10 New Years Resolutions for Designers in 2017

Look at Job Posts

If your a designer you should be reading job posts. This is true even if you have a job. Design is a quick changing industry. It seems like every month there is a new skill, software, or language that you must know as a designer. In many job posts of 2016 I see WordPress or other CMS knowledge is a must. Sketch, Azure, and other UX prototyping tools are another example of skills that are appearing more and more in job postings. Believe it or not Adobe Animate(previously called Adobe Flash) has seen a spike of demand in the job market. If you have not been looking for a job in a few years, you are out of the loop of what employers are looking for. Even if you do not plan to leave your place of employment the hardcore truth is you will most likely be looking for a job at some point in the future so make your New Years Resolution for 2017 to be prepared for the ever changing job market of design. The best place to learn about what skills you need in this competitive market is from the people hiring you.

Learn to Code

There is this constant debate if designers need to know code. My blatant answer is yes. More often then not required skills for graphic designers include HTML and CSS. Even more so WordPress has become a norm on many graphic design job postings and to have a mastery over WordPress requires an understanding of PHP. Another growing trend over 2016 is designers who code their design. Many companies are switching to this model where if your a visual designer you are also a front end developer. If you don’t know any code make it your 2017 resolution to learn HTML and CSS. If you know basic code, dive deeper: learn a framework or new language such as Twitter Bootstrap, JavaScript or PHP. If your already a solid coder learn a new language or library like: Ruby, Swift, Angular or React; you choose. The point is to keep learning and make it part of resolution for 2017.

Take a Class

Speaking of learning why not go take a class? If you really don’t want to improve your coding capabilities try taking a class on experience design. Try taking a class on how to better market yourself as a designer. Or try learning something new such as motion graphics, photography or illustration. In today’s world of information you don’t even need to leave your home to take a class. There are countless sources for online learning. For your 2017 design resolution be sure to check out: Udemy, Code School, Code Academy, Lynda and Kahn Academy.

Update Your Design Portfolio and/or Resume

It seems like I always have a great new project ready to be queued up and put into my portfolio. Be honest: are you proud of every project in your portfolio? Do you keep meaning to update it? Is your resume currently up to date? Save yourself hassle later and make your 2017 New Years Resolution to have your design portfolio and resume ready for the next time you enter the job market.

Start a Blog

As designers we eat sleep and breathe our craft. How many times a day do you think about design? How many times have you stopped in a store to look at a product you have absolutely no need for because of the packaging? How many times have you scoffed at someone’s use of typography? Have you ever screamed out in the middle of the library “that’s bad UX!”(I have)? Write about it! As designers we are trained to notice these things and they aren’t just things you can talk to someone about at Starbucks. Yet these are things that are important to you and millions of other people in the world. Share these thoughts with them just as I am with you.

Blogs are also great for SEO. One large portion of how Google ranks pages is how often the content is updated. Use a blog to keep your content fresh. For information on how to optimize your blog for SEO see How to Improve your SEO and Increase Your Pagerank. Not only do blogs help increase your Pagerank they help you connect with your audience. This means if your a freelancer: clients. If your not: better employers. Be sure to add a blog for your 2017 New Years Resolution. If you do post a link to it in the comments.

Do a Personal Project

Every designer I have ever met has been super passionate. In order to eat, sleep, breathe, bleed and all the other efforts needed to be successful in design you need to love it. However, often in the quest to earn a living we loose that love. Working with clients we despise, tight deadlines, awful bosses and uninteresting projects are part of the job. Make it a point to do a project for you. I probably have a dozen design ideas a week. I’m sure you have a few yourself. Make it your New Years Resolution for 2017 to make one of these a reality. If it goes well make it a point to do one every month. Who knows maybe you will get a nice piece for your portfolio out of it. Also be sure to Put it on your blog. Look at that you can kill two birds with one stone. You could take a class on code, do a personal project to practice it, then put it on your blog and portfolio. That’s five birds! 2017 is going to be so productive!

Try New Ways of Marketing

If your a freelance designer clients are the life blood of your business. Make 2017 the year where you get better clients and more of them. If your not a freelancer make your 2017 New Years Resolution to start and make extra cash on the side. There are a countless places to advertise your services as a designer. Craigslist, Facebook, Instagram and Google Ad words; just to name a few. Try using a new one. If you have been having bad luck with a platform try rewriting the ad. Try changing your tone of voice. Ask a friend or a family member to write it for you. Look at other ads. Its amazing how many ways there are to say the same information. Make your 2017 design resolution to experiment and see what works best for you.

Be More Active in the Design Community

Design communities are a great place for: inspiration, critiques, resources and to talk to like minded people. Some great places to connect with other designer are: Behance, Instagram, LikedIn Groups, Twitter and Dribble. Actively participate in these groups. This means don’t silently like other people’s designs. Start a conversation: ask questions, ask for critiques, respectfully disagree and collaborate. These communities are valuable resources for designer so make your 2017 New Resolution to get the most of them.

Get Organized

As designers we are always rushing, pushing out rapid reversions, and racing to meet tight deadlines. Under these circumstances it easy to become disorganized. Somewhere in these rapid revisions our careful file naming convention changed to something like: final> finalFinal>finalTheNewest> FinalNewerNewest. Start 2017 right and rename your files so they make sense. Go through them and make sure all your layers are named and organized. If you write code make sure it is neatly commented and indented. Delete the two dozen stock photos from Unsplash your not using. Make sure all your projects have a copy saved externally. This resolution will help you start 2017 ready for success.

These are 10 New Years Resolutions for Designers in 2017 based off of what I see in the industry and my own desire for improvement. Be sure to leave your resolutions for 2017 in the comments.

Andrew R Emery