But I know I can do it.
Why should you hire a Junior Designer? Junior designers think they are on the brink of a glorious new design job full of freedom and creativity only to find out that’s not how it is in reality. The reality is sometimes you will get to work on projects that aren’t fun, aren’t inspiring, and have mean clients. It’s easy to get caught in a disaster of fees, wasted time and your own head. (This is what I have heard from various senior designers).
I am a junior designer and my question is; where else in life and the working world is this not true?
Example 1: I get a call from an old friend in 2007. She says she’s the principle of an elementary and middle school for emotionally handicapped kids who were kicked out of regular school and she thinks I would be good at working with these kids. In the excitement of wanting to make a difference and thinking these kids can’t be that bad, I except the job. First day complete with no real issues. In fact most days were not that bad, but there was always something going on. The kids would get into fights, cry, curse at you, tell you they hated you, destroy your personal possessions, run away from the school and become a missing child, parents forgot to give them their meds and now they’re acting crazy, destroy an entire classroom, bring weapons to school, etc. There were days when you knew you made a difference with one of the kids, but the next day the kid would act like nothing had changed. How could someone ever make a difference? The answer is understanding people, listening, communication and understanding that it’s not all about you.
Example 2: The school system was cutting back on employees because of the budget and I find myself jobless. I liked taking Spin class at the gym so I decided to try out a bicycle shop. Found one and applied then got a call less than an hour after applying. In my head a bike shop could not be a better place to work. Bikes are fun and people are having fun when they’re riding a bike. Yeah right. Many of them also spent a ton of money on that bike and are angry when it’s not working the way they expected it to. Someone failed to communicate with them at the beginning that bikes need to be regularly serviced like a car, there are incorrect ways to ride a bike, and flats are not covered under warranty. My job was to file warranty claims with the different bicycle companies and act as the middle man between the customer and the bike maker. My goal was always to work to get what the customer wanted. Not necessarily because the customer was nice and deserved it but mostly because I didn’t want them to have a reason to yell at me when I called them to say their $5000.00 Bianchi was outside of the warranty program and they weren’t getting anything. Many times customers got a good deal out of it, but when they didn’t and there wasn’t much I could do I would just listen to them, agree with them, and try to relate to what they were feeling. After that I would talk to the store manager or the general manager to see if there was anything they could do. They always did something, but that didn’t always appease the customer. However, it is possible that because I listened to them they might decide to return to my bike shop and deal with me in the future.
Example 3: I worked on a cd cover for someone. It took about 2 to 3 weeks to complete with 3 in house meetings and hundreds of emails. Still I wouldn’t put the design piece in my portfolio because I didn’t think it was something to be proud of. I suggested things to the client, but ultimately did what he wanted and he was happy with the final piece and we are still friends.
Example 4: You spend your entire life eating healthy and working out only to find out you have a disease that you can do nothing about.
Conclusion: If you can overcome the bubble popping in other areas of your life why wouldn’t you be able to as a naive junior graphic designer?
Why should you hire a Junior Designer? Junior designers think they are on the brink of a glorious new design job full of freedom and creativity only to find out that’s not how it is in reality. The reality is sometimes you will get to work on projects that aren’t fun, aren’t inspiring, and have mean clients. It’s easy to get caught in a disaster of fees, wasted time and your own head. (This is what I have heard from various senior designers).
I am a junior designer and my question is; where else in life and the working world is this not true?
Example 1: I get a call from an old friend in 2007. She says she’s the principle of an elementary and middle school for emotionally handicapped kids who were kicked out of regular school and she thinks I would be good at working with these kids. In the excitement of wanting to make a difference and thinking these kids can’t be that bad, I except the job. First day complete with no real issues. In fact most days were not that bad, but there was always something going on. The kids would get into fights, cry, curse at you, tell you they hated you, destroy your personal possessions, run away from the school and become a missing child, parents forgot to give them their meds and now they’re acting crazy, destroy an entire classroom, bring weapons to school, etc. There were days when you knew you made a difference with one of the kids, but the next day the kid would act like nothing had changed. How could someone ever make a difference? The answer is understanding people, listening, communication and understanding that it’s not all about you.
Example 2: The school system was cutting back on employees because of the budget and I find myself jobless. I liked taking Spin class at the gym so I decided to try out a bicycle shop. Found one and applied then got a call less than an hour after applying. In my head a bike shop could not be a better place to work. Bikes are fun and people are having fun when they’re riding a bike. Yeah right. Many of them also spent a ton of money on that bike and are angry when it’s not working the way they expected it to. Someone failed to communicate with them at the beginning that bikes need to be regularly serviced like a car, there are incorrect ways to ride a bike, and flats are not covered under warranty. My job was to file warranty claims with the different bicycle companies and act as the middle man between the customer and the bike maker. My goal was always to work to get what the customer wanted. Not necessarily because the customer was nice and deserved it but mostly because I didn’t want them to have a reason to yell at me when I called them to say their $5000.00 Bianchi was outside of the warranty program and they weren’t getting anything. Many times customers got a good deal out of it, but when they didn’t and there wasn’t much I could do I would just listen to them, agree with them, and try to relate to what they were feeling. After that I would talk to the store manager or the general manager to see if there was anything they could do. They always did something, but that didn’t always appease the customer. However, it is possible that because I listened to them they might decide to return to my bike shop and deal with me in the future.
Example 3: I worked on a cd cover for someone. It took about 2 to 3 weeks to complete with 3 in house meetings and hundreds of emails. Still I wouldn’t put the design piece in my portfolio because I didn’t think it was something to be proud of. I suggested things to the client, but ultimately did what he wanted and he was happy with the final piece and we are still friends.
Example 4: You spend your entire life eating healthy and working out only to find out you have a disease that you can do nothing about.
Conclusion: If you can overcome the bubble popping in other areas of your life why wouldn’t you be able to as a naive junior graphic designer?