Greetings from the Bay Area, CA!

[Renton]

Hey guys, I'm a new media designer who's gotten out of school a year and a half ago and I've been working my first "real" full time job for the past 5 months. The adjustment is hard, but it's alright. I stumbled upon this forum while searching for some random career info. Looks like a great place to get advice! I hope to contribute someday!

[urstwile]

Welcome, Renton!

It's a little slow here on the weekends, but please contribute. I'm looking forward to your future posts. :)

[morea]

welcome aboard!

[cj2a]

Welcome aboard!

[Red Kittie Kat]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/RedKittieKat/welcomes/039.gif



Welcome To GDF Renton!! Nice to meet you :)

[Exodus]

Welcome!

[CamarotaDesign]

Welcome to the forum, Renton!

I read your other posts about your job situation as well and I have to say we have similar stories (we're even both in Nor Cal)

I am the only designer working for a direct mail agency, it is my first real design job , and I've been here for almost 7 months now. There are many times I am working on a design I feel just doesn't look right or lacking something, it especially gets that way with copywriting and information heirarcy. I am realizing that having a solid "script" so to speak for the design is extremely important before starting it. It can be very frustrating at times because there is nobody there with design experience to help me on the projects.

I have to say I have learned immensely over the past 6 months about the whole business aspect of design and printing. My design skills are sluggin along, getting slowly better each day because I force myself to do better, and expose myself to new design and ideas (mainly through GDF) Also freehand drawing and figure drawing is helping with that.

Fortunately my coworkers, who I enjoy working with, are all very supportive and understand when I'm having a creativity block and that it can be tough for me to get out of it because of the lack of creative synergy at the agency.

I joined GDF to get more professional opinions as well as the exchange of techniques/knowledge, which has been invaluable for me. I wish I had been here 4 years ago, and not wasted my money on a joke of a graphic design program at a state college that isnt exactly well known for it's design program.

My advice to you, from someone in a similar situation, is slug it out for a full year like I am, build up a professional portfolio with printed pieces that demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the press. You might even get lucky and land a national brand in it through your company like I have.

Buy lots of design books off Amazon (or wherever you want) I reccomend: Color Harmonies That Work, Grid Systems, Geometry Of Design, 1000 Type Treaments, Graphically Speaking which have all been reccomended to me through here, there are tons more.

Come to GDF regulary and ask questions, read tutorial posts,The Ultimate Resource Thread (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42) is one of the most valuable threads in here, but also most everything in the resources section is good. There are some very talented people who here will not hesitate to help you out, so post your work for critiques.

I think if you stick around and take advantage of the forum you will find that things might start looking a little brighter at your job, they definately did for me.

(sorry about the long winded post hope it didn't lose your attention)

Good Luck!

-Tony

[Renton]

Thanks Tony. It's okay, don't feel bad about wasting money on "a joke of a graphic design program at a state college". I went to a big name art school (here's a hint, we have lots of commercials on TV and it's in San Francisco) and I still sorta f-ed it up and I didn't learn as well as I would have liked. I see it this way, better late than never. Since my design career is still young, at least I can make changes and improve at a time I need it the most, the real world.

[CamarotaDesign]

I went to a big name art school (here's a hint, we have lots of commercials on TV and it's in San Francisco) and I still sorta f-ed it up and I didn't learn as well as I would have liked.

Oh yeah, haha, I know who you are talking about, I've watched plenty of day time television on KTVU ;)

I was under the assumption that it was a decent school for design, at least for the theory aspect. I'm sure they don't teach didly about the press, like most schools.

I highly reccomend the Santa Rosa Junior College's Applied Arts program to anyone that lives near the Bay area. Many of the teachers are very nice people and very skilled designers. You get taught ALOT about the press and technical aspects of design. And you arent out $40K afterwards either. + they recently got accredited for a 2 year associates degree in design, not just a certificate, which is definately worth something.

Ok, back to work for me, I type too much, Looking forward to more posts and seeing some from you.

[Renton]

Oh yeah, haha, I know who you are talking about, I've watched plenty of day time television on KTVU ;)

I was under the assumption that it was a decent school for design, at least for the theory aspect. I'm sure they don't teach didly about the press, like most schools.

I highly reccomend the Santa Rosa Junior College's Applied Arts program to anyone that lives near the Bay area. Many of the teachers are very nice people and very skilled designers. You get taught ALOT about the press and technical aspects of design. And you arent out $40K afterwards either. + they recently got accredited for a 2 year associates degree in design, not just a certificate, which is definately worth something.

Ok, back to work for me, I type too much, Looking forward to more posts and seeing some from you.

Yea, you REALLY hafta dig around for a JC that has a decent design program. If you're lucky enough to find one, man, you've avoided arse-raping debt. :P They do sorta cover press with a print making class as part of the pre-requisite, but I was a "new media" major, so we focused on graphic design as a chunk of the major, but not as in-depth as a full on "graphic designer". I call it the jack of all trades major since I learned graphic design, web, interactive media, video, audio, etc along with a bunch of foundation classes that covers the basics (perspective drawing, sketching for communication, figure modeling, figure drawing, color theory, etc). Then towards the end of the program, cover as much "real world" projects as they can. However, the actual real world differs greatly, but at least I wasn't totally caught by surprise. Not to mention my school has a pretty good pool of talent, which I've found myself feeling intimidated most of the time I've attended. It IS art school after all. LOL

[unicorncorp]

Renton? Your not from EUREKA, are you? Lol..., just kidding, anyways, welcome and enjoy your stay.

[Renton]

Renton? Your not from EUREKA, are you? Lol..., just kidding, anyways, welcome and enjoy your stay.

Haha, in an advertisement animation that I created a while back has an Eureka 7 reference somewhere. I put "777 Eureka St" as a fake address.

[chris_bcn]

Welcome. I'm in SF working in the blogosphere!Are you in the city?

[Renton]

Welcome. I'm in SF working in the blogosphere!Are you in the city?

Nah, just a tad further southeast another 20-25 minutes. =)

[Samakimoto Graphics]

*Karibu*Renton!

[Virgo Nightingale]

Welcome to the forum, Renton!