You’ve heard it, I’ve done it, sort of… well, not really actually, it’s just that old expression that got mixed around. Faking people out about what you can and can’t do on the job. That will catch up to you.
What I mean is that if you are confident you can figure things out when asked to do a project- and that part matters- be clever about it. Telling an outright lie, saying that you have skills you actually don’t, is not the game in my humble opinion. Presenting your confidence to the world, without dishonesty but with integrity and honesty is better.
This is from personal experience. In advertising courses in college, which was my minor, we learned to design using the basic levels of design, not computers and the tools within, to help us. They weren’t around yet. We were designers, artists, sculptures learning all of the available tools and ways to get a job done. That is a huge part of success with any project whether you are building a house or a website, knowing what tools to use. In website development… tons of tools are there, the trick is knowing what to leave sitting there.
In my college days, computers were not yet used in graphic design. We were using old style Pantone paper and press type and some old fashioned design skills. And in general, basically, we were shown the way to the library. We were taught, if you do not know something, there is a tool for that, a card catalog. Go find the answers.
It’s like learning to ski on super long wood skies, you get a little more “cut” if you learn the hard way first, the principles.
So if the bottom line is, if you don’t know something, go figure it out. It’s kind of that simple. Or it was, before things got more confusing due to technology and social media…
In the 90s when I began looking for work, computers were beginning to surface with Quark Xpress, Pagemaker, Freehand, Photoshop and others. To get a logo or brochure done, I had to go to Kinko’s, rent a computer with the new software on it, figure out how to use it right there by the hour, and draw my logo and create brochure design projects that way. This was easy for me.
At Cardinal Apartment Management Group, where I was first employed in Pittsburgh in 1990 as the marketing person, assistant to the district manager of eleven apartment complexes in PA, West Virginia, New York and Ohio. I used to travel around to all of the apartments and manage them, as the floating manager, or in some cases, as the new assistant manager coming in to let go of whatever caused that property to file bankruptcy.
All of the apartments looked the same. So I decided they all needed their own logos and branding. I did a new logo and brochure for each and every property, using the Kinko’s computers, and my boss was so enthused, she didn’t really get involved with the process just that we did a lot of marketing together and I was her right hand, designer, assistant manager person. I got laid off but she later hired me to keep doing that for other apartment complexes and she had better budgets, then that led to more work much later.
During that time, I realized I LOVED doing that design work. It stuck, and off I went to try and get design jobs, which were not exactly given to newbies.
Eventually in the 90s in Pittsburgh while freelancing and working at Mac temp agencies when that was a thing, as new software came out, a few times I didn’t know how to use it, but neither did anyone else. When ever asked if I knew how to work in some kind of new software, I never said “yes” when I didn’t, or no.
I said “I’ll figure it out.” Their response was literally just relief, check it off their list… and an “off you go then” and off I’d go to sit down at the computer by myself, and figure it out.
One person gave me the best advice ever, Scott Pipitone, who was starting his own agency, he said, “know the software and you will always stay employed.” He hired me too, as he got some new software and paid me to come in and learn it, then give him the rundown of what it did; that was a common theme in my career over the years, if someone paid me to learn it that was like free school!!
I would never even say “no” before that, just simply “I’ll figure it out.” You do need to have actual skills and get things done. Results matter. Customers also just want to know things will get done, confidently. Frankly, some people seriously don’t want the details, it hurts their head, they just want it done. Others want to understand things.
I know that look, the sudden blank stare when I have said too much, too many technical things in a row, and people’s heads seem to freeze, as apparently all people aren’t wired this way. 😆
The real key for me… watch others who know. Learn from mistakes, don’t cover them up, just FIX THEM. Treat everyone with respect. Don’t give an opinion before asked. Free advice and random opinions are worth exactly what you pay. Zero. This also works in reverse as you get free advice everywhere with sentences starting out “you should…..” ugh.
A client will never listen to you directly after you’ve insulted their logo, even if they ask my opinion, as an expert, I will still never spew that out immediately, too many layers involved here. Not the least of which I spent many years working and developing my skills, and opinions; and they are not freely thrown around. They will also not be listened to if I’m not asked or if I’ve just unknowingly insulted someone’s nephew by saying something nasty about their logo, even if they know it needs addressed. It’s that simple. Successful interactions about design projects can be that simple.
And finally, people can get caught up in the blame game, and on the surface it might seem to work. Mistakes get made, we’re human. Not having an answer, also human. Being honest about both, that is integrity.
