If you didn’t know, I’m a graphic designer.
Many things happen when you submerge yourself in the world of art, like how you see things in day-to-day life, your workflow, the feedback you get, questions, and a lot more.
There are a lot of things only designers will understand, and I thought of some that I’d like to share so I can see that hopefully, it’s not just me.
looking at ads
This is the first thing I thought of in relation to myself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve done this before, but I just can’t help it.
Critiquing ads, all. the. time.
Sometimes, it’s very easy to tell when someone at a company just threw something together on Microsoft Word. They think most people won’t notice (I will notice).
Not everyone is artistically talented, and that’s okay. But, if your brand’s posters or ads look bad, I’m going to involuntarily judge.
Even my friends can see it coming. We glance at an advertisement on the screen, I take a breath before I speak…
“Oh, here we go, Savannah’s about to say something about this,” they say. And they’re right.
Sorry, I just can’t help myself sometimes.
The love-hate relationship with canva
Okay, so, I love Canva, but I also have mixed feelings. Sure, they have cute graphics and tons of design options, but as a designer, sometimes it does my job better than me.
I mean, even someone who doesn’t know the first thing about design can make something look great on Canva, and that’s what worries me.
Will Canva put me out of a future job? Asking the real questions here.
I think my concerns are valid, right? Even I use it sometimes when my creative block flares up.
No hate to Canva though- it’s a lifesaver sometimes.
Fonts. Just fonts.
“If you changed the font of your school essays from Calibri to something else you are now a graphic designer.” – Elliot Ulm
If I could calculate the time I spent on each thing when designing something, choosing a font would take up at least 80%. The other 15% is me procrastinating and playing with colors.
(It takes a lot more work than I’m making it seem, I promise)
I know most people don’t care about fonts that much, but honestly, I don’t know what I would do without them. That sounds dramatic, but I think I might actually be serious.
There’s good fonts, and then there’s bad ones.
If I see a poster made unironically in something like Papyrus or Impact font, it will definitely be getting a side-eye.
Everything about Pinterest- it’s like a blessing and a curse.
I’ll go on there for hours, either comparing my work to ones I see or looking for inspiration. Either way, it sucks the life out of me, but I can’t stop scrolling.
It’s like everything has already been made before, what can I do that’s original?
I wrote another article about the inevitable act of comparing your own work to another artist’s or designer’s, and Pinterest is the main culprit for this.
Not Pinterest’s fault, obviously, but a rabbit hole I’ve chosen to fall into many times.