SHARING:
For recently graduated designers the anticipation of becoming a fully-fledged designer living the dream is a long awaited realisation of years of endless projects and study, with expectations of ‘designer’ glory at the end. The reality is it can often be a challenging environment whilst adjusting to life as a professional designer. As this life unfolds some of the misconceptions about design will start to be realised and so will the following beliefs.
Actually, this is almost true. Designers often burn the candle at both ends in order to meet their client’s tight deadline and their own drive to excel. In fact, good designers never really switch off and never stop absorbing and noticing the world around them. Being a professional designer is a never ending journey of learning, logging new experiences and being creatively influenced on a daily basis. This will happen no matter where you are, it will excite you, it will challenge you and it will inspire you. It does not leave too much time for sleep!
The typical university project might take weeks to complete, but things happen much faster in a commercial setting, weeks are compressed into hours. Now we operate in a global economy where everyone is accessible 24/7/365 through email, SMS etc it is often necessary to respond to urgent requests and ever shorter deadlines. Whilst it is possible to work flat out it can only be effective if there are clearly defined objectives and there are the skills available to deliver the required standard of work. Professional designers make it look quick and easy. All skilled professionals demonstrate efficiency of effort, application of knowledge and ability which takes years to develop. A new designer should be patient and take the time to establish sound working practises and acquire the skills they see being successfully deployed around them.
This is a tricky one! The subject of dealing with your client and their expectations of their designers is rarely dealt with effectively as a module on design courses, but this a big part of the role of a professional designer. Sometimes the client knows exactly what they want and gives an excellent design brief. However, this is not always the case and a professional designer will have acquired the depth of knowledge and can command respect to diplomatically guide the client onto a path which they are happy to follow in the confidence their expectations will be exceeded.
Not to blow our own trumpet too much, but this one is true. After all, pretty much everything in our modern world was initially conceived out of imagination and born into reality by the efforts of a designer. The device you’re reading this on, the clothes you’re wearing, the furniture in the room, the vehicles on the street outside and the buildings themselves – all were designed by someone. Dreamt up, visualised, modelled, prototyped, evaluated, manufactured, approved – designed. That’s pretty awesome isn’t it? We think so.
Without a doubt, the journey into the workplace will involve a steep learning curve and the rewards can be plentiful. The satisfaction professional designers feel as they look around and see projects they have worked on is second to none! We cannot deny that being a professional designer is not all consuming and demanding but it repays those who persevere and succeed with an enviable skillset. Having the idea is only the first part of the journey and the professional designer is the guide who will see that idea realised from one off to a million off.
If you’ve got an idea you want to take to market, we will assist you through your journey. We work closely with all our clients to ensure they have all the support they need throughout the product development process.
SHARING:
