Graphic Design interview clothing?

August 3, 2009 1:50 PM

Acceptable interview attire for graphic designers and media. How do I dress for interview and (hopefully) work on a budget?

Or, how do I stop dressing like a dork on a thrift store budget?

In the past I've managed to get by in interviews for graphic or other media design positions fairly casually. (Usually decent shoes, some nice black jeans or cords and a button up shirt.)

I'm trying to avoid the whole "I'm a Mormon missionary who shops at JcPenny or Target" look of tie, pleated slacks (ugh) and a collared shirt.

Advice from people who actually hire designers is a major plus.

posted by loquacious to clothing, beauty, & fashion (20 comments total)

Decent slacks, no jeans, decent shoes and solid black shirt, be it short or long sleeved with no buttons. If you can throw in sports jacket.

'course it varies from job to job. If you have to deal with clients or the public directly, then you gotta look sharp. If you're the paint monkey forbidden to even mention the word "clients" then you can get away with much more casual.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:56 PM on August 3

(I'm talking from an european perspective here). Most of what defines the appropriate attire depends on who and where are you talking to (small design shop vs. large agency).
Thank god, we usually get some more slack in the fashion department than other industries. On the other hand, it's quite possible to overdress.
What works for me (in terms of personal comfort, which then I guess projects outwards) is a smart/casual attire. Usually a (linen, wool) jacket on a shirt (or black tshirt, no logos or designs) on a pair of jeans on a pair of decent shoes (no sneakers).
posted by _dario at 2:03 PM on August 3

Yeah, no pleated slacks, and I think cords might be too casual for an interview. Some flat-front trousers (black, charcoal, or khaki -- such as these from the Gap), a collared shirt (I think a medium-shade blue is almost universally flattering on men), some nice-ish shoes (not sneakers), and a matching belt ought to do the trick. Sport coat for cooler weather.

IMO, you can get away with not wearing a tie for most design interviews, as long as you look pulled together otherwise and as long as it's not a more conservative/corporate setting.
posted by scody at 2:03 PM on August 3

I'm an HR pro. I have interviewed for directors of departments, all the way down to warehouse staff.

The artistic people we hire (webmasters, graphic designers, photographers) dress kinda like you'd expect emo kids to dress. I don't really have a problem with how people dress in the office as long as its not offensive. Its an issue that was never brought up...so I don't really care either when I'm interviewing.

BUT, I have never seen a manager who is sitting in on the interview NOT been impressed when a candidate comes in wearing a suit.

You CANNOT go wrong with a suit...even a cheap dark colored suit, white shirt, non-comical tie, and dark shoes. Managers love that stuff (in my experience).

Good luck.
posted by hal_c_on at 2:14 PM on August 3 [1 favorite]

At places I've worked, someone wearing a suit to the interview became a running gag. (However, he got the job).

From what I can tell at smaller places and even some medium places, people show up for interviews in tshirts. I don't think you can go wrong with a nice button down, though.
posted by shownomercy at 2:20 PM on August 3

Figure out what the people who already work there wear to work, then wear something similar but a little nicer than that.
posted by spilon at 2:24 PM on August 3

"Wow. That guy was qualified and gave a good interview. I'd really like to hire him, but he was wearing a suit!"

The previous statement will never happen.
posted by spaltavian at 2:30 PM on August 3 [7 favorites]

Thick-framed glasses will make all your clothes look more stylish. Thick frames made of brushed metal are good, too. I'd avoid wire rims: it's the difference between a stiff like this guy and a cute creative type like this guy.

Shaggy, touseled hair is good, too.

The "Mormon teen" look is mostly due to being overly clean-cut. If you shag up the hair and add cool glasses, the same basic outfit becomes much more stylish.

More tips:

Avoid front-pleats on your pants. You want "flat front" pants.

Get a quality belt. Wide, plain, thick leather, with a heavy metal buckle that's not too flashy. Nothin' says cheesy like a thin, shiny, embossed-leather belt. You can probably find a good, plain belt on eBay for cheap.

Long sleeved shirts with the sleeves neatly rolled up are better than short sleeves. Long rolled sleeves are classy and old-fashioned... short sleeves make you look like a janitor. (Short sleeved shirts with patterns can be OK, but I'd stay away from plain short-sleeved shirts.)

Get some good ties. Here are some awesome neckties that are reasonably priced in the $30 range.

Here is some advice about shoes.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 2:42 PM on August 3 [10 favorites]

Agree with just about everything that pseudostrabismus says, except a lot of those ties veer towards being the wrong side of novelty. I would go for something a teeny bit more sober.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 2:57 PM on August 3 [1 favorite]

"Wow. That guy was qualified and gave a good interview. I'd really like to hire him, but he was wearing a suit!"

The previous statement will never happen.

