I teach a course at UCLA Extension called Elements of Design. It deals with the stuff design is made of. Things like balance, gestalt theory, proportion, value, color, structure and composition all go into the mix of what design is all about. Students who complete the course come away with the understanding that design is not one thing or another but a conglomeration of elements. Remove one or several and it’s just not design.

We can say the same about designers. Let me begin with this analogy: It’s conceivable that a person can purchase a stethoscope and a white coat, have his name embroidered on it and call himself a doctor. But the proof of his being a doctor is not in his accessories or attire, but in his knowledge.

The person who takes a few software classes, prints up some business cards, sets up a website and calls himself a designer is not necessarily a real designer. He might look like a real designer but without certain abilities that are essential to the craft he’s created a veneer with no substance to support it.

Real designers, whether formally educated or not, are set apart by virtue of what they know and how they apply it. (How and where they learn these things is not my point here.) Beyond technical ability using Creative Suite software, there are critical thinking skills and background knowledge involved in creating successful design solutions.

This is my list of essential knowledge and abilities that are foundational to being a real designer. Lacking any of these ingredients compromises one’s ability to design well, if at all, in my experience. Please note that none of these have anything to do with Photoshop:

Design principles and elements, including gestalt theory;
Color theory, including web and print color, psychology, symbology and basic scientific properties of light and pigment;
Typography, including typefaces and font families, and the ability to select a face based on how it needs to communicate;
Knowledge of design history;
Knowledge of popular culture, current trends and future projections;
Drawing skills, because drawing is a basic form of visual communication;
Verbal and written communication skills to be able to present a solid rationale for design decisions, keep clients informed and educate when necessary.

Then on top of these foundational ingredients we can add technical skill and the ability to engage in the design process to reach a successful outcome. Why? Because a real designer can design with a pencil or a computer. The tool is secondary; the thinking ability is primary.

A few places where you can get learn design without applying to a degree program:
Art Center at Night
Otis Continuing Education
UCLA Extension
School of Visual Arts Continuing Education
Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education
Pratt Institute Continuing & Professional Studies
Parsons The New School for Design Continuing Education
Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design Continuing Education

Graphic design represents ideas and values. A design is not in itself the idea, but the expression of it. Design points to something greater than itself. In most cases design serves as an ambassador, not as the self-expression of the designer, but as the expression of a business or organization to its audience. The value of a design is in how and what it communicates.

If your business or organization is a worthy enterprise, shouldn’t it be represented by something that is equally worthy?

If you were to choose an ambassador to represent your interests to the world, wouldn’t it behoove you to choose someone who will represent you accurately and deliver your message clearly; someone who cares how you’re presented and how people respond to you? You’re not going to simply drive by and pick someone off the street corner to do that. You’re going to carefully select from qualified candidates.

If your design assets represent your interests, why wouldn’t you want them to be as carefully chosen?

If a business is worth establishing and customers are worth pursuing, why not make the appropriate investment? You should be concerned that your graphic assets are serving your interests and representing your enterprise in the best way possible. A worthy enterprise deserves the investment in and the cost of a worthy ambassador.

Businesses have a choice when seeking creative services: They can go the cheap route and buy a logo through a crowdsource/contest site where they’ll select the lowest bidder, or they can commission a designer for a custom, targeted design. This creates a dilemma for legitimate freelancers. Competition for freelance design work is not only increasing, it’s being degraded as design thinking becomes under-valued and relegated to the level of banal doodles seeking a home. If businesses get used to paying pennies for a bad design offered by the lowest bidder or for an off-the-rack piece of badly drawn clip art, the profession itself will be compromised.

Many freelancers are turning to these crowdsourcing sites, thinking that getting something – anything – is better than nothing. And if they can win bids enough times they may be able to eek out a living. However, that approach leaves everything to chance and speculation – not a great way to make a living. It’s a gamble.

Leaving your income up to chance is neither wise nor proactive. Giving others control over your livelihood while spending time creating work that may or may not be purchased is neither useful to you nor helpful for achieving your long term goals.

The best way to get new work is through relationship. As people begin to know you they trust you. Trust is one of the best compensations anyone can earn. Relationships and trust however, take time to build.

