Portfolio Creative

Entries in Food for Thought (41)

Thursday

11Feb2010

Mikey Burton - On Creating the Your Own Opportunities

Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 09:49AM

In January CSCA brought in Mikey Burton to speak, his presentation was fantastic. One thing that struck us was how, rather than waiting for someone to give him an opportunity, he really made a point to create the kind of work he wanted to do and find a way to get paid for it. Intrigued, we asked Mikey a few questions to dig a little deeper into this idea. Read on!

Portfolio: From the very beginning of your career it seems that you’ve created your own opportunities, rather than waiting for “dream projects” to come to you. What was the catalyst that got you started?

Mikey: I'm not sure there was a specific plan where I was like, "I'm going to make money doing X", It was a little more organic. While I was in grad school two of my friends and I were very interested in the resurgence of handmade gig-poster art. We were fascinated by this, and were eager to try our hand at it. Also, there was a lack of poster art happening in Northeast Ohio, so we took it upon ourselves to fill this void. We taught ourselves how to (poorly) screen-print and gave ourself the moniker, Little Jacket (taken from an LCD Soundsystem song "...little jackets and borrowed nostalgia from the unremembered eighties"). Our goal was never to make money off it, it was just something we were passionate about. You just have to figure out what you like, and start making it.

Portfolio: How do you decide what to work on? Do you give yourself assignments, or does it come from a point of inspiration?

Mikey: In the case of Little Jacket, we would just pick concerts that we liked, contact the venue and/or band, and ask if we could do free promotion for them (people hardly say no to this proposal). Or it would just come out of us sitting around drinking a few beers and coming up with weird ideas.

Portfolio: Doing your own work has brought you clients with great projects. How did that transition happen? How did your personal work get exposure to the point that clients started contacting you?

Mikey: While with Little Jacket, we had done about 3 posters for local venues around Cleveland. After that, one of the same venues asked us to do a poster for the upcoming Modest Mouse show. From there we started getting calls from people about doing 'real work'. It wasn't a floodgate or anything, but we started getting little jobs from that point on... whether it be another poster, or a logo. We would do these and it would result in getting more work after that.

Portfolio: Does doing work you care about also mean not doing work you don’t care about? Do you ever turn down clients?

Mikey: I usually try to take on everything. If I turn something down, it usually just has to do with availability. When I was preparing for my lecture [at CSCA], I had to turn down a large shoe company for some t-shirt designs... it was hard, but I knew I couldn't do everything. It's especially hard when you have a 9 to 5 and want to do fun stuff on top of it. It's hard to juggle everything. On the other hand, it allows me to really pick and choose what I'm taking on.

Portfolio: You work for a creative firm and seem to really like it, but you still do your own projects as well. Why is that? What keeps you motivated to continue doing your own work?

Mikey: I really like the work I do at 160over90, but I still like doing my own stuff. Mostly the kind of stuff we don't do at 160over90. I like doing things that are more illustrative; I want to get more work doing editorial illustration. So I try to take on things that will perpetuate more of this work. -- Most of all, I have a letterpress, and I want to get it set up so I can start making stuff all the time.

Portfolio: Any advice for fellow creatives about creating or finding work they care about too?

Mikey:

1) Figure out what kind of work you would love doing.
2) Do self-initiated work catered toward that goal
3) Take on any opportunity
4) Stay Frustrated - Don't be happy with the work you made, and always strive to make something better
5) Love what you do.

(Thanks Mikey!)

Kristen |

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Food for Thought

Thursday

04Feb2010

How can awards help build your brand?

Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 09:50AM

Meredith Liepelt, CEO and Creative Client Attention Strategist of Rich Life Marketing, recently asked Kristen Harris and Catherine Lang-Cline how they promote their business. Click here to read the full interview on how awards help build the Portfolio brand.

Jennifer |

How Design Jobs are Changing

Friday, October 30, 2009 at 10:15AM

Design Job Forecast: A Look Ahead

By Kristen Harris

Forced to be more innovative and efficient with the resources they have, companies continue to need creative thinkers to compete. No longer a manufacturing-based workforce of skilled laborers, we’re idea and technology-based. We’ve moved from the Industrial Economy to the Creative Economy. Enter the era of the designer.

Design truly can change the world. Designers create devices to deliver medication more easily, develop tools to help us communicate and gather information quickly, and make the spaces where we work more efficient and safe. If a designer can develop a shoe that prevents long-distance runners from suffering common injuries, how would that affect the health of that runner, not to mention the healthcare system? This is a tremendous amount of opportunity, not only to have a career in design, but to truly make a difference through design.

So, how are design jobs changing? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects employment of designers to grow at about the same rate as for all occupations, an increase of about 10% from 2006 to 2016. However, they also note several times that individuals with design software knowledge, particularly web site design and animation experience, will have the best opportunities.

With businesses continuously shifting towards creating and utilizing new technology and developing more products, it makes sense that design careers will follow this same path. The BLS predicts increases will come from advertisers, publishers and computer design firms, including an expansion of video, movies and made-for-internet outlets. The emphasis right now is on web site design and animation for interactive media and other technology, and on print and web marketing materials for products and services.

Strong competition for jobs is expected. The National Association of Schools of Art and Design currently has approximately 290 accredited institutional members. Creative fields appeal both to traditional college-aged students, as well as people looking to change careers, leading to an increase in graduates from design programs each year.

Recent trends of outsourcing basic layout and design work to overseas firms are expected to continue, which will have a negative impact on more technical production-focused designers. However, most high-level graphic design jobs are expected to stay in the U.S.

Just like other industries, technical and repetitive tasks may be outsourced, but strategy and conceptual work will not. Companies and individuals that value ideas above all else will thrive in the Creative Economy.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.
©2009 Kristen Harris, Portfolio Creative, LLC.

Jennifer |

Catch Your Second Wind

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 01:42PM

For some people Fall is the beginning of the end. We're nearing the end of the year, leaves are falling, gardens and flowers are dying off, before we know it the holidays will be here. But Fall is also a time when a lot of thing start, or re-start, like school, classes, organization meetings and events. Summer break is over and people are back to business.

Which means Fall is a great time for renewal. It's an opportunity to catch your second wind before the end of the year. Slow down, take a deep breath, and take stock of the year so far. You've probably finished some things that you planned on, but there's still time to tackle something new or wrap up something that isn't quite done yet.

Maybe there is just one more big project at home or work you'd like to check off this year. There's still a few months left in the year to get it done, or at least make good progress. Or maybe there's a project that's been dragging on for a while, something you've just run out of steam or lost your enthusiasm for. Take a hard look at what's going on, see why you've come to a standstill. It may just not be important to you anymore; if so, write it off and move on. But if it is still important, figure out what's going on and how you can get it moving again. If you've made good progress already, you can still accomplish a lot by the end of the year.

Take stock, decide what still needs to be accomplished in 2009, and catch a second wind! That's what I'm doing in October.

[Your Name Here] |

1 Comment |

Food for Thought

Monday

21Sep2009

The Hierarchy of Success (according to Seth Godin)

Monday, September 21, 2009 at 01:52PM

Because I can't say it any better than Seth, and never can.

The hierarchy of success (according to Seth Godin)
I think it looks like this:

Attitude

Approach

Goals

Strategy

Tactics

Execution...

Check out the rest of the article, with great insights worth mulling over...are you starting at the end (execution) instead of the beginning (attitude)?

Kristen |