A path for our sins
Graphic design is such a rewarding profession. Designers see our creative ideas come to life through various media, feeling a sense of pride when others use our work to showcase their companies.
It can also, however, be the cause of unrelenting frustration, dealing with the negative aspects of design by committee, and clients who, no matter how much you educate them to the contrary, will never utilise the full benefits of our experience.
What is it then, that drives us to foresake more highly-paid occupations for a role that can often go unrewarded?
Becoming a graphic designer
I’ve always had a love of art, and some of my most memorable school projects focused on the likes of Mondrian, Kandinsky and Matisse. Combined with a solid grasp of technology classes during my high-school years, I think the merging of those two interests formed the passion I have for graphic design.
There’s an interview I gave for Jeff Andrew’s Design Inspiration where I briefly touch upon my education and the twists and turns that lead to where I am today.
When I started my design studies, the emphasis was upon the printed product. No-one, at least none of my peers, could imagine just how important the emergence of online technologies would be. In fact, it wasn’t until I started at university — after four years course of college design education — when I bought my first mobile phone (gone are the days when I could actually remember my friends’ phone numbers).
Holding your design in print, as a tangible product, gives a sense of satisfaction that just isn’t there with digital imagery. It’s more permanent, less deletable.
There’s a particularly important factor that keeps me motivated, and that’s the need to learn about a diverse range of industries. For instance, one week I could be working on an identity for a cancer charity, studying allogeneic stem cell transplants and bisphosphonate treatment, then the next I’m focused on a design for a French wine producer, increasing my knowledge of grand cru and the Vosges. The knowledge a graphic designer needs is limited only by the diversity of her client-base.
Working with people from all walks of life, and from many different countries, pushes me to learn about the world in which we’re living.
It’s that same hunger for knowledge that drives many graphic designers.
What led you to where you are today?
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Very deep man! I am currently having some frustration with a client. It’s hard for me to use a design that I know is inferior. I feel I did my job by telling them about it and why I feel that way. We will see what they come back with now…
Thanks for the post. It inspires me to keep moving forward!
be careful about taking your emotional temperature too frequently – it’s easy to do when you are working by yourself on something you love. a little retrospection is ok – just don’t get lost in it.
Very good writing.
“What lead you to where you are today?”
My passion for art in general.
I always loved to draw and paint since I was little but the situation got to another level when I was an exchange student (by the age of 16) in the US. There I had the chance to go to drawing and painting classes (opportunities that we dont have if we are seniors in Brazil – people are more worried about studying math and physics to get into a university than going to art classes – cultural stuff).
So those art classes opened my mind to what I really wanted to do in life. :)
I have always enjoyed the creative process, David. It was interesting to note how much the passion for creative expression drives your work choices.
I love design. I’ve loved design since I took art in high school. Mixed with my high technology background makes it an easy choice. If I had a million dollars I’d still be doing design today. Awesome article!
Hi Matt,
I can empathise with that. Sometimes we can be forced to overlook what’s best, in favour of what the client wants. You can only pitch the positives so many times before giving in and learning from the experience. Gladly, the vast majority of my clients are a pleasure to work with. It was less so when I started out.
Marge,
I’m not quite sure what you mean, but I’m definitely one who ‘counts to ten’ when emotions start getting the better of me.
Fernanda,
Thanks for answering, and I’m glad you had the opportunity to take those classes. Many people don’t, and I think we’re the fortunate ones.
Robyn,
I hope everything’s been good with you and the Brain Based Biz?
Patrick,
It’s great to read how passionate you are. If I was to win the lottery (unlikely, as I don’t buy tickets) I’m sure I’d still be involved with design.
Very well said. I think you hit my inspiration dead on. I never intended to be a designer, I was studying culture and it blind-sided me. The allure for me is learning about and being inspired by a puzzle. But it’s not like a regular puzzle, it’s an evolving one that is always different and always with its own sets of creative solutions. That’s especially true for me when the topic is something immense, like nature, science or culture.
