3 Lessons that School Doesn't Teach You.
Take notes or… learn the hard way.
Missing a class, a deadline, being late for a group meeting when you’re in school doesn’t mean the end of the world. However, the lack of preparation as a professional and as person will be reflected in your career. It is important to take the smallest assignments at school seriously because they build your character and who knows that might be the project that will get you the interview/job.
I’ve brought up this topic because I keep running into articles where design studios have shown a concern for the lack of preparation of designers coming into the workforce. May be schools are hitting the right notes, but missing the beat.
Based on the book, “Work for money, design for love” I picked up a few lessons that school does not teach you, but… you can learn… right?
1. Communication: We always surround ourselves with people who think alike and have similar educational backgrounds. That’s okay. However, at work you’re most likely to interact with people from different departments and different professional experience, etc. Some of these people have no idea of what design is or a different perception of the design process. Here’s the challenge. How do you convey others of your ideas? or how to explain a process to a client? It’s not easy, but if you communicate well, you’ll be able to get your point across. This also applies for writing, sketching and any mean of communication.
2. Client Relationship. This is one of the lessons you really learn by working in the field. It is hard to develop this skill in school, but sponsored projects by companies is a taste of it. Sort of. If you have solid personal skills, keeping and attracting clients should not be as hard.
“If you don’t know how to interact with clients, or even close a sale, your talents are going to be restricted. No clients = no designing.- Alan Anderson”
3. Business mode. As creatives, if we are trying to solve a problem we have the ability to step back and look at the big picture. Also, we have that relentless curiosity of exploring other fields to find answers. In my experience, sometimes the product itself is not the problem, but the way is being marketed and the business structure built around it. It is imperative to have a business-switch in our brains; otherwise, we will never sell our ideas.
To conclude, not only designers, but any professional in general should have a strong foundation of personals skills to strive at the work place. Also, being able to articulate what type of mind-set to apply when you are involved in a design process of a product/service will increase the chances of being successful.
I’d strongly recommend this book, “Work for money, Design for love” by David Airey because it will put you ahead of the game. Trust me.
To complement this post check out:
1. The Blunt Realities Of Running Your Own Design Business
2. 10 Startup lessons you won’t learn in school
3. The Power of asking the right questions
4. The 12 Business Books to Read in 2014