Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Creative Director at Peregrine Communications Joined over 9 years ago via an invitation from Quentin R.

  • 59 stories
  • 620 comments
  • 542 upvotes
  • Posted to Designers who are 40 plus, how are you..., Apr 10, 2019

    Where do all the old designers go?

    I think realistically you need to think about management.

    I get it. We don't become designers so that we can manage other people, or so we can watch younger people do cool stuff when we're spending most of our days in meetings and emails.. but it's the most realistic path for sustainability and success.

    As you get older you have to understand what you can offer. Younger designers can offer speed, enthusiasm and "new" ideas for low wages. What can you offer? The answer is probably experience and wisdom.

    So how best can you impart that experience? And how can you remain involved? I think a move to a strategic position is the best advice. Work towards becoming a Creative Director, or even a Managing Director.

    There are few designers in their 60s who are making enough money to pay their mortgages, go on holidays, etc, who sit in their home offices making great logos or websites. Those are a rarity. But if that's what you want, you should probably make a plan and reaaaaaally work towards it.

    Edit: Just wanted to clear up that I don't think being older means being slower or less enthusiastic. My emphasis is on the low-wages. As you get older you generally need higher wages – these become harder for a company to justify unless you are offering something more than "just" design IMO.

    3 points
  • Posted to Is DN becoming a place for spam?, Nov 27, 2018

    I visit almost daily, as every so often there is a gem being posted. But I reckon there is only something worth clicking at MOST twice a week.

    Face it folks, this place has been going gently downhill for quite some time.

    8 points
  • Posted to List articles and the increase in junk posts on DN, Nov 15, 2018

    But is this really a community any more?

    It has become a list of Designer related links, where the majority used to be interesting/worth clicking, but now a bulk of them feel "fake" and the decent discussions are vanishing.

    There is a link to a Podcast section at the top, where the last Podcast was released almost 2 years ago.

    Doesn't it feel like it's only a matter of time before DN is abandoned completely?

    4 points
  • Posted to Uber's Undoing Part III: Redemption, Oct 26, 2018

    verbose

    /vəːˈbəʊs/ adjective: verbose

    using or expressed in more words than are needed.

    Again, for what it's worth, Eli clearly works hard on these pieces, but the readability needs some work. A series of paragraphs pulled at random yielded a Flesch Kincaid score of 31 – that's cool for your Masters dissertation, but not for journalism.

    image

    7 points
  • Posted to Uber’s Undoing Part II: Local vs. Global, Oct 18, 2018

    Eli, you clearly work hard, do your research and care about what you're saying.

    However, your writing is heavy handed and you could really do with simplifying your sentences. I have to concentrate on your paragraphs too much to understand their meaning, and occasionally find myself zoning out on them before going back to restart them.

    In the way we're often taught to strip back and simplify design, I think your writing would really benefit from the same!

    12 points
  • Posted to How you guys manage to design email signatures?, Sep 12, 2018

    HTML without images.

    It's really the only way to be compatible with Outlook.

    0 points
  • Posted to Sponsor: monday.com Is a Powerful Tool For Project And Team Management, Communications And Collaboration. We Keep It All In One Place., Aug 01, 2018

    We've been using it, and are really enjoying it.

    It ain't cheap though..

    0 points
  • Posted to Julien Renvoye - Art Director, Feb 09, 2018

    Holy smokes, Batman.

    This is utterly wonderful. It's gorgeous to look at, delightful to interact with and has some really clever little touches. Would love to know what it's built on and who built it.

    Superb!

    1 point
  • Posted to Has Apple Lost Its Design Mojo?, Jan 04, 2018

    Goodness. This has already been covered a zillion times, and none much better than Topolsky on the Outline.

    1 point
  • Posted to Should dropdown menus open on hover?, Oct 18, 2017

    Should designers code?

    9 points
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