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Something that I’ve been thinking of a lot recently is the importance for in-house designers to not only know the product (or service) their company is selling, but who is purchasing those goods or services. A lot of times, in-house design is just that; creatives supporting the external operational functions of a company. Unfortunately, a lot of creatives tend to get burnt out by this type of work rather quickly- most times it’s because they don’t ever get to see how their efforts contribute to the big picture.
So here’s my solution; get out of your cubicle and get into the field. Get to know how the different departments of your company fit together, and *gasp* try to get out and meet some of your company’s customers.
A few years back, I was the jack-of-all-trades marketing/creative guy for a company that provided jet fuel and concierge services to private/business aircraft and their passengers. Our corporate offices were housed within our largest base at a fairly busy airport, and on a busy day, we had a few hundred customers in and out of our building. For as much time as I spent in the office supporting the creative/marketing needs of my company, I found it beneficial to be out in front of the customer to get a better sense of their personalities, spending habits, lifestyle, and needs.
The way our building was set up, it was very easy for me to grab a cup of coffee every morning and walk around our executive terminal to observe (and meet) our customers. How did they utilize the amenities in our terminal? How were their interactions with our customer service staff? By spending 15 minutes a day doing this, I got an instant idea on if those new point-of-sale displays I designed last week were effective. I got to see if any customers paid attention to our notices and discounts advertised the LCD ad screens in our lobbies. I took note of what magazines our customers carried with them so I had a better idea where we should advertise. I got to see how our customers truly experienced our brand, and if we really were living up to our claims that we had the best customer service.
Doing this always gave me a sense of ownership in the company, and it got me thinking about how I can improve my product, and more importantly, about how I could better position my creative/marketing services to my company to meet the needs of our customers.
Granted, not all industries will allow for the same freedoms, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask your Marketing Director if you can spend a day or two out in the field to go take a look at how customers are seeing your brand “in the wild”. Ask to accompany a salesperson on a call to get a better idea of how you can improve your collateral materials, or ask to attend a trade show where your company is exhibiting to hear the sales pitch of your business development people, see how your branding elements are being used, get a sense of what potential customers are looking for, and see what your competitors are up to.
Get out of your cubicle and get to know your customers so you can see first hand how you fit into the bigger picture, and why in-house design is so valuable to a company.
I’m pleased to announce that I just finished The Corporate Creative: Tips and Tactics for Thriving as an In-House Designer by Andy Epstein. I had the pleasure of attending two of Andy’s seminars at the 2009 HOW Design Conference in Austin, and it’s worth reporting that Andy is responsible for my current quest for knowledge on the intricacies of running (or being a part of) an in-house corporate design department.
I’ve described a few of Andy’s points that really hit home for me:
One of the most powerful actions you can take is to consistently forge strong personal relationships with your clients and upper management. Embrace the tenets of customer service! Your clients will be the biggest advocates for you (and your department) when you provide them with great service. Want some real-life proof? Here’s an excerpt from an e-mail my in-house team got yesterday:
“Hey marketing geniuses, our meeting with [name omitted] could not have gone any better! The book you all prepared for us made the meeting go incredibly smooth… It’s one thing to have a good program and talk about it, its another to back it up with the style and class you put forth… Thank you again! [Department name omitted] would still be in the dark ages if it weren’t for Marketing.”
Practice the Three-R’s: Retreat, Reflect, and Respond. Whatever that zinger is about to slip out, either mentally or physically withdraw from the situation, think about what result you’d like to have come out of that situation, and act appropriately to achieve that result. Us designers tend to wear our hearts on our sleeves… my current boss even told me once that I have no poker face. (This further explains why I don’t really care for poker.) Be professional, be polished, and be proactive.
If a client asks for something to be completed in an unworkably short period of time, don’t use the word unreasonable, which could be interpreted as your seemingly self-serving option. Use the word “unworkable” and explain why it’s unworkable. Technical constraints? Quality concerns? Need time for the creative process to happen? Tell the client, be specific about it, and over-communicate your progress!
