Design does not equal client work.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to make purple work in a design. The things your teachers tell you in class are not gospel. You will get conflicting information. It means
\n that both are wrong. Or both are true. This never stops. Most decisions
\n are gray, and everything lives on a spectrum of correctness and
\nsuitability.<\/p>\n
Look people in the eyes when you are talking or
\nlistening to them. The best teachers are the ones who treat their
\nclassrooms like a workplace, and the worst ones are the ones who treat
\ntheir classroom like a classroom as we\u2019ve come to expect it. Eat
\nbreakfast. Realize that you are learning a trade, so craft matters more
\nthan most say. Realize that design is also a liberal art. Quiet is
\nalways an option, even if everyone is yelling. Libraries are a good
\nplace. The books are free there, and it smells great.<\/p>\n
If you
\ncan\u2019t draw as well as someone, or use the software as well, or if you do
\n not have as much money to buy supplies, or if you do not have access to
\n the tools they have, beat them by being more thoughtful. Thoughtfulness
\n is free and burns on time and empathy.<\/p>\n
The best communicators are gift-givers.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t
\n become dependent on having other people pull it out of you while you\u2019re
\n in school. If you do, you\u2019re hosed once you graduate. Keep two books on
\n your nightstand at all times: one fiction, one non-fiction.<\/p>\n
Buy lightly used. Patina is a pretty word, and a beautiful concept.<\/p>\n
Develop
\n a point of view. Think about what experiences you have that many others
\n do not. Then, think of what experiences you have that almost everyone
\nelse has. Then, mix those two things and try to make someone cry or
\nlaugh or feel understood.<\/p>\n
Design doesn\u2019t have to sell. Although, that\u2019s usually its job.<\/p>\n
Think
\n of every project as an opportunity to learn, but also an opportunity to
\n teach. Univers is a great typeface and white usually works and grids
\nare nice and usually necessary, but they\u2019re not a style. Helvetica is
\nnice too, but it won\u2019t turn water to wine.<\/p>\n
Take things away until
\n you cry. Accept most things, and reject most of your initial ideas.
\nPrint it out, chop it up, put it back together. When you\u2019re aimlessly
\npushing things around on a computer screen, print it out and push it
\naround in real space. Change contexts when you\u2019re stuck. Draw
\nwrong-handed and upside down and backwards. Find a good seat outside.<\/p>\n
Design
\n is just a language, it\u2019s not a message. If you say \u201cretro\u201d too much you
\n will get hives and maybe die. Learn your design history. Know that
\ndesign changes when technology changes, and its been that way since the
\n1400s. Adobe software never stops being frustrating. Learn to write, and
\n not school-style writing. A text editor is a perfectly viable design
\ntool. Graphic design has just as much to do with words as it does with
\npictures, and a lot of my favorite designers come to design from the
\nworld of words instead of the world of pictures.<\/p>\n
If you meet a person who cares about the same obscure things you do, hold on to them for dear life. Sympathy is medicine.<\/p>\n
Scissors
\n are good, music is better, and mixed drinks with friends are best.
\nStart brave and brash: you can always make things more conservative, but
\n it\u2019s hard to make things more radical. Edit yourself, but let someone
\nelse censor you. When you ride the bus, imagine that you are looking at
\neverything from the point of view of someone else on the ride. If you
\nwalk, look up on the way there and down on the way back. Aesthetics are
\nfleeting, the only things with longevity are ideas. Read Bringhurst and
\none of those novels they made you read in high school cover to cover
\nevery few years. (Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great
\nGatsby.)<\/p>\n
Stop trying to be cool: it is stifling.<\/p>\n
Most
\nimportant things happen at a table. Food, friends, discussion, ideas,
\nwork, peace talks, and war plans. It is okay to romanticize things a
\nlittle bit every now and then: it gives you hope.<\/p>\n
Everything is
\ninteresting to someone. That thing that you think is bad is probably
\njust not for you. Be wary of minimalism as an aesthetic decision without
\n cause. Simple is almost a dirty word now. Almost. Tools don\u2019t matter
\nvery much, all you need is a sharp knife, but everyone has their own
\nmise en place. If you need an analogy, use an animal. If you see a
\nladder in a piece of design or illustration, it means the deadline was
\nshort. Red, white, black, and gray always go together. Negative space.
\nSize contrast. Directional contrast. Compositional foundations.<\/p>\n
Success
\n is generating an emotion. Failure is a million different things.
\nSecond-person writing is usually heavy-handed. All of this is too.<\/p>\n
Seeking
\n advice is addicting and can become a proxy for action. Giving it can
\nalso be addicting in a potentially pretentious, soul-rotting sort of
\nway, and can replace experimenting because you think you know how things
\n work. Be suspicious of lists, advice, and lists of advice.<\/p>\n
Everyone is just making it up as they go along.<\/p>\n
This about sums up everything I know.<\/p>\n
\u2014Frank Chimero
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What advice would you give to a graphic design student? …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12749],"tags":[1742,55,3,54],"class_list":["post-25674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tumblr","tag-frank-chimero","tag-graphic-design","tag-quote-of-the-day","tag-typography"],"yoast_head":"\n