Definition of Success as a Designer
Published June 1st, 2007 in Design.
Recently I was tagged by Char at Essential Keystrokes to continue this discussion on how we define success as a designer that was started over at Tara’s blog.
1. How did you get started in the business?
I worked in direct mail and database marketing in my “former life”, and had the opportunity to observe some big name brands and their marketing strategies up close, so it was a natural transition from the planning and execution part of the business to the design side. I’ve been designing websites since sometime in the mid-90’s when someone told me about Geocities (which at the time I thought was the neatest thing since sliced bread), and have moved into logo and print design as the opportunities have come up.
2. What kept you going in those early years?
What kept me going was just the fun of it! I wasn’t relying on design for any source of real income, so I could just learn as I went and enjoy myself with no pressure.
3a. Did you ever feel like you weren’t good enough or you would never make it in this industry?
Sure, especially as someone who has no “formal” training.
3b. How did you work through that?
For a long time I was frustrated, because I saw amazing work from great designers and what I was producing just didn’t cut it- didn’t even come close. Now, with the right tools and resources, along with just time to learn and practice, I can at least feel good about some of the things I’m producing.
4. Do you look at others today and think “Wow, I wish I were that good”?
Sure, all the time, but rather than being a negative feeling of inadequacy, it’s positive- it inspires me to see great work.
5. How do you measure success?
For me, success is just being “in demand”, and having steady projects to work on, as well as designing things that I feel good about and that the client loves. I didn’t mind that much when I was doing work for little or no pay, just to build my portfolio, but it’s nice at this point to begin to have steady work coming in and not have to under-bid things just to get the job.
6. By your standard, do you think you are successful?
Getting there… it’s definitely moving in the right direction.
Check out some other designers who have participated in this discussion:
Brian Gardner
David Airey
Paul Enderson
Charity Ondriezek
Lisa Sabin-Wilson
What kind of school supplies do you need for a web design education? The first piece of essential equipment is an online degree in the field. Of course, education is expensive, you might need grants for education so you don’t break the bank!
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15 Responses to “Definition of Success as a Designer”
- 1 Pingback on Jun 4th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
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Great post, Randa. I do relate on the lacking ‘formal’ training thing, as well. Although, sometimes, I think self-taught has its advantages, as well. At least we know how to break stuff in a big way. lol
Have a great weekend!
Hi Randa
Thanks for taking part. Along with the face behind the blog meme, it means you can now put a face and background to your favourite bloggers
Hi Randa,
Great to read how you started in the industry for the fun of it.
No many people are able to say they truly enjoy the work they do.
Thanks for linking through to my article!
Enjoy the weekend.
Thanks for sharing this Randa. As a non designer, when I see wonderful designs, I think I could never do that.
But when I read stories like Char’s and yours and others who are self taught, I think maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a “little play” around experimenting with some basics, just for fun.
You might want to check your blog with the Explorer browser. I have been using Firefox for awhile now and your theme looks great with that one, but with other browsers it doesn’t line up right for some reason.
I found that out last night with the theme I was using it was also 3 columns and it was very disappointing to see my theme out of whack. I had to hunt down another one and change everything.. What a pain. I put you in my favs at Technorati. Take care…Jude
Hmmm… I tested it in Internet Explorer and it looks fine. Just opened it up there again to be sure and all looks fine. Wonder what’s causing it to look funny when you view it in IE.
Maybe you could ask someone else to view it? If it’s just my browser then maybe I will have to re-install Explorer to make mine right. Your L & R columns both drop down and run in a straight line on my Explorer browser, but only my R column dropped down on my theme. Thanks for letting me know it might just be my browser.. Have a Great one.
Just dropping by to let you know I upgraded my browser and everything is okay now…Thanks…Jude
Oh… thanks so much for letting me know that!
You know Randa a lot of people have older browsers and use odd ones also. I’m sure there must be a way to make the design look the same for everyone. It’s very frustrating when you feel something isn’t right. I know when I cut someones hair it bothers me no in if I think it’s not right. I really dislike feeling like I messed something or someone up….Best of Everthing…Jude
It is possible to make the design look the same for everyone, and I did manage to improve the appearance of this one in IE6. It is distressing when someone tells me my site doesn’t look right in their browser. I actually didn’t test this is older browsers because I assumed that the theme designer would have done so. It’s a fairly common theme, so I’m surprised that there is a problem in IE6. Fortunately, only about 2% of my recent visitors are still on IE6.