That, I definitely agree with. Art and creativity are based upon how free and willing to share you are. Believe it or not, if you aren’t sure of yourself then that lack of confidence and authority over the subject matter will show in your work. I’ve come across many designers who lack confidence. The result is a piece that looks more like a mosaic of experiments and trials than a finished, coherent idea being played out. When creativity is a hobby and you are developing your craft, it’s ok not to be sure of yourself and to experiment a bit. When design and creativity are a means of your livelihood and financial support, you sure as heck better know what you’re doing. Clients and your employers aren’t paying you to experiment or find your way; they are paying you for work that will generate a profit and money and you can’t accomplish that through uncertainty.

This though is where I’m in disagreement with Bartow a bit. He writes, “Don’t work in a particular personal style …. Your commissioned work should never be about you, but it can certainly reveal your hand as the designer.” As a young creative (I can still call myself that at 26, right?) I’ve found that in most cases, this is the complete opposite in many situations. Most of the work I’ve picked up on a freelance basis has been based on my personal style rather than me just being a designer. Sure, some of that work and the work I do for my employer may be based on the style or work of someone or something that’s been established before I’ve come along but my clients and past and present employers expect to see my trademark style elements worked into my design pieces.

The biggest mistake I think any young creative could make is to become a chameleon creative type. Rather than having a style that will make someone snap their fingers and exclaim, “That’s (Fill in the Blak)’s work!” they try to copy and imitate what they view as cool or in style rather than putting in the time to work or develop his or her own style. Why should you have a personal style? You will enjoy your work more because you will have a more intimate connection with the work you create. Rather than your work being just another job, you will be able to look at it years from now and have it conjure up an emotional reaction. Don’t be afraid to insert yourself in your work – whether it’s for personal use or commissioned by another. Just be sure when the client or employer asks why you made a design/creative decision in the work you present that you have a better reason than, “I just like it” or “It looks cool.”

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Different audiences respond differently to various messages. In my opinion, successful designers are those who don’t really see themselves as artists or designers; they see themselves as marketers. Those in the advertising field will tell you that coming up with any successful campaign involves lots of research. You probably got into your chosen creative field so that you didn’t have to do research! Sorry buds, but graphic design is like any other professional line of work – it takes research, it takes knowing your audience, it takes time and some trial and error.

When I first started out as a graphic designer, I often designed things that I liked. If it looked good to me, I deemed it good design and called it a day, shut the door on it. That’s why when I look back on some of my early work, I cringe. It feels dated, a tad juvenile. Nowadays, I am constantly looking at other people’s work for inspiration; I usually start each design task with the question of, “Who do you think you’re talking to?” meaning if my audience is 56-70 something year old women into gardening, I had better not design something that a college freshman would jump on. Sometimes, I often will do something of a “red pill vs. blue pill” approach to design to present to the client: one is tame and in line with what is expected and has been done before to appeal to a certain group; the other is usually a bit more out there and pushes the standard. In the end, it’s rarely an either/or situation but a compromise of the two.

When you set out to do your creative work – look back at what’s been done before and see what you can do to “remix” it. Yes, take the approach of a DJ would to a song and take something people already like and make it a tad bit better. Don’t go too far out and lose sight of what made the original thing appealing to begin with but don’t always play it safe and deliver what’s been done time after time. This seems a bit paradoxical but I’ve found this approach has helped me produce some good work that all audiences have responded to. Keep in mind that whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, web designer or writer you’re first and foremost a communicator. Don’t just create eye candy but create a piece of work that has a purpose and connects to a specific audience. Only by doing this will you create something that has a lasting impact and impression.

