How I became a more confident Graphic designer and you can too

Being a graphic designer or a creative person in general can be difficult to continue with. By that I mean it can be hard for one to stick with being creative and not let society beat it out of them. Because as creative people we have skills and talents in us that we can use. But we let the day to day grind deter us from embracing them.

When you have a skill that is not being used and or a talent its just being wasted. “The worst thing in the world is wasted talent” – A bronx tale. I for one fully believe that having wasted talent is the worst thing. Because if you just stick with it and are able to get through the year of hardships and doubt you will make it.

Now on to how I was was able to become a more confident graphic designer. The way I was able to become a more confident graphic designer was by believe in the work that I was doing. By believing in the work it made it more fun. Also realizing that I had done the best that I could. But not thinking “oh if I do this and that’ll be my best”. Which in actuality that is not the case. Just because you work hard on certain projects doesn’t mean you gave it your best.

Because if you work at an agency or wherever you know how hard you need to work on projects. But you have to ask yourself “did I actually go even further to make sure not all of my work is looking the same?”.

Then the other way that I was able to become more confident was the steady stream of wanting to improve and learning everything I could. Another thing was realizing what I sucked at. There are ton’s of resources available to learn from. Also to help you actually get better. Just because you went to design school art school or whatever you call it, that does not mean you are the top of the line.

Becoming more confident takes time and its not instant. If you are a non confident person then you have to get out of your comfort zone. You do not have to do things that are creative to become a more confident designer. Main thing is to get out of your comfort zone and continuously push yourself day to day.

Be Proud of who you are

If you are not proud of who you are I want to ask you why not? Whether you’ve graduated from college and you have not been able to land a job in the field you studied don’t worry. You should be proud that you have even made it this far. Just think of the people whom you studied with in school that just gave up.

This is part of the process of this thing called life. If you have graduated from design school or wherever you have to stay committed. Do your best to not be afraid of trying new things. Trying out things that they did not teach you in school matters. Just think what they taught you in school is from a book and your sheltered.

A great example is a mother who never really lets her children experience how it is hanging out with friends and other things. You will fail and fail some more. I have been failing and I know that it is something I cannot avoid. But what I can do is take notes whether writing them down or mentally and learn from it.

One major thing that shocked me was when I learned that right now may not be your time. Because you may want to be the best and change the industry you have the utmost passion for. Until the time comes make sure you are working on yourself and your skills. Because if you are working on yourself and improving your skills the time is going to come.

Have a great weekend.

Keep testing your limits

You should definitely not be afraid to test your limits. By pushing yourself beyond what you normally would do is not a bad thing. For example just think of it along the lines of a rubber band. The rubber band is attached together.

Then after you keep stretching it, eventually it breaks. After the rubber band breaks you can stretch it even further. Your life is exactly the same way. Also your skills and everything else you do. Because you want to keep moving forward, learning new skills and sharpening your current skills.

Ways to go about testing your limits are to not be afraid of new situations. When you are in new situations do not run from them (well if its a life or death situation then run) and learn what you can from the experience. Because doing so will allow you to grow to the person you should be.

After you’ve experienced new situations is time to start doing what you know you should be doing. I know I probably have talked about this before. But I over time you will learn that it is so easy to just let things slip by. When you know that you should be updating your portfolio site more often or when you know you should be marketing your website more often. But instead you just keep letting it slip by.

Testing your limits is really for someone who knows that they are capable of doing more then just what is required. Also someone who wants to see how far they can go. By seeing how far someone can go they will eventually surpass others who just do what is required to get by.

Do not let anyone belittle your expertise

This should be a given for any profession. Just because we are designers this should not be any exception. Those who do such a thing would not go into a doctor or lawyer, and tell them how to do their job.

Recently after question a person about their design choices I was belittled. Because you and me both know we only want the best for them design wise. The situation taught me that you have to let them see the big picture. Even other times there are clients who don’t want good design.

You may say clients don’t want good design? Well more so it may be the end result of the project. Because even though you see beautiful design work on instagram, dribble, behance and etc it would not work. By not working it will not work for an actual client. But at times that may be different.

Therefore in regards to some belittling your expertise focus on the clients that matter. Do not let yourself get worked up by someone who does not appreciate your advice.

Avoiding Sameness

Sooner or later you will began to realize that your work is starting to look the same. More so you may get style confused with how the problem should be solved. Because if you look at many of these portfolio sites a good amount of the work would not get accepted by a client and also starts to look the same.

A good way that I learned to sameness is to avoid falling into the same practice of solving design problems. If you just try once a different approach you may end up with a different result. Because you should be listening to yourself. For example if before you start a project you say I would want to have a glass of water and lay down for a few minutes do it. Maybe you want to stare out the window for a few minutes do it.

Since I started listening to myself I began to enjoy designing even more. At times we can get into a routine which ends up in us not enjoying our profession. So therefore stop approaching things the same way and do not be afraid to experiment.

Remember being a lazy artist and falling into the same routine will only produce the same results.