Talent is Not Enough CH 3,4,5,6 and 7

It's good to see that the business practices and legality of being an artist is addressed. I like these chapters because they talk bout the important aspects of the business of being an freelance artist, I think that we don't spend enough time on this important aspect honestly. The most helpful pieces of information came around chapter 5 and 6. These chapters talked about taxes and how the government qualifies you as a self employed artist and most importantly RATES. How to charge people for you work. These two chapters will be referenced heavily as I start freelancing more.

Rp#7: Branding Chapter: The Complete Graphic Designer

Branding, branding, branding. This term has been thrown around so much the last year or so in our program. I'm almost sick of it, but branding creates value, and value adds money. Knowing a good deal about brands already made this chapter more of a reinforcement with relevant example. The break down of the types of brands on page 152 was especially interesting. It helped me understand how brands are categorized in certain ways and why that is beneficial to the actual brand.

RP#6: The Complete Graphic Designer Chapter 5

This chapter was a refreshing and concise look at corporate identity. To start off I liked how the author broke down the difference between branding and corporate identity. They are used interchangeably so much it was good to have a quick and dirty distinction of the two. I found the many examples to be helpful with designing parts of my personal "corporate identity" and enjoyed the clarity in the explanations and reasons behind common design practices concerning corporate identity.

Toot Toot

From right: Josh, Alex, Ryan, and I at an AIGA presentation. Toot Toot (you'd understand if you were there).

RP# 5: The Complete Graphic Designer

In general I love the "matter-of-fact" no-nonsense approach to The Complete Graphic Designer. It has a polished commercial feel and is a easy to read book. The end of chapter two talked about why certain designs work and how to better communicate ideas using tested methods. This part was a little redundant since we talk about this in many classes. The third chapter went into detail about the process of design (a lot like our branding class). This is very helpful as a reference to the process, a complex process that is hard to remember unless somewhat mastered.

Asterisk*

RP#4: Talent Is Not Enough: Chapter 2

The second chapter in Talent Is Not Enough is dedicated to job hunting. The information was sound and thorough, but unfortunately it was too basic for me to find helpful. A lot of the steps and outlined practices I have known for quite sometime now. I do enjoy how detailed the information is though, in particular the salary search portion. I think a lot of people concern themselves with getting the job, and sometimes forget the bargaining that may be involved with the salary. The better informed you are about the area's salary and trends the better position you will be in for bargaining. Other than that a lot of the information in the chapter I already read elsewhere or learned by trial and error.


Shift8