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Creating a Case Study with Nick Longo
34 Plays3 months ago
A case study is more important than you might think—it’s a chance to showcase your problem-solving process, creative thinking, and the impact of your designs. There’s a story here, you just have to find it!
In our second episode of The Creative Milestone, we sit down with creative leader & professor of design at CSUN, Nick Longo. Nick shares with us stories from early in his career, the trends he’s noticed when students enter the graphic design industry, and all the components you need for a strong portfolio case study. If you're looking for advice to improve the presentation of your work, this is the episode for you.
Make sure you follow @creativemilestone and our guest, @longodesigns and his own design pod, @dgdcpod !
Nick's Case Study Template: https://www.behance.net/gallery/211569993/The-New-Case-Study
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Transcript
Introduction to The Creative Milestone Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Hi everyone and welcome to The Creative Milestone, the podcast where graphic designers, illustrators, and artists share their experience and advice for new creatives to reach new milestones. I'm Matthew Chakrow.
00:00:14
Speaker
I've been practicing graphic design for seven years now, but only recently joined at the creative industry two years ago. For a few years there, I struggled to enter the industry. But, the kindness and advice of others helped start my career.
00:00:27
Speaker
Now, as the creative job market has changed and gotten it harder and harder to enter, I wanted to use this platform to help new creatives that are looking for guidance in these trying times. In these first four episodes, I'll be sitting down with the mentors that helped me find my footing.
00:00:41
Speaker
They'll be sharing with you the advice they gave me that changed my
Meet Nick Longo: A Creative Leader's Journey
00:00:44
Speaker
life. Our next guest is by every means a creative leader. In 2024, he traveled across the country giving talks about branding, creativity, and what new designers need to start their careers.
00:00:56
Speaker
As part of our first few episodes discussing essential advice entering the job market, there's nobody better to discuss the case study than Nick Longo. But before we dive into that, let's meet the creative.
00:01:07
Speaker
Hey, Matt, what's going on, buddy? I am Nick Longo. I'm a graphic designer based here in Los Angeles. I'm also a podcast producer of the DGDC podcast, and I teach at Cal State University Northridge, my alumni here in Los Angeles as well.
00:01:24
Speaker
And I've been honored to do a ton of fun Adobe events along with Matt over the last few years. So great to be here. Thank you, Nick. I appreciate that small shout out here, but you're kind of underselling yourself here too. You've done so much within your career between working for a lot of marketing firms, mainly focusing on toy design, and then now kind of moving into your own practice within the last decade with Longo Designs. But I was wondering if you could talk more about your time at CSUN as a student. What was that like?
Discovering Graphic Design: A Life-Changing Moment
00:01:51
Speaker
It was all about finding the thing that was your niche. I never thought I'd finished school until I discovered graphic design. Until then, i was like picking and choosing majors that just had zero passion in, but were the the key to leaving, the key to getting out and just working. That's all I wanted to do.
00:02:09
Speaker
Had a deal with my parents that my brother and I were both like, we'll go to school, we'll find our thing, then get off our backs. Yeah. And so to me, I found it as this way of like, it's just, it's the start of like your adulthood. So I couldn't wait for it to end.
00:02:22
Speaker
But then I find graphic design and it's this wonderful thing. And it's obviously now a passion. And I am so happy I found it at that point where I needed it the most. And I needed something to direct the entire career into that I was really going to dig.
00:02:38
Speaker
So the last two years were great because it was exactly what I wanted. I had my major, I was doing nothing but my major. And I found that this was exactly what I wanted. And it was the perfect thing. Was I the best student? No, I was not. um I don't know if i we've chatted about this, but I was quite a bit of a slacker.
00:02:56
Speaker
i don't think I had. I had one teacher that really stood out and made a difference. And I wanted to impress the hell out of him. Everybody else was more like it wasn't pushing you enough. So if I'm not pushed at that time, not.
00:03:07
Speaker
I would slack. My work was probably not the best it could be. I think it could have been a lot better. But I was lucky enough to be at a time where when you graduated, you know, it wasn't that hard to find a job. It it it was quite a good time to be a creative and ah found a job right after it, actually before graduation and have been employed ever since. So something worked out great.
00:03:29
Speaker
That's cool. So what was that first job you landed? I worked at a place called Southern California Design. Does that just sound like the most generic place ever?
00:03:40
Speaker
um It was really cool because it was a local design studio in the area. I didn't have to travel far. And what they did was they were ran by four owners and one owner was a graphic design art director and the other two were sales and one guy was like operations.
00:03:55
Speaker
And I was like their only employee.
First Job Experience: A Local Design Studio
00:03:57
Speaker
And it was really awesome. I got to learn under a very skilled and talented art director. His name's Fred, still a great dude. I got to see everything, right? It wasn't all about just pretty designs and putting it out there.
00:04:07
Speaker
It had to please the client. It had to be under budget. It had to be on time. It'll be all those things. Right. And so what a crash course in learning. And at the same time, I had like an internship at Paramount Studios.
