So as it turns out, I’m pretty good at getting jobs. I don’t mean to sound cocky here, but I’m operating at a pretty high interview-to-landed-job ratio. Disclaimer: I am not particularly good looking, don’t have “ins” with people in hiring positions nor do I apply for jobs I am wildly over-qualified for.

I have a reasonably high level of confidence when applying for jobs and interviewing. I attribute this to having a firm grasp on reality. I know what I know, and I know what I don’t know. I set out to land jobs and projects I know I can deliver on. I do this to avoid being fired and also because I prefer a live a low stress life. This leads me into my first point of becoming an awesome job-getter:

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Antonio Ballatore, host of HGTV’s The Antonio Treatment does badass remodels of everyday homes. His style is very textural, industrial and creative. I like that he chooses comfortable furniture that you’d actually want to live in. He also has pretty great taste in artwork and color schemes. My lady records his show for me every week and I’m always inspired by his work.

Here are a couple before/after shots:

As a design student my ethos was simple: Make it look cool at all cost. My first priority was punchy aesthetics and I forced my preferred style (at this point, organized grunge) on every project.

My first ‘real’ job out of school required I work quickly and tear through assignments–often times at the expense of quality. My portfolio didn’t grow by many pieces but I did become one with my software packages and keyboard shortcuts. I also got to dabble outside of print design into motion graphics and some video production assistance. A little over a year later I applied for a graphic/web design position within the same organization and got the job. My thought was that I wanted to completely understand designing and preparing files for print. Done.

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This weekend I had some time to geek out and watch Gary Hustwit’s documentary film Helvetica. In listening to the designers he interviewed talk about Helvetica and type in general, I started to think about the choices we make as designers and the impact they have on the people we work for.

There are times in a designers career when we question our choice of profession – does what I do matter? Would I make more money and be viewed as more important by my organization if I were a salesperson where my influence on revenue is more obvious? Is what I bring to the table unique and valuable or am I easily replaceable?

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