The numbers are in, and they are both great and terrible. Coroflot's Designer Salary Survey, now in its ninth year (true!), broke the 5000 response barrier this time around, with strong showings from every design field that calls the site home. The findings are a combination of expected and astonishing.
First, the expected:
Salaries took a tumble this year, almost across the board: the Design Management and Interaction Design fields in particular saw their meteoric 3-year rise come to a sharp and dramatic end, though they're still the highest paid among the eight fields covered. Other disciplines saw gentler declines, with the peculiar exception of Fashion and Apparel, which bucked the downward trend in a big way, showing a nearly US$3,000 increase over last year. Fashion also bucked the experience trend, with mid-level designers in the field out-earning their more venerable counterparts:
Graphic and Interior designers continue to languish at the bottom of the pay scale, and those very few web designers who've been at it since the beginning (Mosaic, Hotbot, blinky text...ah the mid-90s) are making an absolute killing.
Here's another noteworthy shift from last year:
Corporate design studios are losing their dominance. While last year's survey showed more than 60% of respondents working in-house in every field but web design, this year flips that around: all but two fields saw the in-house fraction drop below 60%, with the Freelance and Consultancy categories taking up the slack. The temping of design, it appears, accelerates during dark financial days.
This is just scratching the surface though. For lots more analysis, including regional and international comparisons, salaries by job title, and the influence of education on design salaries, plus a customizable database of all Survey results, go to the 2009 Salary Survey Results page on Coroflot. We've broken it down for you into The Six New Realities of Creative Work, and you know you want to read about those.
This Manager creates innovative stories, concepts, theories, principles and designs for Converse Footwear products at an expert level. Addresses product ambiguity and drives, focused advance product solutions that delivers against brand goals, Primarily (but not exclusively) working at a design leadership level with the In-line teams (Chuck Taylor, Jack Purcell, Basketball, Skate, One Star, Sport Authentics and Boot businesses) to create a line from concept to reality. Makes recommendations that have an influence on the business unit. Functions additionally as a Design Mentor to Designer's on the innovation team and throughout Converse Design.
Special thanks to Sara McBeen and Sara Dierck for producing this article.
The Guyana Project is made up of 11 young designers. As a group, we are united by an interest in sustainable materials and ethical working environments. Inspired to learn firsthand how our concepts become products, we traveled to Georgetown, Guyana in May of 2009 to work in the Liana Cane Factory, which uses only non-timber rainforest products (NTRP) and is run by local activist and entrepreneur Jocelyn Dow. This same factory welcomed designer William Gordon, whose experience in social entrepreneurship was featured on Core77 in December of 2008. Our trip was organized by Pratt Institute's Rebecca Welz, a design instructor and artist, and designer Patty Johnson, of the North South Project.
In Guyana we met and collaborated with factory workers and indigenous artisan weavers from the Wai Wai tribe. For over 8 hours each day we steamed, bent, cut, sanded and wove alongside the men and women of Liana Cane. At each step of the way, our designs were also shaped by the material constraints and constant direction of the skilled workers, whose knowledge of this process greatly surpassed our own.
"You have to take pride in your work and know good measurement," said Shawn Singh, who has been working at the factory since it opened in 1993. "The hardest part about the work is finishing. First you have to rough sand, then another sand with another grain of sandpaper, then you apply sand sealer, maybe twice, and then you sand again with a finer grain of sand paper. And then finally, you apply the lacquer."
All of a sudden thick rain clouds came in and everything got so dark that I had to put down the nail gun. Forced to take a much-needed cool down in the downpour outside, I was aware of how closely factory life depended on the surrounding natural conditions.
In the end we are all left with more than just furniture. The individual connections we made with people like Shawn enhanced our work and our attitudes toward design. We have set out to rework the formula of an industry whose main objective has been to find the fabricator that will produce the product at the least possible cost; we are now interested in a more sustainable working model. Just as high school math teachers demanded that we "show our work" or our answers wouldn't count, we feel that the final product no longer counts unless we are able to take full responsibility for the path to production, in addition to the end result.
The following accounts of the trip from each of the group members reflect on the moments that stood out for us. "Sancho, how much are you going to miss us?" we teased him a few days before we were to leave. He held up his fingers with an inch of space in between them and we all booed and told him he was a liar. It is perhaps presumptuous to assume that we have changed the lives and perceptions of the people that we met as much as they changed ours. We do however hold out some hope that we have left an impression that presents us as people who are interested in human relations, making new friends and sharing enriching experiences.
