Every day I receive emails from graphic design students, all wanting advice. I can’t reply to everyone, but a fair bit of my time goes toward answering the most common questions in the form of blog posts.
With 500+ pages on this site, here’s the content I think is most helpful to students.
Advice for design students
On learning
- A few good books
- What graphic design schools are lacking
- Ten principles for good design
- What’s your favourite graphic design book?
- Iconic designers — takes you to a different site
- Design blogs I subscribe to
- On unpaid internships
On typography
On getting hired
- I wish I’d known that — design graduate advice
- What employers look for #1
- What employers look for #2
- What employers look for #3
- What employers look for #4
- D&AD President offers advice to graduates on getting hired
- Improve your portfolio with pro bono design
- On unpaid internships
- Getting your foot in the door — CV/resumé tips
- Design interview tips
On self-employment
- Quality vs quantity
- How I became a self-employed graphic designer
- How to get 87,698 blog subscribers
- How 20 designers charge their clients
- Designing through a recession
- iMac buying tips
- Self-employment advice for graphic designers
- How to convince your clients they need a brand, not just a logo
- Are freelance designers really suckers?
- More than just a title
- Be brilliant at the basics
- Showing sketches to clients
- You don’t need a designer
- Logo trademarking tips: a legal perspective
On commercial printing
- Prepress tips for graphic designers
- Recommended UK commercial printers
- Money-saving questions to ask before printing your promotional material
There’s also the “your questions answered” series (from numbers one to five I think — others found through the “related posts” bit), although I reckon my opinion might’ve since changed on many of the topics — blog advertising, for instance.
And the featured articles page, too. Might do away with that, though.
Blog By: David Airey