This is actually not necessarily true. I have worked places (in a creative industry) where supervisors have mentioned that they have declined to hire otherwise-qualified people specifically because they seemed "too square." This includes things like wearing a suit.
posted by dersins at 2:58 PM on August 3

Depends on the weather, but one piece of attire that my (illustrator) husband can take pretty much everywhere is his black leather blazer. He says it makes him feel sharp even when wearing jeans and a (solid-color) T-shirt, and it's one of those clothing items that you can remove or add to fine-tune the scale between casual and formal. Arrive in your jacket. If everybody's dressed casually, then you toss the jacket over the back of your chair and it's just what you were wearing in case the weather turned cold. If everybody's dressed in blazers/jackets, you've got yours on, too.

Note: For interview purposes, jeans and T-shirts is not what you want to be wearing this with. See other fine responses. I'm just plugging the flexibility of black leather.
posted by aimedwander at 3:01 PM on August 3

I manage a graphic design team, and we have NO dress code here. Nevertheless, I've always been more impressed by applicants who came dressed business professional. If someone came in dressed casually and was also super talented, great! But the folks dressed in a suit/dress or even just a nice, long-sleeved business shirt and pressed slacks usually ended up being more professional overall than the dudes who came in dressed like they just got off their break at Hot Topic (one of whom immediately told me he thought our office looked like a mental institution.)

This is actually not necessarily true. I have worked places (in a creative industry) where supervisors have mentioned that they have declined to hire otherwise-qualified people specifically because they seemed "too square." This includes things like wearing a suit.

I avoid people who are "too square," too. They just wouldn't be comfortable in our office environment. But that's usually easy to tell by the way they conduct themselves in the interview... not by the fact that they wore what's traditionally accepted as proper interview attire.
posted by katillathehun at 3:24 PM on August 3

In our locale, it's fashionable and comfortable to wear the classic Mexican shirt in black. Other neutral colors are good too, and the detail embroidery speaks for itself.

You can wear them with jeans, khakis, and wool trousers. Tucked or untucked.
posted by Xoebe at 3:36 PM on August 3

supervisors have mentioned that they have declined to hire otherwise-qualified people specifically because they seemed "too square." This includes things like wearing a suit.

If "suit" meant "square", James Bond would be a virgin. And it doesn't have to a black suit-white shirt-black tie thing.

If you're cool, a suit makes you look awesome. If you're square, than a suit makes you look like a well-dressed square.
posted by spaltavian at 3:42 PM on August 3

As a freelance web designer I found wearing cords, decent shoes, and a polo shirt came off too casual for meeting with clients. I'm switching it up with some nicer pinstripe pants and a shirt with a tie. In the winter I'll add a blazer. I think this should translate to interviews as well.
posted by backwards guitar at 4:12 PM on August 3

Since people are posting pictures of the glasses the guy in Flight of the Conchords wears, does anyone know what they are, and where I can get them? Sorry for the off-topic, I've been looking for those frames.
posted by BryanPayne at 5:48 PM on August 3

I got to give a thumbs down to thick-framed glasses (again, from an european perspective). They're hip and stylish and all but to me, they scream "I may or may not be a designer, but boy I do WANT to look like one". Really, they're such a stereotype in the design circle* that they almost are an uniform. Make what you want with it.

*obviously, after about 15 years spent in front of a monitor, I'm starting to need glasses and I'm agonizing on this exact point.
posted by _dario at 7:25 PM on August 3 [2 favorites]

You can buy suits at Target now. Do that.

For every day work, the cords are probably fine, and you can switch to that once you start (and assess how everyone else is dressing). For the interview, step it up. Your portfolio will show how artsy you are -- your outfit should tell them how serious you are about getting the job.
posted by unlucky.lisp at 11:06 AM on August 4

Your interview clothes are a test. If you can't dress appropriately for the interview, then you cannot be counted on to dress appropriately for important meetings of any kind. It's that simple. Slacks and a dress shirt is perfect. A suit is really best - it says you will go the extra mile, not just in the interview but in your job. You're not being judged on how cool you are. You are being judged on whether or not you understand this is a job where you need to act professionally at times.

It's not the be all end all though. How you answer the question "tell me about yourself" with your story is the be all end all. If you are applying for a creative job, tell your story with examples from your portfolio of previous work. No portfolio? Make one.
posted by xammerboy at 12:29 PM on August 4

I hire designers. A lot of designers.

Despite agreeing with pseudostrabismus's fashion sense above, I have to say... I really don't give a crap what you're wearing. Heck, I'm at least half-likely to dismiss the thick plastic framed glasses, for example, as a sign of possible trying-too-hardness.

I like interviewees who look comfortable in their own clothes. And skin.
posted by rokusan at 2:52 AM on August 5