Job Shadow Host

1
Job Shadow Host

• Job shadow goals
• Get the big picture of how this business works
  and the structure of the creative team
• Understand the client/designer/production
  relationship
• Identify some ways that I can improve my program
  to get students ready for the work world

2
Job Shadow Host

• Creative Director,
• Kalie Kimball-Malone,
• schedules meetings with members of three
  different design teams to provide me with the
  opportunity to ask questions and observer the
  creative process and work flow of multiple
  projects.
• Sarah Harrison Associate Art Director (Creative
  Team)
• Matt Wolf Junior Graphic Designer
• Katie Greff (Graphic Designer) and Brian Monzingo
  (Art Director)

3
Job Shadow Host

• Associate Art Director
• Sarah Harrison

Brand Guidelines and understanding client style
guides Large companies hire agencies to
represent them, the more the guidelines are
developed, in advance the more consistent this
representation can be when being interpreted by
the creative team. These guidelines are not
generally public and may be guarded as
intellectual property. Typography and color
palettes are major considerations. There will
also be information regarding the minimum and
maximum size for logo use, alignment rules and
basic layout grids. Areas of exclusion around the
logo. A do and dont page may give specific
examples. The creative team should establish
what the companies market plan is. It is really
important for students to understand flexible
grid systems.
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Job Shadow Host

• Associate Art Director
• Sarah Harrison

• Current Projects
• Rebranding for client ATT
• We looked at ATT Brand archives to see how the
  brand has been re-launched over the years.
• Brand Guidelines book for Worktank
• The goal of a good logo is to be fresh,
  simplified, and offer color variations. A logo
  equals the company signature.
•  
• Work Flow Tips
• Revisions and notes are generally made by the Art
  and Creative Directors on a hard copy and given
  back to the design team. Saved versions of
  reviewed projects are titled Round_01, Round_02,
  etc so everyone is kept in the same loop.

5
Job Shadow Host

• Junior Graphic Designer
• Matt Wolf (on the right)

Understanding the creative team structure The
Creative Director, Dorin, is responsible for
communicating the concept to the team The Art
Director, Scott, takes charge applying the
concept to the project. The designer must be sure
to use the guidelines book as a constant
reference during the development of the product.
The production folks are in charge of making sure
there are not errors, omissions and the
functionality of the product. In this case, Tam
(on the left) is in charge of production.
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Job Shadow Host

• Junior Graphic Designer
• Matt Wolf

What he wished he had learned in school Grid
systems structure, alignment and consistency of
layout   Professional Development Suggestion -
School of Visual Concepts SVCseattle.com
check out design class options
7
Job Shadow Host

• Junior Graphic Designer
• Matt Wolf

Work Flow Tips Student critiques 3 reviews per
project 1.        50
sketches, thumbnail, no computer work 2.       
Begin bringing design
elements together to meet a general direction or

concept. This meeting is about resolving issues
or problems 3.       
Tweak the final piece The first two meetings
could be peer review (group) Final meeting is a
showcase
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Job Shadow Host

• Junior Graphic Designer
• Matt Wolf

Suggestions for students To develop a portfolio,
work as much as possible for others. Get paid,
even a little, so that people will respect your
time. Big design schools will require
portfolios MICA (Maryland Institute College of
Art), RISD (Rhode Island School of Design, SCAD
(Savannah College of Art and Design), Portfolio
Center in Atlanta AGIA (American Institute of
Graphic Arts) an excellent resource, they may
host portfolio workshops
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Job Shadow Host

• Graphic Designer
• Katie Greff and
• Art Director, Brian Monzingo

Katie and Brians Current projects storyboards
and flash banners Their Senior Art Director is
Carrie, who is under the creative guidance of
Kalie Kimball-Malone, the Creative Director who
oversees all of the projects I saw today.  
10
Job Shadow Host

