My 80s website:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/186572183/pages/index.html
It's an 80s version of "The onion" satirical publication.
Enjoy!
-Thomas
P.S. The game of thrones video is really funny
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Roadmap for DTC Students - My personal thoughts
As the bane of Peter's existence, I've fallen behind as many on Blogs.
So this blog is on the reason for my absence here, because it relates to many DTC Students.
I've been working on my portfolio and desperately trying to seek out commissions and other work.
To be honest it has stretched me pretty thin, but the point of mentioning this is that, while it's not much, I've found ways to build my portfolio and begin to expand as a designer.
I want to write this blog as my personal opinion of how to make DTC work for you, and to try to garner attention to the foresight REQUIRED for success.
I'm not writing this as a "successful" person, I could very well finish my degree and be in an unrelated job in a year. But to the best of my ability (and from what I've tried to learn from others) I've reached the following conclusions about how to succeed.
This may get lengthy, so buckle in.
1. Look ahead. No, I mean twice that far.
This covers the bulk of my advice, and it's the most important aspect. All other points require you to use foresight, so it must be mentioned first.
I've always looked ahead (too far ahead according to several administrators who have had the pleasure of being my contacts academically/personally) at what I need to have done and when.
School has been no different, and since entering the DTC program I believe my often unnecessary and over-the-top personality quirk of planning too far ahead has almost become essential.
Here in DTC I'm witnessing most of the seniors express sudden fears of lacking design skills, portfolios, and the social skills required for successful design work/careers.
I'm having those fears too, but I'm having them as a junior (keeping in mind I entered DTC as a junior).
My solution, as many will tell you, is to plan far ahead. This isn't as helpful to hear if you're about to graduate in a month, but you simply have to condense the process.
Spend an afternoon looking at design portfolios, thinking through your design interests to find if you have a niche, start looking for internships, commissions, and volunteer work. As designers we're in a brilliant place as having an ability to aid small businesses in ways they can't help themselves. They want us, but they just don't know how to find us. So find them.
I've called in favors with friends, family, and my work. Heck, I've even gotten some work from a friend's family's friend's brother. People are excited to hear of an opportunity for help in design aspects. Maybe not for pay, but at this stage in our careers we're trying to place ourselves to get hired when we graduate. The pay comes then.
Essentially, make a plan now for a design portfolio that showcases you. Make it diverse and if you have an interest in something (such as web, video, or advertisements) make sure that you make that show in your portfolio.
In completing a portfolio you will hopefully of used your classes, volunteered for businesses, and maybe even found a commission or two. Just by having a portfolio ready to go, you've already got several lines on your resume showing that you're a serious designer and are ready to be hired.
Look ahead now, make a plan of where you want to be when you graduate, and ensure you'll have a stellar design portfolio when that time arrives. That's the most important thing to do to make DTC work for you.
2. Make your class projects work for you
For DTC students, it seems people feel they have little or no "real" work to show from their classes when graduation comes around. While it is true that it's difficult to spin some prompts to show something that looks "professional" (as in business not skill) a lot of prompts can.
When you start projects, don't just think about it as a school project.
Look at these two sentences:
-You have been given an assignment from your instructor that is due by April 1st and he wants it to be an 80s website.
-You've been commissioned by local business owner (and fruitcake) Peter Christensen to design a 80s themed website for his bakery to be completed by April 1st.
You've been given the same task in both sentences. A commissioned website for a business is by most people's standards an excellent portfolio piece. So why is the school assignment any less of an excellent portfolio opportunity?
True, some prompts seem too "strange" to be proudly shown as a portfolio piece. The way I look at the assignments is that either they'll make good portfolio pieces if I take it seriously, or that I may need to adjust the theme of the work after the due date to make it something "professional" looking.
It can't be ignored that there is a lack of design-focused DTC courses at the moment. While it would be immensely helpful to have courses focused on marketing your skills, WSU Tri-Cities lacks that right now. But we're enrolled right now, so we have to make it work. Complaining may change the program later, but not likely in time for you.
3. Extra time into the degree
We're busy people. Some people can barely manage the classes with the other things going on in their lives. However, like it or not, everybody is busy. And there are others who are finding extra time to get ahead in their skill-set to land that design job you want. I'm not in the field, but I can't doubt when every designer I know tells me that it's a highly competitive market.
