.
The chess analogy is excellent!
My new favorite channel because Elliot is like a smart Max Headroom on his his third cup of coffee talking about design!
This video would have saved me a big headache had I seen it last week. It’s not too late to salvage things though. Thanks for the great content.
7:50 YES this is it right here. I have been incredibly guilty of this numerous times, of course without initially realizing I was allowing myself to fall into the trap, as you said requiring the individual project to act as a confirmation of my intelligence or creativity. This is such a surefire way to destroy your momentum and confidence when the thing inevitably falls short of that requirement.
I had a pretty much similar experience.. when I started I thought we were going to design and develop new ideas .. i was given a set of files with color codes and pictures and logos in different formats and of course guides on how to use them for our clients and was not allowed to change absolutely nothing.. after working there for months my portfolio was mostly pre-designed BS.. my job was resizing them..
The best part about these videos : Simple and Specific Procedures.
Wow I've randomly been listening to your videos all day while I work and after you mentioned Michigan I remembered seeing your pieces being delivered to the gallery in my old loft building last year (Wasserman Projects), small world.
That is awesome!
Perfect timing I just got fired
Bummer
Fired or laid off? Either way, best of luck
Love the process and not the end result. This advice I heard the other day. I think this is what you are trying to say. By the way I got fired several times too XD. I send love to all the fellow firees around the globe. Keep going.
Wow this is really helpful, so I guess I have to flush down my ego😂😅
God bless y'all God loves y'all ❤
Verse of the day
Romans 8: 38-39
Agree. I think the problem arises when trying to mix being an Artist with being a Graphic Designer. The two are very different.
this is a great video and great advice
Thanks for sharing this story. Very powerful stuff. Helps my own journey
You're so welcome!
When I graduated college I got a production artist job for an up-and-coming company. I had that arrogant attitude and after a couple years I got fired. This was in 2008 and the Great Recession happened at the same time, and I ended up getting out of graphic design completely because I couldn’t find a new job. I remember going to an interview and the guy told me he was shocked at the number of applicants. For years afterwards I regretted my decision to not just do the job and shut up, I could have had a secure, well-paying job. Nowadays I paint, and I have a non-art related desk job. I’m actually glad it worked out this way in the long run, but I had some lean years during the recession that I could have avoided with a better attitude.
This is the best advice I've heard all year. Thanks, Elliott!
I love advice that becomes an excuse to talk about yourself
Love, love, love this. As a developer/marketer, these videos have been greatly entertaining and helpful.
Good morning class, today in Design 101 we will discuss the MOST important lesson in creating successful commercial art. So will everyone please open to chapter 1 of Machiavelli's The Prince so we can get started.
The worst is taking specs from one person and then having your work judged by another person.
Really good. Thank you for making these videos.
Ayyy y y y y! I think Magic: the Gathering is actually a pretty apt metaphor as it is asymmetric; you and your opponent are both trying to win by some means, but you can play different strategies and can have entirely different means to win the game. The client and you (the designer) both want the project done but are looking for different things; maybe they are thinking about company metrics they need to advance while you're trying to make an "award-winning" piece of design like you intimate. It could also be as simple as they just want to express that they are dominant over a younger, weaker, or poorer person and just want to fill the air with feedback. Worse than the prescriptive feedback you mention is when it is unclear and somewhere approaching abstract (ie "make it funkier").
I think the other part of this that is apt is that, I haven't played chess or go at a high level, but when you are playing someone who is one a comparable skill level it feels less like you are opposing each other but like you're...upholding a system you're both maintaining. Feels like you're spinning plates with someone else but also trying to make their plates fall over slightly faster. It's less that you lose when you lose an individual game, but you lose when you stop "playing the game" on a larger scale (ie fall down nine times but get up ten)
That's the problem with many client relationships is that they can be or feel antagonistic, when you're actually not playing on or thinking along the same axis. When you're playing against someone new in Magic (which can happen often), you're kind of educating them, but you have to do it respectfully so they don't feel stupid. I think that's something that can often benefit both sides of a client/designer relationship.
Something I've been struggling with talking to more people (mainly younger students), and probably watching too much finance bro RUclips stuff, is how art/design school has "infected" my thinking and separated me from other people. For example, I kind of...internally wince when someone casually talks about "modern art" to mean contemporary art...and have had to deprogram myself from implicitly judging them on some level. I don't know if you still talk about "flipping info burgers" but I think it is important to be able to do that, not in and of itself, but also to allow you to more efficiently give yourself time to work on the "serious gourmet"/freaky shit when you are not working.
It is always a challenge to design any kind of promotion for something that you're just not into. But that is a skill that will put you into the top tier of designers in any agency. You really need to step back and ask yourself the right questions like... "I'm not into the Eagles, but what type of design would make me curious about this music?" Every job becomes an opportunity to shine if you really want to succeed in graphic design. For all of you up and coming designers, people tend to remember really good design work and opportunities will present themselves.
And oh... by the way, a lot of smaller companies will begin to rely on AI to design their ads but that's okay. You wouldn't want to work for those cheap bastards anyway. The high-end companys will always prefer the human touch.
Utterly brilliant, thank you.
You’re welcome.. thanks for the positive feedback
Thank you for the vid, these ideas resonate with me as a new designer at my first job (in-house). I believe I actually haven’t been fired mostly because of my lack of arrogance and “good attitude,” because my work is generally not AMAZING. Do you have any advice on improving my work WITHIN THE CONFINES of one visual identity besides simply practicing/studying?
Off to get a new sweater
Good video 👍
Elevate your mind to a lower level of thinking - Carl Sandburg or someone from Chicago back then
another banger, mr. earls.
Love this!
Glasses ✅
Merino sweater ✅
Great video! What do you use for making those png s appear? I see you constantly pressing keys, does that help with avoiding a certain part of the editing?
Great video
Hey. Sincere thanks for the super. 🙏. I’m touched.👊
Great content sir.
Clients are not looking at the work as a designer they are viewing it as a user (most of the time). So, sometimes, ya, the logo should be bigger.
But bigger AND red too?
@richardhall5489 yes
So it's kind of like being in a band. Your job is not to play screamin' solos all over the entire song. Your job is to play the screamin'-est solo you can at the appropriate time in a way that elevates the song as a whole and doesn't outstay its welcome, and then to shut up and let the other musicians take the spotlight when appropriate.
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
as a hireling I assume the person writing me checks is smarter than I am, and if I pay attention I might learn something from them
WORKING IN ARAB COUNTRIES LIKE UAE AND SAUDI IS LIKE SHIT. YOU'RE ALWAYS BE BUG BY THEM FOR 10X REVISIONS JUST FOR 1 PROJECT. HATE THOSE PEOPLE
I'm above commission work. Unless Da Vinci commission me, I may consider it.
The people who know how to do graphic design without getting fired aren't typically making youtube videos.
Like I said…. I got fired
Are they typically commenting on them?