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Beat. posted:It could be a megathread. Are you trying to get your work sold at the dollar store or what? Artvendor.com? I would be interested in learning more about making and selling prints, equipment needed, etc. Might be a cool megathread.
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Feb 1, 2012 23:35
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FrostedButts posted:Awesome words this this this a million times this. If I didn't work freelance+volunteer for school events and projects+ be in there like a dirty shirt networking with local design organizations, etc, I would be hosed like a lot of people in my graduating class. You'd be surprised what you can get away with when you just ask (read: volunteer). I don't know about Ringling, but at my school (OCAD), all professors are required to be practicing in their field. So, that means the designers are all practicing either as running their own studios or as freelancers or whatever. You make a good impression with them -- through passion, grit determination, presence -- and they will usually be more than happy to help. Go to the extra lectures even if you're dead tired. Freelance on the side. Get involved with the AIGA and volunteer with them too. Be an insufferable presence of optimism and workaholism and wipe the floor clean in your classes too. With presence, visibility, and the work & ideas to back it up (and business cards), you will find the debt is worth it.
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Feb 5, 2012 22:58
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Disreputable Dog posted:this this this a million times this. Ringling also has the same teaching policy. All the teachers Ive had are moderately successful artists themselves. My last teacher was Gary Barker, who has illustrated everything Garfield for the last 20 or so years. Jim Davis doesnt do it anymore. And all the others, like George Pratt for instance, have similar credits like popular graphic novels and several famous illustrations for ads and the like. Esroc fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Feb 6, 2012 |
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Feb 6, 2012 03:18
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Esroc posted:Ringling also has the same teaching policy. All the teachers Ive had are moderately successful artists themselves. My last teacher was Gary Barker, who has illustrated everything Garfield for the last 20 or so years. Jim Davis doesnt do it anymore. And all the others, like George Pratt for instance, have similar credits like popular graphic novels and several famous illustrations for ads and the like. That is a great policy to have. I was at NSCAD for a while, and they did not extend the same policy (in graphic design at least). It has not served them well.
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Feb 7, 2012 06:03
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I'm still working through the thread but I'm at a major turning point in my life and need some advice. Without getting too e/n, I graduated from art school (MCAD) in 2007 with a BFA in Comic Art. I moved out to the Portland, OR area with my girlfriend at that time, and put any possibilities of an art career on hold for the next four-and-a-half years to keep us afloat financially by working in IT. Our relationship wasn't always the best, and between that and my soul-draining job/financial responsibilities, I couldn't really muster the energy or courage to embark on a creative career. Well, we broke up this past August, and I'm seeing my situation for what it is, and I want to change it, primarily by getting into a creative field. I don't necessarily want to get into the comics industry (it's notoriously difficult and I prefer to work on that independently anyway), I am just looking for anything creative that I can do well. I majored in comics but studied a lot of illustration and animation, which I also enjoy. I'm also working on honing my design skills, and I know enough web design to get by, which could easily be more with a little bit of studying. The thing is, I have no idea where to start. I have been doing art for the past four years but it hasn't been 'professionally'. I'm worried that I've screwed myself over by not getting into any kind of creative field shortly after school. I also have no idea where to begin, or how to start actually networking. I don't know if my portfolio is any good, or how to make new portfolio pieces if I'm not actually getting any work. I'm completely overwhelmed, and I am going to read through the thread but if anyone has advice about my situation specifically I'm sure it would be very, very helpful. For reference, this is my portfolio: http://www.zackcorcoran.com This is what I know is wrong with my portfolio: It's woefully out of date, and I need to integrate the two project I've worked on in my spare time into it (a webcomic and a pixel art blog), but I also want to update the Illustrations section, but have no idea how to begin making new portfolio pieces; aside from the latest one, everything in there was a school assignment. Any critique of it is welcome, as I'm sure it's not the ideal site format for a portfolio. I've never been great at that. The two projects I've been working on while languishing are: http://www.bsfantasy-comic.com - webcomic http://www.youencounteramonster.com - pixel art blog I only link to those because while I have a decent idea of how to integrate those into my portfolio, I'm not entirely sure, so any advice about that would be really appreciated. If there is any way to use these sites to my advantage in terms of showcasing my skill that I'm not thinking of, I'd appreciate any advice on that too. Otherwise I'm looking into meetups around the Portland OR area so I can actually connect with other illustrators/comic artists/etceteras and start networking. Really, I'd appreciate any advice anyone has to give about all of this. It's extremely daunting, and I'm a little rusty, but I really want to get back on the right track.
