How do I hire the right graphic designer? (freelance, in-house, and retainer)

Oct 2018

22 Mon

23 Tue

24 Wed

25 Thu

26 Fri 09:30 AM – 05:30 PM IST

27 Sat 09:45 AM – 05:05 PM IST

28 Sun

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NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bangalore

Theme

Meta Refresh 2018 will cover four primary topics:

User research and design -- how user research is carried out and translated into design (whether engineering or designing user interactions).
Design systems -- how collaborations are being enabled between engineers and designers. Here, we are looking for case studies.
Tooling for design systems -- share your experiences (and evaluations) of open source tools for design systems.
Why the boundaries between UI and UX are not the way to proceed for design and designers.

Criteria to submit a conference proposal

You must be a practising web developer or designer, and must be able to show how your own work has advanced the state of the web in the past year. You are expected to present original work that your peers — this event’s audience — recognise as being notable enough to deserve a stage. If you are excited about someone’s work and believe it deserves wider recognition, we recommend you contact them and ask them to submit a proposal.

Guidelines for submission

Every proposal MUST be accompanied by:

A two minute preview video where the proposer gives an elevator pitch about the talk.
Detailed outline of the talk – either in the form of draft slides, mind map and/or textual description.
If you are proposing to speak on a topic where the code is not open-sourced yet, the editorial panel will consider your proposal only if the code is made open-source at least three weeks before the conference.

Without the above information, your proposal will not be considered for review.

If you are submitting a Workshop Proposal, you must clearly state:

Background knowledge that participants must possess in order to attend your workshop.
Details and links to software / packages which participants must install before coming to the workshop.
Laptop configuration.
Links to background reading material and GitHub repos.
Duration of the workshop.
Maximum number of participants who can attend your workshop.
Instructor’s past experience with conducting workshops.

There is only one speaker per session. Workshops can have more two or more instructors.

Entry is free for confirmed speakers.

If you are an outstation speaker, HasGeek will do its best to provide a grant that covers part of your travel and accommodation expenses in Bangalore, subject to budgetary constraints.

Format

The 2018 edition is a multi-track event with the following session formats:

Full length talks of 40 minutes
Crisp talk of 15 minutes
Workshops of 3-6 hours
Off the Record sessions (OTR)

Important Dates

Deadline for submitting proposals: TBD
Conference date: 26-27 October, 2018

Venue

Meta Refresh will be held at the NIMHANS Convention Center, Bangalore

Contact

For more information about speaking proposals, tickets and sponsorships, write to [info@hasgeek.com](mail to:info@hasgeek.com) or call +9107676332020

Hosted by

Meta Refresh

Meta Refresh is an umbrella forum for conversations about different aspects of design and product including: UX and interaction design CMS, content management, publishing and content marketing Information architecture more

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How do I hire the right graphic designer? (freelance, in-house, and retainer)

Submitted Aug 8, 2018

Section: Full talk Technical level: Beginner

With graphic design having suddenly taken off as an industry in India the way it has; both designers and employers seem to be bumping around in the dark trying to find each other. Headhunters, managers, CEOs, who are used to gauging a person’s value to the company from a black and white resume, are now faced with the esoteric task of reading a creative portfolio.

What are you supposed to look for in a creative portfolio? How do you know if someone will be the right fit? Is that brother-in-law’s friend’s kid’s cousin your colleague recommended really up to scratch or not? Is this a portfolio or a Tinder profile? I want to help answer these questions.

DISCLAIMER: I’m a print, graphics, and online/offline visual communications person, so this is my context. Some of the pointers may apply to UI/product/other designers but that’s not my forte so I won’t claim to know anything about that.

Outline

Here is a very specific list of things I’d be interested in addressing:

How do you find out what type of designer you need? (Graphic is too ambiguous)
Where do you look for designers?
What expectations should you have?
Do you really need a designer five/six days a week?

How do you read a creative CV?

What do educational qualifications mean?
Do they matter? Which ones matter?
Do years of experience matter? What am I looking for?
This person just graduated, do I take the risk?

How do you read a creative portfolio?

What are all these things?
How do I read them? (social media creatives, posters, illustrations etc)
I don’t see an example of the exact specific work that I want, does that mean I need to look elsewhere?
This portfolio is shiny but this one isn’t. What’s better?
How do I interpret whether or not what I’m looking for is in this portfolio?

Talking to your potential hire:

It’s important to ask the right questions (especially in the case of a recent graduate with a smaller portfolio). Design ethics are as important as the designs themselves.
What questions are relevant for me to ask, with regard to the role that needs to be filled
How do I interpret the answers
How do I know if this is the person to close the deal with?

Instilling confidence in your designer:

What fixable mistakes am I making that might cause a fitting designer to decline?
How do I discuss stipend?

Audience Questions

Requirements

Nothing necessarily.

Speaker bio

I’m Winona Laisram, a graphics, communications, and illustration designer based in Bangalore.

Current:

Creative Lead of Marketing at Freshmenu
Teacher (Design Modules at Mount Carmel College)

Education:

Communication Studies, Mount Carmel College Bangalore
Visual Communication, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology

Selected Past Work:

Happy McGarryBowen India (Digital Media)
The Takshashila Institution (New Brand Identity and Communications, 2 year engagement)
The Solidarity Foundation (Communications Design, reports, social, events)
Namma Pride Bengaluru (Art director 2016, Pro-bono)
Kodagu Connect (Logo)
Myro Prosthetics (Logo)
Testsigma (Logo)
Human Rights Law Network (Wordpress blog design)
BRICS (Conference Booklet)
The Queer Arts Movement, India (Event Posters, Social Media)
Tattle Tale Marketing (2017 short gig, Instagram Product Posts)
Forum of Environmental Journalists, India (Print Design)

Links