Just for Students: A springboard to success

Knowing that his work would be displayed, Will decided to pay for travel expenses to attend the awards event in New York. Tania stuffed a few copies of his winning book in her purse that evening, and they set out to meet people they had admired from afar. Will introduced himself to presenters and the keynote speaker, Chip Kidd. All of these contacts received copies of his book extracted from Tania’s purse. Toward the end of the event, he noticed that Roberto DeVicq, of HarperCollins, and Matteo Bologna, of Mucca Design, were looking over his work in the gallery. They, too, received copies of the book, and Will found that both Roberto and Matteo were interested in discussing openings for permanent positions in their firms. He needed to make a choice between working for a design firm or a publisher. Familiar with the environment and smaller scale of a design firm because of experience in his parents’ concern, he opted for the corporate setting at HarperCollins that would offer a different learning experience with a broad range of challenges.

When he arrived, Will took over design of the cover for Michael Crichton’s new book, Prey. The cover had been in process for months with other staff, but the author had not approved the previous options. Will created several treatments and Crichton expressed his pleasure with the one presented to him. Now one of four senior designers on Roberto DeVicq’s staff at HarperCollins, Will is responsible for approximately ten book covers a season.

Will recommends that students try every discipline they can in school. He finds that there are no specialists in the corporate setting. Despite his expertise in and preference for print, he was expected to tackle motion graphics in creating an ad for Prey that ran on various Fox broadcast media.

Now that he works full time, Will reflects that school is a place for having fun. He advises students to experiment and play as much as possible. He has little time for creating the comics he worked on while in school, though he hopes eventually to illustrate a children’s graphic novel that Tania will write, based on Warren the 13th. He counsels students to get their work seen, in contests, publications, school shows, and every possible venue. He believes that the Adobe Design Achievement Awards are a great showcase for student talent. He credits this competition as the springboard to his own success.