Group photo at factory, top, Liana Cane from above, top.
Responsibilities include: working closely with Design Director and Product Line Managers to design and merchandise Columbia apparel line on assigned categories and projects; initiating and interpreting new product concepts to meet the needs of our customers, resulting in sales and growth for the company; presenting design concepts including fabrication, style definition, color and features for review.
California College of the Arts (CCA) invites applications and nominations for the position of Chair of the Industrial Design Program. The ideal candidate for this position will articulate a vision regarding the future of Industrial Design and Industrial Design education and will demonstrate the ability to lead faculty, students, and staff.
Depending on how you see it, social software is either all the rage or so 2008. You know the stuff: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Foursquare.... There's no talking about the web these days without it—that's for sure—but social software tools are quickly becoming an integral part of the way we run our day-to-day lives.
It's not just in the consumer space, either. Companies and large organizations are catching on to the benefits of social networking and improved collaboration tools. They want their intranets to be more like Facebook. They want to use crowdsourcing to leverage employee perspectives and wikis to help people help themselves. They want Twitter for the organization, (or at least they think they do).
Human-centered approaches to industrial and interaction design have long focused on studying human behavior to create informed and appropriate designs. A social interaction designer must consider not only people, environment, and existing tools, but also the unseen elements of the system such as social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules.
So there's a lot of budding social software out there, and a lot of opportunity to design the stuff. But for all of the press and fanfare, most social software is, well, socially awkward.
Take, for example, the satirized look at Facebook by the British improv troupe Idiots of Ants above. Idiots of Ants (the pun only emerges if you say that name with a British accent) pushes the social behaviors of Facebook to the extreme, but it's hardly the only piece of software they could pick on. Twitter, another massively successful tool, began as an attempt to facilitate text messaging among friends and has morphed into a platform for broad, ad-hoc real-time communication. But while the tool is great for flash mob conversations and celebrity tracking, the one-channel-for-everyone design is profoundly awkward for more nuanced social interaction.
We are a collaborative species. No single perspective could possibly cover every aspect of an issue, but together through the collage of our collective experience we wage war on the challenges of our reality. This is collective intelligence, an emergent characteristic of life that we see in many other social species like honeybees, ants, and migratory birds. At every level of complexity an individual's best efforts could never compare to the magnitude of the seemingly intelligent behavior of the swarm.
On October 8th, 2009, the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, hosted an international cast of social scientists, information systems engineers, venture capitalists, innovation consultants and designers for the first-ever Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs) Conference. The substance of the conference centered around measuring and visualizing the emergent patterns of communication within social networks, identifying and tracking trends as they ripple throughout a social system, then pulling out the social and anthropological meaning of what we observe, allowing us to better understand and perhaps even forecast human behavior. This creates a unique opportunity to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of collaboration, and to find the trendsetters, thought leaders, and gate keepers within any given network. "Bleeding edge" doesn't quite do this stuff justice; this is the blade that precedes the bleeding edge.
The latest 1 Hour Design Challenge, The Future of Digital Reading was based on Portigal Consulting's Reading Ahead initiative—recent research around books, reading, behavior, and technology. There was great interest in this competition—it's a hot topic these days of course, with introductions of new e-readers and a constant stream of "end-of-print" articles—and we had tremendous participation from design schools, individuals, and professional design firms.
The research provided for this design challenge was infused with stories about real people, so entries that referenced people and their habits were the most successful. Indeed, entries that embraced story-telling as a way to get their concepts across were much more compelling than those which simply presented a comprehensive list of features. (Yes, we get that the future is OLED displays!) It was daunting to see the number of submissions that were essentially a Kindle with feature statements that did away with the acknowledged limitations, so entries that ran the other way had a good chance of standing out. Still, there was great design thinking here, and a ton of design innovation here, and we were thrilled to see people (and teams) digging deep into the research and trying to refract it through the lens of artifact and experience.
