In Fashion Part 16

The role of a graphic designer is to design type (that is, determine the size of the font, the typeface, the type placement, and how much type goes where) and to combine type (or words or copy) with photographs in a logical, inviting way. Graphic designers can be found working in magazines (designing the magazine pages), at advertising agencies creating print or online campaigns, in freelance situations designing packaging (think of perfume, hang bags), and in advertising agencies creating print or online campaigns.

Misconception. Some people learn a computerized design program and a.s.sume they can be a graphic designer. "It's not quite that simple," explains art director and graphic designer Katty Van Itallie. "The program is just a tool."

Education. People go to design school to study graphic design. There, they learn about the legacy of typefaces, the science of color and proportions, and the history of graphic design. How can you be an outlandish and revolutionary graphic designer without first understanding what the rules are and how to break them?

Good design looks easy, but, in reality, it is complex and has to work on many levels: the architecture, colors, typefaces. Images must all communicate the message effectively and beautifully. How you execute good design depends very much on the a.s.signment, as well as the audience or reader. In magazines, design is a collaboration, and the pages that go to press are a result of that collaboration.

THREE KEY GRAPHIC DESIGN CAREER STEPS.

Internships are a really good way to get into an ad agency or magazine. Work for free, even for a few days per week. If you work hard and people like you, when an a.s.sistant spot opens up, you'll be the most obvious choice.

Take graphic design courses, and learn design software like InDesign and Adobe. Ill.u.s.trator is also handy. Most people now know how to design for the Web.

You really only learn by doing it, and you can't get a job without a job. This means, like Katty, you sometimes have to start at trade or small publications that you don't identify with and wouldn't choose to read.

"I learned how to design by hand, and, in the old days, I built pages by hand," says Katty. "Learning computer programs has been liberating in many ways, but in some ways limiting." Katty also emphasizes that the learning process is endless. "I work with someone now that when I watch what she does, I often find myself thinking, 'Why didn't I do that?' Now I'd like to learn how to design movie credits and for the Web. There is so much more to design than just magazines. But magazines have always been my comfort zone."

Katty's formal design training happened at Parsons after she'd completed her four-year liberal arts college degree. She then worked at various jobs for a few years.

In addition to Parsons, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), also in Manhattan, is another good graphic design option.

The graphic design job search. Graphic design work is vast and varied and allows for career and geographic mobility and flexibility: You can work at ad agencies, book publishers, or magazines; you can work inside companies or outside as a freelancer. In fact, you can work pretty much anywhere words and pictures interact. Some graphic designers develop specialties, like logo design or alb.u.m cover design, while others evolve into art directors (that is, they oversee the conceptualizing of and generation of the images or ill.u.s.trations as well as designing the final treatments of the images with typography). Knowing the language you are designing in is helpful, but it is not absolutely necessary.

PROFILE.

KATHARINE VAN ITALLIE Magazine Art Director and Graphic Designer Katty makes designing the cover of a magazine look easy. Real easy. She takes the three-quarters model image and the t.i.tle of the magazine, along with the endless cover lines the editors insist must appear this month, and, in front of your eyes, she whips up a perfectly balanced, eminently salable, essentially beautiful cover. And while you're still standing there gaping at the marvel on the screen of her computer, she'll spin out a few dazzling variations just so it's superobvious why the first approach was the smartest one.

For Katty Van Itallie, it is easy to design magazine covers and just about anything else: ad campaigns, book covers, fashion stories, posters, invitations, CD covers, typography for film. This isn't because Katty is a whiz at Quark and Photoshop (which she is). For Katty, software is only a tool. It is because Katty understands the science of color, the architecture of a rectangle, how the eye absorbs information. Katty paints pictures, and she has studied art history. She could produce the same cover design with only scissors and glue. And, believe it or not, that's pretty much how she designed her first magazine cover.

BACKGROUND.

Katty is the youngest of five slender children of Dr. Theodore Van Itallie (founder of St. Luke's, Columbia University Obesity Research Center, teacher, researcher, and renowned Manhattan clinician) and Barbara c.o.x. She grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. Summers were (and still are) spent in Fenwick, Connecticut, where neighbors like Katharine Hepburn figured larger than life.

BEING THE YOUNGEST OF FIVE?.

"It was great. I mean, I was teased and often felt left out of a lot, but I also totally idolized my siblings and thought their friends were supercool. Plus, I was very independent because my parents were pretty relaxed and trusted me entirely. There was nothing to rebel against."

EDUCATION.

High school was spent at Dana Hall (all-girls boarding school) in Wellesley, Ma.s.sachusetts. Then Katty chose to break from family traditions and go west to attend Pitzer College, a small, private liberal arts inst.i.tution and a member of the Claremont Colleges, in Claremont, California, thirty miles east of Los Angeles. Katty graduated with a major in studio art.

EAST COAST? WEST COAST?.

"My mother wanted me to go to Wellesley, but I was desperate to go to California. Academics were not that high a priority for me, but, I believe, school is very much what one makes of it. And there's a lot of opportunity at Pitzer. Plus, it's a really fun place to go to college!"

