Two Cents: Some Advice

Your professors and colleagues can become some of your greatest friends. They can even help jumpstart your career. 

Don’t let things get personal. Some people will love your work, some will hate it. It’s not about you. 

It’s important to be on good terms with everyone you work with. People will help each other out even after you’ve all moved on from the job. You really don’t know who some of these people will become to you. From my experience, you could even marry one of them. 

Your network is just as important as your experience.

Learn to make changes you don’t agree with sometimes, because everyone has a different style and sometimes your style might not fit someone else’s aesthetic. This is a really hard one. 

Keep track of everything. Keep track of how many hours you work, all the feedback, and all the different versions you created. All. 63. Versions.

Save everything. 

Buy a large enough external hard drive. 

Save every 5 minutes.

Just use other people’s design as inspiration and research. Don’t copy someone’s work.

Knowing how to draw isn’t necessary to have an eye for design. 

Don’t let ego get in the way. There will be others in the room that are better. Just learn from them and use them as motivation.

Build relationships with the same people or vendors for good rapport. 

A project is never really over. Ever. Just learn to walk away from it and be done for your sanity. 

A ‘simple’ design is really harder than it looks. Make ‘less is more’ a practice.

Legibility is the most important design element. 

Use the align tool.

Don’t decorate.

Don’t stop learning. There’s always a workshop or class somewhere. Unfortunately, technology is evolving everyday. Keep up with it.

Don’t underestimate your value. This is key to remember when figuring out your rates.

There is no one straight path. 

It’s ok to say no to people.

Don’t play it safe.