Circumstances are different for everybody but the reality is that if you aren't pushing harder than required, I promise somebody else is. Find ways, even small ways, to put yourself above the minimum requirements of the degree (including yourself as a designer) and you'll find yourself ahead of all the people who didn't think to push further ahead then they were in school.
We're in a creative field, with creative people. That means (unfortunately) that to get ahead you'll have to present yourself in unique ways just to stand out. But we all can accomplish that!
4. Course selection in DTC
Another topic that is with merit and in dire need of restructure is the size of the DTC program in Tri-Cities.
There is no question that it should expand to include more teachers and more classrooms to meet the growing interest in the degree. And that's happening (so I'm told, and there is a new building going up for us)! However, that does no good for us who will be here at WSU during the expansion process.
My solution? Know your degree. Know your requirements. Your options. Your faculty.
By understanding the number of courses you need, the specific ones you need, you can place yourself in a position where you can go to the counselor with all the facts and have a comprehensive plan.
By knowing the faculty you can learn from them not only about WSU but about being a creative person in the real world.
I'm managing to get all the DTC courses done in 2 years. That's the shortest amount of time possible. So for people who have 2, 3, 4 years left in the program before graduation, looking ahead (from point 1) at your courses will allow you to make your way through just fine.
But it'll be a rough ride if you expect it to "just happen" with a short semesterly counselor visit.
It's a squeeze at the moment with the program's size, but it's because of people like us who are pushing through and getting the degree despite that, that will cause it to grow so many more DTC-ers can join our ranks!
5. Breathe Deep, have confidence, work hard
There's a ton of stuff I'm sure I've forgotten to mention in this long ramble, but I will close here.
DTC is an awesome degree (at least I think so).
I'm not successful, and like many I'm afraid for my own career when I graduate.
But by looking ahead, WAY AHEAD, I'm going to give it my best shot to be prepared.
If you've read this far, good job and thank-you.
I'm not an outspoken person, but I wanted to share my knowledge on DTC from my time here so far to people who may be struggling.
Just relax, keep your career in mind, and design/create your way through this program.
Go DTC!
-Thomas
So this blog is on the reason for my absence here, because it relates to many DTC Students.
I've been working on my portfolio and desperately trying to seek out commissions and other work.
To be honest it has stretched me pretty thin, but the point of mentioning this is that, while it's not much, I've found ways to build my portfolio and begin to expand as a designer.
I want to write this blog as my personal opinion of how to make DTC work for you, and to try to garner attention to the foresight REQUIRED for success.
I'm not writing this as a "successful" person, I could very well finish my degree and be in an unrelated job in a year. But to the best of my ability (and from what I've tried to learn from others) I've reached the following conclusions about how to succeed.
This may get lengthy, so buckle in.
1. Look ahead. No, I mean twice that far.
This covers the bulk of my advice, and it's the most important aspect. All other points require you to use foresight, so it must be mentioned first.
I've always looked ahead (too far ahead according to several administrators who have had the pleasure of being my contacts academically/personally) at what I need to have done and when.
School has been no different, and since entering the DTC program I believe my often unnecessary and over-the-top personality quirk of planning too far ahead has almost become essential.
Here in DTC I'm witnessing most of the seniors express sudden fears of lacking design skills, portfolios, and the social skills required for successful design work/careers.
I'm having those fears too, but I'm having them as a junior (keeping in mind I entered DTC as a junior).
My solution, as many will tell you, is to plan far ahead. This isn't as helpful to hear if you're about to graduate in a month, but you simply have to condense the process.
Spend an afternoon looking at design portfolios, thinking through your design interests to find if you have a niche, start looking for internships, commissions, and volunteer work. As designers we're in a brilliant place as having an ability to aid small businesses in ways they can't help themselves. They want us, but they just don't know how to find us. So find them.
I've called in favors with friends, family, and my work. Heck, I've even gotten some work from a friend's family's friend's brother. People are excited to hear of an opportunity for help in design aspects. Maybe not for pay, but at this stage in our careers we're trying to place ourselves to get hired when we graduate. The pay comes then.
