Dwayne Grech – Art Director
Conrad Shen – Designer
To get the term started our first speakers were Dwayne, an Art Director and Conrad a Designer at Critical Mass. They spent the morning with us speaking about their experiences. Dwayne is a graduate from the web design program at Sheridan College. It was really nice to get their perspectives on things; being able to relate and foresee where my future may take me after gradation.
Dwayne has been an Art director with Critical Mass for 1 year and before that he worked with other companies such as Momentum Advanced Solutions as an Art Director. He graduated from Sheridan’s Web Design program and his background before Sheridan was Graphic Design at Seneca College. One of the things I found fascinating about Dwayne that in his free time from Critical Mass he spends it winter lake surfing. I got the chance to have a nice talk with him about it after the presentation. I enjoy wake surfing during the summer months so it was interesting to hear about surfing in the winter. I had been looking into it earlier this year and even last year when I was living in Vancouver as winter surfing is popular out there.
Conrad graduated from the York/Sheridan Graphic Design program recently and started his career with Critical Mass after graduation. He started out as an intern and he was handed a lot of really important work to be apart of with the team. It sounds like Critical Mass has a very fun atmosphere to work for and he seemed to enjoy the intern program. He explained that he had a mentor as an intern who he could go to if he got stuck with his work or had any questions. He has now been hired on as a full time designer. He mentioned that his favourite font is Gilgamesh, which he likes using and incorporating into print work.
“INSPIRED INDIVIDUALS. WE ARE SMART, TALENTED, FLEXIBLE AND COLLABORATIVE.”
Critical Mass originated in Calgary where their head office is now. They also have offices in Toronto (of course) Costa Rica, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, New York etc. Some of their clients consist of Nissan, Infiniti, Adidas, Budweiser, Moen, Best Buy, HP, Go Daddy and NASA. I’m impressed that NASA is one of their clients, I think it would be a lot of fun to be on their design team. It would be out of this world! (That was terrible, I’m sorry).
SOME SOUND ADVICE:
- it won’t be easy
- lack of sleep
- ultra competitive market
- small industry (everybody knows everybody) Don’t burn bridges or get drunk at the christmas party.
- office politics is huge
- not restricted to your place or city
- plenty of industry parties: free food and booze
- super casual environment
WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
SMALL DESIGN HOUSE
Smaller operations function at a leisurely spread focusing on the design execution more than the marketing mumbo jumbo. This is a great environment for fresh faced designers to learn the ins and outs of their craft but for smaller clients and wages.
VS.
MULTI NATIONAL AGENCY
This is where the big bucks and street creed can be earned, but at the expense of your sanity, social life, and especially your health. These ultra competitive high speed environments are not for the faint of heart, but if you can keep up. This is where you come to work hard and play hard. You will be hitting the ground running and expected to be on the ball. All the time.
My Thoughts: At this point I’m not even really sure if I want to work for a smaller company or a multi national agency. I like the idea of getting different types of jobs each day and wearing several hats. However, I really want to work for a larger company where I could have more opportunities to grow. I think I would enjoy the challenges that would presented to me at both types of offices.
CONTRACT WORK
When times are good you’ll be busy everyday, and most likely turning down additional jobs but when times are bad your next job could be several months away. The money is great but you don’t receive any health benefits. You need to be able to become your own business manager. Time management is crucial when you are working for yourself. You also have the ability to travel wherever you would like because you can and your not tethered to one city.
VS.
PERMANENT WORK
Consistency of work. Health benefits. Great for bank loans and mortgages, but there’s a lack of freedom and money can be less than your expectations. It is safe and usually 9-5.
DESIGNER
The story teller, the big thinker. You use your mastery of layout, typography and your imagination to turn a request into a masterpiece. Climb the ladder from designer to art director, then eventually creative director. The higher you go unfortunately the less design you do.
DEVELOPER
With your analytic knowhow, you bring to life designs and wires, assisting in the transformation of an abstract idea into concrete. With a design background, you too, can see the story and the bigger picture.
My Thoughts: Hopefully I will be able to narrow down what I want to focus on whether I’m leaning more to the design side of things or the developing side. Currently I enjoy both; I have an eye for design and love being able to carry out that vision into the development. Seeing everything come together in the end is what I really love. At a smaller agency they will be looking for someone that can code and design. The bigger agencies however need to separate both design and development. I feel that there has to be some type of common ground here, it seems strange to separate into teams when you are working on the same project. I think a bigger company that can get their design team and development team working together would put out more sound work. They would be able to work more systematically and would have more flow in a project. Especially if both designers and developers had overlapping knowledge of each aspect of the project instead of being segregated to a specific job in a line-up.
LOCAL WORK
This is your home, you grew up here, you have an inside knowledge of the culture and use that to your advantage in and outside and certainly no immigration concerns.
VS.
ABROAD WORK
Why stay local when the world is your oyster? Go abroad and work with a cool foreign brand because you know the language or have the opportunity to move around. Mom and dad will always be a flight away.
My Thoughts: I think I would like to start local and build up my experience, as they said I know the language and culture. It is an easy transition into the industry. If I was to work anywhere else I think it would be fun to be out in Vancouver or Calgary. At Critical Mass they explained that transferring to other offices is fairly easy, just ask HR. If there is a spot open and it’s a good fit then it could happen and then most likely be considered at the top for hiring at the new office.
INTERNSHIPS WITH CM.
- 3 months (with potential for extension or full time offer) Every month your setting up goals. What personal projects you want to work on
- Every intern is assigned a mentor. Keeping you up to speed. Mentor is who you ask all your stupid questions
- We want to keep you!
- Full time designer experience; no fetching coffee
- Cash money!
3 TIPS TO THRIVE AND SURVIVE IN THE DESIGN WORLD
#1: keep making cool shit. Be happy. Get better at it.
#2: Care about things (and people) outside of design.
#3: Become a master of bullshit ( and rationalizing design).
RESOURCES AND INSPIRATION
Use Tumblr and Dribble. When you are creating something on the side, put it up somewhere. Don’t be ashamed of it. Share what you are personally working on outside of your 9-5. This is something that I need to start doing, sharing the projects I am working on. Getting my stuff out there!
Redit http://www.reddit.com
THE FWA http://www.thefwa.com
My final Thoughts: I learned a lot from Dwayne and Conrad’s experiences. It was a really inspiring talk after our long Christmas break. They brought a lot of topics into perspective and said it how it is. It was very beneficial to get their input on the industry and what it is like to work in it. They shared a lot of useful information with us and I am definitely going to keep it all in mind when it comes time to find a job.
To learn more about Dwayne Grech, connect with her on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/dwayne
To learn more about Conrad Shen connect with him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/conrad
Here are some additional links:
MICHELLE FARLEY 