You build relationship by becoming involved with people. Joining chambers of commerce or service clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis and the Lions, or serving as a volunteer with cause-based organizations will help spread your reputation and create opportunities for conversation and trust.

Target people and businesses you want to work with. There’s the temptation to take just any project that comes along, but it’s better to be judicious in selecting work and clients that are a good fit. Not every project is the right one. Not every client is worth working with. So be selective. Being selective requires, of course, a foreknowledge of the kind of client you want to work with. Foreknowledge requires planning and evaluation.

Use your LinkedIn and Facebook connections. Don’t just link up with other designers but also with business owners, marketing pros and corporate executive who might be strategic for your professional growth—people who will refer you or would give you a project directly.

Ask for referrals from current and past clients. Don’t have a client yet? Ask for referrals from friends and family. Don’t be afraid to let people know you’re looking for work. Always follow up on the referral and be sure to thank the referrer, even if their referral doesn’t pan out. Expressing gratitude is golden.

Whatever you do, do it with the long-term in mind. It’s tempting to focus on short-term revenue or getting the next project. Yet whatever you do, first determine where you want to go as a design practitioner. Where do you want to end up at the end of your time in the profession? What contributions do you want to make? Then break ground and build that foundation now. Be willing to give up some short-term fixes for the sake of your long-term goals. What strategic relationships do you want to establish now that will benefit you down the road?

If you have a well-designed strategy for building the right relationships, you will have a better chance for sustained success than if you focus on just getting the next project.

Why is spec work so prevalent in the design profession when it’s not in other professions? Increasingly companies – “creative” businesses included – are offering “unpaid internships” instead of hiring designers outright. In trying to reduce costs, they will offer an “internship” and even go through a selection process similar to that involved in standard hiring practices.

Unpaid internships are harmful to the industry and are legitimate only as part of a work-study program for students, involving evaluation, grading and course credit.

Unpaid internships are a viable part of a student’s education, where he or she works at a firm for a specific period of time in an unpaid capacity to gain real-world experience and earn work-study credit toward their degree or certificate. Student internships are great opportunities to gain practical knowledge, and can lead to employment with the firm or to referrals and recommendations. A great benefit for the student is the relationship that they build with the firm and the connections forged to the industry.

However, it’s my opinion that any unpaid work as a professional is inappropriate unless it’s a pro bono project undertaken because the designer chooses to offer his or her services in that manner.

It’s peculiar that the design profession is full of unpaid positions, spec work and expectations that we’ll work for peanuts or for simply the love of making art. These expectations are propagated by people in the profession who will accept a job in return for experience alone who even accept abuse from a client simply to “get something in their portfolio” or for the hope of proving themselves and obtaining something secure down the road. These practices hurt the profession, degrade the value of design and debase all design practitioners. Such practices propagate a general lack of respect that is ordinarily accorded professionals in other industries.

I don’t advocate spec work, the use of online bid sites or unpaid gigs in any form. Design is valuable and is worth the investment. Unpaid internships are purely speculative and offer no security and no value. They are entirely inequitable. And as for being unpaid while “in training” for a position, let’s compare this to practices at banks, law firms, grocery stores, the military and all other entities where one is paid equitably during on-the-job training.

The AIGA just came out with a clarified position on spec work. Spec work is any form is unethical and should be discouraged. It is of no value to the designer and is entirely unfair. Designers should not engage in it but instead should negotiate fees, deliverables and intellectual property rights that are reasonable and competitive.

For almost every other professional service, from auto maintenance to medical care, a buyer will pay the full fees asked for when services are rendered, without dickering, discounting, arguing or otherwise undervaluing the work. But more than a few of us designers and illustrators will often find ourselves asked to discount our creative rates, as if our work is not valuable. This video poignantly and humorously addresses the issue and points out the ludicrousness of these types of requests.

View this video as originally posted on YouTube.

This was a real post to an online job board:

We are just weeks away to launch our new high end cosmetic line and are looking for a student graphic designer who would help us design the packaging, business cards etc. Some knowledge of the Asian Market would be appreciated. This is a great opportunity for somebody at the beginning of their career, if we work good together there is the possibility to become a full time employee.

No pay but lunch provided.

