In-House Design in Practice (2008)

This is the first book I will read this year in my attempt to better my professional status and future. I recommend In-House Design In Practice for anyone who works within a design department for a number of reasons. For me, it validates some of the practices I've learned throughout the years such as "have a point person for every project" and get a standards guide in place to support our decisions even if they're unofficial. If it's written down people believe it, just like if you write well, people buy it. It's a form of marketing and makes my life easier.

Cathy Fishel (the author) further validates my frustration in having a boss who can't see beyond using green and yellow and acknowledges the anxiety I feel when a project is finally nearing completion and that e-mail arrives with the subject line called "changes." She offers up advice I can learn to live by like maybe the pressure I feel isn't about me but about my clients and I shouldn't take it personally when I'm pressed and people don't get the amount of time it takes to deliver a good product. And finally, it allows me to be a little snarky. Whoever did the layout on this book got a little lazy at the end:

Page 166: extra space before "Fikile."

Page 173: missing text. "One designer working for a very large corporation tells the story of how ..."

And six pages later after a long case study ...

Page 180: "... his company ..."

This is a good book for me to use in my guard against burnout. It supports decisions I've made and gives me confirmation that my approach, understanding, and assessments are and continue to be correct even when I can't implement all of them at once or don't have the support I need to get them going. It gives me something to work toward.

Click on the link to find out more about this book.