We started class with her talking about her looking through our reflections from last week and she told us that two topics that come up in our reflection are first, the fear of having to network, having to talk to others to gain connections for future reference. Secondly, feelings of not being a great designer, having a fear of not making it as a freelance graphic designer, or finding a job as a graphic designer, she tells us that we have enough time and that we have to stop being so hard on ourselves. I have to admit that I have been on hard on myself and also there is that sense of urgency, feeling that if we’re not working on a design, if we don’t have a client, if our designs are not great, if we’re not reaching the goals at the time we preferred, then we are doing something wrong, and we are guaranteed to be a failure. While it is true thoughts like that is highly toxic and is doing nothing but stressing us out, it is something that I’m quite sure that every young designer is going through those moments. I think it is something that happens to anyone that is young and having that sense of self-doubt when pursuing a career. There are moments where that self-doubt is needed and there are moments where it is unnecessary.
On a positive note, after talking to us about or reflection she began to explain to us the anatomy and hierarchy of agencies and firms and as she explains the roles and what they do, the role that really captured my attention is the role of creative director, the role of having to help come up with creative strategies for any kind of client. She also explains that it is a management position, it is a job of stress, but there are benefits to it. It is a role I would not mind taking up. Though I have to say that the more I learn about advertising agencies, the more I’m more so attracted to working in that kind of places. There’s something about working long nights on having to work on an idea for a client, staying long hours to come up with the idea, things like that are attractive to me, and while it is stressful, and it is not a 9-5 job, It still an environment I would like to work in. In relation to talking about agencies, she talked about web designers and programmers and their importance in those environments. What came to mind is how essential it is to learn web design, and while I personally hate coding because of how tedious it is. I realized that I have to go back and re-learn HTML and CSS because I know for sure it is a great skill to have, not only that but realized that should learn other things like motion graphics and should improve my drawing skills because things that like it going not make me more attractive for agencies and firms. It also gives me the opportunity to make my ideas better and interesting.
It was also time for some of us to present our graphic design journeys presentation. What happened to me was really interesting. I had my speech in my hand, it showed an outline, things to say, things to extrapolate on, and little jokes to throw around. When it was my time to speak, everything changed, my mind was a blur, my hands were shaking, the legs were acting funny, and my voice was trembling. I could not think straight. Another thing to add insult to injury is that some of the designs that I posted were not aligned, the type was not following a grid, and there was no sense of consistency. I also realized that I should really go back and work on these old designs because some of them look a little off.
After the presentation, and after the critique made by fellow students and the professor it was relieving because now I know what I work on also I know that I can make everything look so much better and more organized.