Remember, it’s who you are that matters. Andy suggests remembering these four points:
1. It’s not enough just to be a good designer when working in-house.
2. It’s not enough to satisfy your creative muse through the practice of design.
3. It’s not enough to coast through your job.
4. And it’s definitely not enough to skirt the big issues regarding your career and blow off taking the time to really determine what you want in your professional life…As an in-house designer, you need skills that your peers in agencies and studios don’t.
As a designer, you are one of the “experts” of your brand. Andy advocates avoiding “brand blindness” by asking yourself these three questions:
1. Who buys our product?
2. Where is the first point of contact made?
3. Is the brand message clearly communicated in our design?
Focus! Interpret what the client is saying (ie. “Make the logo bigger!”) into something that will make the design better (“The client is telling me that our branding needs to be clearer to the end user… making the logo bigger may not be the best solution, but I’ll think of other ways to achieve this goal.”).
Define the problem before you offer any solutions! Whenever your client starts to art direct (and they will), move the conversation back to the marketing goals. As I mentioned in a previous post, ask questions… ask a ton of questions!
Don’t forget about quality: in your work, in your relationships, in your environment, and in your talent… if you don’t effectively advocate for quality in your companies, you and your team are destined to become mere order takers with fixed inputs and outputs, devoid of quality thought and design, that add no real value to your company.
Don’t give up! We all have our bad days, but remember to stay positive; your mood will be reflected IN your work, and in your performance AT work.
When your job beats you down, or your clients disrespect you, when you get little support from upper management, and all your peers are constantly complaining, it’s easy to throw in the towel and become just another apathetic disaffected in-house designer. If you’re unfortunate enough to get to that point, you should either quit (your job) or start taking positive action to improve your environment. Otherwise, you’ll end up far worse professionally, creatively, and personally.
Be a creative consultant; think differently than your nondesign peers and contribute perspectives and insights on nondesign problems that will be innovative and valuable. What else can be said? Make yourself available, and make yourself known as a knowledgeable and talented resource to your clients!
Andy’s book is full of very useful, and incredibly relevant information on all aspects of building, working in, and maintaining a successful, productive, and respected in-house design department. This book is so comprehensive that I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone: a current in-house designer, a designer switching over from an agency, a student, or perhaps most importantly, the Vice President of your company (who’s probably not exactly sure what the heck it is you do).
In the meantime, go buy Andy’s book at Amazon.com, or at MyDesignShop.com. While you wait for that to arrive, visit Andy’s blog, the InHOWse Designer Blog, which offers daily posts on in-house design.
Throughout my career, both as an in-house designer, and in running my own design business, I’ve seen businesses that seem to take great joy in the design-by-committee mentality… everyone wants to be part of the process, and there are never benefits to this. Think of it this way: if you hire an electrician, do you follow him around all day and tell him how to rewire your house, or do you just trust his expertise and let him fix whatever is wrong?
“My nephew is good at the Photoshop… why don’t you call him? I’m sure he can help… he’s ten.”
“My wife really likes blue. Can you make the red more blue?”
“I really need this to “pop”. Really jump off the page at the reader. Can you bold and underline this whole paragraph?”
Designers, by nature, are problem solvers. We go to school, we attend seminars, and we work tirelessly to perfect our craft, so why do outside departments feel the need to over-supervise us? Here’s my advice. Whether your client is internal or external, ask questions that go beyond the creative brief. Ask questions until you’re blue in the face. You’re working with this person; make yourself an asset to them.
What are the client’s motives?
Why is this project important to them?
What message is most important to them?
What does the client hope to accomplish with this project?
Can you or the client define a measurement of success? Is it a sales goal, a customer action, etc.?
Even if you’re not familiar with the client’s industry (or business), you can use that to your advantage:
“I’m sorry, I’m not really familiar with your field… can you explain it to me?”
