If I Knew Then What I Know (Advice to students)

I never have. Yet I got great grades and scholarships in school I don’t think it ever made a difference. Portfolio is everything.

First year is not about practicing design it’s about getting you ready for design thinking and practice. I don’t think it’s the most most important but I don’t think you could do subsequent years without it. Not to mention, for most it’s a peek at what design is really about. Many go into id pretty blind and it’s a good opportunity to see if it’s right for you before wasting more te and money.

R

I’ve seen every combination of grades to work including students with great grades an horrible work. There is not neccesarily a correlation.

I’ve never asked for GPA. I’ve often asked to see more process.

I would agree that grades mean almost nothing. If your portfolio is solid I could care less that your GPA was brought down by a poor performance in your psychology class.

I actually was given some very mediocre grades in school, and in speaking to my professors after graduation they pointed out they gave me grades lower than my classmates not because my work was worse, but because they saw that I was not working up to my full potential, whereas students who got “A” work were as good as they saw they were going to get. After being mad as heck at the time I realized after graduation that C pushed me harder than ever to improve myself. It certainly didn’t help my GPA, but it absolutely pushed me to develop my portfolio. That alone makes me disregard anything about “GPA” on a CV.





I guess the portfolio is the grade that counts.

For those on the forum who also teach, what do you consider when grading? One of my lecturers told me they will pass people who they know ‘aren’t a danger to the community’ (“P’s get degrees”).

When I teach, grading is done of course based on a very detailed breakdown. For example-

Concept Design 30% (7.5/30 Visual Presentation, 7.5/30 Storytelling, 15/30 Concept)
Final Deign 35% (10/35 Visual Presentation, 10/35 Technical, 15/35 Concept )
Photoshop Rendering 35% (15/35 Visual Presentation, 20/35 Technical)
100%

That being said, it can be very difficult to determine the grades as it is all relative.

  1. Relative to the other students. ie. how is one student compared to the best and the worst in the class/school
  2. Relative to themselves. Is this a good project that could have been great if the student gave 100%
  3. Relative to the industry/field. The best in the class may not compare to the best in another school/program…

There is no formula for those factors. I use my best best judgement, and take a little bit of all into consideration.

R

When I have taught, I have done a similar breakdown to Richard, but I had a 4th category of “improvement”.

Thanks for that, good to know.

The relationship between the students is really nice.the school is learning environment for all of us in all aspects.

When I taught drawing, I graded the deliverables segment based on true professional level output. There’s no excuse not to be aware of what constitutes pro level output and the students need to be shown regularly what that is.

My advice;

  1. never get complacent, even if you think you’re the best of the best.
  2. never stop trying, even if you’re sure it’s impossible,
  3. impress yourself first, then others,
  4. beware the lollipop of mediocrity - lick it once and you’ll suck forever,
  5. save twice as much from your earnings as you think you should,
  6. every once in awhile buy something outrageous - it will keep you hungry for more,
  7. trust your instinct,
  8. don’t believe that dreams are unreachable - if you believe in something, go for it!

Great list! Couldn’t add a thing. Love #4. Going to have to use that.

R

There’s a ton of great tips in here. I don’t have many regrets from school (at least, that were ID related), but if I could go back and do it again, I would have liked to know at the beginning…

  • Don’t be afraid to invest big money in tools that help you do better work. It’s worth it.
  • First-name familiarity is priceless. Network your face off. Get to conferences (even if you hate IDSA), go to reviews, meet up with professionals whenever you get the chance.
  • Try to get a variety of internship experience. Designing for a corporate company is very different from working in a small firm with 4 other people.
  • Read/Watch/Listen to the news… and not just tech/gadget/design news.
  • Wherever you go, make it a point to watch other people do things. You’ll learn a lot.

nice list DesignNomad. All good tips.

For those aspiring toward a career in software interaction deign and user experience design, as I did when I was in ID school, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have even entered school. Instead, I would have gotten a job doing ANYTHING, even work for dirt cheap, at a shop developing software. Even if I was earning next to nothing, that would still be better than the thousands I spent on school and I’d have earned much more valuable real world experience.

In the software interaction and ux design worlds, nothing is more valuable than real world experience. In all of the jobs I’ve interviewed for, no one has ever asked to look at my portfolio.

