What's A Professional?
Take These TWO Tests—
Reveal Your Personality Type & Weak Areas. During a fly by the seat of my pants phase, I moved from Ohio to Texas.I like a change now and then. I was on a bus exploring and the inevitable call from the big city bus driver was urgent, “Move to the back of the bus please. Make room for more passengers!” There it was, my personal boulder, one 4-foot Black lady stood between me and compliance with a request to move to the back of the bus; I understood she didn’t want to go to the back of the bus; I knew the implication. But certainly I could go to the back of the bus. “Excuse me, I need to move to the back of the bus.” She ignored me. “PLEASE move to the back of the bus; MAKE ROOM for more passengers!” shouted the bus driver. “Okay, lady, I gotta move to the back. Excuse me,” I apologized as I was pushed past her by the enthralling crowd moving like toothpaste through a tube. She pointed her finger in my face and said “You Mexicans, you come here and think you own the place. Why don’t you go back where you came from?” Yes, things are different in the south and this little pink caucazoid girl from the north experienced it first hand.
Labels are pretty much a bad thing when it comes to people. As complex as they are, the interaction between experience and education coupled with family dysfunction and inherited mental illness make for an unpredicatable mix (I think everybody’s a nut, they just haven’t discovered it yet). But one label we all want in business is professional which sums up a certain set of standards that separate us from amateurs and reassures clients they will get what they pay for. What makes a professional in design besides a rigorous design education, computer proficiency, and a good aesthetic sense? The world of big business requires more; here are a few of the requirements I’ve found helpful and hope you will, too.
We’ve all heard of the pharmacists who refuse to fill certain prescriptions based on personal convictions. Whether you think it’s noble or nonsense, it certainly isn’t good business. Does the sign say “prescriptions filled but only for those whose politics we agree with”—probably not. It is highly unprofessional to impose personal feelings on customers of any industry. This is the first rule of professionalism: Never let your personal feelings interfere with your work. Don’t use your work as a platform for your politics. Customers who engage in commerce should not have a successful transaction depend on a merchant validation of their politics. In North Korea, extra rations of food are distributed to those who support the current regime. Sounds like extortion, doesn’t it?
Even though you may sit at your computer in your jim-jams (jammies for those of you stateside), it shouldn’t prevent you from delivering the same professional level of service dished out at any Madison Avenue ad agency by a guy in a suit.
1. Don’t discriminate. Provide the same excellent service to everyone, whether you enjoy working with them or not. Let your work speak eloquently about your professionalism.
2. Honor your peers rights; including copyrights and patents.
3. Give credit where credit is due; especially for intellectual property.
4. Respect everyone’s privacy and confidentiality; don’t gossip.
5. Do the best job you possibly can; on everything you produce. And meet all those deadlines no matter how much sleep you lose.
6. Maintain your professional credentials; keep extending your education, even if it’s just by reading up on something new.
7. Know the laws governing the design field; a good place to start is with the Graphic Artist’s Guild.
8. Manage change with grace; be flexible. Change is inevitable, so have an escape plan that includes an updated CV.
9. Don’t take interpersonal relationships for granted. Like plants, even in business they take nurturing and attention.
10. Be open minded to new ideas; consider new paths of creativity and new ways of looking at life.
11. Manage your time effectively; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Time is the coin of your life. Spend it like you mean it.
12. Learn to network; go to the local art director’s club and meet your peers or join an internet group so you have a support system when facing the unknown or unexpected.
13. Improve your communication skills. Learn to speak in complete sentences and remember the goal is communication—if the person you’re speaking with doesn’t understand, do what is necessary to make sure they get the message. That may mean changing your verbiage or delivery methods. Don’t talk hip-hop to a Vatican Nun. She just won’t get it.
And put some clothes on; it's a bad idea to entertain clients in your underwear. Got personal issues that prevent you from breaking free from interferring behaviors you’d like to change? Take the SWOT Analysis and label areas you’d like to improve like leadership skills, problem solving or time and stress management.* Do you know your type? The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tells you whether or not you are management material or if you should just learn to like that production job.
*Keep in mind the Forer Effect, though, since a lot of tests are only as accurate as the daily horoscope in your local newspaper—they are broadly written to apply to more than just a few!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are 4 POD cartoons available on my website; one is for cat lovers, one laughs at Congressional ties, one is about Bin Laden's accomodations at the Hard Rock Cave and the last is an oldie but goodie: Melon at the Plaza in NYC. Take a moment and laugh a little.
Thinking of freelancing for a living? Tired of doing the boss' castoffs? Better get some good advice on how to protect yourself from those who would rape and plunder your creative talents. Look for more stories and adventures in advertising design in my book Start and Run a Creative Services Business. It's filled with great links and a full spectrum of experiences. Not an artist? You'll be in stitches as you follow the pitfalls and adventures of self-employment. And if you've been freelancing for a while, you'll find new information and a trustworthy mentor to stand by your side through thick and thin in Start and Run a Creative Services Business. Excerpts are available online at my website.
I'll take numbers 2, 3 and 4 for a thousand, Susan. All in all, great set of rules but I'll skip the tests. I already know too much about me (including those necessary improvement areas).
I tried going to your web site at http://www.skirkland.com and I'm getting a 404 Error message, page not found. I would still like to see your POD cartoons.
Rain
SDK responds: The correct web address includes a d for Dolores—it's sdkirkland.
Mmm... I'm a self-taught graphic designer and I now teach design and write about it professionally, so the bit about the design education isn't strictly true, is it? ;-)
I'd agree about education in general - you can tell an ignorant designer from an educated one. But no amount of design education will ever make up for a lack of general knowledge. You soon get found out.
I doubt I'm the only self-taught designer out there...
As for the 'politics' thing - I advise the opposite, and it has long been the aim of many designers (need I mention the First Things First manifesto?) Would you really design a recruitment poster for a third world sweat shop? Thought not...
It's not unprofessional to turn down a job - they can always go somewhere else and you can at least be polite about it. It might be unprofessional to rant at them, or to do the job but only half-heartedly (or do it but hide a 'message' in there).
But I'd put being unethical and betraying your conscience above being unprofessional in the list of sins that won't get you past the pearly gates.
SDK responds: You're right. It's not unprofessional to turn down a job, but it is unprofessional to use the guise of services as an opportunity to act as judge and jury on another person's politics. You presume a great deal; the phrase "a rigorous design education" does not exclude self education. Your chip is showing, honey.