“I’d like to get a better understanding of how you see this project fitting in to your overall sales process…”
Show your client that you (and your team) are a valuable resource to the company by communicating, taking the “high road”, and meeting the client (more than) halfway. Most times, the client will see that you’re truly expressing an interest in their project and they’ll let you be the expert when it comes to design.
Speider Schneider from Smashing Magazine explains,
“The sensible answer is to listen, absorb, discuss, be able to defend any design decision with clarity and reason, know when to pick your battles and know when to let go.”
As Speider mentioned, I suspect that with the proper amount of communication (I’m a trained professional), a little push-back (this is why bold-ing the whole paragraph won’t work), and a lot of patience we might just have a shot at changing things.*
Read the inspiration for this article by Speider Schneider here at Smashing Magazine.
*Of course, there are those “clients from hell” that are probably beyond help…
I can hardly believe how fast time goes by when you’re unemployed. Personally, the worst part about it is the amount of downtime I have; there are only so many episodes of ‘Law and Order’ out there, and I’m getting to the point where I can probably pen an entire season. Dick Wolf, if you’re reading this, please call me: I can guarantee you another Emmy.
I’m the kind of person that needs to have something (a job or hobby) occupying his mind at all times. For most of my life, a job was there to keep me engaged in something (with hobbies filling in the gaps), and when I lost my job due to layoffs, my calendar suddenly cleared right up. Again, Mr. Wolf, if you’re reading this, call me.
In any event, as the job growth numbers still don’t look promising, I thought that I might try to sum up my current strategy and share it with my fellow job-seekers. Here’s how I’ve been going about my search for the past few months; I hope that you can find at least one useful idea from my experiences.
Still employed? Have a plan.
At my previous place of employment, I saw the writing on the wall for quite some time and I was already forming a contingency plan for a layoff situation.
If you’re currently employed and it looks as though layoffs are eminent, take this time to get your résumé in shape. While your current responsibilities are still fresh in your mind, start jotting them down and rephrasing them to fit into your résumé. Comb over your previous job descriptions, and at this point it wouldn’t hurt to reconnect with some of your former co-workers or supervisors (if you’re planning on using them as references).
Otherwise, just try to be aware of what’s going on in your industry, your company’s competitors, and your company. Read industry blogs, magazines, and set up news alerts to keep abreast of what’s happening. Arm yourself with as much information as possible, and start preparing your résumé now so you won’t be caught off guard. This goes without saying, but if you suspect that your company is in layoff-mode, start preparing yourself financially, as well!
I just got the axe. Now what? Networking!
Your first action should be to notify those in your personal and professional networks that you’re seeking a new opportunity. These are people that have known you for years, know what you’re capable of, and know your reputation. In other words, they are the people that will go to bat for you. Reach out in person, or even online through sites like twitter and LinkedIn. Nothing can take the place of having a strong network!
Where do I want to work?
If you didn’t make the cut, at least you’ve prepared yourself for it… but now isn’t the time to rest on your laurels.
In my case, I moved back to the Boston area. I made up a list of companies that I wanted to work for- companies whose brands or product I respect- and started bookmarking their websites’ hiring pages in my web browser. When I started, I had about seven companies on my list; now there’s about sixty, and I make sure to visit their hiring pages every week to search for new job postings.
Another tool that I found useful was to visit sites like Boston.com or the Boston Business Journal to read about their annual “Best Places to Work” surveys. This is a great way to find companies in your area who are healthy, and more importantly, hiring.
Personal Branding
The next step, and if you’re looking for a marketing or creative role like I am, is an absolute must.
Design an online portfolio, participate in social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, and make it easy for potential employers to find you. Go ahead, toot you own horn, but be careful not to over-expose your brand. Make sure that if you do have a Facebook page, you have customized the privacy settings appropriately… after all, you don’t want a potential employer looking at all the pictures from your last party, do you?
