4 questions I asked myself when I chose to be a designer.
In my senior year of high school, time seemed to fly by and the dreaded questions started coming at me more frequently: “Did you decide on a school yet”; “What’s your major next year”; “what are you going to be when you grow up?”. As the spring approached,I needed to pick something soon so i could finally have an answer to these questions. I found myself, in bed, looking up at my ceiling a couple nights in a row, asking myself these questions.
1.Why would you even want to do this?
Throughout my life, I found fun and joy in a lot of different things, but one thing that I did throughout all of the clubs and activities that I was involved in was helping others. Whether it be helping a teammate learn the new plays for the game this week, or helping a friend with their homework, I was always willing. To me, design is a way to combine my love for art and my passion for helping others. When I looked at majors like graphic design, I saw it as an easy way to help and give information in a visually appealing way. Design seemed like the perfect fit for me, and I wanted to pursue this hybrid journey of helping others and my love to create.
2. Are you good enough?
During my senior year of high school, 4 of my 7 classes were art subjects, but I still felt as if I paled in comparison to some of my more talented artist friends. I put in the work and my skill was honed over the course of the year since I had to produce so many pieces on a weekly and monthly basis. During this time to myself, I had to really consider if I was going to be able to create art, graphics, and illustrate my own ideas at the next level of work. I really was determined to create at the next level, especially after I completed my senior year.
3. Is this going to be sustainable?
Next, I’m sure the question is asked by every art student, but even more so, every art student’s parent, “Can you really make money with art”? Again this leads back to the idea of, “Am I good enough to do this?”. The idea of someone paying for my service to create something for them seemed very odd to me. I felt like it was my own style and others wouldn’t like it. But this wasn’t the case at all. People from all around don’t want to see the same thing. An item that really stuck out to me was a candy I saw a while back called “Sour strips” that was so different from any other candy packaging that I had ever seen before. Unlike the cute looking boxed of its competitors, it had a much more grungy feel. it almost seemed out of place in the section I was looking in, This really showed me that there’s a wide variety of people out there and they’re going to like different things. My creations won’t be any different.
4. Is it going to feel like work?
The last and most important part of the decision of choosing a design major is making it not feel like work. I always wanted something that to me it doesn’t feel like work. Every other job seems to be sitting behind some sort of desk, or counter, for hours and doing a mindless job just to make money. But design is different to me. Now I get to sit in front of a computer screen for hours trying to find the perfect typeface to complete a piece. Am I destroying my retinas from all the blue light I'm taking in on a daily basis? Slowly, but surely. It doesn’t matter to me, because this is the only job that I feel like I could sit down at 9 am, miss lunch, keep working, and still be satisfied. Design to me seems like the only thing I could never be bored with.
