Jobs
According the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics graphic design jobs will increase about 13 percent in the decade 2008-2018.

The good news is that there will be available positions in advertising firms, websites, print and electronic media for graphic designers and graphic design college graduates.

However the BLS also states that the competition for these available jobs will be very high.

So what can you do to increase your chances of being noticed by prospective employers? In this three part series we’ll discuss various methods and tips on how to distinguish yourself from other job hunters and to help you qualify for more job opportunities.

School
Until the advent of the personal computer, graphic design remained relatively static as far as technological advances –if you had good talent, design skills and a good grasp of aesthetics as your foundation, a career in graphic design was accessible.

However in today’s world, there is rarely a graphic designer that isn’t familiar with at least two or three of the more popular design/image editing software programs. Understanding and using these programs is essential in graphic design work.

In order to receive the important career training you need in graphic design, methods, and computer skills, go to a graphic design school that ranks high in the quality of its curriculum and broad range of design classes and programs.

Graphic designers who have additional skills in web design and animation will have the best prospects for jobs in their field.

Presentation
Your portfolio can be one of the deciding factors that can help you land a job in graphic design. Your portfolio should be professional looking and consist of examples that not only reflect your best work, but is geared towards the firm you are applying for.

Don’t be afraid to rearrange and restructure your portfolio from job interview to job interview.

The needs of different design firms can sometimes vary. If you do your homework by finding out what each company’s particular design needs are you can emphasize this type of work in your portfolio.

Be prepared to give your interviewer an Internet link to a website that shows off your work. Put as much care into designing your website as you do in assembling your physical portfolio. First impressions really count and you want to put your best foot forward in presenting your work.

Experience
A good graphic design education is essential for learning the skills of the trade but experience in the graphic design industry can also be an important part in your real-world education.

Graphic design students will especially benefit by taking on as many internships and outside work experiences as possible to fill this gap.

Increase your chances for landing a job by getting as much job experience as you can while still in school.

Next Time…
We’ll go over some practical tips on how to establish yourself in a positive way when going to a job interview. Until next week, take care!

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The Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA) is a graphic design competition and computer application competition that seeks the best and the brightest student talent in the fields of graphic design, illustration, photography, animation, digital film, computer art, and computer applications.

If you are currently enrolled as a full-time student you are eligible to enter this contest for a chance to win cash prizes and Adobe software products.
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Entry Categories
There are three major categories in this contest with several linked subcategories:

Interactive Media

* Browser-Based Design
* Non-Browser Based Design
* Application Development
* Mobile Design
* Installation Design

Video and Motion

* Animation
* Live Action
* Motion Graphics

Traditional Media

* Illustration
* Packaging
* Photography
* Print Communication

Full detailed descriptions for these classes can be found by clicking here.

Contest Guidelines

• The contest is open to individuals 18 years or older that are enrolled as full-time students. (See full contest rules for restrictions)
• Submitted entries may be reclassified from one category to another at the judges discretion.
• Entries must be the original work of the submitter.
• Deadline for entries is June 4, 2010.
• Submitted entries must be created with at least 50% or more with Adobe tools in Adobe software formats.

The complete rules and guidelines for this graphic design contest can be obtained by clicking here.
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Judging
Adobe states on its website:

“The entries, whether submitted by an individual or a group, shall be judged together in each category on a points system, based on originality, effectiveness in meeting the communication objective, and contestant(s) skills in applying Adobe products as specified in their entry forms.”

The Awards
A $3000 cash prize will be awarded to the winners in addition to various Adobe software program packages such as Adobe design suites, web design applications, and other Adobe products.

Other Information
The deadline for this contest is June 4, 2010. Complete details and entry instructions can be found by clicking here.

More Survival Tactics for Graphic Design Students
In our last article we pinpointed two important things to help you survive graphic design school — time management and not to constantly compare yourself with your fellow classmates. This time around, we’ll delve into some pro-active issues for you to try.

Find a Buddy or Two
Graphic design majors have quite a bit on their plates — they must learn and assimilate a variety of design methods, hone their graphic design skills, work on class projects, and tackle the academics related to art history, trends, and design. All of this can become overwhelming if you don’t have a few friends to support you.

Graphic design majors encounter unique challenges and situations that non-liberal arts majors do not normally come across. Graphic design students must constantly rely on their creativity, artistic talents, and design skills to be successful in their classes. This heavy reliance on imagination and originality can sometimes be quite draining.

Establishing a few close friendships in graphic design school can bolster morale and self-confidence through the sharing of common experiences, to bounce ideas off one another, and to generate a support system that all can benefit from in your group.

The creative process can sometimes be a lonely one, but if you support others, they’ll also support you as well.

Get Involved in Classwork
It is easy to become passive in class. Most of our past educational experiences have placed us in situations where we listen quietly while the teacher presents the material. But in graphic design school, the situation changes because the things you learn are creative in nature and cannot be passively internalized. In other words, you must do and not just listen.

The art projects and assignments that are given to you help form the basis of what you need to learn in order to qualify for jobs in graphic design, media, or other related fields.

Some students just do enough to get by but in doing so they miss out on the crucial elements of discipline and process of producing professional quality work. Try not to look at your art projects as busy work, but see them as building blocks for your artistic and design skills.

Ask Questions in Class
Your professor is there to teach you, but also take advantage of the process of asking questions in class to clarify or expand upon a particular topic.

If something is not clear to you, chances are that you are not the only one in class that doesn’t’ understand.

Try to schedule an appointment with your instructor in topics that you need extra help in. You are paying for your education and getting the help you need is not outside the boundaries of school protocol.

