At Herring, we believe in the importance of creative thinking and we love to share our excitement and knowledge of design whenever we can. So when Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas asked us to talk with students at Heights High School about careers in design we jumped at the chance.
Doug, Shane, and Miss Anne each gave a presentation about design and, more specifically, how they encounter it in their everyday lives. Our goal was to motivate the students to consider a career in design. Each of us went to different colleges and came to design from different places.
We first discussed the different types of design they see around them every day – architectural, industrial, fashion, graphic, product, and app design – and how they can share some of the same principles and can overlap quite frequently. We then discussed how our main goal is to communicate and share our clients’ story. We showed examples of how we did this by mixing design (print and digital) with illustration, photography, and writing. We ended the presentation with a quick game of “Identify the Brand” by showing parts of a famous logo to see how quickly they would recognize the brand. We made it way too easy for them.

All three of us were reminded what a tough crowd a high school class can be. Between their phones being a distraction and their short attention span we had our work cut out to keep their interest.

Of course, being the teenagers they are, what they really wanted to know was how much money can you make for being a designer. But that’s a story for another day.