How to find an ID job [via-core77]

A useful, simple and insightful article on applying for a job....I think I would also add the necessity of networking though since more often than not jobs come from who you know in design fields.

original article:http://boards.core77.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19771

As an employer we have been frustrated with the poor applications that we have received recently. Here are some of the most major errors we're seeing:

1.Poor grammar, lack of capitalization, typos, poor spelling, and no indication of which job they are applying to. Even if English is your second language, use spell check and grammar check! Ask friends to look things over. Craftsmanship is key.

2.Individual jpgs sent as samples. There is no way we are opening 10 attachments, period. Sorry. You've been rejected. Next!

3.Calling when the ad says no calls - this is a variation of the less common but more annoying version of the, "I'm just stopping by, can you see me now?"

4.No sketches or background material in your portfolio.

5.Not following pretty basic instructions in job wanted ad on how to apply

Here are the ingredients to a great application: Cover letter, Resume, and Samples
Cover Letter - research the company and write a personalized letter. This can be the email that you attach your resume and samples to. Please tell me in this letter which job you are applying to - DUH! I don't care why you want to move to my city (I don't care that your girlfriend live here) but I do care about why you think you are right for my company.

Resume: Please keep this to one page unless you have tons of experience. Sponsored studios don't count as experience, sorry. Include a graduation date. My last post was for a true junior designer. I had juniors trying to appear as if they had 3 or more years of experience. I disqualified those people. Too bad. Be honest.

Samples could be a teaser or a complete portfolio:

Teaser: 1 project with support work or 3-4 projects in final form

Complete portfolio: Should consist of 3-4 projects (minimum 3) from start to finish. You should document your thinking and decision making process from start to finish. We are looking for how much exploration and research you did, mechanical ability, aesthetics, and sensitivity to the user. We want to see the bad ideas you rejected as well as the really crazy ideas your instructor thought were too blue sky. We also want to see your mock ups. We are looking for your visual communication skills - this means sketching. If you can't sketch, it's still better to include your thinking than to not include it.

Portfolio Advice From Luciano Bove:
http://www.designertechniques.com/designers/lucianobove1.htm

Concept Art Portfolio Advice from Feng Zhu:
http://www.fzdschool.com/announcement_features_article16.htm

Design Sessions Portfolio Advice:
http://training.sessions.edu/resources/interviews/interviews/nomi_altabef.asp

Creative Strategies Icons + Micro Projects

Intro: This is a sample of work from Creative Strategies, one of the best courses at accd. The goal of the class is of course learning to be more creative and developing better creative processes to solve problems. Each week we are given a creative/ design challenge and we then have one week to solve it as creatively as possible.


Creative Strategy Icons: I created these to help keep track of my own mental processes and also to quickly communicate to an audience how i was thinking at a certain phase in the design process. The strategies are fairly loose so actually there are infinite variations within these themes for creativity.



Seven Day Journal: The task was to create a journal with the theme "What is left of the Day?" The creative strategy i used in this case was problem framing to redefine what it meant to experience a day. For me one day was a beginning and an end and this is how i see the completion of a sketch book. So one day for my journal is one completed sketchbook.



Copic Sketch Chess Set: This challenge involved using repurposed or recycled materials. One of my other accd nicknames besides "Stephensanity" is "The Recycler." This is because you will often find me during crunch times digging through trash or repurposing materials to create last minute projects that turn out relatively well. This is one of those cases. Time was less than three hours to concept and final execution.



LEGO Futurist Farm Track-Tor: Final challenge was to create your own strategy and project. I've been wanting to do something with LEGO for a long time so i finally did for this project. My self project was to create and model my own genre of LEGO. I called my strategy "let GO" applied to "LEGO." "LetGo" means trusting all your training and life expierience to create something that is orginal and good. We train as designers to be good so trust your skills, draw from your unique life experiences and have faith that whatever you make will be unique because your life is unique. And it will be good because you've been trained well and have all that practice under your belt.

note to self: do some sketches and put LEGO project into book..integrate LEGO into design process