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When people think of graphic design, they usually think of graphics – pictures, colors, composition, images, visual. A major part of being a good graphic designer is having a good grasp on typography. Now, you may be taught some of this in a class but it’s one of those things that you often need to pursue on your own and get a grip on earlier rather than later in your career. Typography can make a break a design piece. If you work with publications, fonts and type will be even more important than the images you may use or create. Think of good graphic design like a burlesque show – you go to a show like this with the intentions of seeing a woman do her thing but everything has to come together for you to actually enjoy the show including her looks, her outfit, her dancing, how well she interacts and connects with the crowd and so on. Graphic design is much like flirting or being a tease in that the images and design have to be alluring enough to get you to examine a piece more closely to get the main message. You can’t go about doing that with bad type as it’ll quickly turn your audience off.

What makes good typography? Too many factors to get into on here. Know the difference between Sans Serif and Serif fonts; one will work well in small, tiny print in a publication while the other will be easier on the eyes for a short online piece. Be wary of using free online fonts. I know, you probably gasped and clutched your pearls at that. There are some good ones out there; there are a ton of really bad ones. The problem with many is usually within the fine details; the lack of a built in bold or italic version of that font, the spacing between the characters being too lax and far off and fonts that are simply too hard to read for both young and older audiences.

Know all the little terms such as kerning, leading and tracking – these little terms help make typography and type heavy pieces easier to read and more professional looking. For example, tracking that goes below -30 would squeeze the characters together too much and make it extremely hard for the reader’s eyes to differentiate between the characters; aim for your leading to be 3 points sizes more than the font size for a large body of text; the usual minimum threshold for readability is 7 points so try your hardest not to make the size of your font smaller than that. Also, learn about the license restrictions of your fonts. This is something they don’t talk about in most classes and yet it’s important to know when, where and how you can use certain fonts because if the creator of that font were to find you used it in a manner that goes beyond the terms of use, they could sue you and win. See, suddenly that question of “What’s your type?” doesn’t seem all that easy to answer, does it?

Typography may not be the funnest or most thrilling part of graphic design or being a creative guru but mastering it will set you apart from those who don’t take their craft as seriously as you do. If you want a good go-to source on typography consider referring to the books The Elements of Typographic Design by Robert Bringhurst, Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton or Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann.

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The second tip following “sweat the details” (which I posted about last week) was to play nice. Now, this sounds like something we all learned back in elementary school and have been told by our parents as we were growing up. You would be surprised by how we forget this savvy business rule as we get older. Working, especially in today’s economy, gets stressful. Our first reaction rarely is to ” let it go” and  in all fairness, it’s hard to just let something go when it really gets to you. So what do we do? We pick at it, we think about it non-stop, we complain to our friends, co-workers, family about it and usually we let those little things build up and seep into our professional careers and work. We’ll belittle a client who doesn’t have the slightest idea what a person with your creative talents really does; we’ll refuse to go beyond our definition of our given profession because we think or say we’ll never be compensated for our hard work; we’ll get online or go out in public and completely tear down somebody or a group of people because we think it’ll make us feel better to vent and let it all out.

Be careful of the bridges you burn in your career. Let’s get honest and real – we all have bad days, we encounter people in our careers who really seem to defy logic and reason and in some cases we are undervalued and mistreated. That being said, there is no reason for us to completely burn bridges in our professional careers that will leave us up the creek. You can’t anticipate the future or what’s to come. Say you’re laid off (which I have been) and all of a sudden you need references or help with leads on a new job. If you’ve played dirty and have had a reputation for not being a team player, you may find it a tad bit hard to find someone willing to help you out in your time of need.

The same goes for what you do online. We’ve heard countless stories of how seemingly nice people at work suddenly turn to the darkside online. They’ll go on Facebook and will rip a certain co-worker, they will complain about how much they hate their job, they will rant on and on about things related to their career giving you the impression that perhaps this person is in the wrong line of work. Don’t be that person. I’ve personally adopted a policy of not talking about work outside of the confines at work, and complaining while you’re at work seems like a waste of time. If you have nothing but complains and negative things to say about your job, you should probably be seeking new employment elsewhere.

So people, play nice. It’s harder than it sounds and takes more effort than simply ranting and raving about the downside of being a professional in today’s economy, but it’s worth the effort.