Sites like Brand Yourself.com and Personal Branding Blog will give you a better idea on how to get started, but the main takeaway here is:
- Be consistent
- Be yourself
- Stay engaged
- Give it time
Inbound Marketing: Getting Others to Notice You
As for inbound marketing, it starts with creating relevant content. Write new things, post things that interest you, or respond to other people’s ideas! Make yourself an expert, and write about what you know.
A good friend of mine, among her other duties, writes press releases and articles for an architecture firm. Often when she writes these pieces, the name of one of the partners of her firm gets attached to the article (as the author) and sent in to various industry trade magazines and blogs. My advice to her was to start her own blog to showcase her writing talents, previous work, and more importantly her extensive knowledge on her industry. By creating her own content and showing her expertise, she could expose her talents to other industry experts, which would lead to the expansion of her personal network, and possibly lead to a job offer.
I’ve read about several people “blogging their way to a job” by having potential employers find them through their personal branding initiatives. Check out blogs like HubSpot’s Internet Marketing Blog (@HubSpot) for great ideas on how you can adapt their principles of inbound marketing (to gain leads and customers) to your personal branding initiatives (to gain the interest of potential employers).
If you have a website or blog, it would be in your best interest to deploy some sort of hit tracking software as well… after all, how are you going to know who is visiting your site, and who is sending traffic to it? There are many ways to do this, but few easier than Google Analytics (it’s free, too).
In my case, if I send out a résumé to “Company X”, and I know that “Company X” is located in Waltham, MA, I can monitor my site traffic to see if anyone from Waltham, MA, or from “Company X’s” network has visited. In sales terms, I found the lead (the job posting), reached out to my customer (the hiring manager), and now the customer has responded to my call to action (“visit my site at joerib.com to view some of my past work…”). This gives me a good indication as to if I should expect a phone call from “Company X”, or at the very least, that my résumé was compelling enough for them to visit my website.
Online Job Posting Sites
Once you’ve established your personal brand, and you’ve got a solid résumé designed, it’s time to post it online. Monster.com (who has recently acquired Yahoo! HotJobs), and Career Builder are still the job-search mainstays, but dig deeper than that. Every industry has specialized job search sites… for creative/marketing folks like myself, take a look at sites like:
- Please Feed the Animals (from the creator of the film ‘Lemonade’)
- Coroflot
- Creative Hotlist
- Authentic Jobs
- Krop
- AIGA
- the Ad Club Job Board
- MITX Career Exchange (New England)
- Koda
Job Delivery
Have an RSS feed reader like iGoogle or Netvibes? Good… time to put it to work for you.
The job posting pages of some companies actually have RSS feeds that you can subscribe to, and most job-search sites do the same. Gather these RSS feeds and make yourself a job-search dashboard on your favorite feed reader. As new opportunities are published, you’ll be alerted to them with no searching involved.
Remember how I mentioned personal branding and creating a network through twitter? This is another area where you can make technology work for you. What I’ve done is to create several search agents through popular twitter dashboard, TweetDeck. Each search term (#boston, #jobs; #boston, #design; #boston, #hiring; etc.) gets it’s own column.
Furthermore, I’ve started following my companies of interest (when applicable) and several twitter accounts that post jobs (or advice) like @Coroflot, @MITX, @AuthenticJobs, @BrandYourself, @JobsBoston, @CreativeBoston, @MonsterCareers, @BrazenCareerist, @JulieSimsTCG, @TalentZoo, @CBforJobSeekers, and @TMJ_BOS_ADV (Tweet my Jobs) to name a few. As content gets published, I’ll get them in my dashboard- live.
If you’re new to twitter, TweetDeck actually has a pretty comprehensive directory to get you started.
Résumés and Cover Letters
By now, you should have found a few places to apply to. Remember that résumé that you started working on back when you still had a job? It’s not finished. It’s always good to have a “generic” version of your résumé, but this should not be the version you send out to a hiring manager. Tailor your generic copy to fit each job you apply for.