Interesting post David. I hear your pain about trying to educate certain clients. I’ve had this problem in the past, but luckily i’ve been and (touch wood) will continue to be good at talking them round to my way of thinking – if and when I need to.
It’s still not enough to put me off being a designer. It’s what i’ve always wanted to do, and will always want to do. My old tutor used to tell me that when i’ve qualified i will get paid (sometimes) handsomely for making things look nice. Can’t say fairer than that.
Conversations with tricky clients always make me remember a the great quote from Brian Clough when dealing with a disagreeing footballer – “we had a talk about it for twenty minutes and then decided I was right”.
If only.
I actually majored in contemporary media and journalism with a minor in art. I was fortunate enough to get to learn both advertising and design at the same time. Although, when I graduated, I found I still had to teach myself more skills. I think a lot of people that are in school right now should realize that they’re not going to learn everything there is to know after their four years of education. That’s one big mistake I made.
Print is great and it’s what I was taught for so long, because my professors were still technologically ignorant, but Web design is becoming the standard. It’s scary to think that print will one day be obsolete, but it’s going to happen sooner or later, so we might as well get used to it.
Hmmmm! I am surprise how I can see myself in every steps you describe and I too had my biggest disappointments with committees when one of the influential member says: “I don’t like red”….. And no matter how hard you try to justify the use of red, you always end-up with the same answer since they judge a concept based on their personal tastes… And even more frustrating sometimes, the influential member will also bring the opinion of his wife to support his claim…. “My wife don’t like red either……”.
But still, we love what we do and this is comforting that we all share the same pain from time to time.
What brought me into design…. as far as I can remember, I recall myself going too the grocery store with my dad which really wasn’t a blast since he would never let me have what I wanted; soda, cereals, candy etc.
Since my dad wouldn’t let me have those high sugar content cereals, the only thing I could do to feel that I was taking them back home with me was to draw those cool logos and boxes of cereal on a notepad. Years later, it lead me to drive my mom nuts ’cause I was enjoying much more the packages than the toys I was getting for Christmas. That lead me to studying fine arts and to a degree in communication arts at University.
What still keeps me passionate….. an unsatisfiable thirst for knowledge driven by an unmeasurable curiosity for anything and everything, mixed with a never ending passion for brands and history, inspired from those dramatic events at the grocery store when I was a child.
Cheers!
And you may ask yourself
well…
how did I get here?
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the moneys gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Sorry, couldn’t resist quoting the Talking Heads here as it seems appropriate to the conversation.
The desire to be a comic book artist when I was a child is really the event that ultimately got me into graphic design. The thing that keeps me coming back for more, despite occasional unpleasantness, is that ultimately I get paid to create images and very few things give me more satisfaction then the process of creating something visual.
And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? …am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
My god!…what have I done?
LOL ;-)
It’s interesting that you had a love for art and were strong in technology, as I’ve always believed there’s a necessity for left- and right-brain thinking in our job.
There are similarities between our routes to where we are now but mine was much more circuitous – I’d been working in print for years before the internet came along and even then I was slow to work out how I could make it work for me. But now I love the impermanence of it. At least it means my old rubbish designs don’t hand around to embarrass me.
But I still love doing print jobs. Which leads me onto the variety. Like you, I love that.
Great article! Although I’m not much younger than you, I only started recently with delving into the traditional (offline) forms of design, since my love for design and my knowledge of it is mostly from the online perspective. Since I enrolled in my current school/university at a rather late age, I still have the opportunity to practice under guidance of tutors and work on my knowledge and skillset for print and traditional design(-techniques).
I think the best part is the research and use of general knowledge as well. I’m a sucker for knowledge and odd facts (to the point of me wondering why I haven’t participated in “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” yet), so I definately consider that one of my strongest points.