Essentially, make a plan now for a design portfolio that showcases you. Make it diverse and if you have an interest in something (such as web, video, or advertisements) make sure that you make that show in your portfolio.
In completing a portfolio you will hopefully of used your classes, volunteered for businesses, and maybe even found a commission or two. Just by having a portfolio ready to go, you've already got several lines on your resume showing that you're a serious designer and are ready to be hired.
Look ahead now, make a plan of where you want to be when you graduate, and ensure you'll have a stellar design portfolio when that time arrives. That's the most important thing to do to make DTC work for you.
2. Make your class projects work for you
For DTC students, it seems people feel they have little or no "real" work to show from their classes when graduation comes around. While it is true that it's difficult to spin some prompts to show something that looks "professional" (as in business not skill) a lot of prompts can.
When you start projects, don't just think about it as a school project.
Look at these two sentences:
-You have been given an assignment from your instructor that is due by April 1st and he wants it to be an 80s website.
-You've been commissioned by local business owner (and fruitcake) Peter Christensen to design a 80s themed website for his bakery to be completed by April 1st.
You've been given the same task in both sentences. A commissioned website for a business is by most people's standards an excellent portfolio piece. So why is the school assignment any less of an excellent portfolio opportunity?
True, some prompts seem too "strange" to be proudly shown as a portfolio piece. The way I look at the assignments is that either they'll make good portfolio pieces if I take it seriously, or that I may need to adjust the theme of the work after the due date to make it something "professional" looking.
It can't be ignored that there is a lack of design-focused DTC courses at the moment. While it would be immensely helpful to have courses focused on marketing your skills, WSU Tri-Cities lacks that right now. But we're enrolled right now, so we have to make it work. Complaining may change the program later, but not likely in time for you.
3. Extra time into the degree
We're busy people. Some people can barely manage the classes with the other things going on in their lives. However, like it or not, everybody is busy. And there are others who are finding extra time to get ahead in their skill-set to land that design job you want. I'm not in the field, but I can't doubt when every designer I know tells me that it's a highly competitive market.
Circumstances are different for everybody but the reality is that if you aren't pushing harder than required, I promise somebody else is. Find ways, even small ways, to put yourself above the minimum requirements of the degree (including yourself as a designer) and you'll find yourself ahead of all the people who didn't think to push further ahead then they were in school.
We're in a creative field, with creative people. That means (unfortunately) that to get ahead you'll have to present yourself in unique ways just to stand out. But we all can accomplish that!
4. Course selection in DTC
Another topic that is with merit and in dire need of restructure is the size of the DTC program in Tri-Cities.
There is no question that it should expand to include more teachers and more classrooms to meet the growing interest in the degree. And that's happening (so I'm told, and there is a new building going up for us)! However, that does no good for us who will be here at WSU during the expansion process.
My solution? Know your degree. Know your requirements. Your options. Your faculty.
By understanding the number of courses you need, the specific ones you need, you can place yourself in a position where you can go to the counselor with all the facts and have a comprehensive plan.
By knowing the faculty you can learn from them not only about WSU but about being a creative person in the real world.
I'm managing to get all the DTC courses done in 2 years. That's the shortest amount of time possible. So for people who have 2, 3, 4 years left in the program before graduation, looking ahead (from point 1) at your courses will allow you to make your way through just fine.
But it'll be a rough ride if you expect it to "just happen" with a short semesterly counselor visit.
It's a squeeze at the moment with the program's size, but it's because of people like us who are pushing through and getting the degree despite that, that will cause it to grow so many more DTC-ers can join our ranks!
5. Breathe Deep, have confidence, work hard
There's a ton of stuff I'm sure I've forgotten to mention in this long ramble, but I will close here.
DTC is an awesome degree (at least I think so).
I'm not successful, and like many I'm afraid for my own career when I graduate.
But by looking ahead, WAY AHEAD, I'm going to give it my best shot to be prepared.
If you've read this far, good job and thank-you.
I'm not an outspoken person, but I wanted to share my knowledge on DTC from my time here so far to people who may be struggling.
Just relax, keep your career in mind, and design/create your way through this program.
Go DTC!
-Thomas
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