In the design industry, trends are ever-changing, and businesses are constantly evolving to keep up with the pace of technology and consumer demand. Whether you’re a design professional or managing creatives, it’s good to keep your finger on the pulse and to learn new skills.
Fortunately, you don’t have to enroll in an 8 to 10-week course to keep you competitive. We found some great day workshops at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts. Here’s a nice sample of their offerings, but be sure to visit their site for the full list.
How to Create Brand Guidelines
Most companies have a document that tells you how to use their logo, what type face to spec, and which PMS colors to choose. But those rules are graphic standards, not brand guidelines. A truly helpful brand guide does the much more difficult job of helping you understand a company’s voice and tone; its visual sensibilities; its point of view; and the way it distinguishes itself from its competitors. Brand guides are essential, and this workshop will show you how to create one the right way.
Basics of Brand Strategy
Every facet of marketing and design is now driven by one, overarching concern: the brand. For in-house and agency marketers, designers, copywriters, and project managers, this means your contributions to communications, product development, internal culture, and more must demonstrate a fluency in the principles of brand strategy. In this jargon-free course, we’ll give you a command of the essentials of brand strategy that you can put to work tomorrow.
How to Present Creative Work
It’s hard enough to come up with great ideas. And it’s quite another to get them presented and sold. No matter what kind of work you’re trying to get your client to approve, the basic rules of presentation still apply: You need to set up how the work satisfies the marketing strategy, and then why it’s a brilliant piece of fresh, compelling, effective work. In this workshop, we’ll help you master the art of the presentation so you hear the words “approved” far more often.
Project Management for Digital Projects
The goal of the project manager is not an easy one. Your job is to get the project completed on-time and on-budget without irritating every other person on the team and giving yourself an ulcer. This is all quite possible — even with the most complex website or app — but not without a thorough understanding of the best practices in digital project management, and some helpful, proven ideas from the trenches.
Pushing Creativity—Tools for Tapping Your Full Potential
Those of us in the creative business are creative right? Well, yes, but many of us get stuck for new ideas because of budgets, clients, deadlines, or just being uninspired. How do you break out the best ideas and creativity within you? How do you explore alternative ways of thinking in order to get the big idea? How do you get an abstract idea to gain traction and become a reality? Excellent questions — and you’ll discover the answers in this literally thought-provoking workshop.
Introduction to Data-Driven Design
Digitally focused companies like Amazon, Netflix, Uber and Airbnb are out-competing traditional companies and transforming entire industries through their creative use of big data and data-driven design. The basics of how metrics can shape design decisions for companies of all sizes is essential knowledge for any successful designer. The sweet spot is learning how to supplement traditional creative thinking with the ability to enlist data and metrics that matter.
Managing Creative People for Fun and Profit
Here’s the conundrum of those who manage designers, writers, or creative people of any stripe: How do you get the best work out of a department of right-brained free spirits — some of whom are afflicted with egos the size of small countries? It’s not easy. But it’s doable. And it’s been done very successfully in ways you can replicate. Give us a half-day and we’ll show you how to tame the beast and make everyone (yourself included) happier and more successful.