Does weird sell?

I’ve been a graphic design student for 4 years. 4 wonderful enlightening years. And as this period of my life comes to an end, I find myself wondering, in the words of Charlie Day, « What do now? » It’s stressful enough thinking about the future, even more so when, like me, you’re a panicky-anxious-over-reacting person. As I feel my student years fade in the summer heat and a few Calvin Harris tunes play in the background, my head spins: what do I do now?

Graphic design is truly my passion, and what I want to do in my life, there’s no doubt about it, but having done personal work for most of my adult life, I wonder if I’m ready to standardize myself in order to live comfortably or if cultivating my difference is the way to go. Or could I lose myself? As a young graphic designer this is my existential dilemma: does weird bring home the bacon?

Some great designers have made a lasting impression doing things their own way, getting recognized and staying true to themselves, I know. But I feel like today, everything has been done, fame and praise in your field are both overrated and unattainable, and it’s getting harder to get where you want to go without money. Let’s be honest, this is all about the paper: do you settle, or struggle? Do you « meh » or do you join the fray? And most of all, how do you make a buck by being weird?

I started looking at job offers on this wonderful and depressing internet, scrolling through every shitty offer that specified « internship » and « 4 years experience mandatory » thinking « is this my future? » I guess it’s the same thing for everyone that begins, but graphic design has this specificity that makes you want to die when you slowly realize that you’re probably going to end up designing crappy stock photo-infused booklets for a blood-thirsty medical company that makes 10 million a year and pays you less than minimum wage for your ability to forget yourself and what you believe in. I might sound like a whiny over-privileged b**** there, ok. And the reason I sound this way is precisely because the purpose of work is still making money, no matter how.

Now I know « you can do both »: bring the money with a useless job and be weird on your own time. But this fracture really hurts my soul, to be honest. After these few years as a student, you develop an unconditional love for what you do, because it comes from you, with little to no restraints, you make what you believe, and then, you’re brutally told that it’s not going to work. What a bummer. My parents, in their kindness and support, always told me to « cultivate the difference », because it is what makes a work great. I agree and silently think to myself, holding back tears, « yeah but it doesn’t sell ».

In this still emerging snowflake culture, where everyone is gently encouraged to « be themselves » or « be different », where boxes are torn apart and tags burnt, one would think it is the time for weirdness to be praised and rewarded on a wide scale, but while difference is apparently celebrated, in reality, it is still not the trait that employers are looking for, or the thing that makes you successful.