Interview with a professional - Johns Lecturer 

Steven Heller's good and bad Interviews 

Studio Brief 02 - Creative Report/Interview

“Dear Student: your email interview questions

are general, uninspiring, and painful to answer.” 

Steven Heller, 18th January 2017, Design Observer

OUGD502 - PPP

Studio Brief 02 - Creative Report/Interview

Easy for a smug 66 year old graphic designer, art

director, journalist, critic, author, and editor to say.

OUGD502 - PPP

Studio Brief 02 - Creative Report/Interview

Email subject lines

• “Disertation Interview”
• “Resesarch Inquiry”
• “Interview Request”

OUGD502 - PPP

Studio Brief 02 - Creative Report/Interview

Email content

“Dear Mr. or Professor Heller. My name is ______

and I am currently a ______ year student from

the BA (Hons) Design Communication program

at ______ . I am interested in conducting an email

interview with you as a form of primary research

for my final year dissertation paper.”

OUGD502 - PPP

Studio Brief 02 - Creative Report/Interview

Email content

The request is innocent enough. But just as often

I get those with no greeting, simply,

Email content

“My name is ______ and I am currently a ______

year from the BA (Hons) Design Communication

program at ______ . My professor told me I

must interview someone [important, well-known,

expert, willing] in the field for my final year

dissertation paper. [You were suggested. Can you

send me your bio?]” The brackets indicate some

of the more guileless ones. Some are obviously

form letters. Others say, “My professor assigned

me to do you.”

Email content

“I tried contacting ______ and ______ but

they never responded, so I hope you will respond

because I have only a few days before the paper

is due.”

Good Practice

...some questions reveal they’ve actually done

some background reading. Recently, I was asked,

“In 2006, you had a debate with Ellen Lupton that

was published on AIGA on the topic of whether

graphic design should be accessible to everyone.

Now, 11 years later, do you still hold the same

views as you did back then? Why?” It was good of

the questioner to provide the link, since I had no

memory of the debate, and the question forced

me to revisit something that, although no longer

interesting to me, still was relevant to the student.

Bad Practice

Yet most questions in these routine email

interviews are general, uninspiring, and painful

to answer. Here’s a common one: “What is the

current state of graphic design as a field?” It’s not

that it is invalid, but that it could require a

book-length answer.

Answering it could make a dissertation in itself.

(Here’s how I commonly respond to that query:

“This will be answered differently in 100 different

ways owing to demands of clients, technologies

now available and whether one produces

information or decoration, entertainment or

propaganda. There is no current state, just many

options.” Perhaps the student can read between

the lines.) But my gut sense is that the question

is prompted by an assignment to ask about “the

current state” of design, and that the student is

dutifully trying to fulfill the requirements.

Email?

There’s nothing inherently wrong in asking

questions by email for a paper. Even I ask email

questions when I just want quotable opinions or

information for an article, and save my voice-to-

voice or face-to-face interviews for projects that

require deeper delving. But email interviews are

somewhat lazy ways of obtaining content. They

often obviate the necessity for follow-up questions

inspired by curiosity (or a need to double-check

a quote).

Summary

I actually enjoy responding to student requests.

Yet when asked, I usually end up telling them

to craft three to five questions that only I can

answer. What I wish I could just say is: Don’t

waste my time with the dross that can be found

out on Google. Don’t waste your time with my

disingenuous answer to what the state of the field

is today. (Steven Heller) 

When to do interviews/placements

• Monday 13th February
• Monday 13th March
• Monday 3rd April Until Friday 21st April

Interview with a creative Lecturer John

·      Purpose: what do you want out of it?

·      Why are you interviewing this particular person? What relevance are they in terms of what areas of design that you’re interested in to?

·      What do you want to achieve?

·      Who have you talked to? Let them know what you want out of it

·      Research who they are/background research so you know who they are

·      Make sure your email is professional & engaging

·      During your interview try and analyses them as a designer and how they are as a person.

·      Plan your time management so you have enough time in all areas of the collaborative brief

·      When asking questions ask 3 to 4, that you can’t find the answers to online, also to many questions can be to informal and less informative.