This 1 Hour Design Challenge was a tough one to jury, but here (in suspenseful order...the Winner's at the end) are the judges' selections and comments. Congratulations to the Winner and Notables, and thanks to everyone who participated! Portigal Consulting and Core77 will each be donating $300, in the name of the prize winner, to 826 Valencia (a nonprofit that helps kids with expository and creative writing, and San Francisco's only independent pirate supply store). 826 Valencia will put together a celebratory gift bag (i.e., pirate booty!) to honor the winner.
And now for the results:
Notable: The PaperBack
Design: Stephanie Aaron, Kristin Grafe & Eric St. Onge (SVA MFA in Interaction Design, Class of 2011)
The PaperBack provided several nice design solutions in one package. We were charmed with the notion of displaying the cover of the book on the back side of the device for others to see (of course, we'd expect a "hide cover" option in the preferences!), and the flip-the-book-over action to turn the page is something we liked from a couple of the entries. The user's ability to customize the form factor to modify the book—from paperback to novel—was a great start, but we felt that it perhaps didn't go far enough. Maybe combining this with the next Notable entry, "The Page," would make for the killer concept.
Notable: The Page: Adaptive Delivery Device
Design: Manny Darden, Jae Yeop Kim & Scott Liao (Graduate Candidates, Media Design Program, Art Center College of Design)
It was irresistible to conflate "The PaperBack" device above with this concept, taking the form factor all the way to a newspaper-scale object. And self-supporting no less! The Page embraces some of the graphic conventions we've grown to love (in this case The New York Times) but then brings some live navigation and hand gestures into the mix. The photographs make for a compelling presentation, and again, made us dream about a device that folds all the way from a paperback out to a newspaper. Utopian? You bet.
At Crayola, we offer hands-on products for creative personal development and fun to consumers of all ages. We are continually exploring and developing new products that bring color, fun and creativity to kids, parents, artists and teachers around the globe. Help us bring innovative, exciting ideas to life by joining us as a
Senior Product Designer
I have taken notice lately of a trend of younger people (not just designers) relying more and more upon email for communications with others...I am sort of a "middle ground" in terms of age and I use both email and phone calls to conduct my business...I am fascinated by the difference that these two generations have in the way they do things. I don't think it's just a "potato / patato" thing - I suspect there is a larger cultural/psychological shift happening.
We're currently seeking an art director to lead the design of licensed products for our girl focused brands. We need someone with a vision for what's new and fresh and the ability to bring it to life on youth products. A professional, positive attitude, rock-solid work ethic, and enthusiasm are required. Knowledge of youth culture and lifestyle trends is also a must.
This October, Eindhoven presented the 8th edition of Dutch Design Week, the largest design event in the Netherlands. Around 1500 designers from home and abroad showed their work in more than 60 locations all over the city, representing the full array of design disciplines. In typical Dutch style, visitors were given insight into the entire development process from concept to product in various disciplines ranging from industrial design to applied arts. We had a good look around - so here is our massive gallery, showing a selection of exhibits from the Eindhoven Design Academy graduation show, the Designhuis, the former Philips complex Strijp-S, and various other shows in galleries all over the city. So, lean back and enjoy the show from the comfort of your desktop.
The Designed Objects program focuses on the critical and creative re-thinking of the tools, furnishings, networks, and products that constitute everyday life. Borrowing from industrial design and disciplines such as systems design, furniture design, experience design and interaction design, Designed Objects envisions and seeks to produce designers as social citizens and cultural agents who choose "the contextualized object" as their primary means of reflecting and affecting our world. While concerned with professional competency within the realm of product design, the program also maintains a more critical and expansive understanding of the production and consumption of objects and products.
Philadelphia University seeks a creative and energetic leader to serve as its new Dean for the School of Design and Media. The School plays a central role in the fulfillment of the University's academic potential. It is a visible powerhouse of creativity, exemplifying the best of Philadelphia University. The ideal candidate will be a proven innovator who has the capacity to think broadly about design and its social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions. The candidate will be a paradigm shifter who views design as artifact, process, and strategy, and will be passionate about developing interdisciplinary curricula that weaves together these strands in new ways.
Prague Design Days 2009, or Designblok, is the 11th edition of Prague's major annual design event. The festival took place between the 6th and 11th of October and was anchored in the Holesovice area of Prague. "Spring," this year's theme, underlined a refreshing sense of revival, new beauty and new life. Join our tour along the main locations at the Designblok Superstudios Classic 7 and A7, the DOX Center for Contemporary Art and the Czech Centre Prague.