What are they serving for lunch? As compensation for designing high-end packaging it had better be a high-end lunch. Perhaps it could be lunch in Rome. That would make their offer worth passing on to my design students. Otherwise, it’s simply not worth their time. Look, even a student should be paid for doing “real” work.

Unfortunately, some student, somewhere, will take on this job at these terms. I’m sure it will be quite a learning experience.

Not every prospect will make a good client and not every project is worth the effort. How a client presents himself or herself in the initial meeting is usually a good indication of how the working relationship will go. It is wise to think twice before pursuing or accepting a client when red flags appear at first encounter.

Everyone considering working with a designer needs to realize that, just as they are evaluating the designer, the designer is in turn evaluating them. Interviews and “go-sees” go both ways. It is as important for a prospective client to be someone the designer wants to work with as it is for the designer to be someone the client wants to work with.

A recent meeting with a woman representing an organization of businesspersons resulted in my carrying away a bunch of red flags:

• She was over 45 minutes late to a meeting that she had initiated, and without letting me know her situation, although she had my mobile number.
• She was not professionally dressed, yet she was meeting with me on behalf of a professional organization.
• She spoke disparagingly of designers she had previously worked with.
• She asked me to generate concepts on spec. This means she wanted me to do the work without being compensated. My experience, expertise, longevity, client list were meaningless. She was unable to connect the proven success of my previous projects with my potential success on hers.
• She focused the project criteria on her personal taste rather than on what her organization needed. She was concerned that the design suited her instead of accomplishing what was needed for the customer base.
• She was not open to exploring different approaches or ideas.
• She sent no post-meeting follow-up, thank you or acknowledgement.

When I later contacted her regarding the status of the project, she informed me that she had already given it to someone who was willing to do the work on spec. And although  she respected my “good business practice” of not doing spec work she thought I was “cocky” for declining to do spec work for her. 

I’m always a bit disappointed when I’m not awarded a project. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. But looking at this particular offering objectively, I have to acknowledge that it can be a blessing to not get the job.

One of my most important considerations as an independent designer is the quality of relationship I build with my clients. I tend to keep most of the clients I work with, evidenced by the fact they keep coming back to me with new projects, even years after I first began working with them. Although I seek new clients, keeping the existing is always easier than finding new ones.

I paused to consider why I have enjoyed a high retention rate, and came up with a few conclusions worthy of sharing:

Listen. To design effectively, I must understand my client’s position, mission, product and customer base. To obtain this information I need to ask the right questions and then listen to their responses. I try to take in not only their words but their voice: is it cautious… enthusiastic… measured? How are they using words? Are there any peculiar terms that need defining? What do they get excited about? In short, what is the client saying, and what do they mean by it?

Communicate. I try keep my client updated throughout the project. Design requires time for research and idea development and it can appear that I disappear for a few weeks. Keeping my clients informed of where I am in my development process prevents doubt from forming and maintains their trust. I send updates and questions regularly.

Produce excellent work. I need to solve the client’s problem instead of redefining it, and then produce the solution well. I love hearing, “Well done!” or, “You nailed it.” That’s almost as good as getting paid for the work. A pleased client will return again and again.

Humble yourself. It’s easy for creatives to be haughty and condescending. I’ve observed this happen again and again. Many times I’ve been the “relief pitcher” called to come in and finish the game that another designer started, whose attitude was such that the client pulled the project from them. A graceful manner goes a long way.

Be honest. Which of us does not make mistakes? I have found that it’s best to take appropriate responsibility and act quickly to fix any issue and avoid passing blame on my suppliers. I have experienced that if I make it right – even if it costs me – my client will stay with me because they trust me. The same is true with my supplier.

Be thankful. A note of thanks sent at the end of a project is priceless. Thanking people is a common courtesy that has become very uncommon in our time. Doing it in writing makes a huge impact.

Talented designers are not in short supply; there are many to choose from. For me, client retention is tied more to character than to talent. My gifts, passion, training and experience are secondary issues compared to how I treat people and take care of business.

Over on Zale Tabakman’s blog, Success Through Balance, my response to one of his questions asked on LinkedIn is featured. The question and responses describe how an intangible element – faith – figures in to one’s success in business and life.  Read his post here.

Thank you, Zale!