Let’s say you have this multi-column Adobe Illustrator file, and you need to get some text from it. So, you open the file, only to realize… IT’S ALL OUTLINED.
OK… Don’t freak out! You won’t have to re-type all that text. I can show you how to re-text outlined text. It’s quite simple actually.
Lets face it. Design is borrowing. You can cry rules of balance and negative space all you want, but at the end of the day, it really is just borrowing. We take inspiration from one thing, and apply some of it to another. A very high level copy/paste if you will. Now, don’t pull your hair out Sally, let me explain.
Ideas are created from our experiences. The kid who dropped his churro in front of you. The dirty joke you got from that “inner circle” chain mail you “love”. The way the sun reflects on that flash drive sitting on your desk. All these random and seemingly disconnected stimuli gather in your brain for this super trippy electro-chemical fertility dance that somehow, by some act of what I can only describe as pure wizardry, birth an idea.
But there is a fine line between inspiration, and straight copying. And spare me the whole “ultimate form of flattery” crap. It ain’t flattering to see your design plastered all over a brand, especially when the lint in your pocket isn’t hanging out with a roll of cash. Being copied sucks. As creatives, we’ve got to have the common sense to know the difference between copying and drawing inspiration from something existing. Copying for the sake of riding the coat-tails of an idea that was highly successful is as smart as jumping on a trampoline – seems like a great idea until you’re flying head first to the ground from 15 feet in the air. I mean, how many “Got Milk?” inspired campaigns, (see Brand Strategy: Does it pay to be original?), or “iThings” can we really take until we realize “What the fuck!?”.
Get inspired. Go create. Be original.
As a creative director, a ton of resumes fly across my desk, some are awesome and some are OK, but then there is the vast majority that are straight up bad. If you are applying for a design job, your resume is your foot in the door. This thing needs to have fireworks and horns playing as the person opens it. Now, I don’t mean you need to go all crazy like the business card dude on YouTube, but do keep in mind that this is the decisive moment between getting and not getting the interview.
Your resume needs to not only make sense, but it needs to be designed for good legibility. The goal here is to have the reader go through the whole thing, or at least be able to skim the major points.
The following are a few tips to take into consideration when designing your resume. I will not go into detail as far as the content of your resume, but I do know that it has to make sense, and it needs to be succinct and relevant to the interviewer. For example, don’t put a Telemarketing Phone Attendant position if you are applying for a Graphic Design position.
Read More
snuggie wild side… yeah… i can’t make this stuff up… found at bed bath and beyond
