With so many great young designers out there, we wanted to help put a spotlight on some of the finest talents around by sponsoring the “Young Designer of the Year” at the 2013 .Net awards. With nominations now open, we asked the current title holder, Janna Hagan, what it takes to win and how her life has changed since being crowned as one of the rising stars of web design.

Hi Janna, tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Janna Hagan, a 21-year-old web designer from Canada. I’m currently taking Business Marketing (in my final year) at a school just outside of Toronto and freelancing in my spare time. I am currently working hard on my side project, Student Guide to Web Design and my own design business, Hagan Creative.

What opportunities have winning the Young Designer of the Year award given you?

Winning the Young Designer of the Year award was a great opportunity and experience for me. It not only helped me get my name out there, but it improved my reputation and allowed me to be recognized by some leaders within the industry. Ultimately, your portfolio will get you the farthest in this industry, but winning the award gave me the confidence I needed to keep working hard. It was also nice to know that other people are following my work and are genuinely interested in what I’m doing – it’s a great feeling. Winning the award also has helped me build some connections with some awesome designers, which has provided me with a constant source of work.

How did you come to be nominated for the award? Was it a surprise to win?

I didn’t even know that I had been nominated until I made it past the first round of voting. It was a great surprise to even make it past the first and second rounds, especially since a lot of the people I was up against were also great at what they do (and really young!). It was very surprising to win – but I’m very grateful that I did. I’ve made some awesome connections with the wonderful people at .Net Magazine and designers who won in other categories.

What do you think this year’s nominees have to show to win the award?

I think if candidates show a lot of potential and passion, they’ll be in a great position to get votes. I’m not sure what the judges are looking for when they make their final decision, but if you have a decent portfolio for a young designer and show initiative and passion for what you do, you’ll have a pretty good chance.

You are about to launch your own design studio, Hagan Creative. What advice would you give to designers that want to get projects up and running?

 

It takes a lot more work than it seems and it’s a lot harder to follow through on projects once you start to lose motivation. Student’s Guide is probably one of the only projects I’ve ever started, and finished. Starting a blog like that is a lot of work to maintain and it could easily be a full-time job. My advice is to make sure you plan out everything beforehand and to be realistic about your goals and what you want to accomplish. Setting goals is crucial to getting side projects up and running; even if it’s just getting your own personal portfolio live, set small goals so that tasks don’t seem daunting and overwhelming.

What inspired you to create studentguidewebdesign.com?

My personal college experience is what motivated me to create Student’s Guide. I attended post-secondary for web design for 2 years, and in that time I found that a lot of what we were being taught was either out-dated or irrelevant to what was being required of designers once we graduated. Don’t get me wrong – I loved every minute of my college experience and I wouldn’t take it back. I met some of my best friends in college, it has helped me make mistakes, learn and grow as a person from those challenges. Although college was a good experience, I was dissatisfied that we weren’t taught the practical sides of design, such as writing a contract, finding clients, justifying design decisions and marketing yourself online. Student Guide has definitely been the most rewarding project I’ve started because of the community that has developed around it. I think it has a lot of potential and it’s only going to continue to grow.

We recently found out that 80% of UK web designers say that work was either just as difficult or more difficult to find in the last 12 months. What advice would you give to young web designers to keep the jobs coming in?

If you market yourself effectively and make the right connections, you should never be short of work. I’m still in school and I have to turn down at least 80% of the work that comes my way (mainly because of time restrictions). A lot of this can be attributed to my network on Twitter and Dribbble, where I get most of my leads from. Being active on Dribbble is one of the smartest things you can do as a young designer because there are a lot of recruiters on the site who are always looking for talent. If you are a strong writer, use that to your advantage and blog as much as you can. Writing for your own blog and other design blogs is a good way to get your name out there and start building a following.

When you’re just starting out and don’t have much in your portfolio, I recommend doing side projects. Side projects are a great way to not only add something to your portfolio, but it gives you complete creative freedom over every aspect of the project. If you’d like to get real-world experience, offer to do a website for a local charity, your church or a friend. You probably won’t get paid much, but everyone has to start somewhere. If you do good work on your first few projects, it will pay off when real clients start asking for work.

What tips do you have for anyone struggling with creative block or similar challenges?

Creative block is something that all designers are going to struggle with at some point in their career. Personally, I find that taking breaks is a good way to refresh and regroup to be able to perform at your maximum creative capability. There will always be some days where you don’t feel like working. Being a freelancer is great because it gives you the ability to set your own hours – if you don’t like working in the morning or the evenings, work around that so you can work smarter, not harder.

What was your first design related job or project and what was the most important thing you learned from it?

My first couple web design projects were jobs I found on my own through freelancing. Although my work wasn’t (obviously) my greatest, it was a good experience to work directly with a client. I think the most important thing I learned from working with a client is to have a proper contract. It’s a terrible feeling to know that you’ve been screwed over and taken advantage of for your services. I also wish I would have valued my skills higher in my hourly rate. Just because you’re a student, doesn’t mean your skills are any less valuable.

 

Nominations for the .Net Young Designer of the Year 2013 are now open. More information on how to nominate someone for this prestigious award can be found on .Net’s website, and yes, you can put your own name forward!