CREATIVE SERVICE AND VIDEO
Designer • Owner Of A Graphic Design Company
SPECIAL SKILLS
To succeed, you should have skill in computer graphic design, artistic flair, creativity, and people skills. Knowledge of the music business and commercial printing is helpful.
JOB DESCRIPTION
The designer's primary job is to bring to realization the concept of the art director or client. The level of creative input from the designer varies from job to job depending on how concrete the concept is. Some art directors sketch in detail what they expect. In other cases, the clients may have a vague idea of what they want to achieve and look to the designer to present options. A business owner, or freelance designer, is also responsible for landing new accounts, invoicing, and all paperwork involved with running a company.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
“If it's really busy,” says Kimberly Levitan, “I'll spend 12 hours a day designing. All I can do is stare at the computer and go as fast as I can. If it's slow, I'll spend six hours doing office work like billing and paying bills, organizing and filing, and I make a lot of calls and try to drum up business. It's one or the other—it's like a roller coaster.”
CAREER TIPS
“Remember that it's business—it's not just art.”
You must be able to take direction from others and accept sometimes harsh criticism. You may have a great idea, but if the artists or their managers don't love it, or the marketing team thinks it's the wrong image, you have to put on a smile and go back to work on another concept.
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
Build a portfolio that is representative of your best work. Design CD packages for local bands or redesign a current release using scanned images. Design fictitious ads or flyers.
KIMBERLY LEVITAN, DESIGNER AND OWNER OF GOOD AND EVIL DESIGN
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE JOB:
“The hardest part of my job is there are many hands in the pie. You have a creative idea, but there are 15 people at the label, that have 15 different ideas, and you have to take your idea and incorporate it with all those other ideas. It's hard to keep a good solid design when you've got so many different opinions, but it's part of the job.”
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“I have a chance to be creative and I get paid for it. That's a dream come true.”
Kimberly Levitan grew up in Nashville, the daughter of a successful entertainment attorney/artist manager Ken Levitan who also served as a label head. Yet music business was not a natural progression for her. Instead, she enrolled in design courses at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York for a year, then transferred to CalArts in Los Angeles to finish up. After graduation, she worked as a designer for a printing company in Atlanta. She realized, “the music industry would be fun and I could move home.” Unable to land a paying job, she acted as in-house designer for upstart label Rising Tide, for free. “It was like a really long internship,” she laughs, “but it was the smartest thing I ever did because I knew nothing about the industry. Being at the label, actually inside, I learned what everybody's job was and how it functioned together as a whole.” At Rising Tide, Levitan designed ads and promotional pieces for the label roster, in addition to promotional CDs and singles.
Eventually she found part-time work with Bill Brunt Designs and when Rising Tide closed, she moved into a full-time position. Under Brunt's art direction, the company designed CD and promotional pieces for Atlantic Records, MCA, Orbison Records, Orby Records, RCA, and others. With a few years of experience under her belt, Levitan made the decision to start her own firm, Good and Evil Designs. “It was very scary. I had saved up a lot of money, though, so if all else failed, I could live for three months until I got another job.” After spending part of her savings to purchase needed equipment for the new venture, she began to wonder if anyone would hire her—and they did. At first they were small projects, then she landed design work for indie labels Eminent Records and Blue Hat Records, and the work has continued to snowball. Some of her design work includes John Hiatt's The Tiki Bar Is Open and the cover of Brooks & Dunn's Cowboy Town.
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Job Descriptions and Careers, Career and Job Opportunities, Career Search, and Career Choices and ProfilesCareers in the Music BusinessCREATIVE SERVICE AND VIDEO - Art Director And Graphic Designer • Creative Director, Designer • Owner Of A Graphic Design Company