Name: Ben Davis
Position held at IW: Designer
Major: Design, BA Printmaking
Graduation year: 2007
Email: ben@m8th.com
Employer: Mighty 8th Media
Employer Address: 83 East Main Street, Buford, GA
Web site:www.m8th.com
This is what he had to tell us when we talked with him.
Imagewest: What is your title and brief job description?
Ben Davis: I am a Senior Designer at Mighty 8th. I get to work with small to mid size companies doing anything from branding, web design to print design.
IW: How did Imagewest help prepare you for a career? What was the most useful thing you learned?
BD: Learning how to work better as a team player. It’s not that I was a bad team player, but you can get so much more accomplished when you learn how to work as a unit effectively. Learning how to deal with clients, especially when situations get difficult was a good lesson too. Also, that coffee is my friend in the morning.
IW: What was one of your most memorable moments during your time at Imagewest?
JD: One of our last days we were playing volleyball outside. The ball got hit over a very tall wire fence. I hopped the fence, threw it over… and it hit Heather in the head. She had her head turned and didn’t see it coming. I felt really bad (sorry Heather!).
IW: What do you wish you could have changed about your college experience or time spent at Imagewest?
JD: I wish I could have learned more about web development. This is huge now. I do just as much web work (if not more) as I do print. Good design is good design, but there is a difference between online and offline work.
IW: What is a typical day like for you?
JD: Coming to my computer, small talk with my desk buddy (we call them pod mates) Tammy, checking email, working on my day’s deliverables. Then going to lunch, probably switching to a different project, checking my favorite web sites and finishing the day. I work mainly in Photoshop, then Illustrator and InDesign and every now and then do some Flash or After Effects. I probably work on about 2-5 projects in a week.
IW: What gets you excited to come to work everyday?
JD: The opportunity to create and “play” at my job. I try to make every texture, photo effect, layout with my own resources. I guess it’s the printmaker in me wanting design to be analog like it used to be back in the day. I love the computer and speed of digital, but doing things by hand always puts a smile on face.
IW: Do you have any job hunting advice for upcoming graduates? When did you begin looking for a job? How did you find your job?
JD: Start early. Start before you think you should start looking. If your not looking you should at least be thinking about where you want to go, and what type of job you want. I found my job through a job board at AIGA.org. Network the best you can because you never know who might pass your name on.
IW: What advice can you provide upcoming designers, advertising professionals or PR practitioners?
JD: LEARN TO WRITE! Communication is really important, but being able to make thoughts and ideas come to life through your words carries a lot of weight too. Spell check you email responses, anything and everything you type. But from a hiring perspective, find things that make you different and viable for a company to say, “we need this person.”
IW: What specific qualities/skills are employers looking for in new graduates?
JD: Confidence. “Sell”-ability. What I mean by that is a smart company is going to look at you like a product and determine if they are going to be able make money off of you or with you (especially in this economy). I know it sounds dirty, but no one is going to hire somebody new, just to be friends. It’s a business. Eagerness to learn and adapt is very important too, especially if you are going for an entry-level position. Being a person who can fit into a company’s culture is part of the puzzle too.
IW: What is the best piece of advice or words you live by?
JD: “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” – Samuel Johnson. This is actually my desktop background. Second would be “Two spaces after a period is wrong.”
IW: Are you a dog lover or cat lover?
JD: Dog. Hands down dogs.
IW: What is your favorite color?
JD: I always like to say plaid… But I guess my favorite color is PMS 5565 U (light blue-green)
IW: If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
JD: Rubber band hand man. My ability would allow me to catch cigarette butts people throw out of their car and throw them back into said car. It’s a pet peeve of mine.
IW: What is your favorite blog, Web site and/or book?
MH:JD: Blog: iso50.com (music, design, cool stuff), Web site: ign.com (video game news, reviews) & www.dropular.net/#drops (the Flickr of design)
IW: Do you have any other comments, concerns or advice to share?
JD: Learn about your industry and where it is going. Everything changes. Don’t worry about finding that “perfect job” right out of college. The important thing is finding out for yourself what is going to make you happy and want go to work everyday.
IW: Do you have any recent work you would like to share?
JD: Here’s some recent web work:
blazesports.org
onechangegroup.org
mikelinderman.com
talastar.com
