» Graphic Design Curriculum: Design Styles?

Lately my inbox has been filling up with questions and comments, no doubt a result of Positive Space’s continued rise in popularity. I love reading all the great comments the readers have given, however a common trend amongst the emails has developed. These have been questions from design students in regards to starting their careers or finding internships. Rather than just email the responses individually I thought that it would be worthwhile to share my answers in greater detail here. Because of this I have created this new series “Graphic Design Curriculum” which will seek to answer these questions and foster further communication and opinions from the readers.

If you have a question you would like to see answered in this series please ask it via the contact form. Without further introduction, here is the Graphic Design Curriculum’s first question.

What do you view as strong design styles in a designer’s portfolio?

In my opinion a designer should be able to display an understanding of styles as a contextual tool rather than a skill. Designers who are young in their career should be able to apply these styles based upon the needs of the client. Styles come and go, they become trendy, cliché, or just plain overused so being able to talk about why the style was contextually appropriate to the needs of the client will always be more appropriate and representative of your skills as a designer.

That being said, some companies may also have a certain style that they would like to see in a portfolio when interviewing applicants. Having a portfolio with pieces that fit or compliment the work of the agency will give an immediate representation of how you could benefit their firm. This can be done by reviewing the portfolio of the organization prior to sending a sample of your resume. However this does not mean that you should model your book based completely on the style of an agency, only that you should try to include work that is relevant to theirs.

After interviewing design students for internship positions I have witnessed a trend that negatively impacts a student’s chances of finding a position. The majority of design student’s work is completed for either themselves or other designers. This is apparent because the work has no rationale of how it would meet the needs of the (hypothetical) client. Usually the styles present are not appropriate for the client and stray far outside of their identity with no justification as to why. It is very apparent in this work that the style is there because the designer thought it would be cool or interesting, not because it would solve the needs of the client. Because of this, it is common for firms to hire lesser skilled designers with a stronger understanding of meeting client’s needs over their more experienced peers.

My overall advice would be to avoid trying to develop styles and instead learn how to appropriate them to meet the unique needs of the client. For a similar perspective and great read on style be sure to check out Eric Karjaluo’s article “Fuck Style” on the Ideas on Ideas blog.

This is where I would like to open up responses to the readers. If you are in a position that requires you to do hiring or have been in the past, please answer the question so that we can provide as wide of a perspective on the subject as is possible.

08/13

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6 Responses to “Graphic Design Curriculum: Design Styles?”

Jin
August 14th, 2008 at 11:50 am

I interviewed at least 20 candidates last year to fill a UI designer position at work.

I tend to have different standard and expectation when interviewing someone who’s fresh out of school, versus experienced ones. For a design student, I mostly look at the “form.” I believe “function” can be trained later on. As for a seasoned designer, I look for the total package. One has to be able to not only demo his/her portfolio, but also the thought process behind each design decision. This is here the gap lies between the novice and the pros. I often get the response from design students “I dunno, it just looked cool.”

What you mentioned about design students, designing for themselves or other designers is very true. This applies to other fields as well: computer science, enigneering etc. It’s difficult for schools to update their curriculum to relfect the real world situation. So they stick with what they do(sometimes decently): techniques.
Bunny got Blog
August 15th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

I have to say,I really like your articles.

One thing I have learned is there are too many clients,who want a professional job done but usually thinks he knows more then the designer he has hired.

Graphic designer’s have the talent of using their ability to read people I think. Then creativity designing a site that captures the person,company,merchandise,etc- soul personality.

I am more then happy with my graphic designer.I found myself saying yes more times then no when working with him
Bunny got Blog’s latest post: Zucchini + Limeaid + Ginger = Bunny’s Zucclinger Fruit Drink
Lemon
August 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

I just want to provide a counter argument to Bunny’s comment. I do agree that many clients might try to direct design in a way that won’t benefit them and sometimes, usually with the more experienced designers, it is best to let the designer guide the direction of the project provided it actually meets the needs of the client.

This ties in with very closely with new design students and “style” in that I’ve seen far too often, new designers have this idea that it is their expertise being sought so they will do what they think is best and they use styles that don’t fit with the clients message because it’s either their “style” or a style they want to use. Depending on their design education they received, too often I see students that don’t really understand how to place client’s needs ahead of their design goals until of course they’ve spent some more time in the industry.

Not to rail against style, it can certainly be used very well and many designers are sought after for their specific style but many new designer’s want that from the beginning without realizing how to also meet clients goals that they were hired for.
Zinni
August 18th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

Lemon,

Great comment, if only more clients were like Lemon…
nick
August 27th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

The hard thing that I find is not only creating a style for a project that makes my clients happy but one that appeals to the end user. A few of the clients I work with tend to have their own personal style that makes no sense for their consumers.

My advice for students would to always think of who will be looking at the website, reading the brochure, etc and design for that persons.