There comes a time in every designer’s career where they start to look back at what they’ve accomplished and the work they’ve built. It just so happens, that time for me came around a little over 10 years into my career. It’s a good round number. It’s enough time to allow adequate reflection and judge yourself fairly while still having plenty of time ahead to take those lessons and use them for good. In that time, I’ve worked in print shops, international tech agencies, co-founded and ran an agency, served as creative director and editor for an entertainment magazine, and have now been with Ramey for about five years. These are a few of the lessons that I’ve learned along the way:
Trust in your abilities (but be able to back it up).
Do the research, test things out, put the work in, and be confident in your resolve. You’ve been hired to do a job; prove that you can do it. Keep a mental tally of successes and losses, and use that to learn what works and what doesn’t. More importantly, the tools do not matter, but the skill of the artist using them does. As an example, having a $10,000 camera doesn’t instantly make one an amazing photographer. I’d inherently trust our very own D’artagnan with a cheap disposable camera over an enthusiastic hobbyist with a sizable budget any day.
Be fearless in your approach.
Get the bad ideas out to get to the good ones. You don’t get ground-breaking or clever work by using the wash, rinse, repeat method. Predictable results are great for a business model when you’re focused on sales, but not so much in a creative industry. The moment someone more clever comes along and ‘disrupts’ the industry, clients will start looking elsewhere because you’ve structured yourself as a one-trick pony. To avoid this, play with different types of skills and see how they can be incorporated together, i.e. practicing origami in order to develop new package design ideas and so on. Not every idea will work, obviously, but if you utilize failure as a tool rather than as a setback, you’ll have more tools in your box than anyone else in the room.
Learning how to write is arguably your most useful skill.
Being a phenomenal designer is one thing, but if you are unable to express the concept or rationalize your work, then the work will inevitably be lost in the shuffle. Take the time to explain to others, as well as yourself, the WHY behind your design decisions. If the reason is “Because I like it,” you don’t have a design, you have decoration. Design, at the end of the day, is quite literally just another form of communication, after all. By all means learn how to code. Learn color theory and grid systems. Learn all of the software. But above all, learn how to articulate your thoughts clearly and concisely.
Admittedly, I’m still learning and still honing my craft. But if I had the opportunity to speak to my early-20’s self with only a few minutes to spare, this is the advice I would likely share first. There’s no shame in looking back occasionally as long as we’re willing to use it as a lens to better see forward.
Written by
