Portfolios, Social Networks, Resumés, Timesheets, Scopes, Invoices, Oh My

Last week I spoke with the Senior Capstone students in design at Creighton University. A casual presentation and discussion around working as a designer today. Mostly from a freelance/independent point of view, we pulled back some of the curtain.

Aside from going through my portfolio site and talking about the logistics behind some of the decisions made, we also dove deep into tracking time, putting together proposals, defending against scope creep, and getting paid. It was time well spent. I’ve never really discussed these topics in such detail before in a group setting. Two hours went by rather quickly.

It does play into something I’ve thinking more and more about, especially as it relates to discussing design with young designers and students. And that’s design as a career. I don’t think you should go into design if you don’t see it as a career. It is not a job. It’s much more. It requires more time. More effort. More blood, sweat, tears. It is not 9–5. But it also doesn’t have to be 80 hours week. 

Your career in design is meant for you, young designer, to design it. Your philosophy, your journey, your work ethic, your attitude, and your persistence. It’s there for you, and it’s ready for you to make it what you will, if you’re up for it. And not everybody is, which is completely okay. But if you are, it’ll be difficult but it’s totally worth it. The ride is turbulent, but if you hold on, you’ll be glad you did.

Who do you compete with?

Competition can be good. Competition can be healthy. Which begs the question, who do you compete with? Who do you see as your peers? The fellow designers who you greatly respect and whose work you see as comparable to your own. In quality, style, or what type of clients the work is done for. This is important to know as it can help set the bar higher so you keep improving and it keeps you on your toes since you know the work can always go to someone else if you don’t deliver. 

When it comes to proposals, competition can be a topic of discussion. Things you may not want to compete with at all are brought up. Maybe it’s Squarespace, or another studio who isn’t in the same space as you, either in what they do or the scope they do it in. In these cases, knowing who you compete with can help you react better to discussions around scope, budgets, processes, and expectations.

When you don’t have to explain why

Designers must have rationale. Designers must do things for a reason. Designers must know why. But is this always a good thing? What happens when something just is? I would say, the majority of the time, maybe even 90% of the time, a designer must know why. But there are times when having to know the why ruins the purity. It shackles an idea. Walls off an interpretation. Silos the execution. If it feels like your rationale is doing any of these, best to just let it go. Best to just let it be what it is. That should be enough.

MEX > OMA: Enrique Norten

Design Alliance Omaha is back with one of our signature lectures. This year we welcome Enrique Norten, Mexican architect and principal of the design firm TEN Arquitectos. Projects as places where senses and meanings are accumulated: planning and scale, the architecture and its objects, the city and its complexity.

I do love a good, thought-provoking lecture from an esteemed architect. One constant is the multiplicity and action in public space, as the bridge, between people and their environment. Quite an impressive set of projects. Taking place the day after Election 2016. I’m expecting the mood to be celebratory.

Special sidenote. It’s the 10th anniversary of Design Alliance Omaha. To everyone who has ever attended a lecture, Pecha Kucha OMA, or generally advocated for design in the middle of everywhere, we’d like to extend our gratitude. We couldn’t have come this far without you.

Enrique Norten
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha

RSVP on Facebook »

Campaign Buttons!

Here’s a little side (Action Backed) project. We asked our friends to help us make some buttons. They are somewhat thematically tied to this year’s presidential election. Cody took the lead on this one. 

Artists: Eric Nyffeler, Brett Stenson, Ellen Wilde, Steven Sczepanik, Murphy Phelan, Jonny Ashcroft, Orion Janeczeck, Matt Carlson, Justin Kemerling, Cody Peterson.

Fill out this form, we’ll send you 16 buttons.

What makes a good conference?

Last week I attended the Affect Conference in Portland. A 2-day event about the work, culture, and design of social change, with a dash of volunteering. It also had childcare, ASL interpreters, reserved wheelchair and accessibility seating, gender-neutral restrooms, a quiet area, code of conduct and photo policy, and a “no laptop” rule during talks. In short, very thoughtful, very inclusive.

The speaker lineup was equally as thoughtful. Gamers, activists, developers, and designers sharing stories of gender identity, gaming for good, the ethics of care, and designing government to be better. When once you choose to live a life devoted to social justice, how your life will never be the same. How we are not saviors but servants. Why we must take care of ourselves first. And my story, on the 6-year tale of the design side of the #NOKXL campaign. A full schedule of talks that went down so many roads, some to a firm destination, and others with plenty to still think about and work on.

I think that’s what I enjoyed most about the conference. It wasn’t just a design conference. It wasn’t just a tech conference or an activist conference. It was a social change conference and that can be reached by so many means. Different talents, career paths, issues, and causes. In whatever city you happen to live in, dealing with the local and national politics of the day. We can all get there. And the stories that are shared from the place of social change are as varied as the people living them. 

This makes for a diverse conference. It challenges you to never get settled in. It keeps you on your toes as ideas you don’t really know about are discussed and the ideas you think you know well, have new light shed upon them.

A good conference is also just long enough. Perhaps too brief. As you are still looking for more. Which means you have been spurred on to get back to work and continue the fight in whatever way your days take you.