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Feb 7, 2012 17:54
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Fortis posted:The thing is, I have no idea where to start. I have been doing art for the past four years but it hasn't been 'professionally'. I'm worried that I've screwed myself over by not getting into any kind of creative field shortly after school. I also have no idea where to begin, or how to start actually networking. I don't know if my portfolio is any good, or how to make new portfolio pieces if I'm not actually getting any work. I'm completely overwhelmed, and I am going to read through the thread but if anyone has advice about my situation specifically I'm sure it would be very, very helpful. Talking about your portfolio site here: make sure that whenever I click on anything, I'm greeted with images. It's super annoying to click on a section, only to be greeted with an empty box saying "click here for images." I already clicked on something for images, don't make me click twice to get to the pictures. Speaking of the thumbnails, I HATE when I'm given a thumbnail image that is so small and cropped that I can't even tell what the full image is. Take a look at this guy's site: http://www.frankstockton.com/ It's not fancy, but when you first load the site you're greeted with the dude's artwork. You should always greet people with your strongest work, and whenever they click anywhere on the site they should be greeted with more of your work. As for the illustration section in particular, the last few illustrations (from food fight on) look more like half-finished roughs than finished illustrations. Make sure that you're only showcasing the best of your work. Provide some context for each one, too - if it was classwork, what was the assignment? What parameters did you have to follow? If it was personal work, say that. Give each image some place. You misspelled San Francisco as "San Franciso" in every image title. As far as networking, I have less specific advice, I'm afraid. Keep putting yourself out there, and if you don't have any paid projects, do one for yourself. Pick an article and do an illustration for it, redesign a character for a game, basically do personal projects where you act like you're getting paid and keep putting yourself out there.
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Feb 7, 2012 20:36
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gmc9987 posted:Talking about your portfolio site here: make sure that whenever I click on anything, I'm greeted with images. It's super annoying to click on a section, only to be greeted with an empty box saying "click here for images." I already clicked on something for images, don't make me click twice to get to the pictures. Speaking of the thumbnails, I HATE when I'm given a thumbnail image that is so small and cropped that I can't even tell what the full image is. I see your point about the sections not having images at the outset, for sure. I don't remember why I decided to do that. It's probably time to redesign this entire thing and do some culling of old artwork. As far as doing projects for myself is concerned, I am understanding that more as I read through the thread. I was afraid that making up projects for myself wouldn't "count" somehow, but I'm seeing that a lot of people in my position need to do that, because otherwise they'd end up with a portfolio site that is as out of date as mine is. The misspelling of 'San Francisco', I don't even know. I probably just made a typo once and then copy/pasted it without noticing, but out of everything else this mistake bothers me the most.  Thank you for the feedback! I'm going to start revamping the site as soon as I can.
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Feb 7, 2012 21:04
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So I finally got a job offer in my career. I'm starting as a Web production artist for an online cycle parts store. My main responsibility is managing and producing e-mail blasts for a list of around 400k subscribers, but the pay is a little less than I expected at 25k a year, which is about what I'm making now and doing OK with my bills. It's a lateral move financially, but a great first start career wise and better than working at my sportswear company making t-shirts. Question is do I have any room for negotiations? I was wanting something more around 27-28k. I'm not really sure how to approach as it was a pretty closed off letter basically saying "if you accept come in and we'll get your paperwork done." Oh and I'm in Kentucky. cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Feb 8, 2012 |
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Feb 8, 2012 00:20
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cheese eats mouse posted:So I finally got a job offer in my career. I'm starting as a Web production artist for an online cycle parts store. My main responsibility is managing and producing e-mail blasts for a list of around 400k subscribers, but the pay is a little less than I expected at 25k a year, which is about what I'm making now and doing OK with my bills. It's a lateral move financially, but a great first start career wise and better than working at my sportswear company making t-shirts. Do you have any argument for why you deserve more, based on experience or skills?
