Design wunderkind Chuck Anderson dishes about his success
During a recent DCS speaking engagement, Chuck Anderson, of NoPattern fame, discussed some of the steps he took to get from post-secondary postponement to one of the industry's most sought-after design studs.

"Opportunity just happens, so you have to be prepared when it does," Anderson said. "I wish I could say may career was meticulously planned out, but it wasn't." While deliberating his options after graduating from high school with no real career ambitions outside of "I love to draw," Anderson worked for then-small-time T-shirt company Threadless. But shipping shirts wasn't enough for Anderson. "I remember the point at which I new I wanted more out of life," he recalled. "I was driving around this pink and black Geo Tracker, and I remember thinking 'I want something better than this. It doesn't have to be expensive, just not this Tracker!' And I knew I needed to do something to get me out of that Tracker."

Through his diligence at his job and his employers personal contacts, he landed his first design gig -- creating fliers for the chic Chicago club Smart Bar. The promotion was a hit, and Anderson knew he was on to something. "I hit the library, poured over books about design and tried to teach myself how to use software like (Adobe) Photoshop." What began as a lifelong love of drawing and amateur photography took on a new dimension with Photoshop. "My goal for drawing was always 'how can I weird out my parents?'" Anderson said. "With the software, I discovered a whole new kind of weird."

That brand of "weird" went on to help Anderson snag more freelance jobs he scored from cold calls and e-mails, like ESPN magazine. He worked those contacts to land more work, and suddenly, the kid with a fuzzy future was sitting on top of a design empire with high-profile clients like Atlantic Records, Reebok and Microsoft.

Anderson had tips for his audience with regard to breaking into the market. He encourages people to take risks and not be intimidated by making cold calls or sending e-mails. "The worst that can happen is they'll say no, and then you're no worse off than before you made the call. But if it works..." He also cautioned against being too picky about jobs. "One of the biggest mistakes an artist can make is to think they're too good for a job," he said, adding that even if you think a job might be "beneath you," you never know who's connected to whom and where one "insignificant" job might lead.

Getting specific direction from a client is another route Anderson suggested on the road to job satisfaction. "Getting bad direction -- especially from people I like -- is just hte worst," he lamented. "Make sure you get details -- what is this for? Do you have specific dimensions? What's your goal for this?"

His top three tips for the evening include:

Be assertive. You're your own marketing ambassador, so be confident in your work.
Have support. Whether it's a friend, family member or spouse who can be there for moral support, for inspiration, or just to act as a sounding board, surround yourself with good energy.
Keep the creative fires burning. Keep exploring and every now and then, create something or just goof around for fun. It's cathartic and can revive your love for design when you start to feel burned out. New ideas can happen at any time, so be prepared.

Through effort, ethic and taking chances, you, too, can find yourself at the design apex. "One of the best rewards is seeing your hard work out there in the real world," Anderson said. "Half my motivation for doing a job is to show people my work -- show them what goes on in my head!"