How and when did you first learn about this career?
That would have been from my high school guidance counselor. As things turned out, I was afflicted with senior-itis sometime during my sophomore year. As the college entrance exams approached, I was considering a career in the chemical engineering dept. at UofI. I took the ACT and did quite well, dealt four-of-a-kind on the first hand. Combine that with my HS transcripts and it was exactly not enough. The counselor mentioned that the Ag Dept. was a good back-door into the school. A quick transfer after so many credits would get me into Chem. Eng.

It was also brought to my attention that NIU was a solid state school, which fit the budget, and they had a nice art dept.

Couldn't be that hard, could it?

How did you get your start?
I interned for Golin Harris consulting in Chicago during the summer of 1995. It was an internal creative service that was actually paid. I wore the same two suits every other day for three months.

How would you advise someone to start building a career in your field?
You are going to start at a low salary. Accept this. I started out making less $k's than my years of age. If you make it through the first four or five years, you will begin to even out. Don't think about the micro-managers that are making six figures, while they cannot make a decision between cornflower blue and sky blue. You are learning a trade that is based in art, and science. And you get to wear jeans to work.

Take the job that intimidates you most. It has the most to teach you.

What job experiences would be a stepping stone into the career?
Take anything that is remotely related. I work at the college newspaper in the classified department. Then I took a temp position with an electrical manufacturing company, creating wiring diagrams and instruction manuals for a designer that was on maternity leave. Those positions, combined with the internship gave me a sliver of technical ability that may have been a factor in landing my first job. Who knows?

Computers are everything as of now. When I was in school, they had just broken into the field. Our curriculum at NIU allows students to explore both digital and manual approaches to the industry. I chose the former, and have never been at a lack for technical capabilities since then.

But today, that is the norm. Computer skills are easy to come by, because everybody, including over-inflated soccer mom that aspire to have an e-commerce site with the contents of their closets, is utilizing the web and offline communication channels. The real skill is aesthetic. Learning why things look pretty is more important than making them such.

If you were to starting out again, would you do anything differently?

1. I settled for a job once, after a lay-off/freelenace period. I was there for over a year and learned nothing.


2. Asked for at least $5k more at every merit increase meeting. You can always go lower.


3. Actually studied in HS and made the cut in the Engineering Dept. at Champaign-Urbana.


4. Join the military.

What are some branches or job opportunities in your field? What are the jobs available in this field, which have you had?
Designers usually start with similar skill sets. Then their experiences tend to pigeon-hole them for their careers. Squeaky girls get the perfume packages, smelly guys with long hair tend to get the rock posters. There are opportunities in each direction, some more than others. If you think you've been pegged by a certain label, you probably have. Move on to another position if it bothers you. Getting stale is part you and part job.

That didn't answer the question. Sorry.

Is there necessary education or training for this field? How long, how extensive?
Four years of under graduate education is normal. Additional post-graduate work is a plus. However, given the subjective nature of the field, work experience is more highly weighted than capital letters on a resume.

There are actually two schools of thought in this industry. The first approach is from the artistic side of the fence. Standard training involves fundamentals: life drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, art history, etc. This can be offered a s apart of four-year curriculum that also includes gen-ed's. What shakes out of this is your run-of-the-mill BFA. Also in this group is a more refined art school that has more of a focus on the arts, and usually less focus on the gen-ed's. Art Institute of Chicago is a good example. Both approaches hold the trade of graphic design, or visual communication, as an art. Both approach design holistically, with an understanding of how the verbal and non-verbal combine to form effective communication. Technical skills are acquired along the way, but they are not the desired goal.

The flip-side of that is exactly the opposite: the art of design as a trade. These are individuals that have migrated from other related fields: pressman or pre-press technologist that understand ink and paper, with a focus on current technologies such as color-correction, photo-retouching, etc.; back-end technologists, most likely interface builders. Their approaches are more single-faceted. One can produce printed materials, the other pushes pixels around and understands abstract code. They both rely on technical expertise to produce their work.

To compare the two is similar to comparing an architect and an engineer. Both build things, just not for the same reasons.

What educational institutions would you recommend (art school, 4 year university, tech school etc.)?
Four year university with a strong emphasis on art. For Illinois, NIU or UofI at Urbana. It is important to keep in mind that graphic designers have to be versatile enough to apply their skills to numerous sectors, or industries. A curriculum that does not expose students to other disciplines is not helpful. Business classes provide artists an opportunity to understand business vernacular. Science and math courses give exposure to analytical mindsets. Sociology and Comms can provide an brief understanding of behavioral sciences. And so on. Learning how to perfectly render a nude in twelve different medias is quite an asset. Learning who you may be presenting that finished nude to is more important. Unless your intent is to keep it to your self.

What is weighed more in the field; education, experience or a combination of both?
That depends on whom is one's employer. MFA's are not all that common. Honestly they will not get you as far as a good Eastern Block accent. On more than one occasion, I have been appalled at the Laissez-faire approach to employees that are on the European schedule. I digress. Experience, as much as you can get. Take the job, jump in the trench. When you climb out, be able to tell me what you did and why. Then tell me you'd do it again.

Education can provide a firm foundation with plenty of room to grow. Experience will turn it into a mid-level high rise, complete with six levels of retail tenants, high-end residential living, private parking, bomb shelter and free cable television.

Not every experience will fit each candidate the same way. I have no funk; never will. Every once in a while a project will come by and it has the chance to go funk; it's asking for it. I cannot do it. And I know I will get hammered by some light-weight that gets inspiration from walking around barefoot through the office. This is acceptable. Not every job will constantly offer opportunities that are exactly what you want to work on. Try to find a position that is 65-35. The bad news is that the 35 is what you want to do. The 65 is the part that makes you better at it.

{ Next up--Part Two: Job }