Next Time…
As your graduation from your graphic design school approaches, your thoughts will be centered on looking for a job in graphic design, web design, illustration, photography, or one of the other media arts. In the next article we’ll look into the typical work environment and qualifications that a typical job in graphic design requires.

You may be contemplating going to a graphic design school or graphic design college to earn your degree. Or you may already be enrolled in a design program. What can you do to make your experience better while attending a design college?

The following advice and tips may help you to understand the process of what it takes to get the most out of your graphic design school.

Time Management
This is probably one of the most important things that you can work on while attending graphic design school.

In addition to understanding and assimilating the information from your classes and lectures, you’ll also be charged with the duty of turning in your art projects and assignments on time.

Managing your time is crucial to the quality of your projects and will allow you to get the most out of your assignments. This means that you’ll have to be brutally honest about how important your recreational activities are to you and whether you will need to sacrifice some events in order to finish your projects.

Concentrate On Your Own Education
In any creative environment where you are surrounded by others who possess talent, there is an unconscious need to see how you compare to everyone else.

This is perfectly normal as we’d like to find out how good we are. But over emphasizing this informal competition can sometimes be a distraction to your own graphic design education.

The main reason why you are attending a graphic design college is to acquire and receive the proper career training that you’ll need for a graphic design job. If you concentrate too much on how everyone else is doing in your classes, you may be sidetracked in developing your own talent and skills by worrying about everyone else.

You can have some friendly competition with others, but don’t be distracted from your own development as a graphic designer.

Next Time…
We’ll present more survival tips that can help you to get the most from your graphic design school. See you then!

The List Goes On
We continue our list of Top Characteristics of Creative Designers according to the opinions of those within the industry.

Not everyone has all of these traits, but we can all learn from the list to understand what design companies look for in their staff.

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Here are the rest of the traits that design firms would like to see in potential hires:

• Care about clients. If a design job is nothing more than a product to the graphic artist, it takes on an impersonal feeling and disconnect from the client. A recognition and understanding that the final creation is for people helps to provide added impetus to do a better job.

• Be able to multitask & juggle projects. In the perfect world, a graphic designer should be able to concentrate on one job without distractions or additional duties not directly related to project at hand. But this rarely, if ever, happens. Being able to intently focus is a good thing, but the ability to multitask is virtually indispensable for successful designers.

• Be deadline oriented. Imagine a graphic design firm where everyone could turn in their work whenever they felt like it. This would not only be a formula for instant failure for the business, it communicates a lack of professionalism. Design firms are driven by deadlines, and so should you.

• Find ways to “break through the clutter. In a design job, there are lots of things to do, but not everything has to be done. The ability to sift through the unnecessary or less important tasks is often the difference between meeting deadlines and missing them. A good designer knows what needs to be done and what needs to be put on the back burner.

• Keep an open mind about things. If the art world maintained that realism was the only way to paint, Picasso, Monet, Dali and many other artists could not have created their unique styles of work. Design is also like this–there is more than one way to approach a solution.

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Desirable Traits and the Real Job World
The attributes that professional designers feel should be inherent in people who work in the industry is varied but can be broken down into these categories: teamwork, professionalism, communication, and work ethics.

Graphic design schools educate graphic arts students on how to design, create, compose, and use various tools for illustration, graphic design, or other fields in design work. But the traits that set a successful graphic designer from a mediocre one sometimes boils down to the personal characteristics of the individual.

Design firms need to hire qualified people for their art departments, but as was stated in the Top Characteristics of Creative Designers articles, employers are looking beyond talent and towards potential hires that have many of the traits that make a designer truly successful.

The Basics So Far
In our last few articles we’ve covered topics related to properly preparing for graphic design job interviews and ideas for designing creative resumes.

In this new series we’ll explore what sorts of traits successful professionals in design or creative positions commonly possess. . .
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What the Employers Say They Want
The original information was researched by Preston Lee, an award winning graphic designer, who queried design professionals from different firms.

He asked them what sort of traits they believed are inherent in people who work in jobs that required creativity.

The following list of attributes isn’t exhaustive by any means but may be useful in determining whether you have “the right stuff” to work for a design or media firm.

The List
What is interesting to note is that of all the traits that were mentioned as valuable for a career in design, very little was said about actual talent.

The responses were generally about personal character, good attitude, and good communication skills.

Of course talent is a factor, but this seems to be a given and employers are looking for that extra “something” from potential hires in addition to talent alone. We’ll list the top responses here with a short comment for each trait.

• Be motivated and eager to learn. Design methods and software are constantly changing, so a graphic designer who continues to learn becomes a valuable team member to the company.

• Be curious about the industry. This could also be rephrased, “Be interested in your work.” A fresh perspective of where the industry is heading shows employers that you are involved and engaged in your work.

• Get a good education. Preparing yourself for a career in graphic design, illustration, or one of the many related fields in the arts means getting the best education that is available to you. Graphic design schools and graphic design colleges can help you to receive the graphic design education you need to qualify for jobs in the industry. Most entry level jobs require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.

• Be authentic. It is sometimes hard to admit a lack of knowledge when searching for a solution to a design problem. But pretending to know everything isn’t the way to go either. Just be yourself. Employers want people that can fit into their organizations.

• Network constantly. Or in other words, communicate! Errors in design concepts can sometimes be attributable to nothing more than just a misunderstanding of project guidelines or the assumption that the other party knows what is expected. Design companies need people who can effectively communicate.

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Next Time…
We’ll list some more traits that graphic design employers seek in their new hires.

We’ll also discuss some of the things that you can do to increase your chances of becoming hired with a design company, or other firm dealing with the visual arts.