00:04:19
Speaker
And that told me immediately that my dreams of working in entertainment were pretty much done. I wasn't impressed. I didn't. I thought I was going to be into that role. I somehow got into it later in life, but it was so interesting that most people said like, wow, you like the California design place better than Paramount?
00:04:37
Speaker
Here I was staying there and leaving the internship. It was such a clarity to me because I think earlier Nick would have said, of course you're going to stay at Paramount. No, I didn't. I didn't enjoy it. So I realized with a lot of these jobs that the lessons you learn, it's not all about the name of the company you're working for. It's not about the salary you're making. It's how happy you are. And are you actually learning?
00:04:58
Speaker
Nick, I actually had no idea you internet Paramount, you mentioned to me that you'd gone your start in entertainment, but no idea that it was Paramount. So thank you for sharing that with me. yeah So after
Transitioning to Applause: Entering the Entertainment Industry
00:05:08
Speaker
Paramount, and finally kind of seeing the differences between entertainment and kind of just working for design more specific to I'm guessing marketing and branding.
00:05:15
Speaker
Right? Yeah. Did you go back into the industry? Is that kind of how you landed more into toy design, as we've talked in the past? I lucked out because I, again, had a headhunter. The Southern California design place had wound down, kind of closed shop.
00:05:29
Speaker
It was the only time I was ever laid off, thank God. And I went to a recruiter and we shopped around at that time again too. Having a recruiter was was an easy thing to do.
00:05:39
Speaker
If you had your experience, you know they would take you on and try to land you a job. And she found me this great job called Applause based here in the Valley, right around the corner, literally from like my house. it was You couldn't ask for anything better.
00:05:52
Speaker
And there I was now all of a sudden working in entertainment because everything we did was movie or studio based. So everything from Warner Brothers, Disney, Sesame Street,
00:06:03
Speaker
Lucasfilm, you name it. Here I was kind of in entertainment, but I was working for a toy manufacturer. So it was kind of like secret way into the entertainment business without really not being in the entertainment business, if that makes sense.
00:06:16
Speaker
Yeah, working parallel to it as opposed to for it. Exactly. Exactly. How long are you in this part of the industry for? Oh, gosh. So it was all the way till I quit.
00:06:28
Speaker
So I think 20 plus years. So how it worked was applause be um kind of it was about six years. I was there and learned everything about the industry, worked my way up, got to, i believe, creative director position there.
00:06:43
Speaker
Then we were dismantled a little bit. And the the part I was in was working with theme parks. So it was doing stuff for Universal Island of Adventures, disney Walt Disney Parks, all the kind of toy gift stuff that came when you when you exit the ride and you go to the little gift shop.
00:07:00
Speaker
And that little business was doing so well that we got bought by somebody else. And it was a leader. It was a can lead competitor of ours. So there we were kind of the same team, same operation, same clients, just working under a different brand.
00:07:14
Speaker
And then even years later, it got sold and bought by another company that was the much bigger competitor. So even though I had multiple jobs and multiple titles and multiple companies I was working for, I still consider it one job because I got through it all by just staying and doing the work.
00:07:31
Speaker
and making it through any acquisition or merger. Yeah, I was kind of looking back at your career, just kind of preparing for this podcast. And there was a video that you attached to your during your time working for one of these companies. The only active video still is from a Transformers from a transformers's Lunchables collaboration. When I saw that commercial and that you had linked on your LinkedIn, I realized that i had those toys and I had not thought about that in years.
00:08:02
Speaker
It took me back. I was Right.
00:08:06
Speaker
I'm so sorry, Nick, but I was four when when I had those. I was still in preschool. Yeah. Yeah. And one yeah, what what ah what a moment to be taken back to, back to the playground, kind of playing with those flip them up, transforming plastic inclusions in lunchables.
00:08:23
Speaker
You mentioned kind of leaving the toy industry. Why why did you want to leave?
Entrepreneurial Shift: Starting a New Business
00:08:28
Speaker
Well, again, it wasn't kind of my choice. we we We stuck it through because what we created were considered premium toys. And that means anything that was a freebie along with a purchase. So, right. Cereal boxes, lunchable boxes, ah kids meal toys at Taco Bell or at Burger King.
00:08:46
Speaker
And slowly but surely, that business kind of was slowly dying. ah' Very expensive to create ah injection molded plastic. Overseas, prices were going up, and people were going more towards online premiums, meaning like Kellogg's now had a barcode on the back going, download this app rather than put a toy in the box.
00:09:05
Speaker
So we were sold by our CEO. And at that time, that was a great moment for me to say, okay, I'm not going to the next place. If I don't start my own business at this point, I'd be so foolish because it was the opportunity and the kick in the butt that I'd been waiting for for a long time to finally start my own thing.
00:09:26
Speaker
So again, it wasn't my decision, but then it was kind of like, oh, I'm going to do this. ah Before I put myself it back into the job market, I'd never want to be so vulnerable that whatever I do as a job or an employee at a place that it's up to somebody else to say, do I have a job there or not? It was such a devastating blow that I thought, let me drive this shit for a while.
00:09:46
Speaker
You know what I mean Yeah. Yeah. and during the time period of all of this, this early right? Mm-hmm. yeah So we're kind of just coming out of a really unstable economic period. was this How did that make you kind of feel during that moment?
