This is one thing that I have been applying more to my design practice. Because we both are delivering ideas to whomever we are doing a project for. Whether its for ourselves or for a client there is a process of delivering ideas. Categorizing ourselves into just the category of being a designer brings up what a person would expect.
Being a designer is the profession behind the creativity. When you know to deliver your creativity in a professional manner then you can either call yourself a designer or an artist. Really that would depend upon you and whether your work solves a problem or whether its just to look pretty.
Whenever you make the decision that you want to be a designer or whatever you have to dedicate yourself to it. Meaning you have to become a person that wants to be the best. This could not be the case for some people or it could be. You have to find out where you want to end up in your chosen career/life.
Because once a person makes the decision that they are going to do whatever it takes, (not doing anything illegal) you will see how much better they will become. Being a designer it requires a great amount of self discipline. For example you have to basically do what you are telling a client. You have to send emails when you say you are going to and meet deadlines.
All of this is not hard to do. You just have to believe that whatever you are dreaming is possible for you. Remember if you are not believing in your dreams someone else is believing in theirs.
We all have many designers out there that we enjoy seeing their work, hearing them talk and etc. I feel that within that cycle there are other designers who get forgotten about. Because well some are looking for the fame. While others really could care less about it.
If you take time to appreciate the work of many people instead of just one, you will be open to appreciating more types of design. A prime example is movies in regards to who directs them and etc. Sure there are plenty of directors that are probably overrated but don’t think about that for a second.
Just think about if you only watched movies from one certain director and nobody else. There would many different types of movies you would miss and fail to appreciate. So to keep this short even if you think that he/she does awesome work of some kind go to behance or instagram and you find someone who does work just as good. Always keep your eyes open to other peoples work and approaches they take.
There are times when you feel as if nothing is going your way. Your design work is not meeting the quality that you know you can produce and your applying to design positions and you are getting no responses. The main thing to do is not give up.
Because that is honestly a situation many other designers around the world are in. You have to remember that you get out of if what you put into it. Knowing that it is one of the reasons why I design somehow every single day. I’ll admit at times it can feel as if you are getting burned out.
One thing you have to remember is that creativity is not a limited supply for anyone. The main thing it depends on your belief in yourself and if you are willing to grind it out compared to the other people out there.
When I first started learning about design I honestly had no clue what I was doing. I knew the technical side of things but I did not understand the thinking. Which started to frustrate me day after day. Attending art school you can start to become jealous of others who get praise for their work when you’ve spent hours upon hours on your work and receive little or no praise.
I learned from Debbie Millman to be prepared for what could happen if a client or someone does not like any of the work you’d do for them. Also to just shut up and listen to what they have to say regardless if you agree with them or not. Because people who hire us to do design they do not understand design. So always try to remember what it was like before you learned what you know about design.
This video will symbolize what every creative person will go through in their career. I went through a period of doing crappy work and I am still working to get better. I am working every single day to get better as a designer. I learned awhile ago of the formula “work 10,000 hours to become an expert”. So if you do a little designing everyday just think of how much better you’d be. It does not mean that you will have to sit at a computer screen it can be photography,sketching,video just something creative. But none of this will matter unless you want to become better then you are currently. So in order to appreciate your work remember that everyone starts out doing crappy work and they work everyday to get better. One thing I will continue to do is to keep my old design work to look back on and reflect to see how much I have improved.
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