Twitter dropped out their Twitter for Business 101 guide which is pretty helpful for people who don’t know much about how Twitter can help them out.

Take a peek. If nothing else, the design is pretty.

If you are looking for some additional strategy utilizing social media, contact us, Bright Bright Great can help your company jump right in.

Posted by: Jason Schwartz
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Tags: twitter

Posted on www.lorrainedesign.com 8/18

You’ve said that design is more than a 9-5 job and more than making things “look pretty.” Describe your design philosophy.

Design is my lifestyle.

Functionally, graphic design cannot end at “making something pretty.” Think of all the way-finding projects and consumer packaging fiascoes that would go down if the end goal was just to be pretty and not functional. Design fundamentally is set to solve problems. Taking a totally unusable website with an awful user experience and throwing a pretty shell on it won’t actually solve the problem that it is unusable.

Good design solves problems. That being said, bad design creates problems.

I come from an industrial design background, so I approach all my projects as product design first long before getting into the aesthetics. I focus on usability and consumer experience. I also spend a good deal of time solving technical issues on paper long before ever putting a pixel on the screen. My sketchbook is a very valuable component to my design bag of tricks.

Beyond my 9-5 job, design encompasses a lot of where I spend my time. I am constantly looking for design inspirations, spending time working on additional creative projects as well as hanging out with designers talking shop. Design to me isn’t my job, it’s something that I like to be involved with.

With having a full-time job, how do you find the creative energy to keep designing on your own time?

I just try to focus on projects that allow me to continue to grow creatively. For me, my creative energy is more than how much I can at Bright Bright Great, or between 9-5. At night and on the weekends (basically anytime I’m not at my work desk), I spend a lot of effort working to building brands, and marketing projects that I’ve already established. However, that being said… sometimes I just need to drop a mixtape, or throw some desktop wallpaper out on my Twitter.

Outside of Bright Bright Great, I try to get involved with a lot of non-traditional design projects, or experiences. A few months ago, I had the chance to participate with a Nickelodeon illustrator named Ana Benaroya in a Coudal Partners Layer Tennis match. This was probably the most draining creative experience I’ve had in a while, but super fun and totally worth it. If you aren’t familiar with Layer Tennis, the premise is similar to actual tennis. One person starts designing a comp, which is passed to an opponent every 15 minutes until 10 “volleys” have occurred. It was seriously fun, but after my last volley I wanted to pass out. I was sweaty, my hands hurt, it was like I just ran a marathon.

Stressful or not, the entire experience was great and actually gave me some insights into my own design strategies because I got to see them under a microscope. It gave my friends and family an opportunity to see me creatively compete.

I also just had the opportunity to volunteer with Firebelly Design in Chicago for their yearly Camp Firebelly. (If you don’t know what it is, you should definitely read about it. I get seriously pumped when I hear about non-traditional creative opportunities like this. I heard about the camp last year and although it turned out I was a little bit old to apply as a “camper,” I immediately volunteered my time to help out as a working professional. The camp was absolutely refreshing and an opportunity for me to get out of my normal box and work on something totally different with an entirely new team. Stuff like this keeps me on my toes.

Where do you find inspiration?

Everywhere. 24 hours a day. Every place I go.

Sometimes when I’m walking down the street, I will stare at a billboard for 10 straight minutes because it is really nicely done. To people passing by, I must look entranced or something, but I am fully appreciating the billboard. It really pissed car dealers off when I go into their dealerships just to take the printed materials. Ha, yeah they don’t like that. I don’t even try to hide it anymore, I just walk in and say, “can I take this?” and walk out.

It is really important to start to recognize what inspires you because there is a lot of information out there. You just need to know where to look.