00:10:01
Speaker
There was some fear. you know Personally, I kind of just lost my parents of a few years prior to that. And i think there was a certain amount of me wanting to make them proud. you know So that won out any fear.
00:10:14
Speaker
It was more like, do them justice for how they raised my brother and I, all the sacrifices they made to get me to where I'm at. So I was like, I kind of went in a little bit fearless because of the values and the stuff they gave me. The other positive was when we wound down that company, one of the things that a bunch of us negotiated a year prior to the company closing was we convinced our board of directors that if we stay to the end, we wanted compensation.
00:10:42
Speaker
We had an incredible HR department. that told us to be advocates for ourselves. So that helped us with the transition that when we ended, it gave me quite a good security blanket to do whatever I wanted when that ended.
00:10:57
Speaker
And so starting my own business, I was lucky enough to do it and not have any financial hardships at the time. And that was probably the best safety net I could have ever had. All those things made it very exciting to do this.
00:11:11
Speaker
Anytime further than that, Matt, I, you know, a lot of times I talk to so many young people that are dabbling in that stuff and doing it on their own and maybe want that to be a long-term thing. I put in 20 years working for other people and that is gold when it comes to starting your own business. I ran a huge business.
00:11:27
Speaker
When I started my own, which was a fraction of the business I ran, I was clueless because it's just you, right? You don't have accounting. You don't have marketing. You don't have HR. You don't have recruitment. You don't have sales.
00:11:39
Speaker
You are doing everything. So it's a huge learning curve. But again, best thing I've ever done. Wow. i've I've never heard this part of your story. We've sat and talked so many times.
00:11:50
Speaker
You start your freelance practice. And how is that going for you? Maybe five years into it. Better than I expected, ah for sure. Not just was it running good. I'm still chasing the bigger and better clients every time. Each year, I'd look back and be like, hey, be thankful. That was a great year, but what can I do better?
00:12:08
Speaker
I would always ask too, right? So I always had that part as an aspirational thing, how to make it better, how to make it grow, all those things. I wasn't in a rush. i didn't It didn't have to be the business I wanted it to be or emulating the designer that I saw before.
00:12:23
Speaker
the first few people I saw online that were talking about their own design businesses that seemed kind of new at the time. So I wasn't doing that, but what I did love about it was with that ah freedom, I was able to find other things in addition to that, to make up what my day was going to look like, what my revenue stream would be.
00:12:44
Speaker
And that became things like the teaching and the podcast Because I would have said no to those opportunities 10 years earlier because my job made up all of my free time travel.
00:12:55
Speaker
So I would have just said no to those things. But this was like, oh, I could say yes to a new opportunity because I'm driving the ship of my freelance business. Perfect. So again, all these little check marks were kind of like how I measured success, not just about how much we were driving in business.
00:13:13
Speaker
Yeah. And kind of speaking of those opportunities, now that you have your own freelance business, you as the terrible student you described decided to go into teaching. And i think that was one of the best decisions that you could have ever made for the good of our generation design.
00:13:28
Speaker
Why did you decide to go back into education? Good question, man.
The Joy of Teaching at Cal State University Northridge
00:13:32
Speaker
I was impressed when I went, I got to go back to my school and do a little talk as an alumni. And, um,
00:13:39
Speaker
It was interesting. it was I thought it was going to be this slam dunk thing. And then I realized how challenging it was. It was like it's a whole other audience. You got to talk a little different. And you you can't you can't just talk over them because a lot of times if they don't understand what you're talking about, because you're talking more um kind of like experience level ah that, you know, that might go over their head.
00:14:01
Speaker
you lose them. But then I also was impressed with how incredibly talented they were and how advanced they were and how much better they were than me as a student, right? It was more like, whoa, they have elevated so much over these last few years. And it's so neat to see that they're there and they're just on the verge of moving into that real world.
00:14:22
Speaker
I thought, Okay, might be a neat idea. But then the offer came like two weeks later. And they had an emergency situation. i had just spoke there. So one of the folks that reached out to me was like, you did so great when you came and talked to our class.
00:14:37
Speaker
Have you ever considered this? And I was like, yeah, I've considered it. And it was just perfect timing. And within three weeks later, i was teaching my first class. So it was talk about opportunity knocking and you being able. I said yes before even thinking about it.
00:14:56
Speaker
I knew at that moment if I didn't say yes, I would have sat around and thought about it and I would probably talk myself out of it. But I'm so glad I did because it has become it is like honestly the most rewarding part of anything I've ever done.
00:15:10
Speaker
It's also really challenging. You and I talk about it all the time. And you as someone that has been more recently in it. So it's it's turned out to be one of the best things I think I've ever done. And I advocated to so many people in our industry to find some way to, doesn't have to be a full-time teacher.
