29 Things Designers Need to Know + 8 Ingredients for Success

Doug Bartow, principal of id29, has been long regarded as a mentor to many designers through his firm's intern program and active status in the design community. It's with that knowledge coupled with his understanding of how seasoned designers can benefit as well from his advice that he'll be speaking via a design tutorial "8 Critical Ingredients to a Successful Graphic Design Career," 2-3 pm EST Sept. 30.

Bartow will tell you about the secret ingredients for a successful and fulfilling career. Who doesn’t want that?

"The original '29 Things' piece (available below) was written with students and young designers in mind, but it got a lot of positive feedback from seasoned professionals who told me it helped kick-start their creativity. I've hand-picked 8 tenants from the original 29 that I think apply to designers of all ages and levels of experience. I'll talk about these ingredients in depth, and some of the things designers can do in their everyday work to keep the creative justices flowing," Bartow says. Reserve your virtual seat now!

Too bad there’s not a handbook for making the shift from design student to design professional. To make that transition easier, Doug Bartow, principal of ID29 offers his advice. The list below appeared in the January 2011 issue of HOW along with a limited edition poster designed by id29.

Interacting with students and young designers has always been a fulfilling endeavor for all the working professionals at id29, one that has kept alive the notion that design education is a lifelong experience. Fostering design thinking through mentoring relationships at the local level is particularly exciting, as we get to see the designers we’ve helped nurture go on to fabulous careers in a variety of creative fields.

We regularly invite design students to tour our studio (in Troy, NY), and we participate in local student portfolio reviews and exhibitions; our involvement is a team effort.

Click here to order a copy of the poster.

Many of the questions and concerns young designers share today are the same we had as graduating students looking to make our mark in the professional world, with only a résumé and portfolio of student projects to get our collective feet in the door. There’s nothing different in the design industry today that makes getting—and nailing—that initial interview or client pitch any easier.

Throughout the years, I’ve collected these questions and have tried answering many of them as an ongoing personal project. Here are 29 of my thoughts on how to approach and interact with our culture as a young designer, in no particular order.

1. SWEAT THE DETAILS
You are a professional communicator; act like one. Carefully edit everything you publish: résumés, social media, e-mail, blog posts, letters, text messages, everything. Get a copy of “The Chicago Manual of Style” and keep it handy. Most potential employers and clients don’t appreciate text shorthand, so don’t use it. They won’t be ROTFL, and you will end up SOL.

2. PLAY NICE
People you work with and for will make your blood boil from time to time. Whenever possible, be a pro and take the high road. Avoid burning bridges, as people change jobs more often than they did a generation ago. Your paths may cross again in a much different situation, and having a good working history together will make rehiring you easy. Apply this to your online persona as well. Anonymous jabs are petty—be better than that.

3. DON’T FEAR TYPE; BECOME ITS MASTER
Often, being a good typographer means not making the simple mistakes. To accomplish this, you’ll need a working knowledge of classical typography. Go get one. “The Elements of Typographic Style” by Robert Bringhurst, “Thinking With Type” by Ellen Lupton and “Grid Systems in Graphic Design” by Josef Müller-Brockmann are cover-to-cover must-reads. Repeat after me: “Free fonts from the internet are crap, I will not use them.” Keep saying that.

Doug Bartow is just getting started. Hear him speak to all levels of designers about the “8 Critical Ingredients for a Successful Graphic Design Career.”