A design job listing included this statement: Special considerations will be given for (art school name) alumni.

There is little to be criticized in having a preference for specific educational backgrounds and skill sets that will blend well with a hiring comany’s needs. Predisposition and special consideration is a common practice. In the fields of business, law, accounting, technology, science and medicine, many of which require education and on-the-job experience in order to be licensed or certified, where one went to school carries weight in hiring practies. GPAs are important qualifications and are a commonly used filter for making hiring decisions  In the design fields, GPA is not a prime consideration, but degree achievement is a common criteria. Above all, the portfolio is regarded as proof of ability and experience.

Given the academic standards, breadth and depth of curriculum, degree of excellence in design thinking and craft, and the focal strangths of individual curriculums, it’s realistic to expect much from graduates of certain design schools. All curriculum are not equal. All canddiatate are not equal. One can be a good designer and not have had formal training, but when one comes out of a school which maintains a world-class reputation, it is reasonable to expect him or her to live up to it.

The concern here is in the publication of the preference. If a hiring firm wants to give special consideration to candidates from a specific school, that’s its right. But then it should carry on its notification processes within the sphere of that school’s alumni and career counseling office rather than broadcast it to the job-seeking design population at large. Although it may not intend to exclude, it will in fact, do so. Job seekers wil assume they have no chance and therefore not apply, and it may or may not increase the pool of candidates from the preferred school.

No matter what the hiring criteria might be, it’s unwise, for a company to disclose preference for specific alumni in a job posting. Special consideration, when stated outright, does not promote equal opportunity or good will. It makes a company’s reputation suspect and can set the stage for lawsuits.

Everyone who follows the television series, NCIS, knows that the lead character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, has a set of rules. These rules are invoked by Gibbs or his team members to admonish, to encourage, to discipline and to keep the team unified in purpose and conduct. They’ll remind each other of “Rule Number 38″ or “Rule Number 7″.

Rules are useful tools to keep oneself in check, to maintain boundaries and to avoid issues. Every person has rules. I’ve found that the more experienced you are in life and business, the more rules you have.

I wanted to share a few of my rules. These have kept me from making some bad decisions. Some have been formed on the fly and others have been established as the result of a sad situation.

Rule No. 1. Don’t accept projects that contradict your values. If you’re uncomfortable with the premise of the project or the goals of the client, pass it by. It’s not worth it to take on a design project just “for the money” and end up hating the work. Invariably, no amount of money will make up for compromising your personal standards.

Rule No. 2. Don’t accept a new client if there’s even the hint of  trouble ahead. Trouble comes in many forms and will always sap your joy and creative energy. No relationship is perfectly smooth, but some are downright not worth it. The trouble is usually not about the project itself but about how you and the client interact. When a client wants to be the art director, when they seem to not know what they want, when they are fishing for ideas or spec work from you before committing to the project, when they are secretive about their project… when they think actually hiring instead of contracting you… these are all red flags.

Rule No. 3. The computer is only a tool. I am the designer. No software will provide the sense, knowledge and creative skill required to design. Computers have been around since the mid-1980s. Designers have existed for centuries. That should sum it up.

Rule No. 4. Take a day off every week. Just as you need to pull off the road to re-fuel or re-charge your car, you need to take a break regularly. Most of the designers I know work long hours, including weekends. An annual two-week vacation is not enough to regroup and sustain ongoing productivity. Stopping work to rest and reflect is important for long-term success and satisfaction. Unplug, slow down, and reflect on what you’re doing and why. You’re able to put things in perspective when you step outside the flow of daily creative effort.

Rule No. 5. Design your day before you begin it. The design process includes planning and being purposeful, knowing where you need to end up before you begin. This applies to managing your time in order to be effective in your work. If you plan each day before you begin it, you’ll keep distractions to a minimum and can focus better.

Rule No. 6. Always be looking. Keep your eyes open. Everything is a potential inspiration.

Rule No. 7. Always be listening. Listening is a skill few people take the time to develop. Clients are more likely to trust someone who who listens and then applies what they’ve heard.

Rule No. 8. Don’t edit when brainstorming. The best solutions are known to come from “brain dumps” where you just start listing and/or doodling everything that comes to mind in pursuit of a design solution. Once the list is made, then review it and narrow it down.

Rule No. 9. Do not work for hire or on spec or bid. These all devalue your work and your contribution to the client’s success. They also depreciate the design profession as a whole.