00:15:28
Speaker
You know, it could just be guest speaking. It could be mentoring. You know, ah there's so much information and experience to share. Yeah, and Nick isn't even mentioning the part where he doesn't just teach for CSUN, but he's also teaching on his off hours with Adobe Office Hours, his own show with Andrew Hawk Rattle. Yes, um where he does review other portfolios from time to time with um his co-host, Andrew, and they do bring on student guests. I was a student guest not too long ago, and that was a fantastic experience where we got to talk more about portfolios, which we will get into soon.
00:16:00
Speaker
But i I'm just so enamored kind of about what we're talking about now, The question off the top of my head, having talked about your life in corporate and working with different segments of a company, as you mentioned, ah HR, marketing, then moving, doing freelance, doing solo by yourself, all of a sudden being surrounded by students, what was it like working again in a larger community of designers?
00:16:23
Speaker
Oh, I didn't realize how much I i needed it. you know You can get by by the solo entrepreneur and the the random meetup or conference or whatever it might be. Or you know you find yourself begging the client to meet you somewhere because you're like, I just need to get out of the house. You know what i mean?
00:16:41
Speaker
So this was a really good compliment to how things were at that time. And i thrived on it because I got night classes first. And the best part about that was, was every kid and myself had technically nowhere to go after nine o'clock.
00:16:59
Speaker
And so what I found was a lot of students were lingering around and so would I, and we would have these great conversations afterwards. And I'd love that idea that it was, it wasn't like in the middle of the day or it didn't end at four o'clock and someone had to be either at home for something or at work.
00:17:14
Speaker
So one thing I liked was this this idea that the community part that I had been missing was truly back. And I really miss that. and And now I'm a huge advocate for anybody that's in the workplace that hopefully they they are getting a few days, if not all days, under a roof with 20, 30 other creatives and non-creatives.
00:17:34
Speaker
that's That's the only way one business gets done and two, you grow. Hybrid's great for for those moments where it needs to be flexible, but man, nothing beats that.
00:17:45
Speaker
So we got that. And I think that helped me be a better teacher because we had more one-on-one time. We had more group time. So when we'd meet again, i felt like I knew them better and vice versa.
00:17:59
Speaker
And I think I got I got them to open up a little bit more. It got me to kind of understand the the new challenges that a student has now. You know, most of my students are have one, if not two jobs. ah Most of them contribute to their home, you know, in some way, shape or form, taking care of younger siblings or whatever it might be.
00:18:15
Speaker
And, you know, that's a lot to juggle. And so it got me to learn who they were quickly and with a clarity that I didn't have prior. How has that change in a student's lifestyle impacted the quality of work that you see, or maybe better yet, how their personal story is implemented into their work?
00:18:35
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, ah pros and cons, right? The pros are obviously there. There's a lot of good that comes out of that. I think some kids learn time management ah much sooner than maybe most kids do when that's their college years, right?
00:18:50
Speaker
Some kids that don't have all those other things to juggle. really aren't the best at time management. I see some of my students are quite good at it, right? They are forced to learn how to do things in compartments and and and be efficient.
00:19:03
Speaker
So that's cool. Artistically, I see them much more passionate about the design because I think more kids are getting into it now thinking it's a fine art.
00:19:15
Speaker
And then they're realizing it's a commercial art. When I got into it, it was the escape because I knew I wasn't a fine artist, but I needed to make a living. So commercial artists sounded great for me.
00:19:26
Speaker
ah We're seeing them kind of almost have to shift their mindset and be like, oh, I get this. I'm creating for commerce. I'm creating for for sales. I'm creating for marketing. I'm creating for trying to get someone to make, to buy, subscribe or whatever it might be.
00:19:42
Speaker
And so they come in with a lot more of that fundamental passion that I'm envious of sometimes. And I don't want to burst their bubble and be like, okay guys, it's all downhill from here. but how do you stay passionate and become a commercial artist that's, you know, balances that nicely. I'd say the cons might be, you know, time management again,
00:20:02
Speaker
ah there's a lot on their plate. And sometimes homework is a back burner. It's the last priority. And I get it. But then again, i go, you can't slack.
00:20:13
Speaker
You just can't. You got to get that done. So that's that. And then another con might be, The oversaturation of design to the common person, design looks easy nowadays because we have all these tools and it's not.
00:20:26
Speaker
And I think that they're seeing all this stuff and i think they think they can create it quite easily. And what what happens is the fundamentals and the design principles that are not strong with certain individuals, it starts to show.
00:20:40
Speaker
And if they're in their senior year and they still don't have the principles down, you know there's not much you can really do because that foundation is... so needed ah to make that next leap, particularly out of school and into your first job.
00:20:54
Speaker
Yeah. And speaking of your first job, before you apply anywhere, you need a portfolio. I just want to kind of jump all the way back to when you were a student. When you just starting out, what was your portfolio like?
00:21:06
Speaker
It was so bad. was so bad. was so bad. um Again, not as the world i feel wasn't as savvy as it is now. It was easy to go in there. And if you had a winning personality and you had a decent book, your chances were good.
00:21:21
Speaker
You know, you weren't. I was just at the beginning of online and ah kind of like. submitting via you know websites and everything. Whereas before that, it was you you put together a resume, cover letter, sample artwork, and you mailed it off to these people.