Moreover, never use a generic cover letter. Do your homework to find the physical address to the company you’re applying to, and see if the job description mentions a “this position reports to Manager X”. Hop on over to LinkedIn to see if you can find “Manager X” at said company, and you now have an “in”. I’ve found it beneficial to not only apply through the company’s website, but to send a résumé and cover letter directly to the hiring manager and recruiter. LinkedIn has proven itself to be a valuable research tool.
In your cover letter, don’t re-write your résumé:
- Reference the job posting and where you found it
- Introduce yourself to the hiring manager
- After you’ve studied the job posting, write about your past experience and how it fits the need of the hiring manager/company (this is the bulk of your letter, and this should be specifically written for each opportunity)
- Close your letter with a follow-up date and method (and actually do it)
- Don’t forget to spell-check!
Remember to research this company as much as you can. The better you understand their product/service, industry, and challenges, the better you can tailor your résumé and cover letter to the specific needs of that hiring manager and company. Don’t forget- they’re looking to hire someone to fill a need. Explain in your letter that you know what that need is, and how you can fulfill it!
Keep Yourself Busy
Treat your job search like a full time job; if you put effort into your search it will show, and it will yield results. Don’t get complacent, either. If you send out a résumé to one company, don’t sit by your phone. Be proactive, take the initiative, and start looking for new opportunities to apply to!
In your downtime, why not work on your personal brand, do some “just-for-fun projects” (easier to do if you’re a creative), or do some consulting/freelancing to keep your skills sharp?
Successes and Failures
So what’s working for you; what hasn’t worked? Did you employ an unorthodox strategy to gain employment? Share your story in the comments below.
Joseph Jaffe (of JaffeJuice.com) explains how through things like customer service, customer experience, dialogue, a proper listening/response strategy, brands can show that they care about their customers. Furthermore, Mr. Jaffe goes on to tell us that customer retention is the new customer acquisition… the process he describes will create a loyal, credible, authentic customer base who will advocate for your brand.
Purchase Mr. Jaffe’s book “Flip the Funnel” here. Video via HubSpot.
In-house designers, believe it or not, have access to things that their counterparts in outside agencies will never have; namely the time to connect with their internal clients. Though, as AIGA.org columnist Michelle Taute points out, the in-house designer might feel like his/her fellow employees don’t even speak the same language at times.
Don’t forget: EPS might be the designer’s “Encapsulated PostScript”, but it will be “Earnings Per Share” to a chief officer.
Taute advises to mirror your client’s communication style and vocabulary. For example, here’s how she suggests to effectively communicate with these groups:
C-level executives:
“Making a succinct business case can help you engage a C-level audience because you’re highlighting what they care about most: the bottom line. Before meeting with a senior leader, practice what you’re going to say and eliminate unnecessary information. Also, be ready to swiftly move to the most essential information.”
“Most marketing and communications professionals have worked with creative staff members before, but that doesn’t mean communication is always smooth. Meet with your marketing peers to make sure everyone is on the same page with a project before you start the first comp. Outline specific goals and objectives that everyone can work toward. What do you want people to do or think when they receive the brochure? What’s most important to get across? How will you measure success?”
Other staff:
“Unlike marketing professionals who may commonly work with creative teams, staff-level professionals in other departments may have little or no experience collaborating with designers. Because of that, it’s useful to spend a little time educating them on the design process, without using jargon or becoming overly technical. A member of your sales team, for example, may have no idea that making changes to a brochure at blueline could result in cost overruns, for example.”
Finally, Taute shares some basic communication techniques for any client:
“1. Always take a team approach. Adopting an “us vs. them” mentality with a client will only make the project harder.
2. If you’re discussing visual styles, use samples to get on the same page rather than descriptors. “Simple” and “elegant” don’t mean the same thing to everyone.
3. Get to know the client and work on building the relationship. Ask about the biggest tasks and challenges they face, and remember to really listen to the answers.
4. Read the trades. If you frequently work with a particular department—for example, direct marketing—read trade magazines to get a sense of the latest developments and challenges in that industry.”
