Having an online presence in the design world has left me quite a position to fill, in fact, I get about one or two emails every day from design students requesting advice or an interview.
Most of the time I do try to reply however, many times I seem to be repeating myself…. the question that comes up guaranteed, every time is:
What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to a designer just starting out?
I usually respond with the same paragraph each time (it is saved in my Gmail drafts folder) and my advice goes something like this:
The biggest piece of advice that I would give an upcoming designer give comes in a ‘package’ based from the little things that I have learned over my short career as a designer. These would be perfect for someone just starting out… Don’t undervalue your work. Seek criticism, not praise. Always keep learning & don’t be a static learner… do this by reading books, magazines, blogs and by practising. Collect & share things. Teach others. Never give up. Keep practising. Again, keep practising.
Advice From Other Professionals
Every week I interview a professional designer here on Just Creative Design (the section is called Designer In The Spotlight) and in every interview I have asked this exact same question - what is your biggest piece of advice for a designer just starting out?
Below are the responses from the designers who I have interviewed so far.
Lady Omega - Never give up. Generate as much happiness as possible. The main thing is to start, not speculate, but just start doing.
Elliot Jay Stocks - Work for ‘the man’ before going freelance straight out of university or college.
Colin Wright - Stick to your guns. If you like your style, and other people like your style, who cares if other other people don’t like your style?
Be knowledgeable. About anything and everything. This will allow you to relate to more and make you a more effective communicator.
Don’t be above anything. Sometimes the small jobs can lead to big ones (though don’t take a job just because a larger one was dangled in front of you).
Kai Chan Vong - Don’t give up. But don’t expect it to be easy. If you want to be half decent, you should expect to work really hard and try to learn from others as much as possible. The Internet has made it so that if you want to be a great designer - you need to learn from others on a day to day basis. Whether that’s from friends, co-workers or other designers… you need to constantly have your mind open. Good luck! You can do it!
Mike Smith - Never quit. No matter what gets in your way, or what hurdle you have to jump over, just keep going. I don’t care if you read zero websites and network with no one, just keep going. Push yourself and never give up. People will run their mouth and sometimes you might hit a dry spell in clients, but keep going. Use that time to design your own work or build something useful for other people. Progress every day. If you don’t take a step, you never move forward. Why sit still if you’re not happy in your current situation?
Prescott Perez-Fox - Make friends with everyone. Make sure you have people, upon people, upon people who you can call to collaborate with to make a job referral, or even just to chat and blow off steam. Don’t be that mad-scientist type who stays locked up all day… get out and make friends.
Drew Dunlap - Work your butt off! If you don’t try your best and give it your all, the customer will know… not only because of the way that they’re treated but also just by looking at their artwork.
Treat everyone you work with with respect and be kind. Customers talk about good designers but they talk way more about bad designers. Be respectful on blogs, contests and anything web related. Being distasteful not only reflects bad on you personally but also for your business. Don’t use slang or internet terms when talking with customers, be professional.
Think of grade-school… treat them as you’d like to be treated!
Chris Spooner - Strive to keep yourself updated with changes in the industry, this particularly relates to web design which seems to move at a pretty fast pace!
Jennifer Farley - Use a contract and get at least 25% upfront when doing design work.
Doug Cloud - Don’t give up. No matter how much you want to. No one is going to succeed if they give up. And besides, why would you want to?
Emily Lewis - Read, read, read what is out there, even if you don’t understand it all. Eventually, it will start to “click.”
And then, practice, practice, practice. Make your own site/portfolio/blog and implement the “cool” things you read about, even if it take hours to get it to work. You’ll never forget something you had to pull your hair out to get working.
Andi Creffield - If you’re in it for the money, you’re in the wrong business.
Kate McInnes - Don’t give up, don’t copy other peoples stuff and don’t forget to have fun!
Fabio Sasso - I think the most important thing is to love the whole design process, from the beginning to the end. That really helps when you have to start something from the scratch or review some steps. Also practice and share your experience with the others, it’s a nice way to recycle your thoughts and get more point of views.
Albert Lo - I’ve learned a lot by making mistakes along the way and to this day I’m still learning. My biggest piece of advice I would give someone starting out is to persevere trying to find your first design job, don’t get disheartened and be confident in what you design. Take your mind off things by coming up with personal projects or take a part time job, your first design job to get your foot through the door will come out of the blue when you least expect it.
Brian Yerkes - Never stop adding to your skill set, and always make sure that when you look back over your previous year, you have come a long way baby!
Further Advice For Design Students
What would is the best piece of advice you could give a design student?
