Your fingertips sport fresh exacto-blade battle wounds. The bags under your eyes have bags under them. There’s a coffee cup (or a can of RedBull) permanently pasted to your hand. Your back is sore and your vision is computer-screen-blurred.
And you are THRILLED.
You see, it’s done. Your portfolio is finished, the very best of your very best projects have been tweaked and refined and printed and tweaked and reprinted. Your book is bound; your fresh-off-the-press business cards still smell like new ink. Your mockups are ready for show and you even made stickers of your logo, and buttons, and temporary tattoos, and a really cool “leave-behind” to woo creative directors into hiring you.
The good vibes and positive energy radiate from the depths of your soul and you feel empowered (even though you haven’t slept in weeks). You know you’ve given it all you could and you’re READY to make your mark on the world.
But what happens when you wake up the day after graduation?
You’re going from being at the “top of the mountain” back down to the metaphorical bottom, looking up at your life and career ahead of you. This brand new phase of life is going to be different from anything you’ve ever done.
I know how you feel. The memory still feels fresh even though it’s been quite a few years since I was in your shoes. Here’s the advice I would give my recent grad self, from where I stand now:
1. Enjoy THIS Time
When I graduated from design school, I already had a job lined up at an agency. While I’m SUPER happy I was able to get my dream job right out of school (at the smack-dab-start of the recession), I sort of wish I had given myself a couple weeks to breathe (and maybe go on a vacation or something) after graduation before jumping right into the nine-to-way-past-five working world. If you have a job offer, and they’re flexible with your start date, go ahead and take a couple weeks off to get some sleep, relax and see the world! The first year of agency life usually comes with very few vacation days, and that’s a really hard adjustment when you’re used to a school schedule with mid-term, summer and holiday breaks. So if you can swing it, take a break, sit in the sun and soak it all in, and that’s why is important to have a good education from young age so you’re used to study most of the time and have good bases in school, and there are great international schools for this, See more at https://ascot.ac.th/ to find a great school for the young ones.
2. Get a Job
I’ve been reviewing senior design students’ portfolios since I was two years out of school myself, and I’ve noticed a trend recently of new grads wanting to jump right into full-time freelancing or start their own businesses right out of school. While I do know successful designers/business owners from many different backgrounds, (including folks who successfully launched a biz right after graduation, and really good designers who didn’t attend design school at all) I can only speak from my own experience. I learned more on my own while I worked online jobs and at my first agency job after college than I learned in all four years of design school – and I feel like I got a GREAT education in design at my alma mater (Flagler College). There’s just so much you don’t think about (or at least I didn’t think about) when it comes to running a business that isn’t taught in school (client relationships, business administration and print production come to mind). PLUS, the pace of the “real world” is a damn-lot quicker than school. So, do yourself a favor. Even if your ultimate goal is to work for yourself and pave your own road and all that, go get yourself a good, old fashioned grown-up job and stick it out there for AT LEAST two years.
3. Set Up Informational Interviews
If you are still on the hunt for a job after graduation, and you’ve called a bunch of places, but no one is hiring, go meet with them anyway! Many art directors, managers and creative directors are happy to meet with students and recent grads to review their portfolios for the sake of an “informational interview.”</strong That means, although they are not hiring at the present moment, they’ll look through your book, give you some constructive advice and opinions, and take your resume. Just ask if you can come in and have them take a look at your book. The benefit of these is twofold: You get valuable feedback on your work from hiring-level professionals in the industry, AND you meet people who, while they’re not at the moment, may be hiring in the near future. I got my first job by going on an informational interview, so, you never know!
4. Keep Making a Lot of Work
You probably feel a little burned out after portfolio week and graduation. And it’s more than okay to take a little break. But after a week off or so, keep at it! Whether you have a job yet or not, do design work for the sake of growth and keep your skills sharp. Even just out of school, I don’t think you should work for free, but design your friend’s band posters as a trade for show-tickets, design your uncle’s business logo, start a personal “passion project.” Without your teachers to guide you and your peers by your side to encourage you, it can be hard to keep designing on your own. And it definitely feels a lot different. You might actually find that you can’t quite make work as good as what you did in school, but don’t let that hold you back! I personally felt like my design work kind of sucked until about 2-3 years after school. I knew what good design work looked like, and often became disappointed that mine wasn’t there yet. But you just have to keep doing it every day, and eventually the quality of your own work will catch up with your eye for good design.
There’s no one-size-fits all path for success, but I want you to know that I’ve been where you are right now, and it’s a freaking exciting place to be. I believe in you. Truly. You’re going to make a difference in this world, and I do believe that design can make a difference because there are PEOPLE behind it, and every person has the capacity to make a difference.
I could go on with more sappy inspiration and more bits of advice, but I feel like these four things I’ve listed are the most important tidbits I’d tell someone who’s in the same place I was, graduating from design school and setting out to make a career for yourself.
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