00:21:37
Speaker
And I think that had less saturation of anyone. The only people doing in that amount of work were people that were fully unemployed and needed a job. And in today's world,
00:21:48
Speaker
You could be that fully unemployed, needing a job so bad, but you're competing against thousands of people, particularly people who are currently fully employed and are just looking to see if there's something better. So that wasn't as hard for me.
00:22:01
Speaker
And I feel like my portfolio got me through enough and maybe someone saw enough in there, but the minute I had professional real work at my internship, my job I had kind of before graduating.
00:22:15
Speaker
i I threw out all my schoolwork. The schoolwork just failed in comparison to real world stuff. So I was lucky that I had a few real world things in there at the time of graduation.
00:22:25
Speaker
And I think that made all the difference. In a graphic designer's case, how do you implement these things into your portfolio? What's what, in your opinion, is the best way to show that?
The Art of Crafting Design Portfolios
00:22:34
Speaker
The formula of the case study is obviously number one.
00:22:36
Speaker
It is truly the industry standard and it cannot be just a compilation of JPEGs on a webpage, right? You have to curate your portfolio and your case study the same way you curate the project that you created.
00:22:51
Speaker
And if you're in school and this isn't happening right now, It is a huge missed opportunity and every school has to be on track with this. Your portfolio should make up of two to three, if not four solid case studies that are storytelling chapters, beginning, middle and end.
00:23:07
Speaker
And it has to revolve around what problem did you solve? for this particular project and show me that you can tell a story in the arc of that particular project.
00:23:20
Speaker
Can you take me a little bit through this format you kind of discuss in one of your recent DGDC podcast episodes? I'll link that episode below on any description you find this on. Yeah, I saw how students were struggling and I was maybe not presenting it in the right way. There's a lot to consider when you're building the case study, right? And I tried to find the most simple and clean way to give them a starting point that they can use and basically follow along 100% or adapt and add your own flair to it.
00:23:49
Speaker
But it breaks it down into the intro, the objective, the process, inspiration, and then show me all the work that you created for that piece. Be creative, be unique, show off its selling points, talk about why it's so important, try to highlight your passion and your interest in this thing, show that you give a damn, and then you end it with a beautiful conclusion. And again, it's that little chapter.
00:24:13
Speaker
And then you rebuild that for the next one as well. And if you don't have these robust projects, take your favorite projects that you currently have and turn them into these bigger ones, right? You can just elaborate on them.
00:24:26
Speaker
lot of students go like, well, but that's not what I did in the class. And this is all I have for that thing. I'm like, your portfolio is your responsibility. And just because you didn't do a full case study, maybe in your class, doesn't mean you can't do it now.
00:24:37
Speaker
Even a a project you did for a client. i had ah I was talking to someone the other day and they're like, yeah, but that's not the one that the client chose. And I said, screw it. It's the better one. And this is your portfolio, not theirs.
00:24:47
Speaker
So make it all about that logo, not the one they chose that was probably the wrong one. And I can do that. I was like, of course you can. Like, yeah, like this is this is your your signature is the end of this thing, right?
00:25:00
Speaker
It's not theirs. So lot of times it's like, my favorite line is don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. It's like, do it. Just do it.
00:25:11
Speaker
My gosh, take a risk. Nick, that was so beautifully said. Kind of talking about this format here, something that I've noticed that is missing a lot in case studies and in a lot of portfolios, not only is the case study, but is the description of the case study, why they're doing what they're doing. Can you maybe talk more about why it's important to maybe put words supporting what you're designing?
00:25:32
Speaker
How I always say to my students is you don't get the advantage of being there every time this case study is being shown to discuss it and to present it. So design it and craft it as if you won't be there because that's 90% of the time, right? They're going to see this online and judge you if they're going to call you back or not.
00:25:49
Speaker
So drop in just enough description to help walk them through that case study. Paragraph only and then a few images, another little blurb or paragraph again.
00:26:01
Speaker
Tell me what you did, what you were considering, what made you choose that font? Why does the logo work wonderful alone? Why does it work better together? Whatever it might be, you know, all those things.
00:26:15
Speaker
So the beauty of it now is that was a fear of most people, because including myself, because I don't consider myself the best copywriter in any way. And I'd be envious of seeing great stuff out there.
00:26:27
Speaker
But there's this little tool called ChatGPT that can make you improve your your copywriting, particularly as you sell yourself, with the ease and the personalization of you. As long as you do a little research, do some Google searches on, particularly on YouTube, and you'll find a lot of these folks are showing how you can train chat UBT or whatever you use for copy to sound more like you to sound less chat UBT.
00:26:52
Speaker
And, you know, I love using that because even last night, I, I, we had a great conversation in class and the students were kind of going like, I'm, yeah, I'm not feeling AI, whatever. And then was like, great.
00:27:03
Speaker
Okay, cool. So guess what? This next sox exercise, you get to either use chat UBT or yourself. And i think 90% of them just used ChatTBT because they know.
00:27:14
Speaker
And it it was for brainstorming. It wasn't even for copywriting. it was just brainstorming. Like, take this idea and elaborate more. The ideas they were getting, every single kid had a a different deliverable that they were asking for. So the results really were varied and different based on what you put in.