As the Designer II - Wellness, you will be responsible for applying your strong design, color and material skills, innovative thinking, and technical experience in athletic footwear toward creating products, technologies and components for the Wellness team. In this role, you will participate in laying out an overarching color/materials roadmap for Wellness, Walking, and collections within both.
The economy's still down, but how far down is it? Are designers weathering the storm with ease and grace, or are they catching the full brunt?
To answer these questions, you need information, and to get that information, The Coroflot Design Salary Survey needs your response. If you haven't responded to the call yet, there's still time, but don't dawdle--the survey closes at 11:59pm, EST on Thursday, October 29.
Now in its ninth incarnation, this is the world's largest and longest-running survey specifically targeted at the creative professions in all their diversity. Whether you're in ID, IxD, Graphic Design, Architecture, Art Direction, or any of the other myriad specialties that hang out on Coroflot, this is the place to let the world know that it pays--or doesn't pay--to be a creative professional. And as always, more responses equals more reliable results, so painting a clear picture of the current state of the profession is in your hands.
Responding is simple, and takes all of 2 minutes. Just click over to Coroflot and fill out the form--it looks like this:
Please remember to give your annual salary (not monthly or weekly), and while readers from all countries are eagerly encouraged to participate, salaries should be converted to US Dollars for comparison purposes. See the Survey page for more details.
I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but sport helmet design has really taken off the last five years...I think it's really cool to see these kinds of products getting more sculptural and designed. Anyone else have some good picks?
We are seeking a very talented product / industrial designer with a strong understanding of the integration of design into the corporate business environment and the specific ability to effectively influence across multiple organizations. Applicants should possess excellent 3-D drawing/sketching abilities, as well as a strong proficiency in cad to communicate design concepts and a significant experience in the product development process of diverse products. S/he will be responsible for developing extraordinary products for the Japanese market.
I can not stand when designers (or anyone) use the word "SIMPLISTIC" when they mean simple, clean, minimal, etc. Simplistic is a negative term meaning overly simple, or simplified "to a degree where important details are lost." Anybody else have any words or terms they hear/see misused that frustrate them?
The Footwear Color Designer will define and execute against seasonal color and material initiatives for the international footwear product range. Tasks and responsibilities include: create and apply color and material palettes to seasonal footwear product lines; work closely as a member of the Product Line Management, Footwear Design and Product Development Teams, assisting in planning and merchandising of seasonal footwear product lines; travel to domestic and international markets to develop and monitor fashion and consumer trends that can be applied to PUMA's own product range.
Pratt Institute and its Industrial Design Department are undertaking a search for the position of Chairperson of the combined undergraduate BID and graduate MID programs. The ideal candidate for the position possesses a combination of experience in the field with the academic credentials and vision to continue to build Pratt's standing as one of the top Industrial Design programs in the world. The Department is located on Pratt's historic 25-acre landscaped Brooklyn campus. This administrative appointment carries a twelve month per year workload and a three year contract which may be renewed.
We seek a senior person with strong design background and leadership skills. Applicants may be academic with PhD and research and publications in design or practitioner with extensive industrial and applied experience in design & business. The position is for a tenured faculty member or Clinical Professor (non-tenure track). In the former case, the appointment will be within whatever engineering department best matches the candidate's training and expertise. A PhD is desirable and an established record of research and highly visible publications in design are essential.
hey all. have any of you recently done freelance work for a day or two and later was told the project was on hold, the company is in a hold pattern because of downturn right after you have done good work, long wait in compensation or none at all?
UIC is currently seeking an ambitious individual to lead the Innovation Center. Through engagement in interdisciplinary innovation--linking university departments and programs with current and potential external partners--the Director will work to expand and enhance current education and development efforts, to grow offerings and activities, and to establish and maintain a self-sustaining financial model for the Center.
During the past month or so I have been interested in getting a new cell phone but can't make a decision. I was wondering what phones/carriers everyone is using and what they think of them from a designers point of view.
DUTCH DESIGN WEEK 2009
PRAGUE DESIGN DAYS 2009
LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2009
GIZMODO GALLERY 2009
EUROBIKE 2009
MAKER FAIRE AFRICA
NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL GIFT FAIR
ISTANBUL DESIGN WEEKEND 2009
BAUHAUS SUMMER SCHOOL 2009