Rule No. 10. Always begin a project with a handshake AND a written contract. The handshake helps establish the relationship with the client and the contract protects the relationship by outlining specific expectations that both parties have agreed to. Most designers I know will concur on this: It’s when you don’t have a written agreement that trouble shows up.

Rule No. 11. The client is not your enemy. The designer-client relationship should be one of mutual respect. The designer is there to serve the client. The client is there to facilitate the designer. It’s a give-give relationship. When a disagreement arises or a mistake is made, own your part in it, fix it, and continue. Don’t blame. I’ve known too many designers (and even have been guilty of it myself in the past) who complain about the client constantly. And I’ve worked with clients who complain about their designers. Both designer and client should be about the business of seeking the other’s highest good.

Rule No. 12. Always be thankful. I’ve established the habit of thanking clients at the end of a project. Send a hand-written note rather than an email or a business letter. Really. It makes an impact. Show your appreciation and you’ll be appreciated.

Here are some “rules” for the rules: Determine your values and non-negotiables before you engage with clients. Setting your own boundaries mitigates or prevents others from setting them for you. Deciding up front about how you will handle things makes it easier to respond when situations arise. Be consistent in upholding your values, but also be flexible. Sometimes you need to add or modify a rule. Setting and maintaining boundaries will help you avoid relationships and circumstances that are potentially harmful.

The April 2, 2011 New York Times op-ed by Ross Perlin describes how schools are encouraging an exploitive trend in unpaid internships offered by businesses and corporations.

Although a somewhat recent type of “job” offering in other professions, unpaid internships are not new to the graphic design field. In fact, they’ve been a regular practice in this profession for years, especially at non-profit organizations. Students and graduates are now presented with internship opportunities more often than they are entry-level jobs. They’re asked to work for nothing or next to it in exchange for “gaining experience”. There are cases where interns work full time for no pay for a year or two in hope of being hired by that company. Businesses seeking low- or no-cost design will contact a school to recommend students or recent grads with no intention of paying them for their work. A casual perusal of design jobs on Craigslist reveals compensations offered in the form of lunch or gas money. One web site states that internships are necessary for finding design jobs: Internships are an essential part of attaining a job in graphic design. Get started on your career as a graphic designer with the internship of your dreams.

From the client’s point of view, there are two crucial criteria in deciding what designer is awarded the project:

1. Does the creative understand what’s needed?
2. Is the creative capable of delivering?

Understanding What’s Needed
Defining the problem accurately is necessary to solving it. If a designer can do that, he in essence has half the project accomplished before he’s begun. If he can articulate the client’s current situation, the need for new design solutions, and what those solutions need to accomplish, he will be able to determine appropriate design strategies.

Solutions are often provided by a designer that serve to re-define, rather than support, the purpose of the design. This is where the client becomes unsure of the designer’s intentions and rifts begin to form in the working relationship. Trust is broken, and it’s difficult to restore it.

How does a designer understand what’s needed? First, by listening carefully, and then asking questions to clarify. The designer should be able to reiterate the needs and the reasons to the client in his own words.

Capability of Delivery
Capability is proven when the project is delivered. Until then, capability is only assumed. How the designer works with the client, crafts the project, works with vendors and suppliers, schedules, and deals with client uncertainties and idiosyncrasies will either build or destroy trust.

Many clients have been disappointed by designers and are therefore skeptical of the claims of the next one that comes along. The next one must work harder to prove his value when the one before him misses the mark.

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.

Those who track and analyze cultural trends generally agree that our culture has become design-driven. It’s no longer based on business or technology but on design. We consumers generally assess the value of a product or idea based on post-modern criteria: its design, its visual appeal, how we experience it, how we feel about it. Design has overtaken business and technology as the impetus for consumption and economic growth. For example, chewing gum products are packaged to look good when sitting next to a Blackberry or iPhone. This, of course will increase their appeal and resulting sales.

Because we are design-driven, there is ample opportunity for innovation and new ideas to flourish when presented to the public in desirable “packaging”. Thus we judge a book by its cover and the contents inside the box by the graphics on the box. Designers develop these visual assets, packaging and experiences to, in essence, present ideas. Any idea presented in an elegant, exciting “package” generally achieves greater acceptance than one that isn’t. A good idea offered in a cheesy “box” will be passed over in favor of a bad idea presented in a thoughtful, aesthetically-sound container. Design persuades us to accept something based on its packaging or graphic environment.

