When a client showed me people’s comments and suggestions around the latest draft of her logo I sent, I smiled to myself as I read: “Kudos to your graphic designer, he’s very good”. If someone told me in 2012 or 2013 that some day, I would be referred to as even a half-decent graphic designer, I would have shrugged it off.
I am more known for my writings, product and programming skills, not graphic designing.
So, how did I go from wack designer to the kind of person getting complimented for a design draft?
First, there was a desire; I always have various design concepts in my head that I would love to get designed out and I was sick and tired of running out to my graphic designer associates, because no matter how well I explained, there would always be some deviations from my initial concept. Then, there was also the problem of busy. Every good graphic designer is busy. I needed to let my inner graphic designer out, he was needed.
Armed with my desire, I started to try out things in various graphic designing softwares I had been exposed to over the years and then used Google search to find tutorials about how to perform various tricks. This went on for a while, however, the biggest breakthrough did not come from googling the Internet, it came from within.
My graphic designing career changed the day I became bold enough to put my graphics out there – in the open.
I mocked up logos for some projects I wanted to work on and I asked people for comments and criticism. I was not picking fights and getting annoyed by harsh feedback. Just honestly trying to be a better graphic designer and I think it is paying off. The decision to put my work in the public broke off all the mental blocks holding me down, a new graphic designer was born. Ready to rock the world!
I am still a long way off from becoming what you might consider as a Master Graphic designer, but my 2015 has certainly been a year of graphic designing. I am more proud of my progress in graphic designing than the new programming techniques and shortcuts I learnt in 2015.