Also, Jason Schwartz Talks Design With AIGA KC

Posted by: Jason Schwartz
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Reposted from “A Discussion With Jason Schwartz”
Written By Lorraine Reinsch for AIGA KC
Posted here: http://kansascity.aiga.org/discussion/2009/08/a_discussion_wi_3.cfm

A Discussion with Jason Schwartz
This post is a part of our weekly series of articles and interviews focusing on current issues in today’s design industry. Be sure to check back often or subscribe to our RSS feed to the right so you can read the latest from our chapter.

I had the chance to meet and work with Jason Schwartz during my week at Camp Firebelly where Jason was assisting the web design team. Afterwards, I was able to sit down with him for an interview. Born and raised in Chicago, Jason is currently working in Chicago with his design agency Bright Bright Great. Jason received his MFA in Industrial Design with a focus (and thesis) in design education from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He currently designs for Bright Bright Great, acts as a design/user experience resource for a Chicago based Inc500 software company, as well as is working on multiple mobile application start-ups.

How has your background in industrial design influenced your approach to design?

I am actually pretty glad that I started out in industrial design before moving towards graphic design. Having formal industrial design training taught me to approach projects as a product designer first: addressing functional, user experience and usability requirements and before jumping into my graphics mindset.

All design, whether it be industrial or graphic has similar objectives. I bring my same bag of tricks to the table no matter what type of project I am involved in. Starting in industrial and moving into graphic was a very seamless and natural progression for me. I still like making “products,” they just happen to be mostly digital and print, but at the end of the day it still has to be a successful and usable end-product to be a success.

I appreciate my time in industrial design getting my hands dirty making 3-D models and pulling all nighters in the spray booth. I’m sure if I had completed my education in graphic design it would have been the same all nighters, just in a different room.

You have an interesting story in going from being rejected from jobs straight out of school to becoming the head of a creative department — can you share your story?

True. My break into design was crazy.

Looking back at the misadventures, I’m actually surprised that I made it this far thinking about how rough the barrier to entry was. Writing this all out on paper makes me laugh.

As I was about to finish up my undergraduate studies at University of Illinois, I was offered an opportunity to interview for my first internship. The night before, I woke up in the middle of the night, slipped on the bathroom tile and ended up breaking my nose. I missed the interview and instead I was at the hospital getting stitches on my face. I didn’t have the chance to notify the guy, and it looked like I blew him off. I called later in the day, but it was too late: he never gave me another chance.

Shortly after graduation, I had my second interview. I took the train with a paper portfolio and right before the interview, the sky opened up with ungodly rain storms and drenched me and my work. By the time I reached the studio, my portfolio had literally melted. All that was left was ink smeared from cover to cover. It was very beautiful in an abstract watercolor way, but needless to say no portfolio, no job.

I did receive my first actual “design-related” job offer, which was an opportunity to sweep a local design firm’s model shop. I declined and saw all of these experiences as a wake-up call. Instead of breaking me down, they made me stronger and more determined to get my first break.

After trying for 6 months, I still didn’t have a full time gig. Instead of getting frustrated, I started to immerse myself in design projects to grow my skills. I became a design sponge, getting involved with as many projects and people as I could and took on all sorts of random projects to grow. I made a website for a dental company, did some logo work for companies around Chicago, and started some of my own social projects, that allowed me to continue to build skills and stay fresh. My first personal project was called Mixfriends and was a worldwide themed CD swap. I was able to create album artwork monthly for mixtapes. I still occasionally drop mixtapes through Bright Bright Great. If you import all the mixtapes into iTunes and scroll through the covers numerically, you can literally see my design style evolve over the last 7-10 years.

It took awhile, but I nailed something down working as the sole-creative at a Chicago-area technology start-up. It was a great opportunity to learn about how design really fits into a business and as the only designer I got thrown right into the mix. I spent two years there, but felt that I outgrew my position and was hungry for bigger creative collaboration and the ability to work with a large creative team.

In 2005, I accepted a position at an Inc500 Chicago-based software company working as the web and interface designer. I worked extremely hard from the ground up taking the company’s design identity to where it needed to be. I set our design standards, unified the brand, while at the same time provided all of the marketing materials and built out our creative staff. I worked my way to Creative Director overseeing the entire Creative Services team of copywriters, designers, coders, and project managers.

