Community
Community is typically a place we can go to find people with similar passions. A community can also be a support system during difficult times. The design community is no different.
It used to be that we would have to go to conferences in order to engage with fellow designers. Now connecting with designers has become exponentially easier with social media and online forums. This last year under quarantine has now taught us how to forge new connections digitally. Many conferences are now exclusively online, giving access to a larger audience of designers than ever before. Now is the best time to connect with the designer community.
My engagement with the design community has varied over the years. There are many organizations out there that are doing great things by highlighting excellent design work and providing venues for designers to grow and learn from each other. There are many reasons to connect with other designers, learning, mentoring, networking, and by engaging in the design community you are able to do all of these things.
I have also found that there will naturally be a core group of colleagues you will stay connected with. My colleagues have helped me with perspective about my career as well as keeping me aware of how the design industry is evolving. The design industry is constantly evolving. Over the years, I have been able to share the challenges I have faced as a designer and get perspective from my colleagues. This is the kind of support that the design community can provide.
The best way to get connected is to start by attending local or online design-focused events. There are also Slack and LinkedIn groups to get connected with designers as well. Sometimes it's as simple as starting with an online search, but the most important thing is to just start looking.
