5 designer tips or how to find an adequate employer and stay yourself adequate

let me introduce myself

Hello everyone, my name is Nick, I am 28 years old and I live and work in Moscow. I am an interface designer at Bradbury Lab.

I did not immediately understand what I wanted to do, so I tried various professions: from the courier to the system administrator. It was the fascination with system administration that gradually led me to the fact that I was fascinated by the design, namely, the design and design of interfaces.

He did not receive higher education, did not go to any specialized courses. Just wandered around the internet and studied what was interesting to me. Of course, not everything worked out right away. I will not tell you about the long process of learning - this is not very interesting. But the job search and employers - is another matter.

The first steps

Having exhausted my system administration skills in the company I worked at that time, I had only two ways of development: to look for a job in the field of design that I was interested in, or to continue to work on administration. The second option was the most convenient, as it allowed quickly enough to find a high-paying job with conditions that were convenient for me, but I understood that this was not my way. Therefore, having spent a certain amount of time, I built a small portfolio that consisted of 6 projects. Only one of them was real, all the rest - the fruit of my imagination. Then I created a resume and started clicking. Click and respond to jobs that interest me. On this list were both large companies and startups. I understood that, having no experience in the field of design, getting into a large company is something unreal, but I still tried. Pretty soon my thoughts were confirmed: I was not old enough for a large company. In smaller companies, reaching the final stage of the interview, I lost only for one reason - the lack of real projects. This was aggravated by the fact that I often could not fully answer questions on one or another of my projects in the portfolio.
')
My cases were not completed, I had no experience in this field, I could not answer questions about my work. Wonder you can imagine. Is not it? But this is only one step in my development as a designer. Given these shortcomings, I came to the following:

Tip 1. Analyze each project.

Before you submit your projects to the employer, you need to think through every detail of your case and, if necessary, write down its history. It should not be just fascinating. It is important to remember that your case is not just a WOW picture, it is a solution to a particular task. Tell the employer about it.

I will cite as an example two stories from personal experience:

Alpha Click website redesign.

I myself am a user of this service. When I was offered to try a new interface, I gladly set about doing this, expecting something new, interesting and easy to use. Although, pretty soon my positive attitude faded away. New service did not meet my expectations. He was uncomfortable and did not cause any desire to use it. Somewhere were traces of the old design, somewhere there were shadows and volume. In general - all those things that the whole world tried to give up.



Having studied in detail the new service and taking into account all its shortcomings, I decided to create my own concept. It included a vertical sidebar, which greatly simplified navigation, and it was a kind of control panel in the corporate colors of the bank (dashboard). The vertical sidebar menu increased the user's working space, considering the aspect ratios of modern monitors, and did not eat it, as is the case with the horizontal one. A complete project is available at Behance .

Clothing brand Geek's Apparell.

The one and only real case in my portfolio. I designed it completely from scratch. Starting with the idea and business plan, ending with test samples of T-shirts. Behind shoulders was experience with novice clothing and baseball caps. I conducted polls in social. networks and on Habré, received positive feedback about not even finished products. Received recognition from organizations such as GeekPicnic and IT-Key bar.



But due to personal circumstances, the project had to be frozen. It is possible that I will return to it. And all this I managed to do in my free time. The full project can be seen at Behance .

Tip 2. Employers love real-life cases.

In other words, get a job without experience in this area - something of the incredible. When you first start designing it is quite difficult to get a real order, but this is not a reason to be upset. You can create a mailer application design, enlist the support of a friend of the developer and upload it to the application store. As a result, this is not a complicated application, but it is real in your portfolio. Unfortunately, I was not able to bring it to life, because at that time I did not have any familiar developers in this field.
Got My Own

I do not know what exactly worked in my case (maybe it was the merit of a real case that was in my portfolio), but after a long search for work, I finally got a position as an interface designer in one of the startups. My responsibilities included: developing a new interface for a web service, developing interfaces for a mobile application, a little work with presentations. I was very glad that I had this opportunity. But one condition appeared: a total ban on creating my own projects outside working hours, since, according to employers, this could interfere with my main work.

However, it did not affect my joy so much. After all, I finally got what I was going for so long and hard - real work experience in the area that I like.

After some time working with the old interface and only the presentations (the new interface has not smelled so far), I came to the following two conclusions:

Tip 3. Ask more questions to the employer.

Many, as soon as they hear the amount of wages, they immediately forget about everything and are ready to immediately get to work. This is one of the biggest mistakes of the co-drinkers. Believe me, it will be hard for you to work, relying only on high wages. So why not immediately stipulate all sorts of pitfalls and, thereby, make life a little easier. Do not be afraid to ask. Ask your employer questions. This will help you avoid what I had to face. Not having the opportunity to devote free time to create my own projects, I lost the opportunity to engage in self-development. What is this employee who is prohibited from self-development? After all, the advantages are obvious. It develops, and therefore can bring more to the company. He will be more competent in certain issues.

Tip 4. Experience is the most important.

Whatever he is - he is valuable. It is thanks to him that you cultivate in your profession, getting better and better every time. Despite the difficulties I faced at that stage of my life, I am very glad that everything turned out this way and not otherwise. In just a few months I have significantly improved my skills (in this area) and gained tremendous experience working in the profession.

Development

After some time, I changed jobs, while continuing to constantly develop and create new projects. I got into UI Kit'ami. Even greater interest in them fueled the conference Dribbble MeetUp. In my opinion - this is a great way to pump yourself in the role of a designer and interface designer. Having studied all kinds of Internet resources, I noted for myself UI8 and Designmodo Market. These are two marketplaces that sell tools for designers. Getting there is quite difficult, because they have a very strict selection for sale. It was more realistic for me to get to such sites as: Creative market, 2Bundles, Envato, but I set myself a goal - to qualify for the UI8 and Designmodo market.

After half a year and dozens of sketches, I released my first small whale Emerald Eye UI Kit for blogs, which was published on UI8. I was just starting to work with Sketch, so this kit was created only for Adobe Photoshop.



This was a very important step for me as a designer. I realized that I was not only doing what I liked, but also creating something that is really in demand for other people and I can do it.

Like many of you, I am rather critical of all my works. I always see that somewhere it was possible to do so, and not otherwise, I find other ways to solve the tasks. Without this, nowhere. I grow and grow in this area, and my whales are changing after me.

Soon I will publish the next whale, which can be fully called a product, and not just a cool picture, which is easy to work with. After all, a whale, like a brand, has its own idea, history and mood.

At the end of this article I want to say only one thing:

Tip 5. Develop and do not be afraid, you will succeed.