HBG ch.9 & DDP ch 5

HBG ch. 9&app
This chapter is about the creative process. The creative process begins from the time you decide to become a designer. Seeing design everywhere and taking ideas and inspiration from anything. Necessary traits in order to be a designer are talent, industriousness, dedication, and love of your craft. You need to have a vision, a clear understanding of what is good and what has real worth. It is a quality of many designers that their influences and sources are clearly visible and acknowledged, because this shows the creative process you went through to create your final product.
All design jobs have a brief. This is the idea of what the design should include and what message it should give off. In order to obtain a good design you need to research other designs and get ideas on how you want to pursue the project. You should sketch out ideas and take many steps through a process in order to get the best ideas.
DDP5
In the process of making your design portfolio, we have reached the step of organizing all you work and picking what should be used. You should keep your comps and parts of your process to add to the portfolio. Out of all your work, you need to organize it. You should group your work and use folders to separate different projects. You should also name them accordingly so you are able to recognize them. Keep the final project separate and have a process folder for all the process pieces you have. Most design portfolios have a horizontal navigation and/or set up. Some how are changing in order to stand out more.

HBG ch.7&8 / DDP ch.4

HBG ch. 7&8
It is important to have difficult clients. In this case you can challenge them and show them that you are a professional and know what you are doing. In these cases the client isn’t always right, you are the designer, and you have good ideas to contribute to the outcome. Treat your clients like your friends, don’t act nervous or try to impress them so much, just be relaxed.
You should encourage your client to think about what they want and to think about your work. If they think about if they can make a better decision and they will be happy with it for a while. You have had a long time to think about it, they should also have a decent amount of time to decide.
You need to get noticed by clients in order to be recognized, they aren’t going to find you when your hidden, you have to make yourself available. A good way to promote yourself is to help younger designers with there work, you can give lectures or talks, or write about your designs.
DDP. 4
This chapter talks about how to show your work in an interview. The different formats you can bring along are zip disks, cds, mini cds, dvd, and laptop. The best way to show is an online portfolio, this can show all you can offer to a company or client. It is a widespread view of what you are capable of. Gallery Format is important. The type of navigation and programs used can influence the client. A flash website that is animated and designed may not appeal to a small company just looking for a simple web page. The site content should be organized and follow the mood of the whole page.

HBG ch. 5&6/DDP ch.3

HBG-ch5&6
In order to have a design studio you need to employ staff. Since a designers job is very intense with long work sessions, it may show in your work and the quality may decrease due to being over busy. Your clients will notice the difference, this is why you need to employ staff to help out with your designs. It is very important to get the right people for your design studio. I thought an interesting comment was the third rule for your creative staff. They say you should look for people who want to start their own business. You would normally look at this as being a negative, but it shows they are ambitious and will work hard. Although they will move on in there careers they may bring an important part to your design team.
Clients are everywhere. There are a lot of opportunities you wouldn’t think were out there. There may be specific clients you have always wanted to work with, but never happen. These clients you would like to work for probably have a design concept that you admire. You should look for something to improve and make more interesting. This can make your design company stand out from the rest by reinventing an otherwise boring company.

DDP ch. 3
This chapter is mainly about your audience. Obviously this is one of the most important aspects of design. The target audience is important because it is mainly where you are marketing to. You should design in order to fulfill the needs of the audience you want to impress. It is important to ask many questions and really evaluate how you want to be precieved by clients or possible employers.

HBGch3-4 & DDPch2

DDP-ch2
In order to make a successful portfolio you need to have an idea of what you want, you cant just figure it out on the way. You need to analyze what your ideas are. You need to know you strengths and weaknesses, goals, values, and personality. As it is in most points of life, it is always quality over quantity. Don’t just add things into your portfolio just to show more experience. If it’s not good enough, it can make you look bad. Try and keep it to all your best work. You can rework these projects or start making new ones. This makes me feel a lot better because I don’t think I have enough work that I would want to add in my portfolio, and this chapter gives you some ideas that you can work with. For example, something I would like to try for my portfolio, is to rework an already published book and interior layout.

HBG-ch3&4
The 3rd chapter is mainly about what characteristics needed to be a freelance graphic artist. It is not a good idea to go straight into freelance right after school, you should first be working in a studio to gain the experience you need in order to do freelance. You have to be very disciplined in order to be a freelance artist, you have to be very organized and motivated as well. The salaried employee gets a paycheck every month, however the freelance employee only gets a check when the client pays for the service. It isn’t a steady way to live, however it is a very free way to live. I don’t think I could ever do freelance. I would never be able to depend on myself for finding new jobs all the time. It takes a lot to be this organized.
The 4th chapter is about how to set up and run your own studio. Your partners should all have written and director agreements, because this is a business and businesses fall apart and not everyone always gets along. Your partners should each have different characteristics. One should have the responsibilities of creative direction, clients, new business and press relations. Another should handle financial affairs, studio manager, job costing and staff relations. Also a partner that handles design, project management, IT and environmental policy.