00:27:30
Speaker
It's good in, good out. So if you put crappy prompts and you don't spend the time to really do the right wording, it's not going to go anywhere. You're not going to get good results. But if you spend a little time and particularly like, let's say you've created the creative brief for that project.
00:27:46
Speaker
There's all your juicy details, right? You got all of the values. You've got all of the mission statements. You've got all that stuff. You put that into ChatGPT to say like, pull from here, not from anywhere else.
00:27:59
Speaker
You know what I mean? So that kind of stuff helps you create these things. And you can even say, this is a case study in a portfolio. Here's the image I'm i'm highlighting.
00:28:10
Speaker
Give me and upload that image and say, describe it in a way that's going to make someone understand the value of my design and and what I did to this thing. And you do that, and again, you're changing the the entire conversation now.
00:28:24
Speaker
All these case studies are now shouting your praises and saying, what did Matt do here? What did Matt decide here? What benefit did Matt's decisions make on the final outcome?
00:28:38
Speaker
So it can't just be these pretty pictures. It has to have really good rationale saying that you made these decisions and it was a success. You touch on so many amazing points in just describing what you should include in this case study, more specific to obviously the descriptions. But I want to add on a little bit to a few of the things you've said um to your to your students or students out there and new designers that are anti-AI.
Enhancing Portfolio Descriptions: AI or Personal Touch?
00:29:03
Speaker
Sure. you You can choose to be that way. I'm not going to tell you to move either or. But if you are anti-Chat-To-Behe, you're going to have to find a solution. So something that I actually really like and prefer for myself is my roommate is a copywriter.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah. He is a great friend of mine. And copywriters are not designers. They need designers to showcase the words. If they're going to be in consumer products, that's they need a designer to represent their words.
00:29:29
Speaker
You can help each other out. You can help each other out, right? Is that what you meant? like Yes. The idea that if you if you're not that down with using chat or whatever it might be, look to a friend or colleague that help can write good copy.
00:29:41
Speaker
You design them a logo, they just they write you some copy. Exactly. As we've kind of been talking about here, we're not just graphic designers. We are creative problem solvers. If you have problem, you've got to solve it.
00:29:52
Speaker
yes And going back into your story about how it's important to describe your process, I just kind of want to corroborate with my own story that hopefully you can bring back to your your students. i once applied for a job that I had no actual field experience in that required me to have.
00:30:09
Speaker
But when the recruiter, the hiring leader took a look at this portfolio, he said to me, hey, you're a great designer, but you don't design what we need to design. But what i want to hire you based on is not your work, but because of how you described your work.
00:30:22
Speaker
And that's why i want to bring you on. That ended up getting me that job. Nice. And I was super grateful for that. Talking through my designs is what changed my life. If your designs aren't going to fit that job description, maybe those design descriptions will.
00:30:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And if it wasn't a company that can identify that and still say, wow, I need you for that talent and I have the budget for it, even if it's not a job that can do that, you're still going to press the heck out of that person.
00:30:51
Speaker
And they might just go like, you know, unfortunately, i do need that person that's going to be here. I loved that you had this. That person's now is a huge advocate for you and could do a really great recommendation for you down the road.
00:31:03
Speaker
So don't don't hold back on that. if If you might you know be going to a job interview and you're not 100% that person and it doesn't work out, that person's now and part of your network.
00:31:14
Speaker
And a good person, a decent person out there will try to help the next in line and ah recommend recommend you because they're just as connected. Think of their connections. They have a friend or something at another job is looking for someone.
00:31:27
Speaker
That could be a great way in. Yeah, I want to kind of speak to connections for a second here. There have been people that I've brought in the door to where I've worked, and people that I know that got their foot in the door to different places that I have been at.
00:31:40
Speaker
And They have been Nick's students. They have been CSUN students and they've all learned under Nick and really look up to him. And all that that Nick just described happens with his students. They impress the heck out of that hiring leader.
00:31:53
Speaker
And that hiring leader shopped them around to different parts of a company or different people they knew just trying to find them work because they recognize the talent that these people have. So something I noticed that was super interesting in your own podcast episode is that you take us through this process almost like you're storyboarding.
00:32:11
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe emphasize more of that storytelling aspect within the narrative of telling your case study. It works. It just works. I think I told you about it.
00:32:22
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I can't remember what movie it was for, but when we were in the toy business, we got sent to, it was either DreamWorks or Disney and they were, we were going to do all the ideation for the toys for this movie, but the, the, the animation hadn't even started yet.
00:32:37
Speaker
So the two directors took us through the whole storyboard room with all the drawings on the page and And I got to tell you, I would have paid to see that again. That was better than any movie. I think it was like Kung Fu Panda or something.
00:32:53
Speaker
I think it was. Yeah, I think it was Kung Fu Panda or Toy Story 3 or something like that. And that was better than any live movie. They were the owners of it. who better to walk you through that thing and play the characters, right? They were doing it in the voices and everything and pointing to the but storyboard going, and in this scene, blah, blah, you know, and all this, whatever.