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Young designers really have it bad these days. Most probably have a background similar to mine – they grew up loving art, enjoying drawing and making things and then showing them off to the world to marvel at. I went through that phase most artists go through with thinking I could never make a living off of being an artist … until I found out about graphic design. Being a graphic designer, or graphic artists as I’d like to think of myself, has kept me employed from May of 2006 through the present. It’s gotten me internships, freelance work and all around it’s been enjoyable. A lot of what’s made me a good designer though isn’t what I learned through a class but lessons I learned outside of college and on my own while trying to stay afloat and relevant. That’s why I liked Bartow’s article and would like to harp on his 29 tips for young designers. I’m still young(ish) at 26 and know I’m still learning but I’d like to put my perspective and thoughts to some of his points over the course of the next month.

Bartow’s first tip was to sweat the details. My college degree doesn’t say anything about graphic design or even art. My official degree title or track was visual communication. Designers are communicators first and foremost. When you create a poster for a concert, it can’t just be pretty but it has to clearly communicate the information and ideas pertinent to the event. If it does not get the point across, no matter how pretty it is, it’s a bad design. Something I’ve noticed with young people in general is that they have absolutely no concept of communicating like professionals. Everything is communicated with acronyms. LOL! IDK WTH these PPL are thinkn!

Communication is important to success. The sentence above looks ridiculous and I hardly take people serious when they choose to communicate with me in such a manner. I have clients who are years or even decades older to me who will send me an E-mail typed in all lowercase letters or one that’s decorated with profanities and obscenities. Really? This is your idea of professionalism and at times your idea of how to make a first impression? People, keep it professional.

I believe all graphic designers or creative types in general need to learn how to communicate in professional manners. That means in a way, you need to think of yourself less as a designer and more so as an editor or journalist. Edit everything you do to death. While Bartow recommends having a Chicago Manual of Style by your side at all times, I recommend going with AP Style as it’s the guide used by most publications and in other professional writings. Never write in shorthand. Get into the habit of communicating in sentences – start off with a capital letter, end with punctuation and have proper spelling and grammar running throughout. People seemed surprised that even on Twitter I write complete sentences and use punctuation and hardly shorthand anything. Sure, it may make me look or seem like a geek or an ancient old man but I have rarely encountered an issue of not getting a point across due to it.

When you are looking for a job, employers will be looking at how you communicate your ideas. They will notice grammatical errors on your resume, in your cover letter, even glaring issues that may be present on your design pieces. Anything you publish – whether it be online or in print, for work or for pleasure, to family or a friend, on a blog or for Facebook – should be edited, reviewed and easy to understand. It sounds a bit much or a bit of a pain but believe me, being a great communicator will take you far in your career.

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I’ve spoken to many designers or people in general about the seemingly lack of jobs for us creative types out there. Many of you have expressed the same concerns that I have over the last few years or so – the opportunities for print designers seem to be few and far in between; people hiring don’t seem to know exactly what they really want or need; you interview but for whatever reason aren’t landing the job you think you’re fit for. My advice? Don’t sweat it. I know, when you’re unemployed and living on your savings or unemployment, that’s hard to do. I was unemployed from the first week of August of this year until the last week in November and now am back to work designing magazines as I’ve been doing for the past four years. Yes, a three-month unemployment period really isn’t all that bad but it’s taught me more than a few lessons that I thought I’d pass on to you all. If you’re an unemployed graphic designer or creative type in general, I believe you’ll find my insight helpful and useful. Our professions aren’t like others – where others may easily be able to neatly sum up their professions and experience in a resume, creative types need to actually show and demonstrate that they are creative. If you don’t do that in your outlook and resume and other material, you’re dead in the water and won’t be finding much in terms of employment. So here are a few tips to help you land a great job:

1. Breathe. The moment you’re facing being unemployed, your life seems to go from relaxed to super stressful and hectic. You think of all the bills you need to pay, you watch the news and fret over the continuous reports of how people are unemployed for not just weeks but for months if not years. Relax. Seriously, just breathe and take it all in. Take a day or two to get your thoughts together but immediately jump in on the job search. It may seem daunting but don’t put it off for days or weeks. Not more than 24 hours after being laid off, I was back on the job hunt.

