IXD302 – week 3 workplace etiquette

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Considerations for the workplace:

• show your work – be open minded
• Keeping on top of tasks
• Organisation
• Time management

Basic rules for existing in the workplace:

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself – Eleanor Roosevelt

1. the studio: be pleasant and enthusiastic – positive attitude, shield people from your negative thoughts. Get as much as you can out of placement and contribute as much as you can. Be on time – it shows respect. Dress appropriately – smart casual. Use headphones for music (at a volume that you can still hear people at) pay attention to your surroundings. Keep your own volume down. Don’t gossip. Be mindful. Don’t get caught up in other peoples grievances. Keep areas clean and help to keep the common areas clean – show that you are trying to help keep the environment nice, it can gain you respect. It shows you don’t have high opinions of yourself, that you are not afraid of the nitty gritty. Don’t bring smelly food in. Offer tea and coffee if you drink it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – even the dumb ones. Remember your colleges are just people too, they also don’t have everything figured out, this can help you connect with them and will put things in perspective. Make sure you are organised and file your work properly, saving iterations and clearly labelling work. Chances are you will be saving to a server as others will need to access your work as well. Respect your coworkers space. When entering the workplace or someone’s space, acknowledge the person by using their name when you speak to them, make eye contact and ask to borrow things. No two studios are the same, just make sure you contribute as much as you can, as long as you pay attention you will find your way.  Prove you enthusiastic to learn and improve yourself. Prove you are willing to make an effort as they will notice and put effort into you also – like teach you.
2. Meetings: with a client of third party – greet them at the door and introduce yourself if you’ve not meet before. Even if it’s not your meeting you can get them set up for whoever is running late. Offer them tea and coffee and get them settled in to the meeting room space. Excuse yourself to go and get the team if they haven’t already appeared. How these are conducted will change from firm to firm. Some may not even have designers in them and it’s unlikely as a junior that you will be conducting a meeting. But being helpful for those that do will be appreciated by the team. However, you should pay attention during these to gain confidence for when it’s your turn. Be on time for meetings, come prepared, take notes so you don’t forget vital information. Be mindful of your body language. Don’t zone out – focus at all time, this may take conscious effort at times. Don’t be afraid to contribute your ideas in a meeting, if you are in there as a designer or part of the design team, you are there because they want to hear from you, don’t speak over people though, make sure to choose an appropriate time. Watch and learn. Be natural but also professional and respectful (this will get easier). A meeting will often start with some casual conversation beforehand. If you are shy or not good at small talk then try practicing this or having some anecdotes prepared. Watch others to see how they handle it. Meetings can be great for dealing with a complex issue or covering a lot of ground. They are also good for getting to know people in a team or third party. They can be a nuisance though, so don’t suggest unnecessary ones. Work on overcoming nerves : whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t – you are right – Henry Ford.
3. the phone: it’s not the same as phone calls in the real world. If the phone is ringing for a while just be the one to pick it up if you are free to answer it, be the person to help out. Say “hello””good morning” or “good afternoon” state that the company name. Say your name followed by “speaking”. If it’s not for you they will tell you who it’s for. Ask as a questions “Can I tell them who is calling.” Or so,etching to that effect. Then you can transfer it to the team member, tell them who it is and ask if they want to take it. If not go back on the line and tell them that your team member is unfortunately in a meeting/not at their desk etc. (Lie) and ask if you can take a message. Take a message and their number and leave it on their desk.
4. Email: write a good subject line (make it about the email content, nothing generic in case they need to search it later). Sarcasm does not bode well with email. Choose the right tone, who is it that you are emailing? Someone you know well or someone you have never spoken to before? Don’t hit send prematurely (you can’t get it back) if in drought draft in a text editor first then paste it and send it. Spell check!!!! Address people by name before starting – never say “hey” if it’s first time email establish a connection how do you know them? If it’s a repeat email, ask them how they are or say you hope they are keeping well. Get to the point quickly. Keep it to only one topic/point per email. Be concise, no one likes lengthy email. No one likes one liners either. Use words like “glad” “excited” “intreaged” not emoji. Use paragraphs to break up length content or use heading if necessary. Clarify why you are asking for something or making a request. Sign off with something appropriate, this could be: many thanks, thanks, all the best, best regards, best, regards, best wishes, thanks again – if you alr3dy thanked them in the body of the email. Have your details in your email signature, maybe they want to follow up with a call, it never hurts to have your info easy to reference. Don’t forget to add your attachments and make sure they are a reasonable file size. Leave it an appropriate amount of time to hear back before following up. Design: don’t use crazy fonts. Just the basics here. System fonts will display best. Your footer can be designed but it can create attachments so a simple text version is best.

In conclusions:

Watch and learn! Pay attention to what everyone is doing, not just the designers and why they do what they do.

The simple act of paying positive atttention to people has a great deal to do with productivity – Tom peters …..

Get comfortable being uncomfortable –  if you get comfortable with getting yourself out of the deep end or out of uncomfortable situations you will be able to do anything.

Task :

• in breakout rooms: conduct meetings about the topics discussed today. You will each assume a role : note taker, meeting leader (raises points for discussions), dumb question asker, contributors (field questions/discuss points)

How it went

Meeting leader

HOMEWORK

Write a mock email in any of these subject areas (you can do it in pairs for exchanges)

1. to manager keeping them up to date on a project progressions (use IXD301 work)
2. To client requesting content that is past due and necessary to progress
3. To a client who has requested info or files from you months/years after the job.
4. Sending a link over to a manager/client to review work in progress.
5. Asking for clarification on something you didn’t understand from a team member
6. To request and arrange a meeting

Also continue your research blogs in the topics raised in class as well as familiarising yourself with companies of excellence and local industry – go into great detail.

As part of our IXD302 module we were tasked with the following:

1. Find 3 examples of local companies, UK and Ireland that you admire and that represent great design/wok and that you would like to work for
2. Also three examples of international design firms that you believe are world leading and produce exceptional work – ones you would aspire to work for.
3. Write a short paragraph on each and show some work examples to back up your thoughts