Tracy Perkins

Graphic Design and Brand Development

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Highs & Lows

This month so far has been bittersweet for me. For every wonderful thing that has happened, something not as wonderful has also happened. It’s a reminder that the laws of physics hold true and that there is an equal and opposite reaction for everything in life.

I started participating in a coaching group for women, the Catalyst Collective, that has been an amazing experience so far. The women are incredibly talented and supportive. Their stories are hugely inspirational and I feel far more motivated than I have in the last several years.
Conversely, I found out last week that I am getting laid off. I have mixed feelings about this. I’ve been wanting a new job for at least 6 months now (I’ve been feeling professionally stagnant, hence participating in the coaching group), but I always envisioned my departure would be happening on my terms with a new job lined up. The part that hurts the most is financially, as Jake isn’t working a steady job and my meager salary was all we were living off of.
However, there is an upside to being laid off, I now am at the perfect point to really go after what I want from life and make it mine. 
Participating in the Catalyst Collective has been hugely helpful too. Part of homework for the group was to set aside time when I came home from work to paint (instead of sitting and wasting time “decompressing” and wasting my time playing with my phone). I’ve found that painting out my feelings has helped me deal with them objectively in a way that is constructive beneficial for my soul.
With the month only being half over, I’m sure there will be more to come. I’ll just have to wait and see what comes my way.

Acing Interviews & Other Stories

The only thing better in the professional world than knowing you aced an interview is finding out that you got picked up for the job you were interviewing for. That being said, this post comes as I just was picked up to work on a couple projects for Oliso, an appliance company based in San Francisco.

Let’s start from the beginning.

The hardest part of getting to an interview often times is making yourself standout enough to event get noticed. Being one of hundreds of applicants for a position means you will most likely fall through the cracks unless you or someone you know is connected to the hiring manager. This is why networking and being open to professional relationships is so important these days. And networking doesn’t just happen with people in your field. Case in point, I was brought up as a candidate for the freelance job because one of my coworkers from college works as an engineer at Oliso.

Being lucky enough to be noticed is only part of the battle. You need to have the confidence and portfolio to support you.

When it comes to your portfolio, it is where you can best showcase your talents and work. Just remember you need to edit what you put in it. Include your best work, but include too much work. You don’t want to bore or underwhelm the people you are interviewing with. Chances are they’ve already looked at your work either on your website or in another digital form before you went to your interview. Think about the audience that will be looking interviewing you and what they might want to see. If you are unsure what type of work your potential employer is looking for include pieces that showcase the range of work you can do. Additionally, check out resources like this article from Creative Review for more portfolio tips and run your portfolio by friends and colleagues to get their impressions of it.

The biggest thing when it comes to acing your interview is having confidence in yourself. If you are prepared with resume copies, research on the company and having your portfolio ready to go, you are going to feel more confident going into the interview. So don’t wait until the last minute to prepare. Get that good night’s sleep beforehand. Plan out your interview look ahead of time. Drink decaf or half-caf coffee the morning of. Arrive early and walk around. In other words, if you can do things to lessen your anxiety about interviewing, you are going to come off as confident and professional, not nervous and inexperienced.

Just remember, interviews aren’t the end of the world. They’re just a conversation between you and a perspective employer about your profession. And most of us in creative professions are in it because we love it. Let that enthusiasm and passion show. And when the interview is over, reward yourself for a job well done with a fully caffeinated beverage of choice.

The Ups and Downs of Job Hunting

I have been looking for something a little more permanent as far as employment goes for a few months now. Freelance is great for a flexible schedule and having different types of projects to work on, but as most creatives know its not the most financially stable form of employment. And I, like most people, really do not enjoy living paycheck to paycheck.

Recently I had a stroke of good fortune when my friend Yukiko was asked if she knew any designers who could do some web prototyping and she reached out to me to see if I was interested. I was definitely interested and she worked with me to get my rusty web and coding skills up to par. I forgot how much I love working with HTML/CSS and how much it can annoy me at times—I’m looking at you missing ” from my class name in the div tag.

Yukiko passed my information along to the hiring manager who got in touch with me shortly afterward. She informed me that the prototyper position had been put on hold and if/when they decided to reinstate the position she would keep me in mind for it. Needless to say I was quite sad about this as I had let me hopes get up there.

