Discouraging world of a designer
If you’re anything like I am as a designer, its likely that you spend a lot of time browsing the internet and the various design communities that it caters to. These communities hold mass amounts of designers and its not unlikely, nor hard, to run into a designer who you feel is better then you. Due to this, designing can also be very disheartening at times because of the amazing amount of designers there are out there and the world, and the even more amazing amount of designers who are absolutely brilliant. It can really make the skill, which at heart you know is a strong one, seem insignificant and subpar.
Now as a general rule designers are very egotistical creatures who have an uncanny ability to talk themselves up, and also tend to take negative criticism badly (negative feedback isn’t a problem, its different). This really doesn’t work too well for a designer because the internet can be an insensitive and brutal thing, a place where people who can’t work out the best way to successfully scratch that arse itch they have can be a self proclaimed professional in any field, and in the position to give negative feedback. Often uneducated negative feedback. And lets face it, unless you’re a designer, you probably aren’t in any position to give feedback thats useful. Any one who has done commission work will know this true based on client opinions.
All this put together can result in a very unhappy designer which in turn leads to a lack of enthusiasm and a loss of interest. But lets stop for a moment and have a look at all this in the big picture. Sure there are a lot of overly talented designers on the internet, but lets keep in mind that that is the reason we stumble across it. Uninteresting and bad portfolios don’t get seen anywhere near as often as the better ones for the simple reason that they aren’t circulated as much. There is roughly 260,000 graphic designers around, but amazing portfolio’s, there is only dozens of them, maybe hundreds if you look extra hard. They are the top of the top, and based on that, its very likely that you, as a designer with a decent amount of skill, ranks relatively well in the world of graphic design, but when you log into the world of internet graphic design you’re playing with the big boys, and it sure can make you feel small and less confident. Just remember that a lot of these people are exceptional designers and a far better then most. Designing has also become a choice career for many people who are vaguely talented and interested in the field, but assume they are the best because they have a fancy degree. This is not the case and leads to the industry skill as a whole going down. So if you’re passionate about what you do, you will likely be better then these people.
There is a few simple ways to stay on top, and to eventually become one of the best. Firstly, never stop learning. The more you learn about design, the better off you will be. Research every tool in Photoshop, do every tutorial on a tutorial indexing website, click it if you don’t know what it does. The more you are able to learn, the more skills you will be able to incorporate into you’re own works, and the better you’re art will be for it. Secondly, find you’re style. This is very important, everyone has a style, and its a nice base point. But, once you have found you’re style, break it. Over and over. This will help you understand different styles and how to branch away from you’re style if necessary depending on the situation. Its nice for designers to have a style, but a client wants you to design for them, not yourself. Knowing many styles is also a benefit because each style has its own method to design, and each can teach you worlds about how a good design is formed. Lastly, and most importantly, design for passion, not for money. I cannot stress this one enough, if your designing for money you aren’t dedicated and you probably won’t get as far as you think. Design is a creative industry, and this creativity is a powerful thing that comes from inside and is fueled primarily by emotions, and lets face it, passion is a pretty powerful emotion. Staying passionate about designing will also keep you keen to learn and better yourself, and to always push yourself beyond you’re own limits.
Being a graphic designer isn’t easy on the ego, especially if your an internet dwelling designer. But you should always believe in yourself and your talents. There is nothing wrong with understanding your not as good as some, in fact its a good thing because it gives you something to aim for. Just don’t take it as discouragement. Staying passionate is the key to staying skilled, and becoming more so as you go.
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2 Replies...
You’re pretty much spot-on on everything, however, I must disagree with you on one point. “[...] unless you’re a designer, you probably aren’t in any position to give feedback that[']s useful.” Actually, that’s the most important feedback, as that’s who it’s for, correct?
Thanks Mike,
With that quote I was referring more specifically to giving negative feedback, particularly of the constructive variety. Constructive negative feedback is often not particularly constructive from people who are unfamiliar or self proclaimed to the design industry, this is simply because most people don’t see the nit picky details that cause the problems. To rephrase it, they see the design as an image rather then many small images put together in a way where they wont be destroying each other. They can see that there is a problem, yes, but it is unlikely that if it is subtle enough they will be able to name the problem at all, or more importantly, name it correctly. And anything that isn’t too subtle for others can probably be picked up by your own eye.
There is benefit in the untrained eye, but I don’t particularly feel as though it is as constructive or deep as feedback from the trained eye.
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