Author: Brian

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The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success

AIGA Idaho’s next event is coming up on Thursday, April 15th.  This event is titled The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success and presented by Jeff Fisher.  From the event’s listing on the AIGA Idaho site:

The Savvy Designer

Jeff Fisher’s presentation will keep you moving toward the career track you want. You’ll learn to:

  • Market yourself and your business more effectively
  • Set pricing and master the all-important art of client communication
  • Choose a career path that will balance happiness and financial success
  • Improve your professional image and bounce back from mistakes
  • Putting yourself “out there” with books, articles and speaking engagements

“The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success” is a practical — and sometimes daring — guide to turning your creative talent into a flourishing career in the competitive, ever-changing world of graphic design. Come prepared with your career questions for this 32-year design industry veteran.

The event will be held at The Watercooler in Boise, and is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.

Cost is $15 for AIGA members, $25 for non-members, and $10 for students.

More details and how to register can be found on the AIGA Idaho site.

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Client-Side Job Opening: Business Development Coordinator / Graphic Designer

POWER Engineers has an opening in their Boise office for a Business Development Coordinator / Graphic Designer.  From the job description:

Seeking a Business Development Coordinator/Graphic Designer to work in our Boise/Meridian, Idaho office. This person will be responsible for layout and design of brochures, advertisements, presentations, newsletters, postcards, posters and other visual communication materials as well as for copywriting and content development for brochures, newsletters, press releases and trade press articles. Must have excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills. Must be proficient in graphic design and be familiar with the latest design and photo editing software. Should be familiar with working in a creative role in a corporate environment. Must be able to work alone or in a team, be detail-oriented, and enjoy a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Required: Bachelor’s degree with preference to majors in Graphic Design, Journalism, English, or Communications.

More information and how to apply can be found on the POWER Engineers site.

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Ignite Boise | 04

Ignite Boise |04You’ve heard about it before.  Perhaps you’ve even been to a past event.  Well now it’s time to do it again.

Ignite Boise | 04 is coming up on Thursday, April 22nd at the Egyptian Theatre in Boise.  For ticket holders the doors open at 6:00 p.m. — at 6:30 they open to the general public.  Show starts at 7:00.

As always, admission is free, but your best chance of ensuring that you’re able to take it all in is to get tickets.  Which, by the way, are available today at 9:00 a.m.

See the Ignite Boise website for more details on the speaker lineups, their topics, and videos from past events.

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Media Job Openings at Journal Broadcast Group

Journal Broadcast Group has two job openings in Nampa:

Traffic Assistant for KIVI-TV

Traffic Manager, TV and Radio

More details about both positions can be found in their respective job postings.

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We Don’t Need Better Creative

Yes, you read that right.  We don’t need better creative.  We’ve got enough good creative.

What we need is better work…

Let’s face it — in varying degrees (and the peanut gallery can argue about this all day long), everyone does good creative.  And yes, some even do great creative.  But the fact remains that good creative alone will not solve a client’s problems or meet their needs.

When was the last time a client came to you and said “I want an ad, a website, a brochure, a [fill in the blank]” without an accompanying “because…”?  Client’s don’t want or need marketing and advertising just to have — just to sit back and admire.  They want and need it to meet specific needs, address business challenges or solve problems.  Creative alone (usually) does not solve those problems.

Creative, combined with a smart strategy?  Now we’re getting somewhere.

A solid understanding of your customer? Your target audience?  Well defined goals and objectives?  These things are not optional.  They’re the roadmap that guides everything.  They’re what allows good creative (and yes, even great creative) to become effective creative.  The work that moves the needle.  The right combination of message and medium.  Copy that’s written for a specific purpose to a specific audience, not simply because it might be witty or clever.

Good creative doesn’t make up for bad placement.  A killer creative idea is only that if there’s a purpose to it — something that generates that spark in the client’s mind, and more importantly — in their customer’s mind.  That’s when the real magic happens.

Yes, this could go on and on and on.  But the fact remains — we don’t need better creative.  We shouldn’t try to force an idea or a concept.  We need better planning and strategy.  That’s what gives guidance.  It gives the creative a purpose.  That’s what creates action beyond an ad, a website, a concept or idea.

That’s what makes for better work.  That’s what moves the needle.

And that’s my challenge to you.  What can you do to move the needle?