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Feb 10, 2012 01:19
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cheese eats mouse posted:So I finally got a job offer in my career. I'm starting as a Web production artist for an online cycle parts store. My main responsibility is managing and producing e-mail blasts for a list of around 400k subscribers, but the pay is a little less than I expected at 25k a year, which is about what I'm making now and doing OK with my bills. It's a lateral move financially, but a great first start career wise and better than working at my sportswear company making t-shirts. You get 25k for just e-mail blasts? That's not bad at all for something so simple. Unless you have previous work experience in the field or some skills they'd prefer for the position (PHP, MySQL, SEO, ASP, Java), I wouldn't start haggling right away. However, if you can improve yourself as a valuable asset during your work (learning new skills, presenting new projects, showing better results with your regular duties), you may be able to negotiate a higher salary. Try bargaining after 3-6 months, but ONLY if you're bringing new skills to the table that have brought results. If they don't see fit to raise your pay for improving the company and yourself as an employee, find the next best job listing and ditch.
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Feb 10, 2012 16:29
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^^^^ That's what my professor advised, but I sent an e-mail back asking to meet in person to discuss compensation so we are meeting on Monday. Disreputable Dog posted:Do you have any argument for why you deserve more, based on experience or skills? I have past internship experience of 6 months part-time and 6 months full-time along with Web and motion graphics freelancing for a marketing company. My skills run from Web coding, print design and production, animation, and video production, which is fairly relevant because they post how to and product reviews on YouTube. I bring a lot to the table they could potentially use and I would love to use those skills to help enhance their user experience. So yea I guess I just typed out my pitch for Monday. Btw I'll still take the job because it's a great place to start and the future boss and I got along great in the interview. cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Feb 10, 2012 |
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Feb 10, 2012 16:39
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The thing that us newbies always do is assume that the mere fact we have x months of experience is enough to impress. Sure graduating with 6months under your belt is inherently better than no months, but what is really going to count in a negotiation, I think, is what you tangibly did in those 6 months. Its the difference between listing "art skills" on your resume as opposed to listing it and also bringing in some drawings to show off. If your case is "I need more money because I didn't get fired at my internship for a whole six months! " then I'd consider bringing up what you did that made you awesome as an intern.
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Feb 10, 2012 17:39
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Also, and this sounds shallow as hell, try and make friends with your boss. Take interest in what he likes, have lunch with him regularly if possible, and try to make him a fan of your work if you think you can. I know this whole thing SHOULD be a meritocracy. But over the years I've found that what bosses want is someone who they and the team get along with first and someone who does the best job second. The ability to do good work is important, yes, but you'll find that with the boss's trust you not only get better pay but also more freedom to do things your own way, more room to grow within the company, and more wiggle room to take chances and fail. That last one being super important in creative work.
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Feb 11, 2012 00:51
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I am putting together a section online of my design work and I want to include my layout stuff. What's the best way to include layout in your portfolio? It's not Raygun-esque levels of creativity as much as it's just showing ability like artwork pinned to a refrigerator. Was thinking maybe the cover and a few sample pages.
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Feb 12, 2012 15:53
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OK so one of the studios I sent my animation reel to got back to me. Someone asked if I'd be available for an "informational interview." I had never heard this term before, but upon looking into it, it looks like a kind of thing which applicants request of employers, and not the other way around. Like, if you want to know more about a career or an employer, you might request an informational interview with that company. What does it mean for them to ask me to have one of these? Is it like a screening interview? What should I expect?
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Feb 14, 2012 20:21
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mutata posted:The thing that us newbies always do is assume that the mere fact we have x months of experience is enough to impress. Sure graduating with 6months under your belt is inherently better than no months, but what is really going to count in a negotiation, I think, is what you tangibly did in those 6 months. Its the difference between listing "art skills" on your resume as opposed to listing it and also bringing in some drawings to show off. Just wanted to follow-up and say I discussed everything with my future boss on Monday and was offered 28k with a 2k raise after a performance review. Turned in my two weeks today with my other job. 