2. Don’t think of yourself as unemployed. Do you remember that old saying, “You are what you eat?” Well, you also are what you think. If you accept and think of yourself as jobless, unemployed and whatever other negative adjectives associated with being out of a job, that’s exactly what you will be and will remain until you think otherwise. Yes, I knew I was without a job but I also knew I didn’t have the time or ability to accept being unemployed. I couldn’t live off of unemployment benefits for long; I needed and wanted to be able to support myself again and like most men, didn’t want to have to rely on others. I had down days when it felt like I’d never find that breakthrough and I had weeks when there really weren’t any good opportunities presenting themselves. I took days off of my job search to veg out and watch television, listen to music or just get out. I needed days to recoup and regenerate because searching for a new job is a full-time job within itself. There are days when I did nothing but search and look through job postings, follow-up, tweak the resume and send out the portfolio. So take a day off now and then but dedicate yourself to find a job by a certain date. Didn’t meet your goal? Push it back by another two weeks or so.

3. No one can help you but yourself. This goes against what most will tell you. They say that you have to network, that most jobs aren’t posted online, that there will be hundreds of people applying to the few jobs posted online. Guess what – they’re right. They are also wrong. Too often when you’re unemployed, you go on to think that you can’t do things on your own. That first week or two you’re really motivated then that motivation turns to doubt and dread as the weeks and months tick by. You think that the problem is “you” and and look to others to rescue you. Stop looking to others to find you a job. Even if they’re family, they don’t know you like you know yourself. They can’t fix your situation, describe your skills or help you find what’s going to make you happy. Only you can do that.

4. Get outside opinions. One of the most useful things I did during my unemployment period was to speak to a recruiting scout. The recruiter was able to help me put together my resume, give advice on how to spruce it up and clearly examine my qualifications and give me an idea of what I should be looking for in terms of employment and salary. You don’t even have to pay to get this done. There are many recruiting agencies out there for designers and creatives including The Select Group and some local agencies. Check out their website and they usually have job listings. Ask to speak to them about a job they are recruiting for and use that opportunity to have them look over your resume, portfolio and give you an idea of how to make yourself more presentable. Do this at the start of your job search – this will help you to know when to really pursue an opportunity or pass on one that’s not beneficial to you.

5. Be realistic. Fear turns into your biggest motivator when you’re unemployed and searching for a job. It will make you do some crazy things like spend money on services that promise to help you when they don’t or will have you thinking you need to go to school because you’re useless otherwise. Sit down and look at your situation, both financially and in terms of what you want out of your work. You don’t always need to go back to school full-time; look into taking an online course in something related to your field. You can’t always afford to move so don’t waste time looking at jobs in another state. Maybe you’ve just been laid off and you hated the job you’ve been doing … so why look for a job that’ll be so similar? Sit down and sketch out your situation and use that as a map for your job searching.

6. Work on your resume and portfolio. This is a given, which is why it comes so late in the list. Your resume and portfolio are probably outdated. Ideally you should constantly be updating it and keeping it fresh, even if you are happily employed and have no plans to look for a job anytime soon. That rarely happens, however. Before you go around submitting your resume to potential employers, spend a few days really working on what you have. Do you list your responsibilities on your resume? Then you need to re-write it when action verbs and instead of listing your responsibilities, describe in an exciting manner your biggest accomplishments in each job. Think of it as writing an action movie rather than a boring resume. You want people to stay interested and your resume to be short and to the point so that you’ll have somewhere to go during an interview. Oh, and are you a designer? Then figure out a way to make your resume, even in word format, look professional and clean but not like the standard resume. I’ll do a blog post about resume tips in the near future.

