James Dempsey; an Experienced Graphic Designer from Phoenix, Arizona

Aug 9, 2011 by admin    No Comments    Posted under: Designer Interviews, Graphic Design Tips

Well, today we have with us an experienced graphic designer who is the owner and writer of popular site TheGraphicMac.com, dedicated to providing graphic design resources. Interestingly, James has a wide-ranging experience of about 20 years in the graphics & printing industry, including newspaper, print shop, design & PR firms, and ad agencies.

Check out this one-on-one interview session with James, his understanding of the design industry and graphic design tips below…

DesigningTips.com – Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from and how did you end up being a graphic designer?

James Dempsey – I feel fortunate that the high school I attended in Phoenix, AZ offered a vocational education program. One of the courses was graphic arts, which sounded interesting to me, so I decided to select it as one of my classes. Back then the Macintosh had just hit the market and hadn’t gained a foothold in the printing industry yet, so I learned how to do paste-up, stat camera work, and table stripping of the negatives before plating the work and running jobs on small offset presses. By my junior year, it was clear to me that the Mac was the future of the graphic arts industry, and while I continue to learn the printing business, most of my time was focused on graphic design using the Mac.

After graduating high school, I attended a design school, received my AA degree and began an internship at the state’s largest newspaper. It was at that internship, I learned more about what I didn’t know than what I did. This served to drive me to continue my education. I read books and magazines, attended lectures, and got a design job at another local newspaper.

Over the course of a few years, I worked as a graphic designer in the marketing department in a casino, some larger commercial printers, and freelanced in my spare time. Eventually, I found a partnership with a woman who owned a small PR firm. We added graphic design services and grew the business. Owning a business was great, but I ultimately left because I was spending too much time dealing with employee issues, insurance, billing, client services… pretty much everything but design.

Since the late 90s, I’ve been working for ad agencies throughout Arizona and Nevada on local, regional and national accounts; the largest and most recognizable being the Las Vegas Convention & Visitor Authority on the “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” campaign.

DesigningTips.com – Is it necessary to go to design school to learn how to be a good graphic designer or is it enough to “attend the school of hard knocks?”

James Dempsey – There’s no right or wrong answer to this, but I will say that it can only help to have a formal education in graphic design. However, it has been my experience that so many young designers come out of design school with too much theory and not enough know-how. They have big ideas of what the business should be, and have a very difficult time adjusting to what the business actually is.

The single biggest issue formally educated designers face right out of school is that they actually believe that graphic design has anything to do with artistic ability. It doesn’t. It’s about communicating with the desired target market. It’s about creative thinking. And it’s about listening to your client and their customers.

I’ve interviewed many graphic designers, most with beautiful pieces in their design portfolio. But a very few of them could actually tell me why they designed something the way they did, or who it was targeted at. This is where the school of hard knocks wins every time. Do an internship or two, pick up some real freelance work, and add some concept work to your portfolio.

DesigningTips.com – What are the key elements of a good design? Is good design a function of creativity … of sound experience … or both?

James Dempsey – I think it’s about both, with a lean toward experience. The most visually creative work can fail miserably if the graphic designer doesn’t understand the problem, and bring a solution to it in their design.

DesigningTips.com – Is there any real difference between graphic designing (logo/brochure/pamphlet), a bedroom and clothing for a beautiful woman?

James Dempsey – In theory, no! As I mentioned above, great design brings a solution to a problem. Brochure graphics must be designed to get the reader to open them and read the whole thing. Logos must be designed to be memorable. A room design must be functional. And a dress must be designed to flatter the features of the woman wearing it. All of those are problems that require a design solution. The designer’s job is to present the solution in a visually appealing way.

DesigningTips.com – How do you work on your graphic design projects? I mean, what design software, applications and design tools do you use the most for your projects?

James Dempsey – This is one of those times where you should “do as I say and not as I do.” I couldn’t draw a straight line, or a curved one for that matter, to save my life. But you should make a sketchbook your best friend, quickly doodling down your ideas as they come.

As for me, I work almost entirely on the Mac. I get one or two good ideas in my head and use Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop to comp them up as quickly as possible. Then I stop for a while, look at the graphic designs, and begin to work at really improving them. Sometimes that means simply tweaking the message, and other times it means spending hours coming up with better images, colors and font choices.

DesigningTips.com – Are there ever times when design changes are radical?

James Dempsey – Graphic design is a business. Very few of us would do this for free. The sooner you accept that there are small budgets, tight deadlines, and seemingly random client requests to deal with, the better off you’ll be. When the client only has the budget for six hours of design time, then you need to give them four or five hours of your best design work, and save the remaining time for changes they will undoubtedly want made – including making the logo and phone number on their print ad obnoxiously large!

DesigningTips.com – Can you tell us about your graphic design portfolio and clientele (people you have worked with & for)?

James Dempsey – I’ve worked with some large clients throughout my career, including: Las Vegas Convention & Visitor Authority, Cox Communications, BlueCross BlueShield, power companies, banks, casinos, hotels, and restaurants. I’ve also worked full time and freelanced for some great ad agencies. By far the most rewarding work I’ve done though is for small businesses. I find them easier to work for, and ultimately they just seem to appreciate my work more.

Ultimately, it really shouldn’t matter who you work for, as long as you’re proud of your work and get paid a reasonable fee for it. If you spend your time chasing the ultimate client while doing work you don’t enjoy, you’re ultimately going to get burnt-out on the business.

DesigningTips.com – Any graphic design tips you would like to share with freshers just starting out in the design industry?

James Dempsey – First, find out what you don’t know and what you aren’t good at, and work toward a positive change. Don’t just know how to use your design software, be an expert at it. Take a photography class, or maybe a writing class, to expand your horizons. A better-rounded designer is more desirable graphic designer to clients.

Second and this is most important, get a hobby. I love design, but I began burning-out on it after about ten years. I started TheGraphicMac.com (shameless plug) for two reasons. I wanted to help new graphic designers by offering design tips, software reviews, and links to design resources, because I didn’t have that benefit when I was coming up in the industry. But mostly, I wanted a different creative outlet that didn’t involve clients or design.

I love computers, and I found out that I enjoyed writing – even though I’m not particularly good at it. I find it to be a great creative outlet for me. I also love digital photography. No matter what your hobby is, it’ll serve to keep you fresh for your day job!

You can find more about James Dempsey from his website here.

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