00:33:14
Speaker
And I just realized, I'm like, I was working at a job at that time where creative was given to sales and sales would go and pitch it. but Sales did not make that. That's why I think that kind of It's getting fuzzy now who's presenting and who's actually doing it.
00:33:31
Speaker
So I tell my students that exact same thing. Who better to present this than you? So tell the story. Make it engaging. Grab them. you know If you can pull at their heartstrings a little bit, whatever it is, do it.
00:33:46
Speaker
It'll be memorable, but it'll also prove that you're more than just someone who makes pretty pictures. You're a marketer. You're a strategist. You you look at data.
00:33:56
Speaker
You are thinking of the demographic. You're thinking of the customer, not the owner of the company and their preferences. You're thinking of the consumer and who's paying and who's exchanging money for that thing.
00:34:07
Speaker
So it was really getting to see storytelling at its best by the you know the people that do it the best. They're selling in multi-billion dollar pictures. they They better sell it.
00:34:18
Speaker
And these guys did. When I have taken your own workshops for portfolio building, something you really emphasize is that hero image, that important big thumbnail that is going to grab and pull someone in. Yeah, that could be the most vital part.
00:34:34
Speaker
It's such an interesting way to describe it because in, again, that same episode, you're talking about this big image when you're starting out on this page and then you bring in different portions of what this larger design or this larger brand identity can be.
00:34:48
Speaker
Can you maybe give an example of that again? Yeah. The best thing to consider is if you could have one image that has to represent everything, everything, in that entire project, that entire case study, what would it be? And put that on your homepage, put that on the clickable tile. That's like whatever that brand project is or whatever it is, right?
00:35:08
Speaker
It's the same mentality of a YouTube thumbnail. Now that I put the podcast on YouTube, I've changed everything about the thumbnail art and particularly the the line of copy that's on there.
00:35:18
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:35:29
Speaker
The way it grabs attention represents the episode. Same with your thumbnail for your hero image of your your thing. I'm not saying put some cheesy line a copy on it.
00:35:41
Speaker
It's not that they're that similar, but it is, it has to do all the work. It has to make it clickable. And that's why I think too, if you're using like Wix or Squarespace or some of these other ones where it allows you to, as you hover it, maybe the image,
00:35:56
Speaker
zooms in and out of its frame. Maybe it ghosts or darkens and you see the title of that case study on there with and a supporting line of copy. So that little engagement, that little pulse is the same thing. Like I remember when they were talking about the the, the, uh, redesign of the Instagram logo.
00:36:14
Speaker
They, they, they thought of it more as a button because it is a button on the screen. You have to press that button to get to it on your phone. They thought of it more as a pressable button than an actual logo.
00:36:26
Speaker
So again, that thumbnail has to be something that you, you have to click on to see more. Yeah. Wow. For creatives assembling these, uh, case studies,
00:36:39
Speaker
How can they effectively show both their technical skills and creative thinking? We talked about storytelling, but is there anything else? Well, I guess if you have incredible illustration, that's probably the first thing I would think of that's within that case study.
00:36:51
Speaker
And let's say you're one of those chosen few, like my friend Matt here, who can illustrate and graphic design at the same time, you son a bitch.
00:37:00
Speaker
Show it off. Show it off. So let's say you have the beautiful package of tea and your illustrations are on it. Next to it, show that illustration like on an iPad with your hand there.
00:37:12
Speaker
Like instant recognition. This isn't a sourced image. This designer did it. you know And you could say custom illustrations created to enhance the brand or whatever it might be. So just highlight it.
00:37:26
Speaker
Separate it from the work so they can see the value and highlight that technical thing. If it's your photography, it's your copywriting, whatever it might, whatever your little add on is. Longo doesn't have one. So I have to like fake it all.
00:37:40
Speaker
I just wish I had one that was as good as illustration. That to me is my most envious thing. I can't emphasize what Nick is talking here the most.
00:37:51
Speaker
you have to emphasize your skills. You have to emphasize what makes you unique. And in this case, Nick is talking about illustration is something he wishes he had, but Nick here has taught so many talented students that have all these different creative abilities and have found different ways to kind of tie those into their case studies. So that is something I'm really envious about. I always wish that I was part of that CSUN design program to kind of actually see what it's like.
00:38:14
Speaker
Honorary member. Thank you. Thank you. Every student will say that. Some people were like, where's Matt tonight? I'm like, you know, he's not in this class.
00:38:25
Speaker
It's been a while. I have to come back. I have more free time now. So i actually have to make it back out there. Kind of talking about what to include with not only your case study, but we also mentioned AI earlier.
00:38:36
Speaker
So now that AI is being implemented in itemizing all our portfolios, what is what are important keywords that you really need to put in there to stand out? Do a little research on top keywords that are maybe being looked at by recruiters, by you name it. So I think a lot of it is like keywords, have a list of 15 to 20 of them.
00:38:57
Speaker
And let's say specifically for a project, if it's about hand lettering, if it's about color grading the images to whatever, if it's for brand development, if you really put strategy into this project beyond any other thing you've did.