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Feb 14, 2012 23:45
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Is there any reason to stick with an unpaid internship that seems like it might be less than great when you're already out of school? I was hoping I could get some good experience, but after two days of it I'm already feeling like it might actually be detrimental. It's a weird set up, and I feel like I'm about to spend the next few months driving 2 hours round trip and forking over $3 in tolls each day, 3 days a week for things I might not be all that proud to show off later, even if just by association. But considering I've had no success getting a full time (or part time...or temp...) design job since graduating in May, I don't want to walk away from this, so soon, with nothing to show for it. I think I was spoiled by my first internship while I was still in school, with a cushy hourly salary at an awesome corporation; I've almost come to accept that unpaid internships seem to be all anyone wants to offer young graphic designers, even though they're basically not legal... I'm just trying to figure out where to draw the line between getting experience and making myself miserable. Should I just keep applying to full time positions? Cut my losses and leave?
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Feb 17, 2012 01:07
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TigerRose posted:Is there any reason to stick with an unpaid internship that seems like it might be less than great when you're already out of school? I was hoping I could get some good experience, but after two days of it I'm already feeling like it might actually be detrimental. It's a weird set up, and I feel like I'm about to spend the next few months driving 2 hours round trip and forking over $3 in tolls each day, 3 days a week for things I might not be all that proud to show off later, even if just by association. But considering I've had no success getting a full time (or part time...or temp...) design job since graduating in May, I don't want to walk away from this, so soon, with nothing to show for it. Stick with the internship since you're only 2 days in. Find some freelance on the side so you can pay some bills or at least cover your cost. Concurrently, keep applying at other things. You will probably have to work multiple angles at once to get anywhere.
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Feb 17, 2012 06:20
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The point of an internship is to learn. That's why students do them. - How much is this company actively teaching you? ("Oh, you'll get great experience!" does not count, how much are they taking time out of their own work to teach you?) - Is it a for-profit company? - Are you being assigned creative work on jobs for paying clients? - Is the work you're doing work that a paid employee might otherwise do? - Are you doing other things around the office like making copies, filing paperwork, answering the phone, or other routine chores? If yes, then this is not an "internship." You are working for free. Just because someone calls something an "internship" doesn't make it so. Allowing a company to take your creative work for free for the distant and unenforceable promise that they might, may, maybe, someday pay you is really, really bad. You are cheapening the value of professional-level work, taking work from others and yourself who deserve to be paid for it. You are also sending this company the message that you will grovel and not demand what you are worth. How can you ever expect a company to respect you if you show them right off the bat that you're willing to give them your skilled labor for no money?!
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Feb 17, 2012 13:34
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I've accomplished getting a FT job before graduating... But... I'm basically creating the position (Comm/PR) as I go along. Is this normal? Has anyone else done this? Want to help? I asked a prof. to find someone for me but that hasn't happened (frustrating after I put in the effort in class to build respect, etc.) And, is it normal to get stuck with a bunch of management/leadership books? I'm weary of my boss thinking the answer to every problem is to read a book about it.
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Feb 17, 2012 13:51
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Whoops... I posted this in the work for hire thread when this thread has "full time job postings" right in its title. I fail at reading comprehension. Here it is again. --------------------- e: We hired someone, thanks for those who expressed an interest! kedo fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Feb 21, 2012 16:25
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So the career fair at my school is coming up. With my current portfolio and having taken no illustration classes at my school (been filling out the prereqs and exploring other majors), do I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting an illustration internship? Perhaps at a place like Wild Apple? Here's my portfolio, and here's my resume. Notice I have almost no digital art to show because I just got a tablet a week ago and am still learning, which worries me. I'm also not even an illustration major, so I'm afraid they'll think I won't take an internship seriously (I'm majoring in visual effects). My career advisor told me to go for it anyway, because internships are for learning, but honestly if I have little to no chance of getting a job then I don't want to stress out over preparing all my materials, and would rather just focus on schoolwork.
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Feb 21, 2012 20:59
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kedo posted:real edit: If you send us a resume in a .doc I will laugh at you. Why do people apply for design positions with terribly designed resumes... You will be surprised what I have seen as a resume in the past, such as someone scanning their handwritten resume (with doodles in the margins) and sending a JPG or sending a Publisher file. If it was not an entry level position I would jump at the chance in a heartbeat, good luck with the search!
