Alumni Profile:
Dustin Wood |
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Hometown: La Harpe, IL How does it feel to be a professional designer: I feel like a celebrity in a way. It's always fun to tell people what I do, and what projects I've worked on. It's a cool feeling to see someone's eyes light up when they tell you that they've seen that project before. How do you like your job: Working for Borders is very rewarding. Rewarding because I get to work with a major retailer, and it's not too often that you can say that your work gets sent out to six million people every week. It's a constant turn-around. New books come out, new promotions happen weekly, and email goes out pretty much every day. Once you finish a project, you are already starting to work on the next piece that replaces the one that you just finished. For something that seems so insignificant to the customer, it amuses me how many people internally have to proof the smallest of projects before they go out. Sometimes a simple banner ad that is only up on the homepage for a single day may go through 2-3 different variations before it's approved. How did you get this job: I had been working for an adverting agency called Communica, Inc. (Toledo OH) for about three years. I had put in my time, and was looking to move back closer to Illinois. I had signed up for several career and portfolio sites like Monster.com, and DesignRelated.com. I was doing my best to avoid getting a job in the Toledo area. Then one day, Borders contacted me saying that they found my resume on Monster, and was wondering if I was interested in their Interactive position. First, I was thinking, "But Borders is based in Ann Arbor?" Then I figured I might as well try for it and see what happens. The whole process from start to finish took about a month. I had two phone interviews, and an in-person interview where I met with four individuals for about 30-45 minutes each. What was the most exciting project you've worked on since graduation: It was a campaign for an all-boy Catholic school at Communica. I had previously done a direct mail piece with a grunge theme that they really liked. To my surprise, they wanted a whole campaign revolved around this style, because their previous conservative and clean-cut campaign just wasn't getting the attention of potential future students. So being the only staff designer at this time, I was put in charge of the whole design concept. I had to create a 20-page 8.5 x 11 brochure, several direct mail postcards, a 30-second TV spot, and a 10-second cinema slide. Unknown to my previous employer, I was using this as a major portfolio piece to help me find a new job. I would work on it all day at work, and then take it home to work on it some more. The campaign was a total success. After the first postcard was sent out, the phones were ringing off the hook at the school. Students then started collecting all the different postcards to hang in their lockers. And the client wanted more. They came up with the budget to do even more pieces than they had previously asked for. But by that time, I was already on my way to Borders. The whole project was a great learning experience. I also picked up After Effects as a new skill. And the best part was, I paid $10 to go see a movie, just to see my cinema slide play. Best feeling ever...so far. What were some of the most important things you learned while at Parkland: That you cannot learn everything from school. Parkland gives you the foundation that you need, but you need to take ownership of your own education. And I did not realize that when I first started. In the beginning, I did the minimum that was required, never expanded on anything, and never looked at new resources. But then it hit me, and I started figuring things out on my own. I would finish most of the in-class exercises ahead of time, so that I can learn something new that wasn't going to be taught. Don't expect that just by being in the design program, you're going to be an award-winning designer. You need to outdo yourself everyday.
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