[design] The Employment of a Designer

Of course, one of the ideas about getting a design education is getting a design job. I do keep my hand in, but the search for permanent employ continues.

This last week I had a great interview. Talked with the hiring party for about 1 and a half hours, went over my resume, my knowledge, what they do. It looks good so far. There are other applicants, of course, but those of us who "make the cut" in the interview phase (and I have been intimated that I am one of them) will be invited to do a sort of assignment for them.

You see, they know I can use QuarkXPress, Illustrator, Indy, et.al. What they don't know yet is if I understand what I can do with what they have. To wit, within the next week, I expect to download a few files from thier ftp server, to create two pieces; one to thier design philosophy, and one to whatever end I want.

I'm pretty sure I understand thier philosophy (the stuff sells itself really) and I can have fun. I think I can pretty probably nail this one. Stay tuned.

In other SunDial design news, my pet volunteer project, the Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter, Columbia Group's newsletter, the Columbia Overlook, has had the Summer issue put to bed. This is not only rewarding but challenging. Four times a year, at the beginning of a given month, my Editor Mark emails me a list of .doc files and graphics and I forge this into a document with message and intent.

This is design at its best really. At the edge of the project there's a sort of vertigo, not knowing what you'll work with and what problems may (or may not) emerge. There is the employment of a certain Winnowing Shoehorn of Doom™. Edits here and there. PDFs mailed out for review. At the end of the process is a very tight product that improves each time I do it.

Designers–having trouble finding something to do? Find a non-profit with publishing needs. You get to contribute to a cause and you get to stretch your muscles and your mind. Can't be bad, trust me!

My Columbia Overlooks, except the current one (which isn't published yet) can be downloaded from here. I did the ones from Winter 2004 forward. A past classmate, Caty Kehs, whom I remember most fondly, did the ones before that; I'll always appreciate her for this opportunity. (Update and Correction, 2006,1906: My term as Columbia Overlook editor extends back to Fall 2004, not Winter 2004. Caty did Winter, Spring and Summer 2004 issues. The Times regrets the error.)

The tool: Adobe InDesign CS and CS2, FWIW.

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