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给设计专业学生的一些建议
我经常浏览设计界的网站，也正好填补了这些网站的某些空缺。实际上，我每天都会收到一到两封来自设计专业学生的邮件，他们在邮件里向我寻求帮助或想跟我进行一次面谈。
大多数时间我都尽可能地去回复这些邮件，但是，很多时候我发现我只是在重复自己说过的话.... 这些问题都来的很确定，每次都是：
你对一个设计初学者最大的建议是什么？
我通常都会用同样的一段话来回复他们（这段话就存在我的邮箱草稿箱里），我会给出以下建议：
我给设计专业初学者的最大建议可以“打一个包”，这个“包”来自我从自己短暂的设计生涯中学到的一点东西。这些建议对一些设计专业的初学者来说是很实用的... 不要低估了自己的设计作品。从作品中发现错误，而不是赞许。要随时保持求知的劲头，不要满足于现状而原地不动... 在阅读书籍，杂志，博客和实践的时候你都可以这么做。收集或分享你的所得，教诲他人，绝对不要放弃，将实践进行到底。
其他专家的建议
每个星期我都会与一名专业的设计师就“即兴设计”而进行一次访谈，（这一部分叫做聚光灯下的设计师) 而在每次访谈里我都会问同样一个问题——你对设计初学者最大的建议是什么？
以下是我目前做过访谈的一些设计师的回复。
Lady Omega - 永远不要放弃。设计过程中尽可能产生更多的快乐。最主要的事情是开始设计，而不是在设计中深思，一定要开始设计一件作品。
Elliot Jay Stocks - 在你打算从大学或学院辍学做一名自由撰稿人之前，为‘这个人’工作。Colin Wright - 坚持自己的立场。如果你喜欢自己的风格，其他人也喜欢你的风格，那么何必在乎另一些人的看法呢？
对任何事情和所有事情都要保持明智。这会让你想问题的时候联系更多东西，也会让你成为一个更加有效的信息传播者。
关注每一件小事。有时候一份不起眼的工作也会给你带来一个非常好的工作机会（但也不要因为有一份很好的工作摆在你面前而去选择做工作）。
Kai Chan Vong - 不要放弃。但也不要想得太简单。 如果你想成为一名真正的后备军，那你就得十分努力的工作，尽可能多的向别人学习。如果你想成为一名优秀的设计师，网络就给你提供了一个很好的平台——每天你都得向别人学习，无论是朋友，合作伙伴或是其他设计师...你得时不时地让自己的大脑对外开放。祝你好运！你会做到的！
Mike Smith - 绝不要放弃，无论你的前进道路上出现了什么障碍，只管跳过去，一直往前走。 我并不关心你到底有没有浏览过关于设计的网站，但是你只需一直往前走。努力奋斗，绝对不能放弃。人们有时会信口开河或者你会遇到一些不讲理的客户，但你只要忽略这些，继续往前走。花一些时间去设计属于你自己的作品，或者为别人设计一些有用的东西。坚持每天都要有进步，如果一步也不肯挪动的话，你就永远不会进步。如果对现状不满意，你为什么还原地踏步停滞不前呢？
Prescott Perez-Fox - 尝试和每一个人交朋友。确保你有可依赖的人，这些人可以与你合作或是为你的作品当一个参谋，甚至是你与其聊天发泄抑制的感情的对象。不要像疯狂的科学家那样每天都把自己封闭起来... 走出去结交朋友吧。
Drew Dunlap - 努力的做自己的事情！如果你没有尽力去做，那么你的客户可是会发现的哦...不仅仅凭他们自己的待人方式，还可以从你的艺术品中发现蛛丝马迹。
对待你的每个客户都要保持尊敬和友好的态度。客户们会经常谈论那些好的设计师，但是他们会更多的谈论那些差劲的设计师。 恭敬地看待博客，竞赛和任何与网络有关的东西 ，如果你对此有厌烦的情绪，那么这不仅会对你个人造成坏影响，还会影响你的生意。在与你的客户交流的时候不要使用俚语和网络术语，尽量显得专业一些
Chris Spooner - 努力让自己跟上时代变革的步伐，这个尤其与网站频繁快速变化的设计风格有关。系，
Jennifer Farley - 在你设计一件作品的时候，保持25%的超前意识设计，并尽量与客户签订合约。
Doug Cloud - 无论你想得到多少，都不要放弃。如果一个人想要获得成活，那么他们是绝不会放弃的。此外，你为什么想这么做呢？
Emily Lewis - 尽量阅读你拥有的东西，即使现在你对它一点也不了解。但终有一天你会找到答案的。
然后尽量去实践，实践，实践。 让你自己的网站/宣传手册/博客和工具读起来尽量显得“酷”，即使成效要花上好几个小时才能看得见。不要忘了有些事情是你得付出全力去做的。
Andi Creffield - 如果只是为了钱，那么你已经开始了一宗错误的生意。
Kate McInnes - 不要放弃，不要抄袭别人的作品，不要忘记了享受快乐！
Fabio Sasso - 我认为最重要的就是要从始到终都喜爱创作的过程。这对你必须要从有瑕疵的地方开始，或反复重复一些步骤时是很有帮助的。同时要也与他人分享你的经验，反复斟酌自己的想法是一个很好的办法，同时你也可以得到更多的意见。
Albert Lo - 创作中产生的错误会让我们学会更多，现在我依然在用这种方法不断学习着。我给设计初学者最大的建议就是找出自己的第一件设计作品，不要对它感到沮丧，要对你自己设计的东西有信心。用自己的工作或一份业余工作来转移注意力，你的第一件作品让你踏进了设计之门，当你走出这个门的时候，你会发现天空如你所愿的那般蔚蓝。
Brian Yerkes -要不断提高自己的设计能力，当你回首过去的几年时，你应该想到自己还有更长的路要走！
给设计专业学生的更多建议
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