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Toes in the Water
Amanda Czarnick is a Graphic Designer at Caliber Creative Design Agency in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she has worked for a little over a year. Born and raised in Columbus, Nebraska, Amanda is the youngest of four. Growing up, she participated in volleyball, track, and dance, but she was always drawn to art. “I was always told I had an eye for design,” she says, “and I was really drawn to painting, drawing or calligraphy. “Whether I was posting for myself on social media, or creating signs for people, I always had a creative eye for design.”
Amanda was drawn to pursue a degree path in Graphic Design early on in high school. She connected with local Design Agencies in Columbus, attending job shadowing sessions, and fell in love with the career. “Designing things makes time go so fast,” she says. “I felt like I could
easily do it for a living.”
Graduating from Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska in 2022, with an associates degree in Art and Graphic Design, Amanda continued her undergraduate at the University of South Dakota, where she completed her bachelors in Fine Arts and Graphic Design. However, she didn’t wait until she finished college to pursue a career. Amanda got involved with Northeast’s Student Activities Program, taking on a role as a Junior Graphic Designer, dipping her toes into the design world. “That was fun, but I didn’t really dip my toes into the water until I went to USD,” she says. At USD, she was employed in their marketing department for two years, working part-time during school, and full-time over the summers. There, she was able to connect with people about on hands-on projects, whether it was for academics or athletics, and gained valuable real-world experience.
Think Caliber
Shortly after graduating, Amanda moved to Sioux Falls in search of a job. Calbier Creative stuck out to her immediately. “While I was in school, I attended Student Days in Sioux Falls,” she says, “where you can familiarize yourself with some of the Design Agencies. Caliber was one of those agencies.” She opened up on the hiring process she went through after applied at Caliber. “It was a very quick process,” she says, “which I am very grateful for. Within the week I applied, I had my interviews, was offered a position, and accepted the position.”
Working for an agency is fast-paced, with handling all kinds of clients, jugging projects, and coordinating with the team. As a Designer, Amanda doesn’t correspond directly with clients, allowing their Account Executive to communicate with them on their behalf, and relate project details back to them. “Every day there are projects coming in and going out the door,” Amanda says. “Every morning, we get our team together and make sure we’re all on the same page. Our team is young and growing. It’s fast-paced but you learn a lot.”
Most of the time, the creative process at Caliber is pretty-go-with-the-flow, but as with all Design Agencies, urgent products are presented and must be completed last minute. “One of the most difficult things as a designer is tighter deadlines,” says Amanda, “but we work as a team, allocating projects depending on work-loads, so we’re never too overwhelmed. When tighter deadlines come along, we try to get stuff out as quickly as possible, while maintaining our quality for our agency and our clients. Quality over quantity.”
Communication with clients can be difficult for any design team. Clients aren’t always specific with what they want, or are unsure what they want in the first place. Amanda says that part of a designer’s job is to articulate the client’s needs. “We have to articulate the design for clients and know what their expectations are, even if they’re not sure,” she says. “We keep those expectations and strive to exceed them.” When clients aren’t sure what they want, it gives the Designers more freedom to interpret the project, “which,” Amanda says, “can be fun.”
Caliber is a full-service agency, offering brand strategy, branding, creative production, and content media. They provide photography services as well. The team at Caliber is proud to consider their clients as partners, working with ambitious brands. “We love working with ambitious brands,” Amanda says. “We want them to have long-term success. Compared to the other agencies here, we stand out because we are a bold agency. We love doing creative things.”
Looking Ahead
Amanda shared advice for Graphic Design students graduating and beginning their search for a job. “It’s a little bit cliché,” she says, “but it really helped me: get real-world experience.” Working in the marketing department at USD, and applying for internships not only helped her network with local Design Agencies and familiarize them with her name as a Designer, but allowed her to gain experience working with clients and understand what she did and did not enjoy doing. “I was able to work on real projects that I got to see the finished products of,” she says. “I saw people wearing my T-shirts, and saw the social posts I designed. It is neat to see yourself and your designs in the real world.”
Every Design position is different, whether it is an agency or an in-house position. The environment, clients, and Design Team vary, and how the team functions is vital. “Apply yourself to see if it’s a good fit,” says Amanda. “It can be a little scary, but once you get into it, it’ll feel more comfortable and natural to you. But get that real-world experience.”
Caliber Creative was founded in 2008 by Brad DeVille and Casey Schultz as a full-service agency, able to provide their clients with all services. They proudly partner with local brands such as Pomegranate Market, Security Bank, the Helpline Center, and more. They prioritize true partnerships, smart strategies, and comfortable conversations.