A designer can take any idea – whether authentic or not – create an appealing graphic environment for it, provide a positive user experience, and it doesn’t matter if the idea is authentic or not. It matters only if it makes the user authentically feel good. As long as the design appeals, the idea it presents will gain acceptance, even if unprovable or dangerous.

Thus, surrounded by aesthetically-sound design, any idea can be accepted as valid. There is danger in this. Not every idea is valid or even worth consideration. Not every idea is “true”.

In our post-modern, design-driven culture, form has taken priority over content and style rules over substance. Post-moderns gauge authenticity based on experience rather than proof. It doesn’t matter if something is verifiable or not, as long as we feel good about it, as long as it makes us popular, provides a sense of community and belonging, or is compatible with our desire for absolute freedom. If it accomplishes any of those things, it must be authentic. If it is presented as being authentic, it will be considered as such even when proven otherwise.

Does it matter if we create excellent design to package a lie? Does it matter if we might be helping to spread inaccuracy and fabrication? Does anyone care, as long as something looks good?

Shepherd Fairey, the designer of the Hope and Change iconography which helped Barack Obama become elected last November, is being taken to task for his use of a photo of Obama owned by Associated Press. This has brought issues of copyright, ownership and fair use to the forefront of our news media, and is significant in light of the fact that copyright laws may be changing and Creative Commons is so widespread.

Illustrators, who often borrow from photographic references, have long been dealing with issues of fair use. How does one make a portrait of a public figure if one does not have access to take a photograph of their own or to have the person “sit” for the portrait?  If a designer or illustrator uses a copyrighted image and simply performs an editing job on it, which is what Fairey appears to have done, that may very well be construed as infringement. If the designer also profits from it, the infringement is compounded.

I believe this incident will be the impetus for tightening of copyright law and possible re-thinking of the Orphan Works Act, as well as differentiating copyright more specifically from Creative Commons uses. The lines of separation are being drawn. In a culture becoming used to and demanding common use, will rights of ownership disappear? Will intellectual property be re-defined? Will work for hire, which artists and  photographers have so long fought against, become standard practice? Depending upon how the AP/Fairey case is decided, we may be on the slippery slope of changes we don’t want.

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!

Since I established my design studio over thirteen years ago, I have worked with clients large and small, designed for sole proprietors and for publicly-held corporations, solo entrepreneurs and organizations comprised of committees and boards. My work has even won some awards. Most of my work comes through referral from clients and colleagues, some from my students, some from my friends and some come out of left field. Out of necessity, I have established some criteria for qualifying those I will work with. These criteria help determine if a project or a client is one I should accept.

You can’t be my client if:

One of the first questions you ask is “How much do you charge?” This usually indicates that you’re looking for a product, not a unique graphic property. You want to buy a logo or a brochure rather than develop an image and brand.

You want me to start the project now but you will pay me later. I don’t begin a project without a down payment. This helps affirm your credibility with me, and enables me to spend time and effort on your project without concern for my livelihood. If you won’t pay up front, what basis do I have for trusting that you’ll pay upon completion?

You want me to give you a few ideas before you will commit your project to me. You want to see what I’m capable of.  I’m actually happy to develop ideas for you. This is known as “consulting” and there is a fee for it. I don’t work on spec. And as for my capability: my track record, roster of clients and body of work testify to that for me.

You don’t know what a designer does. In this case, you either don’t understand the value of design to your business or you are asking me to handle things that fall outside my scope of services. I am not a publicist. I am not a press agent. I am not a print broker. I do not host web sites. I cannot create an appropriate graphic property for you in a 24-hour turn-around.

You ask me to tweak or finish the work of another designer. This request invariably comes on the heels of a bad rapport that developed between you and your previous design firm and you have come to me to “fix” their work. I’ll be happy to take your job specs and begin fresh, but I will not alter someone else’s work.

The work you want me to do is for something I deem unethical or immoral. I won’t violate my values. Period.

As a designer, my purpose is to help your business, company or organization succeed over the long term by creating graphic properties that establish identity, brand and message. If I can’t help you accomplish your goals then you can’t be my client. But, if you have read this far and think you do qualify and want to discuss a project, I am happy to talk with you.