Get yourself noticed
If you are planning a career in the wide and wonderful world of design, then you’re not alone. This is great news in that you will always have lots of colleagues to support you in projects and to bounce ideas off; but it’s bad news in that you will always face lots of competition for jobs or when bidding for commissions.
Standing out from the crowd isn’t always easy. Short of using email marketing software to send begging letters to every design agency in the country, the only thing you can do is work hard at university or art college and make sure you have a good, up-to-date portfolio. And carry it everywhere with you! I once ran into a contact at a café and had nothing to show him. I handed over my card, but unsurprisingly never heard from him again.
If you are at art school or college, look our for group projects that you could get involved with and badger your lecturers to try and help you arrange really useful work placements. After all, if they’re teaching design, the chances are that they know a lot of people in the industry, at least locally. Often these college projects are run with the support of local design agencies. Imagine how much better your chance of a job after graduation will be if you’ve already worked with, and impressed, one of your potential employers?
For example, the students at Central Saint Martins art college in London have been handed the opportunity of a lifetime, by a US design company which has worked with Google and the BBC. The company, Method, have created a £20 million venture capital fund to back some of the student’s design ideas and to help bring them to market, OK, so not every little provincial art college is going to be able to offer that kind of opportunity, but keep your eyes peeled for anything that could help you stand out from the crowd. And don’t say no to any project, no matter how dull it might sound…
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