Tomorrow is the first day of classes — a good time to ask “why graphic design?” How did you choose this direction for your life? Maybe you like making cool flyers for a friend’s band, or creating T-shirts, or doing scrapbooking. Maybe you really love to draw, or play with computers.
For me, finding art was finding myself. I wasn’t into sports, theater, scouts, or any of the usual things. But when I took an Art Survey class my freshman year in high school, I’d found something that clicked for me. Art carried me through college, where I graduated with a BFA in printmaking. Suddenly I had to make a living, and graphic design was a natural fit. I’ve been doing art and design ever since.
Whatever your reasons, you’ve chosen a path — a challenging path. Ours is a very competitive industry, one where skills are important, but skills alone are not enough. A good designer — one who will get a job and stay with it for years — is driven. Driven to create, driven to improve, and driven to continue doing it when the client’s a pain and the project’s a bore. Designers stick with it because they are good at visual communication, and they have a passion for it.
Stefan Bucher is a designer who’s written All Access: The Making of Thirty Extraordinary Graphic Designers. In an interview Bucher says, “It’s about 30 designers that are dealing with the fact that there are sparks flying in their heads that most people don’t have and not everybody can understand.” His book offers insight into design as a career and a passion.
Are you a designer? If so, when and how did you decide to be one? A design student? Where are you heading professionally and creativel? Click the comments link and leave your thoughts.