I actually just had to present my portfolio to a class a few days ago, and I worked the answer to this question into my introduction. I’m a web designer. I have created a bit of print work, but the main focus of my work is in 72dpi.
I was really young during the dot com boom- early teens give or take. I can’t quite pinpoint how old I was when I created my first website (I was so young that I lied about my name and age online all the time). It was FAR from a beautiful piece of design work, but it accomplished something: I felt the tingle of knowing that I had contributed to this giant thing that was changing the world. Anyone could see what I had done (although, looking back, I don’t think anyone would have cared to see a bit of centered text and animated gifs on a plain blue background).
The love for art came after that. I started to pay more attention to the world after I had realized that I wanted to help contribute to it in a bigger way than most office jobs.
Today, I share that passion with every client I work with. It’s an amazing feeling to put them onto the world wide web, and then hear back from them about how successful the project was.
I was always drawing as a kid – I was never without paper and some drawing implement. My mother is artistic and encouraged me to do this. But in high school, when I expressed an interest in taking up design as a career, I was instead steered toward more “academic” pursuits. I was a straight A student and there was some hope I would train as a doctor or lawyer. Instead, I became a journalist.
Also, when I was at school, my mother took up graphic design studies. This was shortly before the time when computer graphics were widespread, and my mother learned the traditional methods: guache, letraset, everything done by hand. Her work was meticulous and she spent many, many hours on the one piece. I simply didn’t think I had the patience to work that way (and I still don’t think I could do it).
After some very fruitful and satisfying years working in journalism, I decided to retrain in graphic design. I wanted a career with greater flexibility and creativity, and I was quickly reminded of the passion I have for design and illustration.
Recently I have worked chiefly on contract as an illustrator (with some freelancing on the side), but as the contract draws to a close very soon I will be returning to wholly freelance work, with a focus on illustration-based design.
I was very similar in the my school years. Primary school the art projects were my favourite. Then in high school technology got the better of me.
When I went to college to do a design course what I found most useful about that is ta lot of people were slower in their digital process because they had trouble navigating photoshop and the general computer basics.
All too often do I get clients that just don’t get the point!
“But I don’t care if that goes there, I just want a picture of my van”. *sigh*
At the end of the day, I love what I do!
I can really relate to what you said about learning about different subjects during projects. I love that with each client I pick up so much information of their industry. Right now I’m learning an awful lot about real estate.
I got into design in high school. It really just fell into my lap. I was taking A+ and Cisco classes and built a computer for a final project. A friend of mine lent me some design software that I started fiddling with and I was hooked. Soon another friends band wanted me to create a shirt design for them and it just took off.
Hi David,
Definitely PASSION for what I love to do…create. I relate 100% to all of what you said. Before every project I work on, I first research the industry of the client and their competition…learning the different industries makes all the difference in the success of the design.
Regarding the tangible final printed piece, I can’t agree with you more and could go on forever, but won’t. I don’t hear frustration in what you wrote or over emotion, I hear passion and drive for what you love to do. I believe that print and online work together and that one will not eventually take over the other.
In the group “Communication Arts” on LinkedIn, the question re: do you start with sketching before going to your computer was posed and the majority of the answers was YES. This is pencil to paper and the good ole’ fashioned way of doing things.
I will still commit to doing things that work for me regardless if “it’s not the way of the future” but I won’t let the future pass me by either.
Sorry if got off on a tangent…it’s just my PASSION!
Great post as usual David. As I’ve mentioned before the design and strategy I do is exclusively for charities – and every day I am saving trees, rescuing dogs, helping people breathe… but I have no widget to sell to my audience. I help sell hope. Over and over. Toughest and most rewarding job I’ve ever had. I wrote about how I got here on my blog. For anyone who is interested: http://www.ideadesign.ca/the-naked-idea/philanthropassion-is-it-in-you/
Thanks David.
