Designers Insights (Val-des-Monts, Quebec) has released the second edition in its helpful book series titled How to Succeed as a Graphic Designer 2. Here, Founder and Creative Director Mario Godbout (RGD, TDC), a graphic designer for over 25 years, discusses his new publication, what it reveals and what designers will learn.
“Let me start by reinforcing my beliefs on how pertinent I think our industry insider book is for any graduating designer, junior designer and developing designer, who are faced with today’s tremendous industry challenges. What makes our book unique, compared to all other graphic design books, is that it’s all about the business of graphic design and sometimes the ugly side of our business. Our book is about preparing newly-graduated junior designers, managing their expectations, and what they can expect in reality from day one of working in a studio environment. We believe strongly in its in-depth content and feel that it should become a mandatory manual for all graphic design schools and colleges and their graduating design students.
I feel that most young designers have the wrong expectations of what our industry can give them, and have not been properly prepared to meet today’s industry challenges. Every new junior designer that I’ve ever hired has told me this: “I was never taught about the business in design school. I had no idea it was going to be like this.” Our book is written in the true spirit of the ‘Master and Apprentice’ – just as I was trained by my art director decades ago, when I started out full of ambition. It teaches them the kind of information that’s only available from experienced industry professionals. It prepares them by giving them 25 years of on-the-job facts and professional knowledge. We teach them that their daily actions have a great impact not only on their results, but on the entire industry, either positive or negative. Our book is not only a step-by-step guide, it’s also a personal tool that teaches how to develop the right mental attitude to succeed.
How to Succeed as a Graphic Designer 2 teaches them how to:
- Get better paying jobs or better clients.
- Get recognition from their employer, clients and peers.
- Benefit from what they will never learn in design school.
- Establish a winning designer/client relationship.
- Look for and find that perfect ‘niche’ job.
- Discover how easy it is to create opportunities for success, where they think that none are available.
- Become irreplaceable in the eyes of clients and employers by using effective methods they can apply immediately.
- Unlock their true creative potential, step-by-step.
- Avoid the traps of doing bad work for bad clients.
- Use a unique method to create a real, measurable dollar value for their clients.
- Understand what branding is, what you can brand, and how to create a great brand experience in easy-to-understand language.
- Apply advanced Design Integration and Visual Identity Systems to turn every project into a successful multi-media campaign.
- Know where their greatest value and greatest weaknesses come from.
- Develop a winning attitude and attract the right connections.
- Last, but most important, build their career success plan, step-by-step.”
The new book is available on the Designers Insights website at www.designersinsights.com/how-to-succeed/.
About the author
Mario Godbout has won awards in the most prestigious graphic design competitions in North America. He was awarded, among others, three prizes in the design annuals of Communications Arts, which is the largest competition of its kind in North America with more than 25,000 entries per year. He’s the only art director in the region to have won this award three times. Some of his creations have been published in graphic design books in Canada, Germany, the United States and Japan, as well as in the most renowned international design trade magazines – Communication Arts, Graphis, How, Print and Applied Arts. He’s a member of two professional associations – the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) since 1996, and the Type Directors Club of New York since 1997.
