design advise
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- lvl_130
your acquaintance sounds arrogant. if he gets offended by your advice to work for another shop first, he's going to be in a world of hurt when he tries to deal with his "own" clients giving feedback on things he's created.
- 23kon0
He'd be crazy to start on his own straight out of art school.
Although you might think you've got a mature head on your shoulders when you first leave, you really don't!
A few years of working for an agency is the best thing to learn the ropes in the industry, it'll also help him with making contacts too.Starting out on your own means starting off with no clients and no experience and no decent commercial portfolio - the latter of which is essential for attracting prospective clients.
Having said that, if he's been working through college doing a lot of stuff on the side and already has some clients then he could take the chance?
Or just work for a company for a few years and do fun stuff on the side that he wants to do - knocking out flyers and stuff like that or small work for startups or small businesses that don't have the money to go to a larger agency (that way he won't get into trouble at his full time job as there is no conflict of interest as it's different ballparks).
- identity0
Senior year has a way of deluding folks' into thinking they're king-shit.
I remember the feeling well. How stupid I was.
- jfletcher0
tell him he needs a little humility, to shut up, and listen.
- bjladams0
i can remember wanting to do the same thing, but glad i waited. perhaps he can make it- time will tell.
sadly, his portfolio reflects some decent ideas with less stellar execution. it's mostly a buffet style group of designs, with no clear direction or style.
i don't think that the motivation and desire is the problem, but he's wanting to invest quite a bit of borrowed money into it.
he's got the theory of "build it and they will come" - and he's quite quick to critique all the other studios around down into the ground. we're not a huge city, so keeping in good rapport with the other firms is a key, as i've found we all end up working with each other at some point.
he's just emailed me again asking how many pixels wide a business card should be and if anyone in town can print them within the next few hours.
- btw, these cards are for him, he's not already drummed up business.bjladams
- yikes... how many pixels wide is a business card? Tell him 100px wide.d_rek
- ha, i'll put him in touch with qr codes.bjladams
- 3.5x2px @ 1ppiduckseason
- Douglas0
does he come from a business minded family by chance? does he have backing? or a business plan for a bank loan? or will he be running shop from his bedroom and calling himself a studio?
- bank loan. not good with numbers. wants a big shiny studio. no fam history of good business that i know of.bjladams
- duckseason0
Send him to NYC, we'll put him in his place.
I agree with and can relate to identity's comment. I thought I was the shit when I was leaving school. You just don't realize how much you didn't learn/don't know until you land that first job.
- d_rek0
You know, I get that sometimes we really want to be decent human beings and really want to try to help others succeed... and it sounds like you are one of the rare decent human beings trying to help a friend succeed, bjadams.
But sometimes, some people just need to fail in order to learn. Sometimes they need to fail real fucking hard. Otherwise they never learn and never appreciate what they have.
- In fairness (don't wanna sound a cliche) but I he fails and keeps going he no doubt will be a success...then again he will NEED to be that 0.5% who can just plow on. In which case he's a born entrepreneur - fuck it. If no one tried...babaganush
- Needto be the 0.5% that can summon the superhuman energy - either way it's innate. Born entrepreneur or not...shiny studio not good thoughbabaganush
- ..not good start thoughbabaganush
- bjladams0
haha, thanks- i'm not really out to help him so much. he's an acquaintance and just had a short chat with him and a few emails were exchanged. i've got nothing invested with him, and he's not the sort of personality i'd want to associate my own work with.
the conversation just sent my mind down the road, and i remembered thinking the same sorts of things about my self, right out of school - and i suppose i'm really just thinking of what advise would i give myself if i could step back in time.
- All advice is from someone speaking to their former self.gramme
- doesnotexist0
just found this, worth a read
Harvard Business Review - Leading Creative People
- melq0
1) Straight out of school to owning your own firm is a wonderful idea if you're an arrogant kind of fellow that likes reinventing the wheel and putting in twice the amount of effort on rudimentary business tasks while slowly going broke.
2) Allweys speelchak.
- melq0
3) "9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People"
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/9-…
- fredddddd0
Unless he's incredibly creative and unique and a good networker, he's wrong.
It takes more than 4 years to master anything.
If he's average, tell him that doing logos for bullshit companies and stupid brochures and websites for random people gets really tiring. Getting a job at a big agency can give you lots of interesting experiences.
Also, if he's not a really social person, studios can be quiet and boring.
- cannonball19780
^ #7-9 hell no. Transaction is a two-way relationship.
- ^cannonball1978
- Spoken like someone that didn't have to make payroll this week.melq
- If that's the case for you then you have different problems seeding your problems meeting payroll.cannonball1978
- Say again, please.melq
- crillix0
I've learned so much from the several jobs I have had and would still feel like a complete noob if I went out on my own. I think that was good advice, shame he wasn't more open minded.
- moldero0
it was always the fresh out of school guys who were the biggest pain in the ass. they never knew jack shit, but always acted like they did in a meeting, but in private their all buddy buddy, "hey man, help me out, how do you do this" these kids never lasted long.
- melq0
@cannonball
"7. As long as I'm paid well, it's all good."
You're unwilling to do work outside of your comfort zone, even though a client is willing to pay for it?"8. People who pay me always have the right to tell me what to do."
The headline is hyperbolic; the rest of the text basically says "don't be an arrogant ass." You disagree?"9. The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland."
Are you saying putting in extra effort is beyond you?