Question 1

What is the single biggest suggestion you would give to someone wanting to get into this career?

Frank Moten, Jeremy Schuler, Justin Kerr · Accepted Answer

Frank Moten: “If you want to work for a record company, I’d say go and get an internship. But if you want to design websites, you don’t have to work that hard. You just have to find some people and start doing it.
“Look at a lot of websites. Whatever skills you have, work on them, and start doing it. It’s a weird kind of profession because you can bang out a really cool website in a couple of hours that someone would be willing to pay $1,000 or $2,000 for but you could also spend all weekend working on something that you could basically add-on for a few hundred dollars. 
“It’s a challenge because it’s a design thing. That’s why I made my nephew take graphic design.
“With the tools and technology, it’s pretty easy to make it happen. Graphic design and Photoshop abilities are the things you really need, knowing what looks good. Our sites are very clean and simple and very aesthetic.”
Jeremy Schuler: “Love what you do. I know it sounds cheesy and cliche but really, if you don’t like it and you’re just going in for the money, you’re going to get burnt out and there’s so much stuff you have to keep up with. With the advent of mobile, you’re creating these design systems. 
“Essentially, Web Developers are working in a lot of different fields. There’s a lot of overlap. If you’re working as a Developer, having understanding in UX, design, and development is essential. Everything is getting more and more integrated. Your design systems should be more adaptive.
“If you can understand the other facets, say what the UX team is doing and be able to interface with Designers and everyone has the same language or can understand each others’ points of view, that’s going to lead to a better program.
“Obviously, if you don’t love what you’re doing, you’re going to get burned out or lose interest to explore the different facets of the design process.”
Justin Kerr: “Stay up to date with the changes that are going on in web design because from year to year it’s a dramatic change. Technology is always evolving. 
“There are trends, too, you want to be aware of because your clients will ask you, ‘Hey, I saw this thing on this other website. I want to do it on my site.’ If you’re not aware of it, you won’t be able to advise them for it or against it, depending on what their needs are. Always be open to learning new things.”

Question 2

What’s the #1 mistake people make when trying to get into this career?

Frank Moten, Jeremy Schuler, Justin Kerr · Accepted Answer

Frank Moten: “The biggest mistake is sending your resume to 1,000 people. That’s what most of them are doing, sending their resume to any kind of company that might potentially hire them. I get those every day. It doesn’t do anything for you. 
“Think a little bit more about how you can get that job. It all goes back to the same thing: you need to have a body of work. If somebody was interested in working for my company as a Web Designer, they’d need to have a body of work they can show and they need to reach out via networking opportunities directly. 
“You need to be able to explain what you want to do and what you bring to the table.
If you don’t have the personality where you can just go track down musicians on Craigslist and stuff then you should be trying to intern, not necessarily for a company like mine, but maybe for a Booking Agent or a record label that’s just overloaded. Maybe they’ll let you come in. 
“Again, you just really have to do it [build websites]. Photography students, by the time they’ve graduated, they’ve probably taken about a million pictures, right? It’s kind of like that.”
Jeremy Schuler: “Immediate gratification. No one’s going to give you a pat on the head when you do a good job. The mistake is I feel like people are trying to run before they can even walk in search of that immediate gratification. 
“It took me about three years for everything to really click. That was going to school and learning the software and starting to learn the tools. But then you’ve got to understand how to work with people: different types of people and different types of clients.
“There’s a Bukowski quote that says something like — I’m paraphrasing — “the intellectual says something simple in a hard way but the artist says something hard in a simple way.”
“It’s knowing and understanding your audience, not speaking over them and knowing that it’s going to take time to put the work in.”
Justin Kerr: “I think that’s the biggest misstep I see is when someone who’s a talented Programmer and is trying to do the design side or vice versa. If you’re somebody who can do both, if you’re a talented Visual Designer and you can program and code well — great, do it because you’re going to be a very valuable individual. 
“But if you’re a Visual Designer, focus on being a Visual Designer, being the best you possibly can be and partner up with people who can help out on the back end stuff. Don’t try to scramble in that sense because there are very few people who can do it and do it well.”

Question 3

What is the question people should ask about this career but rarely do?

Frank Moten, Jeremy Schuler, Justin Kerr · Accepted Answer

Frank Moten: “It’s about the money. It’s getting to be less and less. You really want to have a couple of other categories you can work around in. It’s a shrinking effort. It’s like coal mining. You have to have something else.”
Justin Kerr: “What is your ‘why’? The first question I’m usually asked is what I do, followed by how I do it or for whom I do it. But rarely does anyone ask me why I do it. 
“I’ve given this considerable thought recently and I believe it’s because I get deep satisfaction from helping others be clear and communicate their message to the world through visual design.”

Question 4

If you could describe in one word what makes you successful, what would it be?

Frank Moten, Jeremy Schuler, Justin Kerr · Accepted Answer

Frank Moten: “Fearless. I have no fear. You’ve got to be able to take risks and if someone asks you something, have an answer. Never say “no” or “I don’t know.” You find out or you learn. I think that all falls into that one word, ‘fearless.&#8217;”
Justin Kerr: “The thing that makes me most successful is other people.”

Music Career Finder

Start Here:

Music Web Designer