As for the portfolio, it should be clean and have elements of your website. Yes, you should have a website and web presence. A lot of the time an employer will ask for a link to your online portfolio. Your website should basically be an easy-to-use interactive version of your print portfolio. Have a lot of the same pieces that will be in your print version but toss in some new ones that will be exclusively online only. Why? Most will be reviewing your portfolio and work more so than your resume and credentials if you’re a designer or creative type. If you get an interview, you’ll want to be able to show everyone in the interview something unexpected and that they haven’t already seen online. It’s a nice, subtle thing that sets you apart and makes your presentations memorable. Oh, and limit your portfolio pieces to 9 or 10 pieces. Think of this as your greatest hits – not as “this is your life.”

7. Blog! This is a tip I haven’t heard much at all but one that I found was truly helpful in my job search. Even before being unemployed I was blogging. I like blogging because it gives you a way to network and reach out to new clients, designers and creative types in general from the comfort of your own home. When I was searching for a job, I used the blog as a means of distraction and way of reminding people that I was still around and relevant though I was holed up in my apartment most days searching for work. During, and after, interviews, one of the things that seemed to make a great impression was this blog and my tutorials, advice and things that went outside and beyond myself. Blogging, when done right, could help sell you and show your personality before you even walk into the room to interview. Show off your skills through writing tutorials and it can also prove that you’re indeed an expert in your field without leaving them wondering what you’re capable of.

These are just a few tips that I hope those looking for work will find helpful. Overall, take comfort in knowing that nothing last forever. Your job may have been cut or you have just graduated from college which proves that statement to be true. You also will find that though it’s hard to believe, being unemployed doesn’t last forever either.

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For clients, a logo is just another design task. Often logos come into play when someone has a great idea for a business and wants to be an entrepreneur and set off on their own. That’s great! If you have a great product or service, by all means, set off and start your own business and pursue it. With any new business comes the marketing and identity. The first thing most people seek is a logo. Even before they’ve truly thought things out, it seems natural for many to at least have a logo to show off when you’re trying to get your business off the ground. There are other situations when a logo design comes up. Sometimes people look for a new identity after years in the business and want to ditch their old logo. For others, perhaps there’s a special event or a new website that needs a better logo than the one you have or have been using.

Here comes the problem – how much does a logo cost? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different responses. The client will say that $100 for a logo is pushing it. A designer may not even consider doing a logo for less than $200, and that’s on the low end of the scale. Some clients will even say that $25 or $75 is a reasonable amount for a logo. Who’s right?

Here’s my opinion – the right price is dependent on the quality of the design you want. You know that old saying of “you are what you eat?” It applies to design as well because you get what you pay for. Cheap design isn’t effective. It’s just that – cheap, quick, dirty and not well thought out. Good design costs money and has great value. A good designer knows that an effective logo is one that works well when blown up to fit on an 8×11 sheet of paper and one that works just as well when it’s the size of your thumbnail. Seriously. A good designer will use a font that’s readable and clean, that knows an overly-complicated logo makes for a messy design all together.

Designing a logo also takes time. Rarely is a good logo developed overnight. There’s the conceptual stage; the design stage; revisions; testing it out on your potential audience and tweaking and refining the logo until it’s really as good as it can possibly be. Therefore, a good logo doesn’t cost you $10 – it’ll probably cost a couple hundred of dollars if you are working with a good designer.

Non-designers will probably roll their eyes at this. A couple hundred dollars JUST for a logo?! Outrageous! But not so fast. Think about the value of your logo – it’s usually your visual introduction to your clients and audience. A logo visually speaks volumes about your company or product, it’s sometimes the first impression a person has of you and your business and it’s something that you aren’t just going to use once. Your logo will be all over the place including online, on paper, in print, on the top of letters, stitched into clothing and in many more places and different platforms. So, how would you feel if you’re trying to sell your product and are representing it with a $10 logo? You’d probably feel a bit embarrassed to admit that you’re asking someone to pay tons of money for your product when you can’t even bring yourself to pay for a decent logo.