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Feb 21, 2012 21:24
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In my opinion, your work so far doesn't show that much breadth. You are certainly developing the technical skills, and based on what I'm seeing, you'll pick up digital art in no time, but as far as subject matter, your work is incredibly boring. It looks like a lot of drawing and painting class projects. In other words, your portfolio is well designed and presented, but still looks like a bunch of early student work. That said, if these people are looking for student interns, I would say you have a chance of landing something, sure. On the other hand, if there are students around doing more creative side projects (character designs, story-based pieces, and building portfolios that show a larger range of styles and subjects) and not just still lifes, your portfolio looks less appealing. I'm a 3D artist, primarily, though, and I work in games, so wait for some other illustrators to chime in before putting the gun in your mouth, but that's the way I see it based on what I've seen in the illustration scene. https://instagram.com/mutatedjellyfish/
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Feb 21, 2012 21:27
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Saveron_01 posted:You will be surprised what I have seen as a resume in the past, such as someone scanning their handwritten resume (with doodles in the margins) and sending a JPG or sending a Publisher file. Oh god, Publisher files? No... noooooooo... why! 
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Feb 21, 2012 21:52
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mutata posted:In my opinion, your work so far doesn't show that much breadth. You are certainly developing the technical skills, and based on what I'm seeing, you'll pick up digital art in no time, but as far as subject matter, your work is incredibly boring. It looks like a lot of drawing and painting class projects. In other words, your portfolio is well designed and presented, but still looks like a bunch of early student work. Thanks! I've been worried about the lack of creativity too. I'm going to try to do some more illustrative stuff this week though, take out some still lives, and hopefully look more well-rounded.
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Feb 22, 2012 03:41
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Aizen posted:So the career fair at my school is coming up. With my current portfolio and having taken no illustration classes at my school (been filling out the prereqs and exploring other majors), do I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting an illustration internship? Perhaps at a place like Wild Apple? Here's my portfolio, and here's my resume. Notice I have almost no digital art to show because I just got a tablet a week ago and am still learning, which worries me. I'm also not even an illustration major, so I'm afraid they'll think I won't take an internship seriously (I'm majoring in visual effects). I went to your portfolio site and got a trojan warning from Kaspersky. Not a great first impression!
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Feb 22, 2012 12:28
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marshmallard posted:I went to your portfolio site and got a trojan warning from Kaspersky. Not a great first impression! Ahh crap... That's popped up before, I don't know how to get rid of it. I hope no future employer has Kaspersky :/ EDIT: Can you take a screenshot of what Kaspersky says and send it to me? My email is fyzeng@gmail.com. Thanks! Aizen fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Feb 24, 2012 |
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Feb 24, 2012 05:33
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Aizen posted:Ahh crap... That's popped up before, I don't know how to get rid of it. I hope no future employer has Kaspersky :/
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Feb 24, 2012 16:21
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Authentic You posted:Have you told your host about this? I had a portfolio site on my friend's shady server long ago, and it got compromised, and my browser was throwing up all sorts of warnings and Google flagged it as a malicious attack site, but because the server was shady, nothing got done no matter how much I whined to the server admin. Or is Kaspersky just being overzealous? No I haven't, I'll do that.
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Feb 26, 2012 06:38
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Kedo I would be interested in applying to your company. I am currently fine tuning my portfolio for hardcopy printing. I will be graduating this May. Would it be possible to contact you via email to show you my work possibly get some feedback before making an official resume/portfolio submission? Any tips you could pass along would be greatly appreciated. gocorb [at] gmail [dot] com
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Feb 26, 2012 19:32
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So..I'm thinking about changing careers entirely to a Graphic Design direction. I'm currently 24 years old, and work at a rather boring/infuriating hamster wheel of a job at a rather prominent Silicon Valley company. I graduated from Cornell with a degree in Government, and have a pretty decent GPA. However, I've been taking design/drawing classes at UC Berkeley extension in my spare time, and am really hoping to take the plunge soon. I have a smallish portfolio (well, I haven't assembled one yet), most of my work being apparel design for products at my company, but I'm also getting involved in a Bike To Work Day campaign where I'll be designing the logo and posters as well. I also designed my wedding invitations and wedding site, and have accrued a collection of drawings that are pretty decent. I haven't created an online portfolio yet, but my knowledge of web design is limited to arranging this nicely via Google Sites. This isn't ideal, but would an online portfolio using Google Sites be frowned upon as too junior? Also, what should I include? All of my software work is in Illustrator, and I'm starting to take up Photoshop as well. In order to get into the field, what's the best way of going about it for a person in my situation? Should I consider going back for a BFA at a well known design school? Or will a Certificate be enough? Alternatively, if I take enough classes to have a really good portfolio, will that suffice as well? Sorry if I seem a bit scattered - I'm still somewhat conflicted about entering the field, since half of the designers I meet say: "WTF, you work at [insert Silicon Valley prominent company], why would you leave?" and the other half says: "Go for it!". Any and all advice is greatly appreciated though!