This experience seem to follow a pattern I have noticed with my application experiences—that pattern being that every time I really get my hopes up as I know I’m the right person for the position, I get let down. After going through this cycle as many times as I have, I almost don’t let myself even think that I have a chance to get a certain position anymore. I know I’m making it harder on myself as thinking that I don’t have a chance totally drains me of my motivation and excitement.

However, some good has come out of this whole experience. I’ve gotten back into web design and used this a great opportunity to finally overhaul my website, tracyiperkins.com. This was something that had been on my to do list for a very long time and it feels really good to have it done. The overall design isn’t the greatest, but functionally it’s awesome. Following my excitement with that project, I’m now looking into taking on other web-related projects, such as combining this blog with my webpage.

So keep a look out for the change of web address and let me know your approach to job hunting.

Mapping Out The Path

Self promotion and marketing are huge in the freelance world. They can make or break your career. Sadly these two have not been some of my strongest attributes. However, I am aiming to change that.

Working for Whole Foods Market as a signmaker helped me figure out that while I like lots of projects all of the time, I like to have projects that differ from one project to another. This means I need to either find a studio to work at or a series of freelance jobs to keep me busy.

To help me get back on track in the freelance and job hunting world, there are a few simple steps which I’m taking:

  1. Revamp My Resume and Portfolio—Nothing says “Hire me!” quite like a really great first impression and that goes for your resume and portfolio too. So it’s time to give those two very important documents some love and attention.
  2. Research Where You Want To Work—Having the greatest resume and portfolio will not do you any good if they are not tailored to the studio, company, job you are going for. I’ve always found it helpful to have a ‘general’ portfolio and switch out pieces to customize my portfolio for each job.
  3. Set Dates and Goals—You’re self-employed when searching for your next job, even if you are trying to get hired as staff at a studio or company. Having dates and goals for yourself will help you keep on track and keep up both your productivity and creativity.
  4. Be Open to Opportunities—Whether it’s a weekend freelance job for a company out site your field or a once in a lifetime event, don’t let your long term goals get in the way of making time for other opportunities that may present themselves. These opportunities tend to help you grow in more ways than you can imagine.
  5. Maintain a Daily Routine—Setting work boundaries helps you distinguish ‘work’ from ‘recreation’, preventing you from always feeling like your on the clock. It will also help keep your professional edge intact. Plus, if you are productive all day you’ll feel like you earned the right to relax and enjoy yourself.
  6. Have Other Projects to Work On—There is inevitably going to be downtime between submitting applications, hearing back about bids, etc., and you’ll also probably need a break from the single-mindedness of searching for work. Having a constructive project to put your energy into will help break everything up, keep you busy when you have nothing else to do, and will look great to employers as you are not just sitting around waiting for them to call.
I’ve taken similar steps in the past with great success, but with some input from Jake and having more experience under my belt this plan of action came about. I’ll keep you updated as I progress through them. Enjoy!

Forging Ahead

About a month ago I quit my job as a sign maker for Whole Foods Market and decided to try my hand at the freelance market again. WFM was a great place to learn, but after a year I realized that I spent the entire time redressing templates with new graphics that came from a toolkit I did not create. Sure, the technicalities of implementing the toolkits taught me a new way working within Illustrator, but I wanted more. I wanted to learn new workflows and new programs—AfterEffects, motion graphics, digital painting—all things that never happened at WFM.

In the month since I have spent a great deal of time getting back to root of what inspires me as a designer and creative professional. I had lost touch with this aspect of myself while working at WFM, which was a huge factor in my decision to go freelance again. My rediscovery of my inspiration goes hand in hand with my yearning to do what I am passionate about, which is something that is a bit hazy to me. However, that’s the fun part—discovering what your passions are.

Small Steps

My website in its current version

Forward progress is coming. And by that I mean to say that I am starting my research and development for overhauling my website. It’s long overdue. I designed the current incarnation during my final quarter at UC Davis seven years ago. Needless to say that web design has changed quite a bit since then.

First off, HTML5 is here and Flash is dead. Sadly, I always liked Flash than HTML and CSS, but I did better in my HTML/CSS coursework. I have ventured into the HTML5 realm once before when I built the splash page for Divine Divination Studios so they had something up while the site was worked on. Sadly, that project fell by the wayside as the owners got involved in new projects and my HTML5 exploration stalled as a result.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel. I’m feeling the distinct need for a change in my creative endeavors and getting back on track with web (including the update of my portfolio) seems like the perfect distraction that may just land me a new job. So here’s to getting the ball rolling.