I might add at this point, that I think numbers 1 and 3 are of utmost importance. Don’t forget- as a designer, you are a problem solver and you are there to provide service to your client. Establishing a relationship and showing that you have just as much vested in a project as the client does shows them that you’re committed to a solution!
Via AIGA.org.
The Concrete Goals Tracker, developed by David Seah, is a helpful form that helps you track the work you’ve done over the course of a week. Available in multiple sizes for printing or as an Excel spreadsheet, this form will help you get your productivity back on track. David writes:
“As you accomplish various goal-related items throughout the day, fill in the appropriate bubble to log the points. At the end of the day, you will see how well you did (or didn’t). Each CGT form tracks an entire week, so you will see how you did every day, and week-by-week… and most importantly, what you did to move yourself along your path. Since the items on the task list award points only for tangible results, you will have made actual progress.”
Via Lifehacker and David Seah.
A great article on AIGA.org from Andy Epstein, the co-founder of InSource, an association dedicated to providing support to in-house designers and design team managers. Andy is also head of an AIGA task force on corporate design, where he continues his efforts to empower in-house teams and raise their stature in the design and business communities.
I heard Andy give two talks this past summer at the HOW Design Conference in Austin, where he spoke about this very subject. At the time, I thought I was the only one facing these situations in the workplace; it was a real eye-opener for me (and a load off my mind) that other designers were facing the same challenges. As the sole member of an in-house design team, I always tried to position myself as being very accessible and available to those around my organization (providing service); but sometimes it felt as though upper managers were taking advantage of my expertise and willingness to help out (pushed into servitude).
A fine line that often gets crossed, Epstein shares that:
“For many in-house design teams, service has come to be perceived as an expletive and not as a valued behavior or mindset… The connotation, in this view, equates the meaning of service with such uses as “cleaning service” or “administrative services”—a decidedly tactical and non-strategic definition. This meaning and perception, of course, is the bane of all in-house designers who are trying to elevate themselves to a more strategic role within their companies. Rather than remain order-takers who are viewed by their clients as mere production artists incapable of functioning as strategic partners with powerful insights, most internal creatives are fighting hard to shed the epithet of “service provider.””
Chances are, if you’re a member of an in-house design team, you’re facing similar challenges. Give Andy’s article a read, and take a look at AIGA’s In-House Design Resources for that matter, too.
Since late 2007, I’ve been actively maintaining this blog. Though I don’t write every day, nor have a set schedule, I’d like to think that people are out there reading what I write. If something I’ve posted makes you laugh, sparks your interest, or gives you something to think about, I’ve done my job.
So if I have done my job, maybe you’ll come back again. Maybe you’ll add my RSS feed into your favorite feed reader. Maybe you’ll even be inspired to write something on your own. Maybe you’ll even think about hiring me.
Lance Haun of Your HR Guy.com explains, “The real value of blogging isn’t the content I create… The real value are the connections I make and the things I learn and apply to make myself better.”
Since I’ve started blogging (and tweeting), I feel as though I’ve learned a lot about myself, and about my trade (creative/marketing). Better yet, I’ve formed relationships with a lot of interesting and friendly people (yes, they are out there). Recently, some of these folks have even gone out of their way to re-tweet to their network of friends that I’m (currently) looking to relocate to the Boston area.
So why is this all important? Haun goes on to say,
“The principles that people use to get ahead are the same now as they have been for the last half century (if not longer). Sharing good ideas, helping people around you succeed, being a decent person and doing what you say you’ll do? That still works in social media and its impact is bigger than ever because the amount of people you can connect with is… well… a lot.”
Haun also mentions that these relationships just don’t happen overnight- you can’t just expect to start blogging on Monday and have the job offers pour in by Wednesday. Form relationships, cultivate them, and write about what you know; become an expert. Get out there and get involved- you might be surprised where your next job, customer, or friend will come from.
To my “virtual” friends who are out there spreading some good old-fashioned word-of-mouth niceness on my behalf, please know that I am deeply appreciative to have your support.
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