The Art of Design

Sleight Advertising spends some time in the world of graphic and web design.

Stephanie Bowling, Graphic & Web Designer

Job Essentials: Adobe Creative Suite, specifically Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign; computer geeking; versed in Google-Fu

How does your role fit into the scope of everyone else at Sleight?
Being a designer I work on a variety of projects like website building and design, branding, campaigns, print design and layout, as well as, assist the team with element and typography input. I work closely with the account managers and clients to create designs and websites that fit their brand and messaging. I really enjoy the variety of projects, clients, and industries that I have a chance to work on. I’ll say one thing, its never boring around here (the Sleight’s definitely add to that).

Would you say your role is collaborative or solo?
My role is both solo and collaborative. Since I work on projects for the account managers, I get a lot of input from them. We also have an amazing creative team here at Sleight, so we work together very well. Even on projects that are solo, getting feedback from the team is always helpful. It’s a good mix.

Take us through the process of designing a website for a client?
When a website comes through, I normally check out what the clients current web presence looks like (if possible). I examine their wants and needs to come up with an idea for custom design to suit them. Our main concern is giving the clients potential user/customer/patient the information that they desire. We like our websites to be easy to navigate, so that we don’t lose our clients potential customers, but also beautiful. Once we have a tailored website with unique content, we meet with our client for any revisions and approval. Once approved, we train them on how to make changes to the website. We are not in the business of forcing clients to come to us for minor changes (but we certainly can, if desired). We also like to educate our clients on why we create sites the way that we do so we don’t leave them in the dark; the web shouldn’t be a mystery.

What is the most fun project you’ve worked on so far?
Hmm, its hard to say, ever site has parts that are fun to work on. I’ve really liked working on sites where we have more creative freedom and ones where we’ve really needed to delve down on what products and services are being offered.

What do you think are the most important traits a good graphic designer needs to have to be successful?
A willingness to listen and learn. Just with anything, once you stop learning you can not progress and you get stagnant. The creative industry is always changing, especially since technology and trends are constantly evolving. Staying on top of it is hard but increasingly important.