The Everyday Designer #4 — These two words changed my life

First off I just wanted to give a warm welcome to any newcomers that have taken time out your day to listen to me gabber on for a few minutes. Time is precious and I will always try my best to honour you, the reader, with the thoughts I have. Now, we shall dance with the time we have.

“Graphic design”. When I was 10 years old, in elementary school, I was one of those kids who would doodle in class while the teacher was talking to the class about numbers and decimal places. I wasn’t a bad kid, I was simply making up my own world while another one was happening. Graphic design. I took visual arts in high school and that teacher had recommended me that if I liked art that I should try “media arts”. Graphic design. That same teacher said he enjoyed my projects and that if I liked doing that, I should really consider going to college for…you guessed it, graphic design. Around the same time in high school, I got my first “commission” from a friend who had started a gaming clan. They needed a logo, so I made one from a pirated version of photoshop. I got $30 for it.

I was the happiest guy alive.

In that moment I realized that I could make a living from both a passion and a gift. I graduated from college in 2018 with a diploma but at that point I’d already been getting freelance gigs here and there building my portfolio and client base up. I had already been living my dream.

Another anecdote. When I first moved in 2010 and started high school, my first job I ever picked up was the newspaper delivery run for my street. I would always love looking at the Best Buy and The Source inserts cause I love technology. I told myself one day I want to be the guy designing the very same one’s. Fast forward 11 years later, I got a job at the Source working in that department for designing the inserts and much more.

What happened in the 11 years in between to get there?

Passion, practice and patience.

You see, you gotta love to do something if you’re going to do it for a long time. That love will drive you to keep doing it, for a long time. Day after day, month after month, year after year. The beauty of that is you will look back and see you are not the same as you were a day, a month, or a year ago, because of all the practice you put in. And of course, you need to be committed to doing it, for a long time. You weren’t built in a day. It took you approximately 9 months to be made and developed. So give yourself the runway to try something for a long time, stick with it and see how even two words can change your life.

🌊 Currents

I love sharing what I’ve been up to lately and this is one way for me to let you in on what’s been happening in my life.

📚 Currently reading: Lifespan - David A. Sinclair - An excerpt from the page “David Sinclair has proposed a radical new theory of aging, suggesting that the aging hallmarks are symptoms of epigenetic changes that occur over time, but that the original genetic code remains very much intact.” Always interested to see what we discover as humans.

🌿 Currently inspired: Plants Are Musical - I couldn’t believe this video. Tapping into the biodata that the plant sends and converting them into signals, Andrew Huang was able to create this beautiful organically-seeming ambient music. Worth a listen.

✏️ Currently using: Portra 400 - if you’re a film photographer, you know. The cost of these puppies are just insane, but what isn’t these days? I do love shooting analog these days though. Helps me get away from such a digitally-saturated society we live in. Also helps me to take time and slow down and just look at something for the sake of it.

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