And trust me, cheap logos look cheap. Some people may shake their heads in disagreements but someone with an eye for design can spot a cheap, quick and dirty design. Your customers aren’t stupid, either. If they’re looking at your logo and stacking it up against other well-known brands, they’ll notice a striking difference and will go for the company who’s logo looks the best.

Why do logos cost so much? First, copyright issues. A designer is creating a piece of work that you plan on taking and making money from. For weeks after you get the logo. For months afterward. Years! Decades! A good logo will help sell your business and product and isn’t something you want to change every season or much at all. That’s why you’re spending money upfront to basically ensure that the logo you purchase and have designed best suits your business and represents you well. Second, think of company’s like Nike or McDonalds. These established brands have had the same logo for decades. Someone had to design that logo and they made a decent profit from it. The reason logo design is a bit pricey because the artist is releasing to you a valuable design that he or she is agreeing to sign over and give to you to use as you please. Part of a logo design’s price is the ownership being transferred over to the client and business.

Designers – the price of a logo ultimate comes down to you. You can design a logo for any price you feel is suitable based on the amount of time and effort you’re going to put into it and with the fair warning that you never know what will happen with a business you’re designing for. They could just as easily succeed and grow into a nation-wide known company. They could just as easily never take off beyond the development stage, meaning your work and logo never will make an impact or be noticed. It’s very much a “choose your own adventure” type of situation that’s all up to you. But choose wisely – a wrong decision could end up costing you as much money as you’re charging for the design.

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I liked this version because it had attitude and looked quite different from the logo presented. the client wanted to go with a design closer to what they submitted (and found online, thus, something that was already done and out there). So this was the final result:

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A few weeks ago it came to me upon much dread that perhaps this was a sign that I needed to expand upon my skill set. As I look at job postings, I’m not seeing much at all for print design but there seems to be a slew of job listings for web designers. Any graphic designer will tell you that designing for the Web is an entirely different beast. Any web designer will tell you the same about designing for print. Both have some elements in common such as composition, color theory and needing to know how and where to use Jpg, Gif or PNG files.

In my quest to expand my skill set and perhaps make myself more marketable in today’s tough economy, I finally broke down and decided to take a course through a local community college that would help me expand my knowledge of web design. One reason I’ve been so resistant toward jumping onto the web design bandwagon is because in some ways I feel web design is more limiting. With print design, you can go crazy. There’s really no limit to the size, the colors, the possibilities of what you can do. With web design, you’re usually tackling a website that of course can only be but so big, images that may look awesome huge and in your face that now need to be minimized and may not work as well and you suddenly have to program and code everything on top of producing captivating visuals.

Or do you?

As I get deeper into this course in XHTML and CSS suddenly I’m presented with another curious question: are web designers also web developers?

I looked online for an answer and was presented with conflicting messages. Web designers often think of themselves as graphic designers who simply design graphics for the web rather than for print. Yet the jobs and employers looking for web designers also expect the web designer to be a developer. Many of the job listings that I see for web designers or web masters ask them to know Adobe Creative Suite, HTML, CSS, SEO, Java, Drupal and the list goes on and on. This goes back to my argument that many employers seem to be looking for the one-in-all designer: the one person who can basically do what an entire team should be doing. Is it entirely unreasonable to ask a web designer to know how to code? I don’t think so. The profession “graphic designer” is an umbrella term for many artists and designers: a graphic designer can be an illustrator, a logo designer, they can design business collateral, advertisements, marketing pieces but they don’t necessarily know how to do everything – and that’s ok, at least in my opinion.

Next week in addition to the course I’m taking in XHTML and CSS I will be starting a 6-week course in Java Programming. Many of you may go “Huh? What does that have do with design?” Well, perhaps nothing but if you look at what employers are asking from web designers, you’d think otherwise. I believe we’re moving toward a point where a web designer and a graphic designer are all the same thing and the designer will need to know how to design for both print and web. The designer will also need to know a bit about coding and web development, know about CSS and the design/creative team will be replaced by just one or two people being responsible for all the design needs for a company.

