1. Long Term Plans Don’t Always Work
As mentioned, I wasn’t looking to leave this particular job, but I was asked about my future plans by someone else who was hiring. I made sure to listen to the opportunity he was presenting, even though my first instinct was to just mention that I had a job I was happy with. Sometimes opportunities present themselves when you’re not looking, so be sure not to close a door too quickly.

2. Age Doesn’t Always Matter
The greatest part of the job was working directly with the art director on projects, but also was the strangest to get use to. The art director was also from the same school as me, and had only graduated one semester before me, so there was (for me at least) an initial awkward time to adjust to the fact that a classmate from just months previously, was now overseeing my work. I have since heard many stories about people younger, and with less experience, being art directors for older designers. As art directors go, once I got past the age and experience, he was easily one of the best people to work on projects with.

3. Only Show Work You Like
Yes, the saying that the client will pick the option you least like is very often true. I first saw this first hand when black and white samples where being mailed, and I was helping to mount them to boards when asked if just the two better ones should be sent, or all three. I voted for two, only to see the third one come back as accepted. Color samples were sent out just days later, when the same discussion took place. I still argued for two. Same result. I learned to never specify an exact number of samples that I will send to a client, just a range if needed.

4. Specialization… Sort Of
From a business standpoint, this company was in a small market, and had a few different items it did other than just marketing collateral and ads – publishing, videos to show at court cases, selling items embroidered or printed with other companies logos, and selling ads that would be distributed in one of those mailings you get of miscellaneous postcards were a few of the things I saw them produce. For anything that wasn’t on target with their core design and marketing business, they simply put under a different brand name, as to never dilute their main source of business. I have a feeling most design and ad shops provide more services than they list on their brochure, but they are smart enough to know that listing everything you do makes it look like your less of a specialist in the main field you are targeting.

5. Is It Really Who You Know?
I learned this one from the minute I got the job interview. The owner had known my high school employer, and was part of the reason I was able to show my portfolio to get the job. Same with knowing the art director. I had the naive idea that the only thing that mattered to an employer was what was in my portfolio, but quickly realized that the other part of the interview is easily as important – wether or not they think you would be a good fit with the company, and can actually work with others. Leaving on good terms, if at all possible, is the best thing you can do for your career in most cases. If I left on bad terms at that high school job, I may have never gotten this one, and if I would have left on bad terms at this one, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the art director’s wedding the next summer, where I met the Be in Be A (Bennett).