Designer. Are you ready for this long, eventful, but satisfying journey?
Being a Designer is a long, eventful, but satisfying journey, and I want to share my personal experiences and advice on what to do on your own travels.
Anyone can become a designer, but not everyone wants to be one.
You've got to have a true passion for it every day, prepare for knocks, and strive to be the best you can be. There are no shortcuts in this industry.
It's a long, eventful, but satisfying journey, and I want to share my personal experiences and advice on what to do on your own travels.
Unleashing your creativity is a release
I've had a fair share of highs and lows on my own journey.
From a constant flow of work and earnings to struggling to see where the next Dollar (well, Pound, I'm based in the UK) was coming from. Earlier in my career, and even much later in my career, I've experienced this.
Would I change things? Would I want to try a new career?
Heck no. I love creating. It's what fires me up daily. Unleashing my creativity is my release.
Always. Always be creating something
What's the key thing to remember? Always be creating something.
That's what I always do.
If it's something as simple as some Branding for a project, I may never launch, or a selection of Components for a Design System that I may never actually use in the final product, I'm always doing something to keep my design enthusiasm up and constantly learning and improving.
As I mentioned, that's the critical thing. Always be learning and improving your skills.
Even when those hard times hit, try not to be discouraged.
Learn, improve, know where you want to head towards in your career and take all the steps necessary to get there, be that by being inspired by other designers' work, making relationships within the community (this is a must), reading (yeah, reading a lot), and just getting away from that screen sometimes and switching off (I'm a big fan of Shinrin-Yoku translated to 'Forest Bathing').
Sunny Fitzgerald
This journey of being a Designer is a long and very eventful one.
It can be tough sometimes, but the good far outweighs the bad, and the satisfaction when something lands right has always kept me going.
As long as you have resilience in this industry, which I'm sure you do, you'll do just great and enjoy this long, eventful, but very satisfying journey.
See you next week,
Marc.
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