Dear Designer

Dear Designer: Your First Job

So you landed your first design job. Here’s how to not suck at it.

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Hi. Welcome to Dear Designer, the column where I answer real questions sent by real designers. Unless I make the questions up. Either way, you’re getting good advice. Dear Abby made up all her questions too — and her name wasn’t even Abby. It was Pauline. But seriously, if you have a question, email me and I’ll be happy to answer it. Maybe. If it’s a good question, and answering it could help a lot of people, I’ll be more likely to answer it. “Should I quit my job because my boss is a dick?” is not a good question (and you already know what the answer is anyway).

This column is an offshoot of Dear Design Student, a group project I and some other folks did a few years ago that you can still read. I’m kicking it up a notch for a working audience. So congratulations, you’ve all just graduated.

Which leads us in to our very first actual question from a reader, which I made up:

I just graduated from design school and landed my first real professional job as a designer. What do I need to know that I didn’t learn in school?

Dear Designer,

First of all, congratulations on landing your first job. That’s a big deal. You…