There’s always bigger and better projects to get involved in. I still want to grow Bright Bright Great as well as move into new creative areas. I think the app game is super hot and want to start developing for mobile as well.

What advice can you give new graduates from your experiences?

Bring the passion.
Design is not “just a job.”

Be proactive. Continue to build up your skills, portfolio and online presence immediately. There are a million ways to get yourself onto the web and get noticed, even if you can’t write HTML. Behance.net is a great resource. Core77 and AIGA (obviously ) have sites to post work and search for jobs. Cargo Collective just dropped Cargo, which is a super awesome and customizable WYSIWYG portfolio. Start writing a design blog. Join Meetup groups. Get involved with the community and meet people. Jobs (and friends) will follow. Follow your favorite designers on Twitter and when they discuss things you are interested in, tweet at them.

Designers must have their work out there for people to see. Your website is like a gigantic awesome business card, so if you don’t have anything online, it’s like you are anonymous. Yes, this goes for print designers too. That being said, try to make sure that what you do have online is impressive.

Additionally, I do have one piece of major hardcore advice. Whatever you put online, or in your portfolio, make your work memorable. When companies review your work, they are in the process of reviewing dozens of portfolios in a row and you have about 10 seconds to make an good impression and make them want to call you.

Come right out the gate with something awesome.

What are some of the mistakes job applicants should avoid?

Great question and I think the answer will surprise you.

Spend the time each and every time you apply to show the potential company why you want the job.

I recently posted a job posting for a graphic designer on Craigslist and got 150 responses in just under 3 hours. You would be surprised out of those 150, how many applicants were instantly weeded out for various “technical difficulties.”

Only a small handful (maybe 25%) submitted appropriate and complete resumes, lightweight organized portfolios (or links to their sites) and professional contact information. No offense, but SexyChick18@email.com just doesn’t cut it anymore. (Sorry to the actual SexyChick18, I just needed an example.) Move away from AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo.

Art Directors, designers and HR departments see a LOT of work. Whatever format you do use is fine (PDF, link to website, etc.) as long as the work is easy to open and review. Enormous file sizes make it really hard and it just becomes a crazy hassle to spend the time opening the work. Your portfolio shouldn’t crash my computer. Don’t send an email with 20 attachments (I look at the first attachment and if it isn’t a great example of design, I move on). Turn those individual samples into a PDF, something super easy in InDesign. Also, and like I said, you would be shocked if you knew how many people do this, if you are applying for a web designer position, PLEASE include samples of online work that you have completed. Don’t only include print samples.

Canned portfolios really bother me. By “canned” I mean portfolios that are batch sent to every posting on Craigslist. It’s really easy to tell these apart. Please spend the time and at least show me that you looked at my company’s work and explain why you want to work here.

All this and we still haven’t even taken into consideration whether or not the person is a good designer. That will ultimately be the reason you get the job, but don’t get disqualified early on a technicality. You at least want to have the opportunity to have your work presented in all its glory.

Things are also a little bit different now than it was when I first started applying. There are some really great new ways to interact with potential companies. Find companies you want to work for on Facebook and see what their designers are talking about. I’m on at www.facebook.com/jasonschwartz. Bright Bright Great also has a company page. Find people on Twitter. I tweet all day about design articles and occasionally throw out design goodies at www.twitter.com/jaycrimes and www.twitter.com/bbgchicago. I try to respond to every tweet that comes in to us whether I know the person or not.

Embrace social media. It’s a great way to approach potential companies from a non-threatening stance and will allow you to get acquainted with them without shooting over a blind application. Even if there isn’t a job opening yet, but who knows in the future. Friend me, I always like to see who’s out there.

You can view all of Bright Bright Great’s social media here.

Posted by: Jason Schwartz
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