Rikcat Industries

From time to time I get emails from people asking about design education & career advice. I have a different perspective on this topic because my path was different than most designers. I went to a small art school that was primarily an illustration & sequential art school called the Kubert School. The school did not offer a degree, but I learned a lot in a short period of time. After completing the program, I felt that I learned a lot but wasn’t equipped to do a real world job.

Then reality hit me: not many people make a living doing cartooning and illustration alone. Most illustrators & cartoonists take on design work as well. Having that realization, I went on the path of becoming a designer and developing a design portfolio. Below are some tips that I’ve followed and some I wish I had.

Tip #1 - Get a Degree

Having the chance to do it over again, I would have went to a university or college and got a 4-yr degree. So I would recommend going to a school that has a decent art & design program. Concentrate on learning techniques, conceptualizing, and don’t worry about developing a style. Without a degree, I was at a disadvantage when I started looking for a job. The way I overcame not having a degree was by having a strong portfolio and being persistent.

From time to time, not having an undergrad, or a masters for that matter, rears its ugly head. Recently, I was approached by a local art school that offers a 4 year degree program to be an instructor. They saw this site and some of my work and thought I would be a good fit, but all of the instructors are required to have a masters degree in design. So the conversation stopped right there. Thinking back over my twelve years working in design, I can’t remember any colleagues with a masters degree. I don’t think it’s necessary to have a masters if you intend to make a living as a designer. Having a strong portfolio will be more important.

Tip #2 - Be Self-starting & Curious

Being a self-starter is a great quality for a designer to have. It shows passion, resourcefulness and curiosity. Self-starters tend to jump into new things quickly and aren’t resistant to change. Design tastes and techniques change often, so being flexible is a must.

Curiosity and having a well rounded view of art, news, politics and popular culture in general is essential to keeping yourself and your designs relevant. Most design touches a customer, so knowing what the likes and dislikes from a cultural perspective can give you a lot of insight. Having the passion to keep learning new techniques, new software, new technologies is important.

Keep your critical eye out for design you come in contact with in your day to day. I’m always commenting and critiquing logos, signage, web sites, etc, that I come across. Knowing why something is successful and why something doesn’t work is a skill you will always be honing.

Tip #3 - Embrace Criticism

As a designer, your work will be judged critically. There is no way around that so embrace criticism and use it to improve your work. Also, know when to stick to your guns and be able to articulate the reasons for design decisions, but be flexible. When you’re presenting your work, try to get people to just explain the problems with the design and not the solution to the problems. Designers solve problems, so knowing what’s wrong with a design can get you back on track.

Share your work with the world. Use sites like Flickr to get constructive feedback from the community. Flickr has numerous design groups that have hundreds of designers sharing and critiquing work.

Well I hope you like these tips and if any designers out there have anything to add, please do so in the comments below.