David B.,
I wonder how many other designers never intended on being one. I looked up to my older brother in my teenage years, and as he wanted to be an electrical engineer, so did I! After that I harboured thoughts of being an architect prior to choosing graphic design.
Abbas,
Ah the art of negotiation. It’s key when working as a contractor, both when agreeing upon terms and presenting your ideas. Nice Clough quote. I’m wondering if the upcoming movie will be any good (not holding my breath).
Toby,
Great point. The vast majority of what I know today was learnt outside of schooling. There’s no substitute for experience, and the fastest way to learn is by making a mistake. Thanks for the verse. ;)
David M.,
I’ve also had clients tell me what their wife thinks of the design, and how she wants to see this or that changed. I believe it’s good practice to ask clients who the decision-maker is, so you know from the start if there could be any hold-ups.
James,
A comic book artist, eh? Do you still practice today? I remember a few of us (as kids) producing our own local news-type comic and trying to sell them to passers-by. It turned out to be a horrendous failure, but it was fun at the time.
For the others reading, if the lyrics from James and Toby flew over your head, here’s a musical explanation:
Rob,
Like you, I was slow on the web-uptake. Many of my design-course peers had their own websites, and to me it seemed like double-Dutch. I couldn’t get motivated, preferring to stick to print. You’re right though, about the impermanence of online content. I find myself looking back through my older blog posts and cringing. In fact, many of my first articles have since been banished to my draft folder, so that I may ‘fix’ them when I get a chance.
Tjeerd,
Throw me a random fact and I’ll be happy chap. Another area I’m interested in, yet can never seem to remember — ancient proverbs. Love ‘em.
Anna,
Do you still have your first foray into web design? I’d have kept that online for a little nostalgia, much like the portoflio evolution I published not too far back.
Tracey,
Was it your mum who was steering you towards a more academic profession, or your teachers? Your comment read like it was your mum, then you said she enrolled on a design course. Hah. ;) It seems to me like you’ve certainly found your niche with illustration-based design, and I hope it goes brilliantly when you return to full-time self-employment.
Justin,
Great how you love what you do. I think graphic design is one of those professions where pretty much everyone involved does it because they love it.
Wade,
A future property empire on your horizon then? Good luck with your current project.
Pamela,
You didn’t go off on a tangent at all — I enjoyed reading your thoughts! For me, sketching is a vital part of my process. If nothing else, it gives me time away from the computer, which is definitely a good thing. Thanks for commenting.
John,
I’ll drop by for a read shortly.
Excellent replies, everyone. A nice way to break-up my working hours (reading about your backgrounds).
Re: Excellent replies, everyone. A nice way to break-up my working hours (reading about your backgrounds).
Isn’t that what makes great communicators: having an interest in other people and understand how people think/live/act? In the end, design is a communication-tool.
I personally have, amongst other area’s, an interest in (old) mythology/religions, especially pre-christian Europe. I’m currently reading the ‘Edda’, a collection of poems and prose dealing with north-european mythology. In my opinion some of the strongest “logo’s” are religious by nature… I just realise I need to write a blogpost on this.
For a random fact: the ‘worst’ chainsmoker before the second world war was king Zog I of Albania (around 150 cigs/day).
You mention in your second paragraph the frustration of “design by committee”. Coincidentally, I’m about to embark on something where a 7-man-strong committee of designers has been set up to produce a exhibition of student work. While each person has their own unique set of skills, there is undoubtedly going to be ‘discussions’ about how to proceed with something.
As someone who has dealt with such scenarios before, what would your advice be to make sure that things stay on track? How have you managed to steer your projects on the right course when others may be derailing it?
@Neil Martin: You might want to try to do a Belbin Team inventory with your group. This is a test to see what people’s natural team roles are. Based on the results you can index what your group members (and your groups) strengths and weaknesses are. There are several online tests, which explain the roles as well.
Of course this is just a test, so things aren’t set in stone. But it could be a nice indictation.
