Posts Tagged ‘creative thinking’

Once again, thank you to all the wonderful people who contributed to the first ever Creative Advent series. For those of you who may have missed some of the entries or are visiting for the first time, I have created a roundup of all the submissions and their authors. In 24 days we have covered what is easily a combined lifetime of experience within the creative services industry.

Happy holidays to everyone, and have a happy New Year!

I’ve had countless design discussions with employers, contractors, and clients, but one in particular remains firmly lodged in my mind to this day.

Some time in 2002 I had just come off designing what, at the time, I felt was my best work to date. It was beautiful, inventive, it had personality, and it fit the brand perfectly. No one would find fault with it, I had nailed the brief. Score one for team Dave.

Get Your Name Out There

The best piece of advice I could give at the point in my career is to get your name out there. Start a blog, talk to people on twitter, leave comments on other blogs just so that you circulate around the community. Most importantly be social! I’ve met 4 great business partners all through online interaction. I never would have had that chance to do so if I didn’t start blogging. I still sit in an office at a very unhappy job, but these new endeavors that I am taking on full steam ahead will give me the strength i need to get out and go beyond my thoughts and dreams. One piece of advice - If your thinking about starting a company - do it. If your starting to come up with ideas but your not sure - do it anyway.

When I moved to Portland, Oregon in 1980 to begin my design career I thought I was pretty hot stuff. However, in economic times much like today, there were no jobs to be had. In fact, the week I arrived, several ad agencies and design firms closed their doors. Companies all over the city were laying off designers. That’s when I decided to become a “sponge” and soak up as much information, or knowledge, as possible from others in the professions of advertising and design. Instead of asking if firms had available jobs, I basically begged people to talk with me about their jobs and career history through informational interview appointments.

I’ve received a lot of great advice during my short spell as a designer — some in person, some from books.

The following passage is an exceprt from the book It’s Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be, by Paul Arden. It has served me extremely well, and I recommend heeding every word.

The biggest piece of advice that I would 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. Always keep learning & don’t be a static learner… do this by reading books, magazines, blogs and by practicing. Collect & Share things. Teach others. Never give up. Keep practicing. Again, keep practicing.

The best advice I’ve ever received came from a resource room teacher in middle school. I don’t remember his name. Faced with a number of challenges, I found myself working hard. Harder than any other student. The teacher said to me, “You just keep plugging away. Don’t let up, just keep plugging away and you’ll get there”.

Starting my design firm right out of school meant that I didn’t get to learn the ropes from anyone older or wiser. Except my dad. While not a designer, he is a serial-preneur. He helped me figure out how to wear all of the hats at the beginning when that was my only option, and then how to delegate away as much as possible when that became a possibility. I’d say the most valuable piece of advice ever, was, “Do what you love and are good at, and hire terrific people to do all the other stuff.”

Yes you need to make the client happy, thats part of your job. But if Comic Sans and flashing gif animations make your client happy are your really going to agree and put your name to something that looks ridiculous? That’s right I didn’t think so.

Make Friends And Lend A Hand When You Can

I believe the best piece of advice I’ve ever received was to ‘make friends and be there for them’. And I’ve read people give similar advice many times on various blogs. The reason is quite simple: it works!

But not only does it work, it’s also a lot of fun! Just like in ‘real life’, you meet people and some of these people will become friends. I’m sure the friends you have in the offline world have strengths and weaknesses, just like you do!