Unless you’re interviewing with a teensy design studio, chances are good you’ll meet with more than one person. At the very least, you should know your interviewers’ names and titles before you show up. If the hiring manager doesn’t give you this information, simply ask for it: “I’d like to be well-prepared for our time together. Might I ask who I’ll be meeting with during the interview process?”

To really impress, though, it’s smart to know more about these people, and then tailor your message to them. Get their names and titles, and then visit the firm’s website to learn more about them. Google them — see if they’ve been written about in the design media, if they’ve won awards, if they’ve presented at industry events, if they’ve authored white papers. In a recent Career article for HOW, columnist Julie Sims recommends, too, that you target your conversation to whoever you’re meeting with. For example, you shouldn’t get super-detailed about your creative process if you’re meeting with a CEO, but you should be prepared to explain your thinking if you’re showing your book to a creative director.

I often find that designers, whether they’re business owners, freelancers or employees, get sort of freaked out by the idea of planning their business or career. It can be an overwhelming prospect: figuring out what you want from your work life (and life in general) and charting a course to get there.

But what if you approached it like a design project? Like, start with a project brief in which you write down your goal and plot out steps along the way. Then find the best creative direction that’ll achieve what you want.

That’s the basic premise of HOW’s current webinar series on professional development for designers. Jeni Herberger’s June session drew rave reviews from participants who appreciated her honesty and openness, as she encouraged folks to really think about what they want. Jeni’s next session is July 24, and it’s one that any designer won’t want to miss. Plus, we’ve sweetened the deal: Sign up, and you’ll get a nifty downloadable HOW Career Guide as a freebie.

By Bryn Mooth

I often find that designers, whether they’re new to the field or have been at it for a few years, are a bit muddy on their career options. Should I go the in-house route? Is a design firm for me? What kind of business know-how do I need? What about opening my own shop?

I suppose it’s not unlike other careers: You don’t get career development guidance in school, so you learn it along the way, from mentors or contacts in your network, or maybe by instinct. (more…)

‘Synergy’ is one of those words I hate: a business buzzword that’s so ubiquitous as to be meaningless. Trouble is, the word pretty much describes what we try to do with HOW as a brand. Speakers at the HOW Design Conference write for the magazine or are sources for articles. Feature stories become conference sessions. Conference speakers author HOW Books and vice versa. (more…)

Used to be, planning the HOW Design Conference involved choosing a site and inviting a handful of speakers. Now, there’s way more to it. Oddly, I’m always amazed and even a little overwhelmed when I see the final conference program, with not only the lineup of sessions that we’ve developed but all the other stuff that’s going on during the event. (more…)

There’s something different about the HOW Design Conference. I’ve been to other professional events where I’ve been tempted to blow off sessions and go sightseeing or whatever. But designers who come to HOW are hard-core: they never miss a thing.

Still, it’s easy to go to a big event and just go through the motions. So it’s helpful to set an agenda, to get into a mindset where you’re open to learning and connecting. A designer friend of mine penned an article for HOW magazine offering 10 strategies for making the most of any professional event . One of his tips? Don’t be afraid to approach speakers and strike up a conversation. Where else will you pass someone like Charles Anderson or Debbie Millman in the hallway? Be fearless about making connections. And bring plenty of business cards. (more…)

Since the folks at Notes on Design have asked me to contribute a few posts previewing the upcoming HOW Design Conference, I wrestled with where to start. So I figure I’ll begin with a few of the presenters I’m most excited to see in Boston. Namely:

• Debbie Millman. She’s flat-out one of the brightest, most talented, nicest people I know. We’ve invited her to do a live version of her “Design Matters” radio show, where she can interview a major-league designer of her choosing. Her pick? Michael Bierut. This will be unlike any other HOW Conference session to date (except maybe the one in New Orleans where Ann Willoughby chatted with her mentor, Milton Glaser). (more…)

Good thing designers are curious types, hyper-aware of the visual world around them. The designers I’ve met tend to mine their surroundings and experiences for creative fodder that feeds, consciously or subconsciously, into their work. Keeping an eye on trends—fashion, interior décor, color, type—is one of the ways creative pros can stay abreast of what’s fresh (or what’ll be fresh six months from now). So, how can you spot trends? Look at what teenage boys and girls are into, especially the cool kids on the fringes—they’re quick to adopt the next big thing. Keep an eye out for movies that are due to come out later in the year; as Pantone’s Leatrice Eisman has noted, the first “Shrek” movie made lime green very in vogue. And watch the trendwatchers. A couple of sites we like (more…)

This week, I’ve been trading e-mails with Peleg Top, a designer in Los Angeles. I first met Peleg ages ago at a HOW Conference, and over the years we’ve become friends. Peleg was telling me that, after pondering the things he really loves to do—cooking, photography, music—he realized that he was spending absolutely zero time on any of them. So he recently took a major step toward his longtime goal of becoming a chef: He enrolled in The Kitchen Academy in Los Angeles, and he’s started a blog about his experience (http://www.thetopkitchen.com). All this while he continues to run his successful design studio. That’s right: He goes to culinary school at 6:00 a.m., and by noon is at his drawing board. I asked him how he does it, and he sent me this article: How to Become an Early Riser about getting up early … really early. Is there anything you love doing so much that you’d gratefully get up at the crack of dawn?

Amid the pile of layouts on my desk today for the next issue of HOW (http://www.howdesign.com), I found the feature article about Matthew Sporzynski that we’re working on. Let’s see: how to describe Sporzynski? He calls himself a “cardboard couturier,” but that’s deceptively simple. He creates dimensional objects in paper—eye-poppingly realistic, amazingly detailed, gorgeously crafted. A Parsons grad living and working in New York City, he’s honed a highly specialized business creating these paper scenes, most notably for Real Simple magazine. In the article, Sporzynski talks about how a childhood love of origami paper led to a fulfilling and productive creative career. Most designers I know have similar tales: a youth spent drawing, painting, photographing led—inevitably—to a career in some creative profession or another. Regardless of Sporzynski’s path, his work is stunning. Check it out. (Photo via Real Simple magazine)