The Young Designer’s Guide

Here are some very useful sites we’ve found online. Geared towards graphic, print and/or web designers.

GD USA
Is a FREE graphic design publication.Yes, I said free design news publication. Sign up Now! They feature designers, competitions, news and more.

Make My Logo Bigger
This site does a great job illustrating a common issue/battle between of client vs. designer.

SitePoint
Tons and tons of Articles, Tutorials, Books, Forums on web design and development. If you have an idea for s article you can get published here and paid. (Not alot, but anything helps.)

Design Related
Think MySpace or Facebook, but for designers. You can post your portfolio and connect with other professionals.

The Publicity Hound’s blog
Tips, Tricks & Tools for Free Publicity

Creative Hotlist
Communication Arts Magazine’s job listing for designers.

Salary.com
Do you know what your skill level is worth?

Media Bistro
A Web site for media professionals, this is a great place to find posting for publication design jobs.

Design Meltdown
A Web site that takes a look at design trends and compiles examples to help inspire.

If you have a Web site we should know about email us: submit@youngdesignersguide.com

If you are thinking about becoming a graphic designer or are currently in school getting your degree, there is one element of your future career that you should take into careful consideration. You must be willing to accept that what you create, whether a brochure or logo, advertisement or Web site, will inevitably be your client’s marketing piece.

It may sound simple, but the reality that comes with pleasing your client sometimes comes at the expense of your better design judgement. In some cases they love what you do and how you do it, but there are plenty of times when the final product will be something you may hate and be less than eager to let others know you created. The bottom line is you do not have to love it but your client must, because it will be representing them.

Try your best to persuade them to take a certain direction. Sadly not everyone has good taste or understands that when hiring a graphic designer they are not simply hiring technical support. They are hiring a professional with artistic talent, a degree and experience. Ideally the client should put their trust in the designer’s hands knowing we want to make the best design for their company.

It is likely you will at some point come across a situation where a client becomes too specific with their edits, such as, “Can you make this blue, move that over there, I’d like the logo bigger, and please change the font to…” Beware of the client who literally lays out what they want; the decline to “Technical Support” is a slippery slope. My advice when showing a design proof to a client is to make sure that you to tell them when they describe their thoughts about the work to use more general language such as, “It seems too busy to me,” or, “Can we make it more eye popping?” That way you can interpret the changes in style while still managing to keep the design professional.

If you cannot take the criticism that comes with such clients, I would suggest re-evaluating your career choice. However, if you understand and accept the fact that your astute design sense cannot please all of the people all of the time, and even feel joy when a client is so happy with what you created they are beaming with pride to show it to the world despite your better judgement, you’ll be okay. If you are lucky, there will be some clients like this whom you’ll be able to fire, but keep in mind that every job comes with both the good and the bad.

In graphic design you’ll make money, but often you do not have the option to choose for whom you create. I’ve done work for a gas monitoring systems company, sound fun? No, but I made it look engaging and I am proud of the outcome.

Bottom line, you do have to please your client, but there is no law that states you must put the work you did for them in your portfolio.

When it comes to doing your own search, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind:

1. Most art funding doesn’t come in the form of your everyday ’scholarship’. There is usually some form of competition or portfolio submission involved. You must be prepared to submit samples of your work and/or write about it.

Make sure you have decent digital images that have been color-corrected and saved at at LEAST 150dpi, full-size. This will allow for easy viewing and printing of your work by the judging panels. Make sure you have a JPG or TIFF version of each, along with a possible PDF for the internet-disinclined.

2. It is best to use the appropriate keywords while using a search engine. Searching using only the word ’scholarship’ after your type of art will bring up mostly descriptions of scholarships that are offered by specific colleges to their students.

To start, choose a search keyword that describes the type of art you make. Examples of this could be ‘graphic design’, ‘illustration’, ‘interdisciplinary sculpture’, ‘fiber arts’, etc. If you consider yourself more than one ’style’ of artist (and really, who doesn’t? I myself am a Graphic Designer, Photographer and digital artist that likes to draw), you will end up doing more than one search.

After you’ve decided on the art-keyword to use, begin your search by entering that word into the search field, along keywords such as ‘competition’, ’student’, etc. Other helpful keywords to try in any combination are ’scholarship’, ‘grant’, ‘contest’ and ‘award’.

By using the words ’student’ and ‘competition’ together, you are searching for scholarships, grants, awards that are offered to winners of student art competitions.

3. Don’t forget in your searches to keep an eye on your favorite arts publications and websites. Many of them offer student contests on a yearly basis. Winning, high placement or honorable mentions will usually get you some kind of mention in the winners issue!

4. Pay attention to your local art scene and the community around the school you are attending/applying to. Many cities have more art fairs and similar events than you could ever go to. For this reason, it is a good idea to perform a city search to find out what the local offerings are. Many arts fairs don’t require the exhibitors to be local. There are usually open submissions for different themes that may be involved. There are also usually monetary prizes. Don’t overlook your local Farm Fair!! There is always an arts contest!

While these prizes aren’t necessarily ’scholarships’, they are money that you can put towards funding your education. Not to mention: even if you only submit your work to local galleries, there is the opportunity to market and sell your work, therefore gaining recognition. No publicity is ever bad publicity, right?

For more tips and resources on scholarships go to: http://usaprivatescholarships.blogspot.com/