In addition to my last post. I’ve been searching for an online test, but so far I’ve only seen paid ones. (There are free ones available in Dutch.)
Some articles dealing with the roles:
http://changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/belbin.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belbin_Team_Inventory
For the record: I’m a plant.
Hi David, I really liked this post! I work in a technology corporation and I’m surrounded by engineers, mathematicians and scientists; actually I think I’m the only one that had social sciences line of studies and I really think that we see the world in a very unique and particular way: we don’t have certainties, we have doubt and experimentation, sometimes we accomplish something worthy, but we never have the “security” that other lines of work may have. I always wanted to be a lawyer (like my dad) and I entered Law School and when I was finishing my first year my father died and I didn’t want to be a lawyer anymore. All my pain and suffering canalized though art, actually I write a lot (poems and short stories) and I made some interesting documentaries as well, and now I’m doing some design and I can tell you that the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that I feel when I’ve created something original is what makes me keep going. I think that’s my motivation, that’s what makes my existence worth a while: to create.
Very simplistic I believe, but very rewarding also!
Great post David!
Great post David I have to agree, one thing i really love about this industry is the diversity it offers. There is never to dull of a moment. With other jobs I have worked in the past I would often find myself bored. It really is amazing to work in an industry that we don’t have to have to same client everyday.
Mondrian was and still is a favorite of mine as well.
I guess you can say I’ve been into art since day one. I took drawing and cartooning classes at an early age, and wanted to head towards the fine art career path. Actually, one of my first desires was to draw for Disney. It wasn’t until high school when I progressively moved towards architectural design then eventually to graphic design by senior year.
A lot of my art during my last year in high school was heavily influenced by the minimalistic and “graphic” styling of Mondrian and architectural drawings (this was back when Photoshop and the likes were in their infancy so all this was done by hand of course). It was because of this that a teacher of mine suggested graphic design would probably suit me very well. Thus, I looked into it and haven’t looked back since then.
I wish I had counted to 10 today David. Daily frustrations got the best of me. I’m not a designer by trade, and I do sometime still scratch my head about how I got to where I am. If I won the lottery I doubt I would still be teaching computers… but I might begin design! I promised myself once that if I ever go back to school it would be for graphic design. Might not be realistic now given economy and “adult responsibilities”.
But my entry to design is actually interesting. I spent my childhood taking the battery covers off things to see how they worked, but in school I knew people who were amazing artists and good with bubble letters. :)
Anyway, in 4th year of my 5 years completing my 3 year computer degree, I applied for a job as a volunteer to format people’s resumes. They asked me to do a basic layout of a poster as a test for the interview, and I was hired as a “graphic artist”. I did a few resumes, but also my first b&w posters and newspaper ads :) The work i did there was awesome. I was working elsewhere for $10/h for 10 hours a week, but I was spending 20h per week in the graphics office. Even slept on the couch once to get a job done. It was some of the most fulfilling work I ever did. The next year they asked me to be one of two webmasters (I was basically a technical lead and didn’t to much design but I organized the team) so no more posters for me :(
Then about 7 years ago I took a 12 week university course in graphic design and it was all by hand and we actually made things… no real computer design outside of typing everything up. So, my only training is 12 weeks of graphic design. And thats where I am now. Teaching computers and writing blogs. And running 36 K in the past week.
Tjeerd,
That’s a blog post I’ll look forward to (religious logos), and thanks for the random fact. I can’t imagine the king lived too long!
Neil,
Great question RE: keeping a ‘design by committee’ discussion on track. In those previous situations I’ve found myself in, I wished I had asked more questions at the outset. For instance, “Who is ultimately responsible for making the decisions?” — the last thing you want is for continual disagreement.
Good luck with your project, and remember, keep contributions positive, and welcome everyone’s thoughts, no matter how irrelevant you (or others) think they might be. The more involvement there is at the beginning, the faster you can reach an effective outcome.
