You’re Not A Designer

You’re not a designer until you’ve studied design. This doesn’t have to be in a formal academic setting. It can be reading books or websites on design and realizing that design has always existed; from the cave paintings, to the Rosetta Stone, through to Guttenberg’s printing press and the web.

You’re not a designer because you own Photoshop or Sketch. You’re a designer when you realize that the tools don’t matter. You can create a great logo in PowerPoint if need be.

You’re not a designer just because you say you are. It’s WHO you are. You love design. You see it everywhere. Your designer eyes see the world differently. You see possibilities and ideas in everything. You are a designer when you can realize these ideas.

You’re not a designer until you spend hours on a website design only for a client to tell you “I don’t like it. I’ll know what I want when I see it.”

You’re not a designer until you hear the suggestion “make the logo bigger”…and you do it.

You’re not a designer until you sketch 100 logo designs and none of them are right.

You’re not a designer until you crumple up those 100 sketches and throw them in the trash and start over completely fresh.

You’re not a designer until you learn to compromise. Your way, your style, your art is not always what a client wants or needs. Don’t be stubborn, learn to work with a client to create something you are both in love with.

You’re not a designer because you stay up until 2 am trying to design the perfect mobile app. Work smarter not harder.

You’re not a designer until you accept that not everything is a portfolio project.

You’re not a designer until you realize that the fetishization of “not being afraid to fail” is just motivational speaker terminology. You should be afraid to fail, it’s a natural human emotion. Just accept that and move on.

You’re not a designer because you spend every minute thinking about design. Play a video game, listen to music, take a walk, play cars with your son or daughter. Know when to clear your mind and distance yourself from design.

You’re not a designer until you get burned out on the profession and start to think “I should have been a lawyer or a plumber.”

You’re not a designer until you realize you can’t be a lawyer or a plumber because design is what you love. You can’t imagine doing anything else even with all the ups and downs. You have to do it because when you do that perfect logo or website or poster it feels so good. You feel like you have conquered the world and everything is right.

Only when you’ve experienced all of these things can you say “I’m a designer” and be proud and happy to do what you do.