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Feb 27, 2012 19:45
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As far as education is concerned, you don't really need a BFA to get work. In this industry your portfolio and experience (if you wish to get into an agency especially) is king, not necessarily education. However, if you actually really want to get into this and get far in a relatively quick amount of time, getting a proper degree is fantastic because it would immerse you into the world of design and really encourage you to expand your knowledge. But! That's only if you actually apply yourself to it, make sure you get internships, network with people, etc. It's a big commitment. If you don't have the ability to do a degree, then there is an alternative: just do design work as you seem to have been doing, and also explore as much of design as possible - do personal projects, try new things, be ambitious, etc. Eventually the more you do it, the more you get noticed and the more work you'd be doing. It's a slower way to go about it, but it would probably be less pressure.
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Feb 27, 2012 21:31
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MabinaBox posted:So..I'm thinking about changing careers entirely to a Graphic Design direction. I'm currently 24 years old, and work at a rather boring/infuriating hamster wheel of a job at a rather prominent Silicon Valley company. I graduated from Cornell with a degree in Government, and have a pretty decent GPA. However, I've been taking design/drawing classes at UC Berkeley extension in my spare time, and am really hoping to take the plunge soon. First thing I would do is assemble your online portfolio. I'd recommend looking up how to form a Wordpress site. It's fairly easy and is considered quite professional. Second step would be to survey the industry. If you have friends in the industry, ask them about graphic design and get an idea of how they got into the industry. If you don't, try making some by attending Adobe user group meetings and other industry events. Don't be shy about attending. My After Effects user group is full of all kinds of different people from students to industry professionals to those just interested in breaking in. Nobody is looked down upon. The third step is up to you. You'll have to decide if you have what it takes to get into the industry on your own or pursue college. I will say that if you have the time and the money, college can be a great way to gain exposure and notoriety in the industry (IF you take advantage of all that your school has to offer). Either way, you're going to have to do a whole lot of learning even after you've landed that dream job. The Adobe Creative Suite and tutorial books would be a wise investment. I'd complete the first two steps before you make the big leap for college. Once you have a better understanding of how the industry works, you'll be able to make an informed decision about heading into your desired field.
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Feb 27, 2012 21:32
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Yo creative goons, I need your advice! Now before I get lamblasted because of doing a shirt company on the side, I know what I am up against, pitfalls, all that crap. However my issue is my business partner. We both want to have our own shirt company and later have a clothing line. I came up with a great character to use and logo font, that from feedback from a pool of ~100 people, they all would buy it. The problem is my partner wants to incorporate a P90 gun on the shirts and our shipping boxes will be gun crates with fake straw and all that. I am really opposed to creating shirts with a P90 gun on them, just for the fact that you don't see alot of big selling clothes with guns on them. Maybe I'm out of the loop here, but I think it's a terrible idea and cannot in anyway convince my business partner to drop it. He also wants to use P90 in the name of the brand. Heaven forbid people draw comparisions with P90X. We are going to be using our own money for the shirts and got a great deal on the prints thanks to a family member working for a printing company. With all that being said, anyone have any advice? And possibly any advice on selling shirts?
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Feb 28, 2012 00:57
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FrostedButts posted:First thing I would do is assemble your online portfolio. I'd recommend looking up how to form a Wordpress site. It's fairly easy and is considered quite professional. Thank you so much. :-) I'll go ahead and assemble things now on Wordpress!
