What Design Means To Me

What it means to me to be a designer

I don’t design for dollars. I run a business for profit, but that isn’t the same thing. Income is secondary; an effect, rather than the cause. I design from my heart. As a result, people are willing to pay. It’s a healthy exchange, and a wonderful way to carve out a living.

I design because I love it. It is only when I pause that odd things start happen, and the world outside adopts a different hue.

I am a designer because when I stroll the streets of Brisbane, I cannot help but admire the storefronts and creative signage, newspaper stands and crumpled pieces of paper, bobbing down the streets. Everywhere I hang my gaze, I find typography to study, each bit leaving me to wonder whether I would have made different decisions.

I am a designer because I feel the pride of the trade, thickening my blood. When I come upon a sticker, slapped to the back of a bumper with type so small it can’t possibly be read without collision, I wonder about the designer’s method, and question his concern for the eyes of his audience.

While in a darkened theater, it is the opening credits I most anticipate; pacing, typography, layering, composition, and mood; music and image mingling together…every sequence like a semester of school.

While I hate watching the news on TV, I love the first few minutes. There is always a tremendous amount of information pressed inside a tight vice of time and space. There are head shots and logos, block quotes and headlines, cityscape’s and graphics. A million pixels swirling in different directions, yet all of them working together. It is beyond fascinating, and I cannot turn my gaze.

I first became involved with graphic design because I love to create something from nothing, and watch it evolve over time.  I find many people trying to build a booming business, yet I could see the reason for their failure, simply by glancing at their logo.  Why is it that they don’t care about their image?  Would you give your money to someone who believes that a logo should cost less than their lunch?  I certainly wouldn’t.  Designs like these left me with a certainty I could do better, chased by a hunger to do so.

Of course, there are some amazingly talented graphic designers out there.  Doing design work that is so good I cannot help but feel a wince of envy.  I see those designs and wonder why I’m a graphic designer at all.  These are the moments when I start to lose myself, and doubt my own abilities.  I start reading and rereading ream after ream on graphic design, and familiarizing myself with the latest tutorials.  It is important to keep my talent sharp, I know, if I am to stand any chance at all.

I am a designer because I am not slick enough for politics. I am, however, unwilling to let things slide as I see them. Design is how an artist changes the world, even if only a single page at a time.

I am a designer because it means I am able to meet my constant observation with never ending wonder.

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