EARLY RANDOM JOBS.

"I had a series of bad jobs that had nothing to do with what I ended up doing-but they were all learning experiences and valuable to any kind of work situation. My first job was working in the publicity department at a record company. One of my tasks was to call a local radio station and request 'Mickey' by one of our artists, Toni Basil. That job didn't last long because the label folded and everyone got fired. Then I got a job airbrushing on T-shirts through stencils. I really liked that job except every night I'd blow my nose and paint would come out."

CAREER REVELATION.

"While I was working at a Park Avenue hotel, I got the idea to apply for a job at a magazine. I remember calling my sister Elizabeth, who was the art director at Self, to tell her: 'I don't want to copy you, but this seems like fun.' I suddenly saw clearly what I wanted to do."

PARSONS.

To get the specific graphic design training Katty needed to work in the art department of a magazine, she went back to attend Parsons New School in the graphic design department. In order to get a loan for these studies, she had to actually be seeking a degree, so she transferred all of her credits from college and got her a.s.sociate's degree in one year of night school.

FIRST GIG.

"While at Parsons, I managed to get a part-time job at New York magazine. I worked with Corky Pollan, who did the 'Best Bets' pages. It was a good learning experience. One of my jobs was that I had to Polaroid the merchandise, pack it into bags, and send it to the photographer. And the very nice art director there let me use all his equipment while I was at school."

HOW KATTY GOT THE JOB.

"My sister Elizabeth had a friend there who told her that someone else there needed someone part-time."

POSTGRAD JOB.

"Macy's-I did my sales a.s.sociate's training over the Fourth of July. I was a disaster. A customer once asked me where the sheet department was, and I think I screamed 'I don't know!'"

LUCKILY ...

"I started getting freelance a.s.signments to do mechanicals for [a trade publication called] Supermarket News. Then I got enough work so I could quit Macy's."

BOUNCED PAYCHECK.

"Then I took a job at this fan magazine called Faces, which did one-off issues on stars like Jon Bon Jovi and Madonna. I was mostly doing mechanicals [production], working in a hall with no windows, no nothing. I had to go to the next office, which is where all these p.o.r.n magazines were, to use the stat room [the room where copies of images and type were made on the photostat machine]. It was definitely a lowbrow job: My paychecks sometimes bounced."

BREAK.

"Then I got a call from Marilu Lopez, who was at Ms., and she said she needed a junior designer. Of course she knew my sister. Marilu said the salary was only $13,000. I said 'fantastic.' She hired me over the phone."

ALL HAIL MARILU.

"I started as a designer. There was a huge learning curve. Thank G.o.d for Marilu-she taught me everything."

MY MAGAZINE.

Next Katty was thrilled to get a better-paying design job at Mademoiselle (a Conde Nast publication no longer in circulation), a magazine she loved to read.

OTHER t.i.tLES WHERE KATTY HAS WORKED.

Glamour, Seventeen, House & Garden, Family Circle, Sports Ill.u.s.trated, More, Seventeen (again), Harper's Bazaar (freelance), Country Living Specials (gardening, collecting, holidays), Departures, Travel+Leisure.

FASHION MAGAZINES VERSUS SPORTS MAGAZINE VERSUS SHELTER.

"Fashion is really fun because you can be playful and adventurous with design and color. It's not so serious. Plus, the combination of images, people, still life, food, and so on, gives inspiration and vitality and variety to the pages. Sports Ill.u.s.trated was fun because it was news and felt somewhat urgent even if it's sports news. It felt real. Plus, the photography was amazing. And the people were funny and smart."

FREELANCE VERSUS WORKING ON STAFF.

Over her career, Katty has flip-flopped between staff jobs and a succession of freelance a.s.signments. "I worked freelance really only because I couldn't get on staff for whatever reason. The hourly or daily rate of freelance adds up to more than salary usually, but there are no benefits and no paid vacations so it's a bit stressful.

"Plus you are treated differently, and you act differently. You have less emotional investment, and the staff has lower expectations so you can't really contribute as much. You're more of just a hired gun, which can be a relief sometimes but gets a little boring after a while. I prefer to really care about what I'm working on, and I like to feel that my contributions are taken seriously."

WHY GRAPHIC DESIGN IS A COOL CAREER.

"I can wear pretty much whatever I want! No more nylons and polyester unless I want to.

"I get to look at beautiful photos and work with them, and the result of what I do is tangible. I can look at a magazine page, cover, whatever, and say, 'I did that.' Plus, the people I work with are always smart and fun and interesting. The casual and creative atmosphere suits my personality."

SOMETHING KATTY HAS NOT DESIGNED.

"Ummmm ... I really can't think of anything. I did ads in the ad department of Hearst Corporate for one miserable week. I have worked on books but have never designed an entire book that was published. I've done newsletters, beauty displays, invitations, business cards, magazines, posters, CD covers."

ADVICE TO PEOPLE STARTING OUT WHO WANT TO BE DESIGNERS.

