This we watched a TED Talk by Stefan Sagmeister, it’s titled “Happiness by Design”. In it he spoke about a number of things; two of those things really resonated with me. “How do you be happy while designing,” and “How do you evoke happiness with design?”

The main reason why I decided to be a graphic designer is because it’s imperative to me that I enjoy my career. A huge portion of my life is going to be devoted to working, so when I was choosing my career I wanted to make sure that I could have fun with work. But, throughout my years of study it has been revealed to me that work won’t always be fun. There are going to be clients I don’t like with projects I don’t want to do. But I am going to have to deal with those clients and do those projects, because it is my job. So the question becomes, how do I do that wile maintaining my happiness? I don’t know, but I think it has something to do with Sagmeister’s second point. How do you evoke happiness with design?

For me this is less about happiness and more about emotion. In order for someone to enjoy their work they need to be invested in it on a certain level. And the investment that artists put in their work is emotion. You want people to feel something when they see your work. I want design to make feel. If I don’t feel connected to a project I won’t enjoy doing it, and if my designs don’t make the public feel something it won’t resonate with them. We are graphic artists, we must create art. And I think if I do that I will be happy.