Being a graphic designer and jumping into the field beyond academia, you will quickly realize that you’re going to have to hit the ground running. The beauty of being a graphic designer is you have the opportunity to work in almost any creative business environment. This can also be one of your biggest challenges. Success and failure in your new position will be influenced by how well you adapt to your work environment. Who you work for will not only dictate what you will be designing but influence how you will design and your overall creative process. My work here at TRG as a creative intern has taught me many meaningful lessons about designing in a marketing agency as well as being a successful graphic designer in general.
1) Decode the business jargon. It is relevant to your work. Bringing my graphic design skills to an office where mainly marketing skills are required was a collision of two worlds. I was in uncharted territory and everyone in the office spoke a foreign language. As a graphic designer you may think that you don’t need to learn the mumbo jumbo to do your job. You may be asking yourself “What does any of this marketing business have to do with a graphic design intern?” Everything! To be an effective member of your team you need to be able to communicate with them. For me, learning different marketing terminology and office lingo helped me out immensely allowing me to understand what my co-workers were telling me. This also allowed me to communicate with them more clearly when I needed to express comments or concerns. Listening and learning is a big step in the right direction to becoming an effective member of your team.
2) To please the client you must become the client. Research! Research! Research! The worst thing you could possibly do as a graphic designer is to design without context to your creative. Often times the creative team here is tasked with creating “creative solutions” for a client and an event or campaign they’re running. We design everything from web pages to decals that will be featured on sponsored vehicles. To make sure my designs are on point with what the client’s needs and wants, I need to make sure my design reflects the client’s nature and not just their sweepstakes, or campaign. Research, your clients, do a Google lookup, find out their motto and mission statement. Gather as much information as you can about the brand. This extra knowledge of your client will make your creative process a lot easier. Ultimately, the more you know about your clients and companies the better you can represent them through your design.
3) Ask “stupid” questions. Being a graphic designer in a marketing office, naturally you’re going to have questions about everything. The biggest question though will be, will you ask anyone? Do not be afraid to ask the questions you have because you think you’re being a nuisance that your questions are unrelated or simply because you feel like you have too many questions. Quite frankly your co-workers may become concerned if you don’t ask them anything. If you are in the company of a good team, and chances are you are, then everyone will be more than willing to bestow their knowledge upon you. The more you know, the more you grow.
4) Make mistakes! Well don’t intentionally make mistakes but don’t be afraid to make them. If you’re not making mistakes chances are you’re playing it safe, being complacent and in the design world being complacent equals death. The importance of mistakes is that they allow you to realize what not to do and also help you grow into a better designer. And sometimes mistakes can be blessings in disguise.
5) Experiment. Learn to experiment with your design from time to time. Maybe what you’re creating is something you’re not used to doing or unfamiliar but it does not mean that it isn’t good design, in fact sometimes it is exactly what you and your clients need. The point is you need to always continue to push yourself as a designer and find new solutions to your creative problems and to do that, you cannot be afraid to try new things.
