Member profile: Melanie Zobeck

Ed note: Melanie submitted all of her answers in pink. 

Job title: graphic designer

Which means: communicating with visuals rather than text, and enhancing text with visuals.

What do you like most about your job? besides my sweet iMac, working on diverse projects, and having a supervisor that encourages creative thinking

What's an average day like? gazing at a large screen, plugged in with headphones... I dive into a project. I do at least a dozen google image searches and thumbnail sketches everyday. I problem solve and spatially rearranging as often as Pandora has ads (which is a lot, and more than necessary). When I grab my prismacolor colored pencils or xacto knife it's as normal as someone else grabbing a calculator or opening a word document. My virtual canvas in InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop gets filled with ideas that I bring to the client to be critiqued and then I refine for a final design. I work closely with my supervisor and communication colleagues who write the content for anything that has text... thank goodness, because I'm not a writer.

Is there an aspect of your job that's fulfilling? being able to come to work everyday and love what I do: solving design problems, working towards an end product, working with print materials, and expanding my knowledge by being forced outside my design "comfort zone"

How does what you do support the mission of the University? designing for Academic Support Resources (ASR) I have a diverse audience, ranging from the President and Provost to students and parents. I support the University's mission everyday through designing visuals for that audience. The designs are sometimes aesthetically pleasing, and other times my designs help to convey important information... information that helps make decisions about research, discovery, teaching, and learning.

I have been at the University since: student from 2004-2009, professionally from 2010-present

Why did you join the Forum and how are you involved? I was first introduced to the Forum as an Intern. My supervisor was on the committee and she let me do all the fun projects, including the program for the conference. I had such a great experience working with the committee, when it was presented to me to be on the committee this year I was excited to get involved again.

Family members: a crazy dog, a sister (and cat) that abandoned me for Williston ND, supportive parents, and a boyfriend

Hobbies: downhill skiing, eating sushi, shoe shopping, and downloading apps

What/who is your muse--what inspires, enthuses or drives you? the color pink, to be specific Pantone 226 C. I try to keep it minimal in my work, but when surrounded by pink I can't help but to be inspired!

People are always surprised to learn that I: used to HATE pink!

Where's home? La Crosse, WI

How would you like to be remembered (it's never too soon to think about mortality! Yay!)? As a creative mind who was slightly outspoken and loved pink!

Fun with Jargon

This is my most favorite Onion rail item EVER. Oh, how I wish it were true.

I love doing media training with faculty. I always learn a lot about a new topic. But about half the professors I talk to don't know how to describe their work in terms that the general public typically understands. So I have a practice that I call "Jargon Translator." As they talk about their work I jot down their $5 words, and then together we translate them to something a little more common. At the end of our training I give them a list of "forbidden words."

We all use jargon. (high-res, vector, phoner, embargo, CSS, EPS, etc.) We just have to pay attention to how our audiences are hearing what we're saying.

What are your favorite academic "forbidden words"? Please share in the comments. I'll list a few of mine to get us started:

Relativizing
Concomitant
Heteronormative
Hegemony
Exigencies

Throwing your work into the ether: measuring value

Everyone likes validation. Validation is tangible evidence that what you do is valuable. For those in a creative field it's essential, if only because for most of us the money isn't validation enough (because it's not enough money). Social media is a shining example of the power of validation. The Facebook "like" button is founded on the principle. Twitter's retweet is the same. Digg is a popularity contest. Everyone wants to go viral on YouTube. Measurement tools, metrics, and analytics are just another way to ask, 'Do people like us (me)?" In a way, it feels very much like an extension of high school. The hormones of it all are quite frankly making me breakout.

Despair
Let's assume for a second that when, for example, I write a story, it's not about me getting any sort of personal feedback--that it's about who or what I'm writing about. Now get rid of that notion. It is about me, dammit. How long would any of us keep doing something without once-in-awhile hearing an "attaboy?" Say what you will about writers having low self-esteem (it's true), but sometimes you gotta hear "good job" to believe it.

I asked a friend in a similar field about this, and, like me, he wasn't afraid to admit his deepest insecurity about self/work-efficacy. He said, "Sure, you're promoting events people might attend, making someone aware of research. They might or might not take action. But that's just too far removed...too hypothetical." His despair is my aggravation. And so, as in every situation, I first ask myself, "who can I blame?"

Assigning blame
First, I blame inadequate metrics. Metrics for online media simply aren't yet where they need to be unless you're selling something (and someone is buying). If your video of an intoxicated squirrel gets 7 million views, what does it really mean (other than being absolutely friggin' hilarious)? Who does it touch? What difference did it make in a life?

For this conversation, I reference a fantastic article on ClickZ about measuring marketing success (related), which says all I might hope to say. Suffice to say, metrics are and will continue to evolve until one day we all have high self-esteem.

Second, I blame you. And I blame me. Because it's not enough anymore to drop your work into the series of tubes (minute 2:12) that make up the internet, hearing only a "whoosh" and then...nothing...into the ether.

Solution: "Good job!"
When is the last time any of us read something wonderful and sent a note to the writer, or photographer? Why doesn't this happen? If someone sat down and told you a story in person, or showed you a slideshow, and you just sat there and didn't say anything afterwards, it would be...a very weird and awkward silence. Direct feedback can't be beat. Most of us, I'd wager, would trade 1,000 "impressions" for a direct comment any day. So next time you read something you like, send a note to say so*.

So, what are some solutions here, and how are you getting your fix? Do comments on Facebook do it for you (certainly more meaningful than "likes")? Is a retweet enough? Should the author always include a byline with an email address? Let us know in the poll.








*The irony here is that most of the time, if someone takes time to send a comment, it's negative. Nothing motivates quite like displeasure. Let's try to change the tone.

P.S. The Comm Forum does a nice job of filling this void with its yearly conference and Maroon & Gold awards program. And members are known to give the occasional shout out. But no one should need to fill out an application in order to receive positive feedback.