By: Domenique Sillett
Domenique specializes in art direction and graphic design for creative ideas. From concept
to execution, she has worked with startups and Fortune 500 companies to create identities and extensions of their brands through logos, Websites
and print collateral. In this essay she writes about her time spent with friend and mentor Lynda Weinman of Lynda.com fame.
When working on a design project, the best solutions can sometimes appear elusive. Through discovery and process the creative
spark kicks in when you least expect it — and in the last place you ever thought you would find it.
It’s nice to work through ideas and creative evolution with a mentor — someone you can trust, to bounce ideas off of while absorbing a
ton of knowledge. When that mentor becomes your client, it can be a challenging and rewarding experience.
Lynda Weinman has a lot of good ideas when it comes to Web design. As a result she has written books, held conferences and lectures worldwide, and
even co-founded a mini-school. So for a lot of projects lately, I’ve been asking myself:
What would Lynda do?
For me, Lynda was my motion graphics and interface design instructor at Art Center, and over time became a friend, mentor and more
recently, a client. She was my favorite teacher because of her natural teaching style and for preparing me for real-world demands. I was
her teaching assistant for a few of her classes, and stuck around a little after graduation. In fact I have Lynda to thank for my first job
out of school in 1995. She was the first to introduce me to the Internet; I remember asking, “What’s a Website?
Is it made with AutoCad or something?”
For years we have kept each other in the loop on what we’ve been up to, and like the really good kid at Willy Wonka’s, once in a while I’d get an
inside peek into new products or events that are coming up. When Lynda would come up to San Francisco on official business for Mac this and PC that,
we’d meet for coffee and talk about what’s new — first there was a book, and then came the school, followed by more books, videos, and CD-ROMs.
After I traded a week of work to learn Flash, we began to discuss the possibilities of working together on a contractual basis. For the past year I
have worked for lynda.com from my home in San Francisco, and once in awhile I’ll make the trip to Ojai, California — a small community outside
of Santa Barbara where the company is located.
Whenever I visit Ojai it is a swirl of deadlines and old home week. Lynda.com is not just Lynda Weinman and her illustrator-husband Bruce
Heavin; it is a braintrust comprised of individuals that wear many hats. There are multiple projects going on by instructors, producers and
developers; seasoned professionals who all work with Lynda and Bruce to compose materials, events, classes and new strategies for students
and educators all over the world.
At the core of our working relationship is knowledge. In the year that I have worked as a contractor with lynda.com, I have had the
opportunity to enhance my skill set with projects based in Flash, Dreamweaver, ImageReady, Fireworks, QuarkXPress and Acrobat.
The experience of developing creative for multiple products under the lynda.com umbrella is a departure
from some of my other work; usually I create one look and feel template for an in-house design team to emulate. Challenges with lynda.com
work revolve around long-distance communication and the need to insure that the graphic design works well for each exercise it is intended
to support.
The best thing about working with Lynda is that we’ve become better friends. The time spent working from the other side of her desk
in Ojai has helped me understand more about what it takes to run and diversify a business during a tumultuous time while balancing family,
relationships and personal expectation.
It was kind of a full-circle moment when the person who helped me find my first job became a client. I enjoy learning from Lynda; our working
relationship has made it really easy to forget about the miles that separate us. I have always wanted to give back to Lynda for all she has given
me, and definitely want to continue to learn more from the instructor I hope to emulate. Travelling to Ojai has brought a change of scenery to my
work environment and quality of life. Delivering creative while balancing multiple projects can sometimes be a challenge, but with collaboration
and the occasional giggle session, I remain inspired.
Domenique Sillett
Lynda.com |
