Why You should Choose Design as a Profession
I have a lot of friends that hear about my job and think “I would love to do what you do!” I love the enthusiasm, but I don’t think a lot of people really know what is involved in graphic/web design, illustration, or photography, especially when you choose design as a profession. They are all separate fields with separate skill sets that are needed, but they all seem to be professions that are labeled as easy. This sickens me, simply because design isn’t just clicking a button or two and out pops a design. Illustration isn’t just “drawing pictures” and photography isn’t just about having a camera. Each one of these professions take talent to be successful.
Graphic and web design are both about problem solving. When you choose design as a profession, you have to be a good thinker, and you also have to think outside the box. In design, there really is never a right or wrong answer to anything. You simply have to determine what is right for each client and each situation. You have to have a good eye for color, and how to set a mood. You set the mood using typography, the right wording, the right imagery, and the right structure. Concept is key and you have to be able to come up with a solid concept in order to develop anything at all. There is also market research involved, so designers aren’t merely pushing buttons on their computers all day.
Illustrators fall along the same lines as graphic designers, because they are solving a problem. They are determining how render their subject to fit the look and feel of what the client wants. You have to be able to render a range of different styles, or have one so unique that people seek you out to create something in your particular style. Illustration is about the feel and the forms that make up the illustration and how they work together. This can include typography as well. This is where graphic design and illustration begins to have some gray areas.
Web Designers do a lot of problem solving and market research as well, and on top of that, there is a lot of testing that has to be done on each site, and a lot of technical know-how and determination that goes into getting the job done. You have to understand usability to enough of an extent to where you can create simple and intuitive navigation. You definitely have to be able to organize information well in all of these fields, because you have to be able to take the clients’ needs, break them down, determine how to meet their needs, create the solution and deliver it in the best possible manner.
Photography has a lot to the profession as well. You can’t simply pick up a camera and start clicking. There is so much that has to go into each shot to make it look how it should. You have to make your subject look great, and there is a lot of details that go into that too. You have to have the right equipment to get the job done, but you also have to know how to use it. there are also different types of photography, such as portrait, architectural, fashion, fine art, and even food photography. I was interested in knowing more about photography, so I was reading a how-to on Food Photography by Scott Kelby, who is a well known source for how-tos on just about everything. After a few minutes of reading about the effort that goes into each shot, and about getting the right lighting, I realized that photography is one skill that I simply don’t have. You also have to remember that you have to have raw talent to go with it.
Let’s say I wanted to play basketball. I could have all of the right techniques, practice every day and become really good at it, but if I don’t have any raw talent, when I go up against Labron James, I would pretty much get destroyed. (Even if you have talent I don’t know that you could stop him.) If you have the talent, then you just need to hone your skills and choose one of the creative professions that is the right choice for you. For more information, go to GraphicDesign.com to find out more if you would like to choose design as a profession.
