Attitudes in Design.

Attitudes in the design community have started to slip? Or have they always been this way? Read on to see my thoughts on the types of attitudes I have recently run into and why they can be detrimental to your design career. Also I talk about positive approches to gaining clients and projects and why this can help you in your design career more than any awesomely badd ass project you create.

*EDIT: Saul Bass on the same topic I touch in the article below. I would love to here your feedback on the subject as well.

I have just recently made a move to the great city of Chicago, and let me just began with the fact that I LOVE IT HERE! This city is a vast progression from when I was living in Columbia, SC. I still miss my hometown and the people, but the amount of work and progression I am making here has increased 120%. This city is full of opportunities and creative individuals. Its not hard science or math to realize that when you live in a place with a population roughly around 2.8 million people there will be indeed a lot more opportunities for you as an individual to succeed. That is if you have the right approach and most importantly the right ATTITUDE!

I was told when I moved here that the way to make an impact is to involve myself in the design community and go to “Industry Parties” and just mingle and let people know I am here and serious about what I do, but at the same time to be charismatic and enjoy my self while doing it. I mean after all what would life be if we didn’t have a good time while we were here on this planet. So I started to go to these things around Chicago. Let me tell you! This city has a ton of events and things to go to. My Calendar has never been as full as it is right now, in fact I think I am over working it at the moment and it actually crashed the other day? haha Regardless there are a ton of things to involve yourself in here.

So I went to a rather new thing (I was told) called Merge. It was an event for creative types to just come out mingle drink beer pass out cards and HAVE FUN! It was held at “The Evil Olive“. Neat bar lots of dance room, seems like the 2am bad decision bar but regardless the turn out was tremendous! I had a really great time meeting other designers, web dudes, animators, interior designers, architects, and much more while I was there. Beer was a nice thing to pair with these types of conversations. People were friendly and they would not hesitate to approach you and introduce themselves.

SO this is where The Attitude part comes in for me. While I was there I talked to 98430257348 people no lie. Seems impossible but I did. That is an actual number. While talking to these designers I noticed some things … not in there work but their attitudes. The first thing I noticed was that a couple designers all they wanted to do was talk about the money side of things. Granted money is important in this industry but aren’t we in it for the love design? After the money talk was being summed up I heard this phrase too many times to count.

“Yeah, I charge hourly and if they don’t want to pay me for my time in full then I will produce shit work for the amount of money they are paying me, I am not going to spend a lot of time on something unless I am paid for my time.”

ARE YOU KIDING ME?! This seriously is plain out a BAD ATTITUDE. Here is why this can be detrimental to you as a designer.

1. First off, anything you complete and turn in as a designer has your name attached to it directly. Say Susie over at FATBUTT INC. commissions you to do a project but doesn’t want to pay you what you want, so you just do mediocre work for her. She gets the finished product and then uses it in whatever way she needs to. SHOWS it to a billion people and every time someone sees it they ask who made that? Well that is where your name comes in. If you ask me we are lucky as designers because it is free advertising ALWAYS! I will be damned if I don’t ALWAYS PRODUCE THE BEST WORK I can. Even if the pay is shit to what you expect. Point blank, if you produce amazing work always and your pay rate will increase. It is just how it works. I KNOW, I KNOW …”But Brandon I can’t waste my time on things when I need to pay the bills” Listen, I understand that trust me. BUT the old saying “no pain, no gain.” comes into play here. This is part of the industry we work in. Its an unfortunate thing, but if you work extremely hard it will show in your work and people will began to respect you and would never even imagine paying you less than what you expect. It becomes a respect issue between you and the client.

2. Cynicism kills it all. Cynical outlooks on things as we discuss projects and design is never going to help you get anywhere. I personally can’t stand it. I don’t want to hear you complain about what your doing. I want to hear how much you love what your doing. If you complain about design and all the hours that you have to put into it, and you don’t even want to do it because its for a tennis ball company no body cares about…THEN YOU NEED TO FIND A NEW CAREER PATH!. This also is a part of being a designer. We are not always going to get the Golden Clients that we dream of but none the less it is work, and right now nobody should be complaining about work of any type. So stop complaining and start designing. I swear if these types of people spent as much time designing and creating as they did complaining then they would be top designers and we would all strive to be like them.

3. Be happy, charismatic and show that you love what you do. Recently a buddy of mine at the school I am attending - The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago – told me he had an interview for an internship position. Naturally he was excited and did a little research in the company and the person that he would be interviewing with. He looked up their work and well lets just say …. it was not anything groundbreaking. It made him and me question how this person even got to the position that they have. With a little more research we discovered that they had indeed graduated from the same school we are currently in. So naturally we asked a teacher if they knew this person and the teachers response was:

“OH!, YES! … what a wonderful person… seriously the happiest and most charismatic person you will ever meet. Happy to be alive and lights up a room when they walk in.”

Well there it is. It all made sense as soon as that was told to us. My point is that its not always about being the best at what you do, but showing that you want to be the best at what you do and that you love what you do. I am interested to hear how his interview goes, but my money says my friend gets the position because he as well is a super positive guy with good design ethics and a GREAT ATTITUDE in life and design.

4. Competitiveness. Now this is a weird topic and point to discuss. The reason I say that is, we are in an industry where competition is almost the main thing we work against. We all want that awesome client and want that awesome job that every one is after. Granted competitiveness can be approached in a productive manner. Lets say I am working towards a job and I don’t get the account and I find out that Johnny at Johnny Designs got it instead. Bummer central, but I am not going to hate the guy/gal for it. In fact I am going to go over and congratulate him/her on it and observe and research on why they got it over me. Obviously they had something there that I did not and it is part of my job to find that out. It will only make me a better designer in the end. Not only will I congratulate them but I will promote them as well. They see that I respect them and that I want to be to their level then they are moor inclined to help me out in the future when they obtain the next awesome project that I wanted. You don’t make friends by being a jerk and cold hearted and agitated. You make them by be friendly and happy for them, showing them that means more than any design job you will ever get. Treat others how you would want to be treated and you will treated the same.

5. WORK HARD AND LOVE IT! It’s all mental, stay positive and know that your finished product will rule. There is no denying that it feels so great when you spend 594837 hours on project and then the client LOVES IT! It produces an emotion and feeling that I love.

To tie up this blog post I just want to point out a couple little things. I am no saint. I complain and I struggle at times with design. In fact I struggle a ton!! haha but I know that when I started designing in 11th grade 9 years ago, that I just feel in love with the creativity and ability to express myself through art and layout. I remind myself constantly why I am in this industry and it makes it all better. Stay inspired; surround yourself with things you love. Most importantly GET CREATIVE in all aspects of your life, not just design. We are creative individuals and let that part of you shine. I promise you that if you implement your creative personality in your every day life people will notice and will attract to you.

WE ARE ALL DESIGNERS, in every way. We should be happy and feel lucky that we were born with the ability to think outside the box the way that we all do. Embrace that and go with it and share your ideas with the world. BUT BE HAPPY ABOUT IT! SHOW THAT YOU LOVE IT. Not that you hate it. If you hate it then you need to find something that you love. Life is too short to stress and struggle with your career path. We spend a majority of our lives working so be sure its something you LOVE to do. Most importantly stop complaining and start designing.

“A man is what he thinks about all day long” -Emerson

Brandon

Some designers and people I met at the Lets Merge meeting:

Ann Clancy : Motion Designer
Michelle Osburn Renn : Interior Designer
Adam Daniels : Photography
Rob Louotka : Designer
Nick Cambell : Motion Designer