"You don't have to work at a hotel, the way I did. Educate yourself. Explore different careers so that you know your direction earlier than I did. (I didn't even know what graphic design was.) I was also hung up on the fact that I didn't want to be seen to follow what my sister was doing. I felt like I was copying her for years. Now I wish I could do books the way she does!"

PROFILE.

ROBBIN RASKIN Senior Art Director, Neiman Marcus Thin and striking with long dark hair and pale skin, Robbin personifies fashionista as she teeters along in her chic high shoes, narrow trousers, and a tight-fitting blazer or her latest favorite minidress. As a ten-year-old, she made stop action films with her father's camera; she studied film at college, then stepped into a ten-year magazine career in New York. "I need to feel a strong fashion design element in whatever I am doing," Robbin explains of the link between fashion magazines and her second career as art director at Neiman Marcus, the hub of Dallas fashion. Robbin is the rare talent who's found a way to stay in fashion and go home again.

BACKGROUND.

Born and raised in Dallas, Robbin attended the St. Alcuin's Montessori School for her primary years, finishing at the Greenhill School. She studied film at the Tisch School of New York University. Robbin is married to furniture designer Michael Solis, and they live in Dallas with their two sons, Gus and Roman.

TRAINING.

"I was a film major. That's how you learn about fashion."

FILMS INFORMING ROBBIN'S VISION "The Eyes of Laura Mars ('How can you understand YSL if you haven't seen it?'); The Women; Bonnie and Clyde; Swing Time; The Big Sleep; and any Astaire-Rogers films."

CATHARSIS.

As a teen, "I saw this Cindy Sherman exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art that really moved me. I had tears in my eyes it was so beautiful. I said 'I love photography. I'm done here. I'm moving to New York City.' And I did."

FIRST FASHION JOBS.

Fashion magazines: Seventeen working for Sasha Charnin Morrison and Harper's Bazaar working for Melanie Ward.

HOW IT HELPED HER.

"It's like the exact training of ballet when you are a little girl. When you follow the rules and you are creative, you're on the right path."

WHERE FASHION MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TRAINING CAN TAKE YOU.

"Anyplace where they do advertising in house and you can be involved to do the visuals."

SURPRISES AND STANDARDS.

"I never would have thought that there'd be opportunities for what I wanted to do in Dallas and in retail. You want to be where you can do it beautifully. And I am."

LIFE WORKING FOR NEIMAN MARCUS.

"My boss is really incredible: We want to make HER look good. Make her ideas our ideas and make her ideas look better.

"I'm emotionally involved, since every minute we're creating something new. I'm doing story after story-an evening gown story, then dresses, then jewelry. I'm in charge of budgets. It's all-involving. I love it."

WHAT YOU DIDN'T LEARN IN MAGAZINES "Budgetary stuff. If I'd had to manage $50,000 for one day, it might have helped me."

WHAT YOU DO NOW.

"I'm a senior art director. We break the books into stories-just like a magazine. Our book has a theme and stories supporting the theme. I make it real fashion. So I might get fifteen pages. I have to come up with a concept, hire a photographer, makeup artist, and hair stylist. After the shoot, I paginate the images, putting looks in order and in story form."

PACE OF WORK.

"I photo art direct every two to three weeks and do a total of eight books per year for women plus two men's books. I also do trends, which is really fun. I end up getting really into that. For example, September and March are the higher-priced designer or trend books. October and April are not designer. December is always a holiday or party theme. I do fine jewelry for that book."

THE RULES.

"Oh yeah. It's very editorial, but you have to know the rules. If it's seated, it has to be full body. The issue of cropping is important: You can't crop into the clothes unless it's just a plain black pant. You can't crop into a dress. You have to show the hemline. You have to show the clothes. That's the point."

CAREER CHANGER.

STARTED AS: FASHION EDITOR, MAGAZINES.

SWITCHED TO: ART DIRECTOR, RETAIL.

To return to Dallas from New York, Robbin knew she needed to reinvent herself. She also knew that Neiman Marcus, the Dallas fashion inst.i.tution, was her best bet for employment. Her experience organizing and styling editorial fashion photo shoots at magazines translated into an art director's job at the retail giant: Robbin now oversees retail fashion photo shoots for the store's myriad catalogs, mailers, and advertising. Regrets? Robbin wishes she'd had more budgetary responsibility in magazines and training in computer design.

HOW YOU FOLLOW THE RULES AND STAY CREATIVE.

"That's really hard. But I now know when it has to be a spread and the models have to be standing. I know what Prada likes. I know what most of the designers like to see.

"You have to be with good photographers who understand what Neiman's is. You take it as far as you can go-then you have a backup just in case you've gone too far."

WHAT ROBBIN LEARNED FROM MELANIE WARD.

"She gets everyone to see things her way. She is really good. She has a quiet way-but she gets her way."

HOW TO GET PEOPLE ON A SET TO SEE THINGS OUR WAY.

Robbin tries to have really high energy and keep things positive. "Someone asks, 'What do you think about the makeup?' I think to myself, 'What's the one thing I can say something positive about?' Then I say, 'I like the blush but do you think, maybe, we could try a glossier lip?' You find the one thing that you love and build from there."

STICK TO YOUR FASHION TRIBE.