Document EVERYTHING. Work in progress, scribbles, sketches, your process. Not just the finished object. Design is a journey and sometimes being able to demonstrate HOW you got to a particular solution is more important that the solution itself–especially when shopping your portfolio to prospective employers.

Showing up with an electronic file full of pretty renderings and finished models is unimpressive without including the steps involved to reach that final form. Anyone can parade a snazzy picture around and make all sorts of claims as to authorship and their involvement, but without the proof of your work–your ‘sweat-equity’–your A+ doodle is worthless in the business world.

I found this today, Ira Glass commencment speech. About Journalism but still very relevant to Design. Its a speech at a lecturn so you can just listen to it rather than watch.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/55563744[/vimeo]

from http://exp.lore.com/post/38978876141/one-of-the-great-things-about-journalism-today

For some of you, it may be your first experience in a design business environment. I remember feeling lost in my first few experiences after college (we all do). Surrounded by so much new information, I constantly felt like I was falling behind my more experienced colleagues. I didn’t know who to look to for advice, and I never felt like I was doing my job well enough.

So as you prepare for your new job as designer — and the challenges you’ll face in that position — I’d offer five pointers I’ve seen work for people along the way.

1. Don’t "fake it until you make it." Many new designers try to appear more knowledgeable than they really are. They don’t ask questions. They think they need to have answers to be valuable to their organizations, and they can’t admit to a lack of experience or understanding. They compensate for their lack of confidence with overconfidence. But here’s the secret: They’re not fooling anyone! No one expects you to know everything in your first job, and you learn and grow faster when you seek real understanding, ask questions, and petition for help. Rather than faking it, make it by acknowledging the skills and experience of your colleagues at work and using your first job or internship as a learning experience.

2. Never eat lunch alone. One of the best things about a new job is the incredible learning experience it provides. Every single person you’ll work with in your new position — from the receptionist to the CEO — can teach you something valuable, and each of them can be a friend and mentor in your career. Many of the happiest and most successful people I know constantly ask questions and seek guidance from everyone around them, and research even shows that people with stronger social networks live longer. Your office is full of intelligent, thoughtful, and experienced people. Get to know them. Treat them with respect. Ask them questions. Learn from them. And have fun in the process.

3. Set boundaries to prevent burnout. Most jobs are never fully done. In school, your tests, homework assignments, and group projects have defined due dates. Parents and teachers will help you balance your life, and you have frequent, built-in breaks to help you recharge. But a job is different. It will be hard to do perfectly (or even well!). You’ll be anxious to over-perform, and many bosses are all too happy to have their new employees work long hours if they want to. There’s something to be said for putting in extra effort. But you also need to learn, early on, to set personal boundaries that allow you to maintain balance and avoid burnout. Burnout can make you less productive at work, and certainly makes you less happy. And in the absence of a caring community looking out for your well-being, you’ll need to take ownership of your boundaries. Map out your lifestyle goals ahead of time. Build short breaks from work into your schedule, and learn early to seek balance in your work and life.

4. Serve your colleagues and clients. A common view of Millennials is that they are entitled and narcissistic. And a common mistake young people make is to competitively climb their career ladders rather than humbly seeking to serve their colleagues and customers. But if you want to earn the respect of those around you and defy your generation’s stereotypes, the best thing you can do is bring an attitude of service to your job. Proactively seek out ways to help your colleagues. Think ahead for new ways to please clients and other departments. The greatest leaders often combine humility and fierce resolve. And humbly serving — staying focused on others — can be a great way to develop leadership and amass the support of your co-workers.

5. Work hard and show up on time. It’s been well-documented that hard work can be at least as important as talent to professional success. The 10,000 hour rule, for example, maintains that to truly master a skill, a person must put in 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. And nothing signals seriousness to your employer like promptness, perseverance, and dedication. Over the long run, diligence will earn you the respect of your colleagues, and hard work will give you the mastery and self-discipline to succeed in the future. The basics are simple, but easy to forget: Work hard and show up on time.

Following these suggestions will make for a more worthwhile experience for you, while balancing some of the stress and struggles of a brand-new work environment.

Great advice above!!! Thanks for sharing.

J

Fantastic advice Daniel.

If you know or you feel that you are a talented designer,
You should publish your work in the public domain before someone eats on you. (Early stage of design career)