Oh, and Tjeerd (the plant) brought up an interesting thought (Belbin Team). I’ve no experience there, so can’t offer advice.
Mariano, Jonny,
Glad you liked the post, thanks. Mariano, it seems that through the tough times you found your true calling, which is fantastic. Very sorry to learn of your dad’s death.
PG,
Drawing for Disney, eh? I remember a Disney rep calling into one of my college classes to set us an assignment. Looking back, it was probably a spec contest, and it didn’t really interest me enough to remember the outcome… I’ve gone off on a tangent, sorry. It’s great that you haven’t looked back. Long may it continue.
Rick,
So you’re a computing teacher? Were your students playing up when you posted your comment (you wished you had counted to ten)? I used to teach English (for a very short time) but thankfully my students were great. I can imagine how much an unruly student would disrupt the flow, given that I was no saint in my teenage years.
Are you training for a marathon?! 36k is impressive.
i agree with you! same here, graphic design is my passion. though i’ve been one for two years now and i’m still on this journey to learn more and design more.
in my two years, i’ve also learned that taste of designs of the clients are also dictated by their culture. which i think, these things can’t be taught in schools but by experience.
someday i’m gonna go study in an exclusive design school. :)
anyway, i like your post. very true. :)
Great post, as always, David. I enjoyed reading the interview at Design Inspiration as well.
You asked what led us to where we are today – for me it’s been a long and very windy path that began with music. I was a music (piano performance) major in university, then was a singer in a band full-time for five years (out of St. Louis, MO). And that’s actually where I began playing around with design, by making posters and flyers for the band. Gradually I started taking on small projects for other people and companies, and kept learning loads about design and client relationships with each new project. I realized I found true love, at the juncture of creativity and organization: graphic design. By the time the band parted ways I had a small portfolio, enough to land an assistant graphic design position at an art museum and go from there.
I’ve had my own design studio for several years now, and I love that I still learn more with each project, like you mentioned. I’ve also benefited from years of traveling and living overseas, teaching English and living in Asia and now London, and I feel very fortunate to have all of these experiences. In my opinion, everything can be a learning experience if you open your eyes.
So though I don’t have a traditional formal education in design, I believe there’s something to be said for self-taught designers who have been through it all and started at the very, very bottom! Hopefully we can all be grateful for our experiences and not take anything for granted.
Good luck with your own studies, nez.
pam,
I couldn’t agree more, and thanks for sharing your own path to becoming a graphic designer. I hope everything’s going great for you.
Hi David, congratulations on your blog it makes for excellent reading and interesting discussions.
I too came from a Fine Art background, which I studied until I felt I wasn’t actually learning anything new from my tutors. Unfortunately I was on my degree course by this time. I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know what. I spoke to some lovely people on a course in Communication Media who let me move over to their course. While not specifically a design course, it was always design led, and I found the initial restrictions of design over art quite limiting. I wrote quite an impassioned thesis on the difference between the two in the end, but as I left the course I realised I shouldn’t have fought the change as much as I did, and that’s when things started to go a little better for me! With the benefit of a little perspective I hope to revisit that very subject soon. I moved through the course still wrestling with design vs art and was let out into the wild world of work.
I have had my ups and downs working for varying levels of studios with some fairly unlucky moments all round, mainly the feeling of somehow being a bit of an imposter given my previous background, but I’m determined to keep on keeping on. Currently my situation is quite stifling as my company has started outsourcing design work for some reason unknown to me, so for the time being I really am a pixel pusher. On the 2 days I don’t work I am working hard to get my freelancing off the ground, so far with moderate success, one website created and another in the pipeline. I feel I have grown immensely as a designer, and my goal is to freelance properly as I believe this offers the greatest opportunity for learning and provides the right environment to nurture creative development.
Thanks a lot, Steve. Keep on keeping on, and all the very best with your freelancing.