I found today’s class to be very uplifting but at the same time somewhat terrifying. Uplifting because I learned about the different types of design, the many businesses in the design industry, the design process of Milton Glaser. Terrifying because it made me ask myself what kind of graphic designer am I?

After learning about the many types of designs like packaging design, web design, and multimedia design. We also discussed the types of businesses in the design industry, such as advertising agency, design firm, and corporate in-house design team, and lastly freelance. After learning about the pros and cons of working in some of these areas, I think the question that I finally want to be answered, has been answered. I think the best option for me is work for a company and/or firm and not to do freelance. I say this because I personally would not be able to handle the amount of stress when running a business and dealing with the uncertainty when it comes to getting paid by clients. I prefer a much more stable, somewhat smooth sailing work environment. From what I’ve learned in today’s class, I would much prefer to work in an advertising agency or a design firm.

I say advertising firm because I like the idea of coming together with a team and coming up with ideas. I also find the stress of having to come up with an idea in a short amount of time to be a motivator, having to work in an almost fast-paced environment is my kind of comfortable. I would also like to work in a design firm because of the same reasons for working in an ad agency, working with a team, having to come up with ideas together. Another reason is that while from what I’ve learned about a design firm, everyone would have a specific thing to work on, I would get the opportunity to learn some new things.

While learning about the many fields of design and learning about the types jobs in the design industry we also watched a Ted talk on well-known graphic designer Milton Glaser and he was talking about his process when having to make a design based on a poem he was given and when he finished he says near the end of the video; “Something you hear in graphic schools is “if you have to explain it, it isn’t working.” I woke up and asked “suppose that’s not true” and that really struck me because throughout the many classes that I’ve taken that’s something we were told by professors that if you have to explain it, it doesn’t work. To hear Milton Glaser question it, and even break it, shows that in at least graphic design, some rules are meant to be broken.

After the ted talk we looked through old work of students and talked about being a specialist versus being a generalists and that we must collect some of our old work and see our new work and see where we are and that caused me to have some introspection within myself and that made me realize that I still have more to learn and that in order for me to be more of a generalist. It also gave me a sense of urgency. The feeling of having to do all of this work very quickly.

Lastly, I think after learning about the many types of design, the many types of businesses in the design industry, and Milton Glaser explaining rules and his process, and learning about being a specialist vs being a generalist. I think it’s helped me begin to plan out, construct, the design topics I have to learn, the kind of designs I want to make, and what kind of design businesses I would like to work in because it will help me make the kind of graphic designer I want to be.