reading response #15

"Self-Promotion" from How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

Just because it's famous doesn't mean it's good...

Fame does not equal respect in the design world: that's the one thing I got out of this chapter. You can the most famous designer in the world, but are your designs revered by your peers or are they laughing at you behind your back? Relating this to promotion, you can have the slickest, most expensive promotion piece, but do the designs that are coming from your company do anything to impact the art of design? 

To avoid getting a big head, Shaugnessy says you should work for the portfolio, not the bank balance. If you choose jobs and do them because you want to create an excellent portfolio and narrow your craft, then you can explore more and get more creative with your work, pushing the boundaries of what design is. He says you can even take on clients at a reduced rate just to explore. Try an industry that isn't really known for great design, like a garden center or dentist. He also talks about working for up-and-coming musicians.

Other places to promote yourself are design competitions, at lectures and conferences, and by maintaing great relationships with art colleagues and the design press, which are all things I never thought about using for promoting myself. I feel like networking is so incredibly important in design; Shaughnessy doesn't seem to put much emphasis on it. His overall message though is that a good reputation is the best thing to have, and you shouldn't use promotion as a way to make yourself famous, but as a way to let others know about the new things you're trying as a designer; maybe they'll notice because they'll be inspired.