The Young Designer’s Guide

You are a senior design major in college and on the verge of receiving your diploma. You, along with everyone else in your class are rushing around trying to build up your portfolios on a diet of coffee, vending machine snacks, and lack of sleep. You keep telling yourself, “This will all be over soon, once I graduate I will get to rest.” Rest?? You chose design as your career path, there is no rest in design the design world, only competition and drive.

The question is: Are you truly ready?

A few questions to think about:

• Have you or are you currently interning?
• Do you know how to order a print job?
• Have you started networking?
• Do you know how to network?
• What type of design do you want to do?
• Do you have all the elements you need to apply for jobs?
• Where are you going to look for jobs?
• What are your options for a career path?

All colleges try to prepare their students for these challenges, but nothing compares to actual experience. Often, the majority of your college experience is focused on developing your design skills. But what about your business skills? Design, after all, is one of the most business oriented fields in art.

That is why I started this blog. Not too long ago I was in your shoes, but I’ve gotten my feet wet in the design world and want to share my knowledge. My goal is to build up a resource for design students who are about to graduate and young designers who are working to build up their experience, portfolio, and connections.