Out of curiosity I googled “what do web designers need to know” and came across “Do Web Designers Need To Know Web Development” by Intervals. This article goes in depth and really covers the question well. At the end they recommend web designers at least know these things about web development:

1. Pixel Resolution: Web designers should know that the optimal pixel resolution for web images is 72 ppi. Also, websites should fit 800×600, 1024×768ppi. You want your websites to be viewable but not too large nor too small.

2. Image Formats: At the very least a web designer needs to know when using a JPG, GIF or PNG is appropriate. Each displays color a bit differently and can vary in size. You don’t want a JPG that’s a couple MBs in size because it’ll take longer to load and for web users, the longer it takes something to load, the more likely they are to bail and leave the page entirely before taking in your website and its content.

3. Basic HTML: You should know the general markup language. In my last job, I was hired to oversee the print design of a magazine. Months into my employment I had webmaster duties dropped in my lap with the explanation being that graphic designers and web designers pretty much did the same thing. Yes, I was actually told that and you can laugh at that load of baloney. Still, I needed to know everything from how to format text (start/end paragraphs, bold fonts, italicize text) to the proper tags and code necessary for displaying images. There are tons of sites online that cover basic HTML and I think every designer should start becoming acquainted with HTML because at some point, you’ll be dealing with it whether you like it or not. Learning XHTML and CSS is a bit of a step up from the basics but that’s where a lot of web development/coding is going so knowing either will set you apart.

4. CSS: Cascading style sheets are basically documents used to style entire websites. If you have a site with dozens or hundreds of pages but the overall style and design of each page has to remain consistent and the same, you’ll want to create and know how to change and edit a website’s CSS. It sounds intimidating but again, you don’t have to be a total expert but just know the basics.

I’ll add to Interval’s list by suggesting a few additional things web designers should know to put them ahead of the game:

1. Google Analytics: When I was having to serve as webmaster, even though I’d been hired to be a print designer, I was suddenly asked a lot of questions such as “how many unique visitors came to our site this month?”, “How many hits does this and that page get every month?”, “How are people finding us online?” Now to a graphic designer these questions probably sound like they deserve a “How the heck would I know?” response but your employers expect you to be able to spit out stats and figures about your site. An easy tool to use is Google Analytics which is easy to setup and then spits out tons of helpful facts and figures about your site. As a web designer, why would you be interested in things like unique visitors and bounce rates? Because often it speaks volumes about your site’s design and the organization of the data. If people are coming to your site and leaving after 10 seconds and the bounce rate is above 50%, something is wrong with your design.

2. SEO: You’ll hear this word tossed around all the time – SEO (or search engine optimization). When designing for the web, you have a lot of competition. Businesses and individuals want their websites and content at the top of search pages (especially Google) and are usually distraught when this doesn’t happen. In many cases a website that isn’t ranked high on Google or other search engines and one that gets few views is considered a bad site, and that is usually equated to bad design. Here’s a few tips (95 to be exact) for good SEO that will at least give you a starting point in discussing it with your clients so that they are aware of how to get their sites ranked higher and visited more frequently.

3. Learn, learn, learn. As I’ve found out, there’s never a point where you can say you know all there is to know about designing for the Web. If you’re a designer, take courses in programming and development. Dreamweaver, Java, Flash, PHP, MySQL are all in high demand so knowing how to program and design will not kill you but give you prolonged life in today’s tough job market. If you’re a developer, take a few courses in design and learn your way around Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. A lot of jobs are looking for the rare one-in-all person who can do it all. While you need to be upfront and play up your strengths, don’t let your weaknesses and lack of knowledge kill your job security or prospects.

What do you all think? Do web designers need to be web developers and vice versa? What issues are you encountering with this situation in today’s job market? Leave your comments and tips in the discussion/comments area of this post.

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