So you want to be a Designer!

My Background

KTdesigner.com was set up as a portfolio site by Irish designer Karl Thompson, in 2004. The purpose of the company is Web Design, Graphic Design, Multimedia, Identity Design (logos) and Consultation - what’s the best way to design/develop a particular project.

My work can be seen at www.KTdesigner.com

The type of work I undertake is:

• Website design & development
• Graphic design - magazines, brochures, stationary etc.
• Logos
• Illustration
• Multimedia
• Presentations
• Digital photography
• I cover almost all design related fields

Job Specification

What is your job title?
Multidisciplinary Designer, or Graphic Designer, or Senior Web Designer, or Uber Overlord Designer (you choose, it’s only a title, it’s the work that counts.)

What are your duties, responsibilities etc.?
Designing websites, logos, brochures, illustrations etc. for clients, “the full package”.
Dealing directly with clients and informing them of the best way to proceed with a project based on time and cost restrictions, search engine optimisation, competitors sites features and desired end-product usability and features.

What qualifications do you require to gain a similar position to yours?

1. Be creative.
2. Gain as much software and computer knowledge as you can (this is a continuous process as computers and software are always changing).
3. Look at what other designers are doing (buy studying design books, looking at design sites, learning from other designers and they’re styles).
4. Have the “will” to do it. Experience in any area takes years, and its not always fun. Learn from your mistakes.

Would it be useful to study other courses, and if so which ones?

Yes, anything and everything that relates in any way to design. I studied, Classical Animation, Art, Design, Computer Hardware, Networks, Multimedia, Computer Operating Systems, Digital Photography, Colour Theory, German, French, Spanish, Polish languages (but not to the point of being fluent) etc. The more you know, the more you will understand. Even if you studied say, car mechanics as a hobby, some day you may have to do a flash illustration of a car engine and its working components, and it would sure help a lot if you knew what you were looking at. All knowledge will help at some time or another, and not just in a job.

Would it be useful to gain a variety of work experiences?

Yes and no. Yes if it relates in some ways to what you want to do. Working in a betting shop or on the factory floor is not really going to help you become a better designer (although any work looks better than none to prospective employers). But it would be much better if you could find experience in something relative and creative. In my first real design related job I started off building signs, which was not very creative, but it was a first step towards becoming a designer with experience in many different types of work, and if you don’t like it after a few weeks, move on to something else (I hated working in Pizzerias etc).

What would you look for in an employee, and how important is it out of 100%?

Natural talent
15% - talent can be learned with enthusiasm, but it does help if you already have talent (a shorter learning curve).

Experience
50% - Unfortunately someone with no experience has too much to learn, and there’s never enough time to teach someone everything before they start a job. However, if they have already been learning by doing at home, or on courses it all helps. Learn from your mistakes on your own sites or projects before making mistakes on clients work (when possible).

Punctuality
75% - Very important, someone who is always late, just doesn’t seem to care enough.
And excuses wear thin quickly.

Good attitude
95% - Nobody likes to work with someone who always makes excuses and complain about other staff. An old saying goes - A bad worker blames his/her tools.

Willingness to learn
100% - This is VERY important. Nobody is born with the knowledge they need to do any job, and someone who has spent the time to learn as much as they can, on their own time (and will continue to learn) has a much better chance than someone who just thinks of it as a 9 to 5 job, and forgets about it once they are out the door.

Conclusion

Find out what it is that you want to do (I assume you want to be a designer, that’s why your reading this). For most of us, that comes through finding out what it is that we don’t want to do. The only constant is change.

Set goals and time frames.
If you want to be a designer, or successful artist or whatever, set a goal that within one year (or however long you feel is believable) you will have learned this new skill, or met this person, or built this type of portfolio for a gallery exhibition, and then after you have learned this, you will move on and learn whatever other skill is next. Take it one step at a time, don’t just look at the top of the stairs and think “I want to be at the top now, but it’s impossible”.

Work at it constantly.
There is no easy way (unless you’re the boss’s son “joke”). Look at it like a sculpture carved from rock, one chip at a time. If you have the right attitude and will power, you will get the experience for the job you want to do. And yes it may take years, and you may meet some hideous clients along the way (hopefully only about 1%), but this will pass like water under a bridge and eventually you will reach your ultimate goal or being a great designer.

Hope this helps, thank you.

KTdesigner.