P1_p4 interview

Hi thank you very much for agreeing to help me out.Okay so for my blog i have to interview a professional in the multimedia industry.So i will ask a few questions and your answers can be short and sweet or feel free to be more detailed.

1.What company do you work for?

Artefact. www.artefactgroup.com  A Seattle based design consultancy. We design services and products usually ones involving technology. Think consumer products like Phones and Cameras but also Medical devices, Mobile software, Web software etc.

2.What is your job title?

“Principal Designer”, when it suits me to be head of creative (a subject matter expert) and “Co-Founder” when it suits me to be the business person.

3.How long have you worked in this industry?

I got my first FT career job in 1993, but I had a year or two of experience before that. Total about 20 years. Artefact is in its 5^th year.

4.Do you still enjoy your profession?

Short answer ‘yes’. It’s a ‘calling’ for me not a “job”, not a “career” something more fundamental to who I am. It is inseparable from my passions, I just part of who I am.

5.Do you see the industry growing?

Short general answer ‘yes’.  Longer answer, Digital graphic design, multi media design is not really an industry it’s a profession, I know that in a macro sense internationally the number of designers has increased dramatically in the last 30 years or so and I believe generally that it will continue to grow.  However different specializations in design are becoming more or less important over time. Print and Packaging design are obviously in decline compared to Communications (Web/Marketing), and Interaction design (user experience design).

6.What advice would you give to someone who is very interested in the field of multi media design?  Practical and tactical advice is focus on two things… Portfolio and Tools proficiency. 

The reality of most creative companies is that when they receive inquires from potential hires, they spend about 2-3 min’s looking at an online Portfolio for evidence the person; (A: Has a fundamental understanding of the principles of good design demonstrated in great work,  B: Has already demonstrated some ‘outstanding’ special quality or potential ‘unique’ quality. ). They don’t really care about your resume, or your tools skills, or which school you attended until you’ve established that credibility.  We don’t even consider candidates that don’t have an online portfolio. Use sites like Coroflot to put your ‘absolute best’ work online.  Do not attempt to be comprehensive. I’d rather see 1 example that is amazing than five that are good, and 1 that is ‘poor’. I always look for the weakest thing in a portfolio because it will cast doubt on the good stuff.

Become a rock star in the tools, challenge yourself to learn as much from sites like Lynda.com and other tutorial sites (they are all over the place and most are free).  Emulate the work you respect, understand it, master the techniques and rules before messing with the rules and trying new stuff.   I’m not saying ‘rip off’, but there’s allot to learn in just trying to emulate the Masters.