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Feb 28, 2012 02:59
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Yinzer posted:Yo creative goons, I need your advice! From a purely brand and strategic position, it really depends on the style of the shirts and the unique selling point. Your business plan should have a target audience, and as a lifestyle brand you should have a very strong understanding of your target audience. Does that language resonate with them? I'm getting the impression that it doesn't. So right off the bat you're weakening your brand and your strategic positioning in a cluttered market where a strong Unique Selling Point is critical to success. Secondly, what conceptually does the gun have to do with the brand? Probably very little. So from a communications and conceptual standpoint there is very little to merit it. However, this kind of thing is incredibly common in small business and startups. "I want the cat because I want it and it's my business." "You build saunas." From a professionalism level, if it doesn't add conceptually to the brand, speak to the target audience, re-enforce the product or the USP, then it should probably go. It's unprofessional. the idea of "no one is using them" is the concept of a "zag", or "do the opposite of what's being done". But that only holds true when you've done a deep ethnographic study on the trends within the sphere, and I don't get the feeling you've done a thorough analysis of the competition. It sounds like an add-on, or an adornment, and not a true brand decision on differentiation. Tshirt companies may not be using a gun, but they might also not be using a flaming anus or a swastika, and that doesn't make any of the above 3 choices valid. From an intellectual property standpoint, P90 and P90X are used quite heavily in various electronics and equipment genres, as well as any ownership over the name or concept of the gun (or workout regime, i guess, for P90X?) might put you in a legal gray water, considering naming and patents, which should go through a lawyer who will do an official name and trademark search (hint: should do this for any name you decide on). Based on the amount of things that use the moniker P90, and the fact that you're depicting the industrial design of another corporation on your brand... Yeah -- I would make sure you have cleared all of that with a lawyer. You'd be hard-run to get any unique google standing on either of those. So the SEO is a challenge. you'll be up against Nikon, Call of Duty, Gibson Guitars, the health & fitness industry, amongst others. Do you really, genuinely believe that you can out-PR these deep pockets? Unless the "P90" crowd is going to be buying the shirts (the gun-wielding white male guitar player 18-35 with a fireplace and an xtremeeeeeee workout regime), you're really damning your chances in a market where you've got to be executing your marketing flawlessly; if you seem fake and cheezy and scattered, that doesn't bode well for trendsetting tshirts. If it's any consolation, this is a common story for small businesses and startups. You need to step back from the personal "this is cool" and handle your brand and your image with surgical precision, not grimy "gimmie shinies" toddler hands. it's business, not your weekend hobby. Disreputable Dog fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Feb 28, 2012 |
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Feb 28, 2012 06:48
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Yinzer posted:I am really opposed to creating shirts with a P90 gun on them, just for the fact that you don't see alot of big selling clothes with guns on them. Maybe I'm out of the loop here, but I think it's a terrible idea and cannot in anyway convince my business partner to drop it. He also wants to use P90 in the name of the brand. Heaven forbid people draw comparisions with P90X. I believe P90 and it's design is a trademark for Fabrique Nationale company and may cause some legal trouble. If you've played Counter-Strike or Goldeneye, they don't call the P90 gun in those games the P90 because of legal issues and don't have the money to get it licensed. It's use in the Modern Warfare series is likely that EA has deep pockets as well and got the names cleared from FN. While you could use the design or the name separately, using them both may bring down legal trouble from FN Herstal or, more likely, FN Herstal USA. Especially if you're selling them. That's what I would give him as an excuse.
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Feb 28, 2012 15:12
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MabinaBox posted:Thank you so much. :-) I'll go ahead and assemble things now on Wordpress! You really should learn HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP. It will make your job hunt way easier if you learn how to design and code for the Web well. Everyone I've talked to in pure print is trying to get out of it because of how quickly it is dying. It sucks, and I love print, but that's the way things are going now.
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Feb 28, 2012 15:47
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cheese eats mouse posted:It sucks, and I love print, but that's the way things are going now. Yes, this. More and more, print design is becoming a specialized service delivered only as an offshoot of web work. You should definitely take the time to learn InDesign and the like, but learning the languages cheese eats mouse mentioned is imperative.
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Feb 28, 2012 17:31
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