DESIGN. It’s capable of so much more than brushing our teeth and eating breakfast (and sometimes it knows this). Design is used in everything from websites to cars, from clothing to business plans, and even in the workplace of pink aesthetic banners. But more often than not, we are not prepared for what design can do for us. For example, after watching a few designs that I created as an apprentice designer at my company last year, my boss decided that he wanted to hire me full-time.
1. Design as a career is not for everyone
If you want to be a designer or an artist, it’s important to know that design is not always where you want to be. This can even be the case if you are pursuing an artistic career. When considering whether design will be your calling, consider the following:
2. Design requires work and effort, but it also pays
Design requires work and effort from yourself. You may create beautiful designs and be fully in love with your job, but if you don’t take the time out of your day to enjoy what you do, then the hours will just go to waste for both yourself and other people who look at your designs.
3. There are so many different types of design
How can you tell what you like if there is so much variety out there? One way to figure this out is to try to define who you are as a person: what are your values? What do you enjoy? Where do you want to be in the future? If your answers don’t match up, then it won’t be a good fit for design.
4. Design requires training and education
If you want to pursue a career as a designer, there are things that need to be taught such as drawing and math. You also need an understanding of color theory and composition.
5. Different types of design have different jobs
Think you can do it all? You might be able to. However, the more specific you can define what your job is, the better off you will be. For example, graphic designers are in charge of creating logos and advertisements, web designers are in charge of creating websites and interfaces for websites, and so forth.
6. Design is not an artistic field only
The word ‘art’ sometimes makes people believe that it’s only for artists because art is for art’s sake; art is self-absorbed. But these people may be wrong. Designers include everyone from interior designers to product designers to even industrial designers. All jobs in the design field are considered a part of the ‘art.
7. Design requires a lot of money and resources
If you don’t have the means to invest in your own business, then think of something else that you can make into a business. A graphic designer may be helpful if you’re creating flyers, logos or illustrations like a caricature artist; interior designers may be useful in making your home look appealing; industrial designers may be good for fashion designers who need to create clothes for their brand name products. Get your brand more visibility through technology guest posts.
8. It takes forever to get hired
The thing about design is that it takes forever to get hired. There are many reasons for this: there are many applicants, and you often can’t convey what you do with just words alone. You need to show your work to people.
9. Design is a lot of work, even if it seems easy
If you want to be good at design, then you need to put in the time and effort if you wish to succeed. It may seem easy on the surface, but designing takes a lot of creativity and discipline.
10. Design is everywhere!
There are so many different parts of the world that create beautiful things that have been made with design. It’s not just limited to one place or style; it can come from anywhere! For example, take a look at these traditional African homes:
11. Design is expensive
Design is an investment. If you want to make a great looking business card, you’ll need to shell out some money. If you want to get a good job after graduating from art school, then you’ll need to spend money on that too. And the more money you can invest in your own business and products, the better off your career will be.
12. Designers are not good with numbers or math
If someone wants to hire a designer, they’re usually worried about hiring someone who can’t put any actual value on what they do so that they could be able to calculate costs and estimates of their work. Designers are great at seeing what can be done and how it can look, but they’re not usually good with numbers.
13. You need to be able to draw to have a career as a designer
If you don’t have the ability to create things from scratch, then your designs might just be too sloppy. You need to learn how to draw so that you can create any kind of design. Designing even has its own specific drawing technique which is called ‘freehand drawing‘.
