Janice Law
Two weeks ago, our Web Design class had the pleasure of meeting Janice Law, a former graduate from the program. Though I was absent thanks to a nasty case of bronchitis, I was able to grab some of Patrick’s helpful notes to find out what I missed. It seems like it was a very enlightening and positive conversation, full of experience and resources related to just about everything we new students want to know about.
Favourite band - BigBang
Favourite yoga pose - Tree
Spirit animal - Tina from Bob’s Burgers
Her LinkedIn reads
“A passionate designer specializing in web and print, seeking a design position where I can put my talent and skills to good use in an agency inspired by creative exploration and team collaboration.”
Education
OCAD - Bachelor of Design
Sheridan College - Post Graduate Web Design
Work History Sunny Graphics Workshop | 2008 - 2012
SapientNitro | 2014 - 2015
Tribal | 2015 - 2016
TD | Present
The Design Process via Janice
Brief/Requirement Gathering: The accounts team puts together a design brief.
Brainstorm/Research: Includes going through and looking at what competitors are doing, what works in the industry, what you can to do to up the game.
Branding: Some projects don’t need that much branding but other accounts can, possibly looking at new colours, making things new and fresh for the consumers.
Site Structure & Wireframes: Go through requirements, sketch out the whole site and how it will flow.
Sketch/Design Mockups: Create possible mockups while working with the art director.
Revisions/Production: Show the client, make revisions, and then go into production.
QA Testing & Launch: Go through the site and test bugs, find problems and fix them.
Tips for Success
The Industry and Who Does What
Designer - That’s me (Or you)!
UX/IA - In an agency environment, UX/IA are your go to buddies. It is a collaborative process and requires lots of communication with them.
Developers - They make your designs a reality. In the real world, developers know a lot more
code. They help your vision come true.
Art Directors - The mentors that guide you to make your concept come true. They lead projects and know the vision before the project even starts.
Accounts Team - Unlike creatives, the accounts team are the people who take your designs to clients. They’ll help sell your design and message to clients.
Project Managers - These guys manage how the whole project flows, from beginning to end.
Producer - They work closer with the designer and get you what you need in terms of assets.
Copywriters - They’ll write the copy for your design. You work closely with copywriters.
QA - Quality Assurance will come in and test the finish end project before it launches.
IT - Be really nice to them, they can fix all your computer problems.
In addition to discussing all of this, Janice was able to talk a little about some of her notable projects for Adidas and Cadillac Fairview. The Adidas account required the creation of the “City of Originals” contest that involved Instagram, where the user creates a mashup of their photo with one of Adidas’. She worked very closely with IA on this project, as well as the Creative Director. She had a lot of freedom to play with this youthful and fun brand over the course of two weeks. Cadillac Fairview needed to rebrand their website to bring the users for more than just checking the mall hours. This required a lot of people on the team, and a lot of time finding photography for a tight budget. In the end, it was totally worth it as the clients were “super nice” and absolutely loved the work that Janice and her team did.
All in all, I believe that from the notes I have read and from looking at Janice’s online presence, she seems a bright personality that would be an amazing addition to any team. It inspires me to make the effort to get to know the people I am learning with and to approach all of my school and work tasks with a positive attitude. While she was a wealth of knowledge and provided many helpful links and industry facts, I think that the most important thing I’ve gathered from this speaker is that your attitude is one of the main keys to success. It is one thing to be a talented designer, but if you are hard to work with, people will not work with you (or at least not be happy about it). Be positive, be inspired, be like Janice!