00:39:11
Speaker
Those are your keywords. So as you're writing that stuff, make sure they're sprinkled in throughout. That way, any AI reader of it will obviously make the match better.
00:39:22
Speaker
And that matches more for let's, I don't think it's smart to like try to force the match to happen. I think stick to your keywords, and the things that make you great.
00:39:33
Speaker
Let those be your keywords, put them throughout your resume, your portfolio, whatever your LinkedIn profile. and hope it makes a match for someone that's looking for what you're good at. You could do that the other way and be like, ooh, I really want it to be all about this and this and this, whatever, and I i really don't do that, but that job's asking for it.
00:39:51
Speaker
Sometimes I feel like that might be a but going down the wrong road because – If you do get an interview or whatever, you can't talk that language. And you want to be able to talk that language when you get the chance. So now you've just reassured them. They're like, check.
00:40:04
Speaker
Matt has everything he claims he said. Don't lie. Stretch to the truth, but don't lie.
00:40:11
Speaker
Let's be honest. Yeah. Well, thank you, Nick, so much for describing why the case study is so important for every new and young designer. Nick, where can all these listeners find you?
00:40:22
Speaker
Oh, easy. You can go to LongoDesigns.com or LongoDesigns on Instagram. And my link tree there has just about everything I've ever done. So but I love the link tree. It allows you to, you know, keep an up to date kind of bookmark on the things.
00:40:37
Speaker
I have a really good LinkedIn bootcamp in there. So if anybody's curious about like how to freshen up or make their LinkedIn a little bit better, you've got that. And then I believe my case study template is all there as well.
00:40:48
Speaker
Well, Nick, I don't want to leave you off here with not a few words. Don't make me cry. No, I'm not going to make you cry and put it on this podcast. um You're the Oprah of graphic design.
00:41:02
Speaker
But I can't leave you with no words of praise. Nick, your advice kind of through my last two years in graphic design has been gold to me. When I first got started in design, i honestly knew not what I was doing at all. I just knew I wanted to design. And kind of before I met you, all I was doing was designing, but not knowing how to apply that.
00:41:21
Speaker
And kind of once we started talking and started taking me under your wing, it's helped me flourish like crazy. And I can't thank the lucky stars enough for having crossed paths with you. So thank you so much for coming on today.
00:41:34
Speaker
Dude, thank you very much. I really appreciate that. You know it's mutual because you are quite a little superstar and you impressed me from the minute we saw your stuff because I think I saw really your work before I really met you.
00:41:47
Speaker
And that's really rare for the the work to speak so strong and so kind of like, who is this person? I need to know who you are. I need to know who your teachers are.
00:41:59
Speaker
i need to see who your parents are. Like everything. you you You add it all, add it up. You had everything there ready to kind of present. And you might have thought you were, you know, a little premature to be there. Or you might have been like, oh, I'm still learning and whatever.
00:42:15
Speaker
But very... you know, rarely you meet someone that just has everything already. You just need to, you just need to be grinding to get to that point where your experience kind of matches the talent you bring to it, you know, and that's going to happen pretty soon, dude. I'll i'll be there to see it. I can't wait.
00:42:34
Speaker
Oh, thank you, nick Thank you. No crying. Yes. We did that with no crying. Anyways, thank you guys for listening and make sure you tune into the next episode and look for Nick's podcast, DGDC, Deeply Graphic Design Cast. Yes, I know that name.
00:42:51
Speaker
there Yes. Finn does it. Yeah, exactly. That's why I have to emphasize it. And Finn will be on this podcast, by the way, and I'm going to nail it into his head. Oh, I love it. That was one of my favorite bloopers ever. That was great.
00:43:03
Speaker
Yeah. right, thank you. Thank you. You got it, buddy. As we end today's episode, I want to highlight one of the many key takeaways Nick and I discuss. You are a creative, and as a creative, we should exercise qualities that prove that.
00:43:19
Speaker
At its core, it's more than the artwork. It's about how you solve the problem or need creatively and wrapping that together in the narrative that wants to be told. You have to represent these qualities in your portfolio and explain how you got there.
00:43:33
Speaker
Thank you to Nick Longo for being a guest today, and for helping me come up with the name of this podcast. The support you have given me and so many other new creatives over the last few years is nothing short of amazing.
00:43:46
Speaker
Before I met you, i was so unbelievably lost. I had no idea where I was going or what I could even do. The kindness and enthusiasm you showed me and my work was the exact confidence boost I needed.
00:44:00
Speaker
Nick is largely the inspiration for me to go on this journey. I wouldn't be here without him.
00:44:07
Speaker
Join us next week as we talk to Tyler Pate, otherwise known as The Creative Pain, an art director at Nickelodeon and freelance illustrator, about how he built a strong portfolio by developing his skills in vector illustration.
00:44:21
Speaker
If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe. but But most importantly, share this with someone who needs it. This isn't just a craft and this isn't just a job, but it's a community of creatives and designers just trying to make a name for ourselves.
00:44:35
Speaker
We shouldn't let the competitive job market affect the longevity of this community. So share what you've learned here with a friend, a student, whoever. And to thank you for listening.