Learn to Speak

Learn Designer’s lingo and start to talk it.

Join the Australian Graphic Designers Association (AGDA).

Hang out with designers. A good friend of mine who is an ex-policeman always said “If you hang out at the local tip, you’re going to smell like garbage. Same goes with Designer’s. If you hang out with Designer’s you are going to start looking and sounding like one. Join AGDA and attend the work groups or presentations. Adobe loves to get Designer’s together with their FREE Adobe Road shows. GO!

Get a mentor.
If you can find a senior Designer, go get coffee when you can. You pay. For three dollars you can get pick up heaps of “lingo” in 20 to 30mins. I have always encouraged undergraduates to find a real live Designer. Nothing can compare with having regular coffees with a Designer in the latter stages of study. A word of advice, don’t go in hounding this person for a job. Not yet. You won’t get a second chance.

Ask questions, bleed them dry.

Ask what its like to work in a studio. Ask then listen. Remember, they know, you don’t. Even if you have already graduated and are in the “looking for work” stage, go find a mentor. How do you find one? Go hang out where Designers hang out.

Let’s look at two new graduates going for the same interview at a small design studio. They both have great portfolios and so they should. Both graduates have had three or four years to make it look good. Let ­even out the playing field, they are both dressed well for the occasion, I’ll talk about that later and both have simular epervesent personalities.

Billy is the first candidate, he never bothered finding out his new profession. He doesn’t know A4 and doesn’t even know Macromedia ever existed. Billy is super confident that his portfolio will land him the job. Brian on the other hand does know, he even knows that Apple plan to bring out a brand new Macintosh range soon.

 Two days later. Brian got the call, he starts on Monday…

It’s the small talk that brings it home for Brian. The art director or Designer interviewing will know which one of the two is switched on. If you know Designers and their lingo, then talking to one is easy. In Brian’s case, he found it easy to relate and answer questions. He knows the lingo and gave answers in the lingo way. Billy never had a chance against Brian. Billy is like a boring book with a great cover. His portfolio was unreal but once the portfolio was closed and the interview continued Billy had nothing else to talk about.

Now that was completely fictional and I’m not saying that if you don’t know Designer’s lingo you’ll never get a job. I’m saying it can’t hurt. If I asked any designer they would say the same thing.