How I became a Designer

Back at Waterville Senior High School in order to get out of having to take band class I signed up for Into to Art 1. I had a wonderful teacher who taught us that art comes in all forms, you can even use the computer to create art! This led me to take AP Studio art the next year where I really was able to dive into Photoshop and create some very mediocre work but it showed some sort of hint at talent. Thank god I choose a school with an amazing design program that on a whim I stumbled into a class where I again showed some promise. I worked very little on projects and I was getting shown as an example to other students. Then I took typography with a terrible new guy professor and my designs left a lot to be desired. I was highly discouraged because all of my classmates who I was better than when we started were by far exceeding my work because I wasn't putting in the work. So by the end of sophomore year I had chosen a major that I didn't think I was going to succeed at. 

Between sophomore and junior year I took an internship at a start-up men's clothing company in Philadelphia. I worked at 611 two days per week unpaid and three days per week I painted my uncles town house for my rent. It was miserable. I had no friends in the city and my unpaid internship involved a lot of work that really didn't interest me. I did learn that start-ups are a risky game and some people will straight up copy designs from the web rather than creating something original. 

Me on my first day in Berlin on a bike tour in front of the Reichstag (Parliament) building. 

Thank god I went abroad and took a semester away from design. Berlin is where I learned what it meant to have esthetic. I learned what having taste looks like and I found myself drawn to the amazing era of expressionism. I realized my graphic design work up until that point was not where I wanted it to be.  Ira Glass said it best when he said "But your taste , the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you" 

Coming back from such an amazing city gave me new life and renewed interest in my journey to being a better designer. I found a professor who I had been scared of hearing that her classes were so demanding and strenuous she made people want to quit design. Cristy Vallee Morgan was my graphic savior. She made people want to quit because they couldn't stomach what it took to be a designer, you need elephant level thick skin but also flexibility of a dancer. Not everyone is cut out for this field and she saw that I was. She was demanding but it all had a purpose and that is always worth it. Everything she did was inservice to us as designers. She didn't treat us like students we were designers. After that spring semester I got 2 of the best internships I could have. Willwork inc. taught me 3D design and how to learn something new. Stonehill Marketing taught me that I work best with an established brand and style. I will definitely be writing blog posts about each separate experience because they deserve it. 

Finally after years of struggling to find my voice as a designer. I finally feel like I have a grasp on where I am heading and what I want out of this career. But give it 6 months anything can happen.