Everything you should know but had no one to ask.
An important element of our identity as designers is the awareness of the context in which we operate. On the one hand, there is a current market situation and a relationship with customers, on the other – a broadly understood geopolitical situation and knowledge of how the world and its technologies are developing. There is also an industry context – we definitely prefer to call it that way rather than the ‘competitive environment’.
We have a strong sense of community with other designers. Lena Mitkowa was, for many years, on the board of the Association of Polish Graphic Designers, where she was responsible, among other things, for the ethical conduct of competitions for a visual identity project, as well as developing a study of remuneration rates among designers.
We are convinced that it is in the interest of both designers (which might be obvious) and clients, that industry knowledge is shared among the parties. This is the only way that we can speak the same language and maintain both the quality of the projects themselves as well as the comfort of cooperation on both sides.
The Designer Survival Kit course, of which we are the co-creator, is based on these assumptions. It is a course for graphic designers (with particular emphasis on branding); both beginners and those who already feel confident in the job market. The course is run by Lena Mitkowa and Maciej Sznitowski, known as the blogger Brandoholic. Maciej speaks from the perspective of a strategist who has been working with brands for years, with an emphasis on the client’s needs and taking into account the marketing aspect. He also talks about building your brand as a designer, business plan for a freelance graphic designer, negotiating and about submitting offers.
Lena, in turn, touches upon aspects of the everyday life of a designer or a studio – from logistics and tax-related issues, through pricing, to contracts and everyday life with a client, to ethics in design. The whole course consists of over 8 hours of talks and lectures, as well as ready-made kits and templates for designers – draft contracts, tables for settlements, and frameworks for work.
The visual identity and website of the Designer Survival Kit was designed by the Leniva° Studio team.
Brand Concept / Key Visual: Neon Neonov
UX / GUI: Jan Mońka, Kamil Przybyła
Reading list
https://stgu.pl/art-wszystkie-artykuly/art-poradnik-dla-zleceniodawcy-.html