Blog

Wisdom Listens

This goes hand in hand with listening before you speak. If there is someone that is offering you advice shut up and listen. Sorry for being harsh you have to realize that there are people who know more then you. Especially when they are critiquing your work. Do your best to put your ego aside and learn from them.

I advise you to try this for at least 30 days that when you talk with people whom are in your profession and or not in your profession to just listen to them. But of course contributing to the conversation will help and make things go better. You will be surprised at how much people will tell you if you just simply ask them.

Free Wallpaper/Store

I have added a section new to my site.  I made wallpapers for your phone and the size are 640 x 1219. The size is for iPhone 5 and will probably work for other phones as well.

Then you can download the wallpapers for free. If you want them as a poster then that is a possibility as well. One thing I forgot to mention is that I am going to be adding more wallpapers and if there is a special request that you have send me an email.

The value of being honest with yourself

If you are not being honest with yourself its time to start. I for one have always did my best to be honest with myself. Because you don’t want to be a designer that is living in some fantasy land. What I mean is being a designer that thinks their work is the best in the world. Not saying having confidence is bad. More so if you have a small portfolio then you have to get to work.

Because I have built up my calligraphy portion of my portfolio now I just have to get to building up my branding portion and web design. Don’t wait to start upon doing what you know you need to do. Simply start today and get to work. You have to realize that you may have a plush design job at the moment. Also you have to realize how many people out there are wanting your position and are willing to work harder then you.

If there is a skill that you do not have stop thinking oh I’ll be ok without learning it. Then later on in life you’ll be saying I should’ve taken that class. You may not need to learn another skill in your industry or you just are happy with what your doing. Just remember to not be blinded by what can actually happen later down the road. With more skills your more valuable.

Make Everyday

Make everyday means to make something everyday. I had recently began participating in this. The way that I am is by doing a calligraphy piece every single day and uploading it to my instagram and I also make sure to devote time to designing every single day.

Devoting at least 1 hour to calligraphy and 1 hour to designing and sometimes more then 1 for designing. This system has really moved me in a positive way. Another activity is devoting time to web design. I recently tried my hand at a web design and I ended up getting frustrated and felt completely lost. Since I have been improving my coding through code academy it was time to learn the visuals of web design.

But let me stay on topic. Making everyday will allow you to get through the phase of crappy work to good work. I for one look back on my early calligraphy pieces and have no idea what I was doing. Then learning the flourishes as well took a good amount of time.

So if you are at a point and you have no idea what to do or you feel as if your work is not as good as it should be pick up a pencil and start sketching. Who knows where it may lead you.

Don’t die wondering

If you are hesitant about doing anything in your life I recommend you to ask yourself what am I going to do if I don’t attempt such a thing. I learned that life really is short and we are not put here to stay. So therefore why settle for just doing what society expects us to or family.

This year has been moving pretty swiftly. I mean we are almost through January and what are you doing to make this year better then the next and or the previous year?

How to avoid being bored as a Designer

Boredom is a very hard thing for some to deal with. Doing a task over and over again seems as if we are on a treadmill. When you have the mentality of running in place not making progress it will become like weeds to a garden. You have to believe that you are making progress.

One thing is to keep track of your progress. Then you have to realize that the designers you look up to they have been doing things over and over. The same for Kobe Bryant being able to shoot a basketball so well. He has practiced daily and for hours.

This can be said for many successful and well known people. If you remember when you first started designing how the quality of your work is not as good as it is now. Because you applied yourself and kept going. If you are just starting out keep fighting through the stage of not producing good work.

Fighting through the boredom is very simple to do. There are many ways that I use to avoid getting bored with anything that I am interested in. You may be a web designer and you are getting bored with it. You may be a graphic designer and you are bored with graphic design.

Here are some ways that you can avoid getting bored while being a designer.

  1. How are you different know in your field compared to now?
  2. What can you do differently to rekindle the flame?
  3. Find a creative hobby that you are interested in and go do it
  4. Watch documentaries on your profession
  5. Learn the history of your profession. This is very recommended because you are able to learn from how others thought and created the industry in which you work.
  6. Remember to have fun
  7. Practice and do it regardless if you feel like it.
  8. Stop living based on your feelings