Posted on May 20, 2015

Article (2 of 2) which focusses at why Dave obtained his job and 5 things he's learnt working within our team. Click here to read the first article.

 

Practice makes perfect

Everybody is employed for a job because they are useful to the employer. But being good at design isn’t good enough, you have to be great, and being great involves originality and high quality craft. I didn’t know what Adobe Illustrator was in 2012, now I know how to use the whole Adobe Suite, and this is because I took my own time to practice learning it.

Here’s what I did.

Firstly create a YouTube account or Google account, subscribe to some geeky tech channels which teach you different creative skills within programs like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe After Effects, & simply watch the videos, it is as simple as that. Then start applying what you have learnt to your work. I did this around 3-4 times a week. Some of the clips are only 5 minutes long!

 

Be aware

Design changes everyday, trends are always circulating and you must keep up with it all if you want to stand out. Most people want what’s new or what’s fresh, this applies in most industries, for example the music industry is always looking for the next young artist who gets attention, the technology industry is always looking to make things easier to use, the fashion industry is always trying to create a new style which the mass will purchase. These are all factors we need to be aware of.

Here’s what I do to be aware of things that inspire me.

Create a Pinterest account and/or a Behance account, simply collect design that catches your eye, save it or appreciate it, do whatever with it as long as you can easily access it again and use it to refresh your mind when you run out of ideas. I do this almost everyday, the bigger my collection of design the more points of reference I have for my idea generation.

 

Presence

I began selling my work in the beginning of my 2^nd year at University, before this I was designing people tattoos or painting pictures for Christmas presents. But creating myself a brand and throwing myself out there was one of the most helpful experiences, and it is free. Putting value on yourself is something that rewards a whole load of motivation and confidence. So get your work out there in the world for people to see.

Here’s what I did to gain a massive amount of confidence & a bit of money whilst I was at it. I created myself a name ‘DaveGriffy’ not very creative I know but it works… I used this on every social media platform, even my e-mail & Xbox live account. I created a brand of which wasn’t polished at first but it was noticeable, I began to create fan artwork for my favourite music artists after they were releasing a mix tape or a free single, I was advertising those singles as if they were real & sending the artist my work over Twitter. Doing this gained me a load of followers and I got some of my work used by these artists, one of them known as ‘Skepta’ (brag points). Seeing your work being 'Retweeted' or posted by someone you look up to makes you want to do one thing (apart from tell absolutely everyone) is do it again. Along with doing things for friends and family all of this is very rewarding and gives you a head start over everyone else.

 

Do it differently

This one is important.

Ok… have you ever finished a Uni project, you look around the room and you see somebody has presented their work similar to you? Or somebody has a similar idea? Or even somebody has copied something they have seen. Well these are signs of unoriginal thinking and being afraid that your final outcome will not fit the bill. Well from experience I was always hunting online for pieces of excellent design I could incorporate with my design to make it look as realistic as possible, because people buy into realistic over unrealistic, so when you are designing something make sure you do it differently to you’re peers because if you want to stand out you must know how to do it visually.

How I tried to stand out.

 

There are a lot of design websites out there, some that offer freebies or some that give you tips on how to present your work at a high standard, using websites like www.graphicburger.com or even use your pocket money to purchase a typeface which stands out from the rest in your class from www.creativemarket.com 

 

Keep yourself refreshed

It’s not all graft and sweat, happiness is something that drives a good work ethic, keeping yourself excited and relaxed at the same time will recharge your creativity & keep you full of fresh ideas. The best thing to do for this is to socialise, go out and have a few drinks once a week or be part of something other than design.

What I do to keep my mind refreshed.

I play a lot of games online, I like to be a part of the gaming community; games fascinate me because they are full of adventure and let you step into somebody else’s shoes. I also follow Arsenal football club #footballlad. I find going to the pub with some mates and letting your hair down to a game of football often recharges my creative thinking. The most obvious one, which helps massively, is keeping active; I go to the gym regularly in order to stay physically/mentally fit, I create music playlists regularly to spice my workouts up a bit. Finally the one that constantly helps me create & relax at the same time is my love for music, I like to follow certain radio stations and listen to variations of genre’s depending on my mood, which boosts my thinking process & also helps calm it down.

So where am I now?

I currently work for Sugar Creative Studio after a successful 6 months I am a full time employee. I’ll finish off by giving 5 tips from what I have learnt from my experience working for Sugar

1. Adapt quickly

I learnt something very valuable working in the industry and that is not to go overboard with your ideas, remember the clients you work with aren’t always on your level of thinking, so don’t be afraid to jump out of your comfort zone and do things that you may think aren’t up to your personal standard or even things you wouldn’t normally picture yourself doing, because at the end of it all you are learning.

 

2. Didn’t anybody tell you about grids?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t taught a lot about the technical/mathematical side of design at University, I was always taught to be free & creative and not to stop pushing my ideas, which I personally think is the most important part of it. However, the real world is full of structure and when you are designing you must design to fit these structures, you may not see it at first but if you look closely at any form of print or web design it always contains symmetrical layout. 

 

3. Teamwork

I was always thriving to be the best before I worked in the real world, I wanted to be better than everyone else, but I learnt to be at your best you must collaborate and share ideas with others around you because they may know better or give you alternative advice which changes your perspective and helps you learn new things, to work in a team you must share perspectives daily and create discussion to come up with the best outcomes.

 

4. Channel your thinking

One of the most important things is to not get too attached to a project you are working on as you may have to switch over to something else very quickly depending on the clients needs. When I first started working here I was getting a bit too carried away with timescale on one project where as I have settled in now I tend to switch on and off with my ideas and go in and out of briefs, so keep an open mind. As one day you may be working on a farming brand and the next you are creating wireframes for a software companys new website.

 

5. Offer something different

When I started working at Sugar as well as offering the industry standard of skills, Photoshop, Illustrator etc… I wanted to offer something more. I opened up and got involved with other things such as photography, animation and painting. This helps the company grow. If there are more skills available it gives the team more options to tackle creative briefs set by clients. It also gives clients more of a variation to choose from in work they may want. You may have a niché skill which nobody knows about, don’t be afraid to use it, ideas can be sparked from almost anything!

 

I hope this piece of advice helps you if you are struggling to think of ways to prepare yourself for putting yourself out there in the big wide world! Never forget, everyone is human so don’t be scared to showcase your talent.

Over and out.

Dave.