I’ve worked in the design industry for over 20 years and I’m currently developing something called Wink Academy aimed at helping new designers, and I’d really love your input.
It’s being built to help design students and new grads feel more confident, capable, and hireable when stepping into their first jobs. The idea came from hearing how many grads feel lost trying to connect what they learned in school to what employers actually look for and crushing your first role.
Before I go too far in building the first course, I want to hear directly from you:
• What are you most unsure or anxious about as you think about getting hired?
• What do you wish school had covered to make you feel more prepared?
• When it comes to landing a job or internship, what do you think would help you stand out or feel ready?
The goal of Wink Academy is to close that gap — to give designers real-world knowledge about working with clients, understanding business goals, and communicating the value of their design work.
But I don’t want to assume what you need — I’d rather learn it from you.
I’d genuinely appreciate your honest thoughts, worries, or ideas. Your input will help shape something that’s actually useful for students and grads trying to start their design careers.
I’ve been in the print industry almost 30 years.
What designers really need is knowledge on how to output their wonderful creations. Print, online, interactive or whatever.
It’s great to be creative, but if you don’t know what to sell your client, what good is pretty pictures?
My perspective is that of an art/creative director who hired talent.
Most college design graduates face reality head-on once they graduate, and that reality is often at odds with what they learned in school.
In school, the client is the instructor, who also graduated in design and appreciates good design. Consequently, the client (the instructor) knows the difference between good and not-so-good and tends to prioritize creativity and aesthetics.
After graduation, the rules change. Real-world clients aren’t designers, but they still have opinions. They tend to look at things from a return-on-investment perspective in addition to their own likes and dislikes. Since these clients pay the bills, the projects that would have gotten A’s in school often end up being unused.
The art and creative directors at ad agencies and leading in-house teams have already learned this lesson and view freshly graduated students as newbies who haven’t yet learned the realities of the industry and will take time to teach. Unlike a college instructor, an art director isn’t usually looking for a designer to educate. An art director is seeking a designer who can hit the ground running and take on the work.
With that in mind, a good-looking portfolio is, of course, important. However, equally important is the job applicant’s understanding of the employer’s needs. It’s up to the applicant to convince the art director that they’re the best person for the job and possess the necessary skills, attitude, problem-solving abilities, and understanding of the business realities required to handle the business design challenges that they were hired to solve.
Thanks for this @Just-B and @PrintDriver . Your comments are both reflective of my own experiences and the gap I see between uni and the industry, and expectations vs reality. The solution I’m researching for will hopefully close that gap and strengthen those soft skills and the contextual application of design within business environments.