• Graphic Designer
• Katie Greff and
• Art Director, Brian Monzingo

Work Flow storyboards and flash banners They
start with a hand drawn storyboard and it is
understood that animation will proceed, or lead
up to, each still frame. After the storyboard is
approved Katie makes layout templates for Brian
to use as a guide layer for his animations (this
way he can focus on the action and the layout
problems have already been solved. Both team
members are very aware of version control in the
incorporation of feedback from the client into
all files and formats. Labeling layers is hugely
important when working with team members the
work flow should be intuitive for all. Anyone
should be able to open a file and work on it,
most work is networked.  
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Job Shadow Host

• Creative brief template
• Project title
• Deliverables
•  
• Background/Overview (add copy)
• What is the objective or purpose?
• Target audience who are we talking to?
• What is the single most important thing we want
  to say?
• What is the tone we want to use?
• What are the supporting rational and emotional
  reasons to act or believe?
• What are the challenges to acting or believing?
• Mandatory elements, helpful information and
  insights
• Product name
• Price point
• Messaging
• Branding
• Logo and tag line
• urls

• Graphic Designer
• Katie Greff and
• Art Director, Brian Monzingo

The creative brief template collecting
information from the client and setting it up
for the team
12
Job Shadow Host

• Graphic Designer
• Katie Greff and
• Art Director, Brian Monzingo

General Creative Team Work Flow The team works
collaboratively, brain storming from the creative
brief which is provided to the Art and Creative
Directors by the Account Managers who meet
directly with the clients. The AM establishes the
project specifications, tone, product and
timeline. The creative team follows the brand
guidelines as a visual vocabulary.
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Job Shadow Host

• Graphic Designer
• Katie Greff and
• Art Director, Brian Monzingo

What Kids Need Strong understanding of
typography and grid system Art history look
at tons of good and successful pieces Layout
hierarchy what should the audience see and the
order they should see it in   Work to avoid
feeling personally invested or emotional as the
work develops. Be ready to take feedback,
problem solve and come up with flexible
solutions.
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Job Shadow Host

• Suggested Text

q       Wheeler, Alina. Designing Brand
Identity A Complete Guide to Creating, Building
and Maintaining Strong Brands. ISBN
0-471-74684-3 q       Samara, Timothy. Making
and Breaking the Grid A Graphic Design Layout
Workbook. q       Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with
Type A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers,
Editors and Students.  
15
Job Shadow Host

• Vocabulary

• NDA Nondisclosure agreement
• Downtime time between revisions, awaiting
  feedback from creative team
• Motion Design Animation using design elements
  (resource Motionographer.com) Cornish is pushing
  a motion design program, less emphasis on print
  production.
• Lock up set spacing for visual elements  

16
Job Shadow Host

• Suggested hardware for our program
• Fat screen LCD monitors (Dell) wider
• High end Epson printers (the best there is)
• Wacom tablets Intuos 3
•  

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Job Shadow Host

• Tech Tips
• InDesign Type Fill with Place holder text
  (Lorem Ipsum dummy text)
• .tiffs work best (better than .psd an .pdf
  files). Save as Image compression LZW, this makes
  the file smaller but you wont loose date. 24 bit
  has the most information, use this as a standard.
•  
• PC CS2 Image Trim (crops to the nearest
  pixel)
• Layer create new smart object make a temporary
  file
• File place (for vector smart image placement)
• Hold the command key and press the eyeball to
  turn off the visibility of all the layers
• Be sure to check the save transparency box for
  .png files.
•  

18
Job Shadow Host

• Tech Tips
• Illustrator - Clipping maske Ojbect Clipping
  Mask Make
•  
• Flash Animation save all symbols as movie clips
  (this allows for actions scripting later). Double
  click the symbol in the libaray to open the
  bitmap properties. Click the update button to
  update changes in the source file to the .fla
•  
• After Effects allows you to work with layers
  like Photoshop for video
•  
• Printer 200 DPI is the lowest resolution for
  inhouse printing
• The better the printer the higher the resolution
  needs to be
•