Or why I tend to think that finding myself a job name  will become more and more difficult.

I haven’t been talking about my job that much over here in the past few months. Probably because ther’s a huge gap between what I prone as a designer, and the reality of my actual job. But as time passes by, I find myself  wondering more and more about that position. Not in term of company, but more on a real “designy designer” side.

I’ve been asked several time this curious things lately: “What’s your job again?

To which I happily answered: “I’m an interactive art director”. An answer that doesn’t gave much information about what I really did as a job, but what I thought was a quick way to elude an akward conversation.

To my embrassment, many people just let the conversation go through with a blank stare, and a slight “errr… what does that mean? What do you really do?”. Which is the point I really didn’t wanted to get to. Because, unfortunately, my answer to that question is so confuse and huge, it seems I have no idea of what my job is myself.

As for many designers, I do much more than just plain old graphic design. Being multi-function today is a gift that can assure you a job everywhere. And if usually, designers choose the way of the motion design, 3D modeling or web development… I chose  the way of the digital planning, copywriting (in french, of course), UX design and usability. Trying to focus my work on research and design thinking to nurture it and be sure it goes beyond my clients expectations in terms of design strategy. And I first, I thought it was good.

During the past 3 years, I’ve built method and processes, wrote more than a dozen of web strategy counselling guides for various clients – from huge banks to pharmaceutical laboratories, going through child television channels. Sometimes ending with an actual design product, sometimes not. And somehow, I made less and less actual graphic design work or art direction as I knew the term before. I did “stuff”. Stuff that bringed money back to the company, but stuff I was not supposed to do. At least, stuff clients didn’t think I was doing because that was not a designer’s job.

Hence the blank stare when I give my answer to people, even those familiar with the field. Because my job ’s name has little to do with what I do. Let’s say the art went the way of the dodos.

I still am an interactive designer of some sort – I’m designing global interactive experiences, from brand strategy to the latest little facebook share button. I don’t mind that no one can stick a label on my position (there’s really no french word for that job) in the end. What freaks me out is that I feel that I’m not alone in this. More and more creative people are getting through this “creative-planners-kindastuff” or “global UX design” thing right now. The job just doesn’t exist officially yet over here.

Maybe my reader from the US or other more “on time” countries will gladly enlighten me about a proper name, already used across the sea. Because for now, my resume sticks with an akward glitch on it. Any ideas please ?

Because nobody is perfect.

Job interviews are the kind of moments you’d like to avoid more than anything else. Especially since you have to show your creative portfolio, and talk about you and your work : doing it in private is often like a second nature. Doing it in front of someone that can give you a job is like falling from a cliff. Here are 10 commons mistakes I usually notice when I conduct interviews.

1. Not to be polite. That could seem a bit awkward at first, but people do not always say hello. If you are to work with a team, be sure to be nice with them from the start, right.

2. Wear ugly clothes. Okay, that shouldn’t really matter. But I really like when people dress themselves up, I feel like they really take it seriously.

3. Have a crappy portfolio. Even if the work inside is not so nice, it’s great to see an original presentation. I’m not a fan of the traditional black case with plastic wraps myself; I much more prefer something that I can touch, look, pass around and play with. Preferably good sized format. Remember that you often get interviewed by several persons at a time : have something that can be shown easily. Like several prints. And don’t forget to give something that can be keep, like a CD, a little book, a poster. Memories can disappear right awy. A nice goodie can stay for years.

4. Try to justify everything. “The printer did a poor job” or “The client made me do this this way”. If you are not satisfied with something, don’t show it. We all know that sometimes, shit happens, but shit doesn’t need to appear on this very moment.

5. Forget to be humble. Even if you’re the greatest designer on earth, we don’t care. Because the personn in front of you probably thinks that she/he IS the best designer on earth.
Be humble, show your will to be part of a team, and not to be god. It helps.

6. Show only commercial productions. People are curious of you as an individual. That’s nice to see your inner-self with personal works. Don’t hesitate to show every medium you like to use — photos, drawings, collage… They all express your creativity. Kepp the balance equal not to look like an amateur, though. 

7. Show and don’t explain. We need some background to fully understand your work. Be clear and concise. Be proud and passionate: if you’ve cleaned your book right enough, you should just love what you show.

8. Talk about how much you’d like to feel free in your creativity. We all want that. But, really, telling an agency that you feel it’s the place where you will express all your personal desires is not a good idea. A. you look naive. B.Its a big lie and even if they pretend to say that’s true, you’ll be disappointed at last. 

9. Lie about your abilities. If you don’t know something, tell it. And also tell how much you’d like to learn. Because being forced to learn something in 3 days before starting a new job never helped anyone. (Or shouldn’t have!)

10. Ask too much money. Know your field, and be aware of the market. You’ll look like a fool and, one more, you’ll be disappointed. 

I love to interview people. It’s such a pleasure to meet people that are passionate about what they do… So don’t be afraid, smile, and remember that the person in front of you has probably passed this moment as well.