Reflective Essay on Graphic Design Career Direction PDF

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Researched essay about my personal objectives in pursuing my career within the graphic design industry...

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SHIRIN LEUNG’S REFLECTIVE ESSAY 2017 MOD003568 SEM1 F01CAM

Prepared for: Mr. John Clarke [email protected]! Assessed by: Nick Jeeves, Jon Melton & external examiner Prepared by: 1619686, Leung Shirin, Anglia Ruskin University 8 November 2017

My Vision & Aspirations The first step in becoming a successful graphic designer is to start gaining experience. Whether that is working in-house for any established design company by utilising my parental connections to intern at an architectural or interior design firm, or by venturing out on my own and applying to as many design agencies I can. My interview with Peter Maguire, discussions with lecturers, books and articles I read online made me understand that there isn’t such a thing as a bad job or interview as all contribute to my learning about what employers are looking for in young designers today. A design professional who was interviewed online expressed that it takes on average 8-12 months before a fresh graduate learns how to function within a design agency! As much as I would like to begin starting my own business, I know that I would greatly benefit from being mentored by an experienced design team. Earning a steady income and refining my design skills before moving onto work in a smaller independent design agency to gain greater creative freedom would be essential for me in the initial stage of my career. Having my own design practice seems glamorous but taking on the bulk of design work is a bit intimidating right now. Working where the duties are shared first will give me a better idea of how to run a design business later. If I do end up with my own company it would be through running a blog, updating social media, and networking to gain the social connections I need to be approached by clients. Ideally, I would not like

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SHIRIN LEUNG’S REFLECTIVE ESSAY

to live in a big city as I have become very comfortable living in Cambridge. I would seek to work in design somewhere nearby before attempting other locations.!

Naturally being self-employed as a fresh grad scares me a little, as I do not fare well with instability but the aim is to end up in a steady job at a company I enjoy working at, surrounded by a supportive group of people. The agency doesn’t have to be mine, and it can be big or small. I do desire to be able to achieve the legal responsibilities and costs of setting up and running a design business at some point in my career though.!

From a young age I always enjoyed handicrafts - making handmade paper, illustrating, writing and binding my own books, designing and making jewellery, creating stationery and other gifts for myself or friends. My design interests involve packaging, greeting cards and alternative books as I love finding pretty ways to gift things. Studying graphic design has made me realise I still favour doing things by hand but has given me newfound love for letterpress, experimentation with different materials and using Adobe software. I have also developed a great respect for this profession and understood that graphic design is more than “are you able to redesign my logo?”. This discipline has challenged me to express myself with Adobe in ways I never thought was possible and I’ve learned how crucial it is to keep up with advances in design software. Reflecting on this, most likely my design business would involve working with letterpress, designing greeting cards and packaging. When I was young I thought it would be ideal to work for Hallmark but with the emergence of digital greeting cards my dream company to work for would be Paperless Post.!

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COMPANY NAME

Although I would prefer to keep my family and work life separate, a conversation within my immediate family concerning incorporating a design business has surfaced. The idea was, my parents, brother and I would collaborate on projects involving designing and marketing a product we find useful at solving a current problem in society or just us being approached for our expertise in consulting jobs. My parents are project manager architects, and my brother is pursuing product design. I would jointly develop the brand identity and product packaging with my brother while our parents would be our investors with creative interest. This may become a reality but for now I am seeking to establish myself independently.!

The Industry: opportunities and challenges Disadvantages of being employed in-house include lack of creative freedom, being bound to the company, all design being owned by the company and the boss taking most of the credit. Working in a large architectural design firm in Macau last summer as graphic design intern, I noticed these things but thoroughly enjoyed the mentoring I received from the graphic designers, earning, and getting to see what others in the firm were up to. Although there are advantages in independent business ownership deciding which projects you are interested to work on, delegating tasks - I am not ready for this kind of responsibility now but I may take advantage of forging a partnership where these responsibilities are shared. More skills and experience can be brought to the table, and if, my family were my partners, the disadvantages of personal or work related disagreements, would hopefully be more amicably resolved.!

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My Creative Offer: Skills, Knowledge, and Experience As I previously completed a law degree, I am comfortable drafting contracts or reading up about copyright laws. This can be of great benefit in setting up my own practice or if I work for a company that needs insight into this. Being a native English speaker, with fluency in Mandarin, working proficiency in Cantonese and conversant in basic Farsi (Persian) I can freely communicate and collaborate with more people, utilising my skills in these languages and my understanding of these cultures to design more responsively for people from these backgrounds. Finally, my experience working in jobs from various sectors including administration, legal, customer service, hospitality and retail could potentially make me more aware about designing for audiences in these areas.!

What motivates me & what do I value? Growing up in Hong Kong and Macau I saw people dissatisfied, working in highly competitive, stressful and pressured jobs for long hours to meet deadlines. After moving to the UK I realised I am better adapted to working in this more relaxed environment where my social or family life won’t be compromised for work. Graphic designers in UK enjoy a better work-life balance (see Graphic Designers Surveyed pg.56-57) working less hours with more holiday. I value people’s appreciation for the arts in UK as this is not the case in Hong Kong where people focus on making money quickly. My definition of happiness does not warrant large amounts of money or working in a fancy design office in central London. I feel fulfilled when I can solve someone’s design problems using a creative, simple and stunning solution. I would love to wake up and look forward

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to going to work with a talented design team who have fun collaborating on design projects together with a healthy sense of humour - following Peter’s advice - while also giving everyone the freedom to work on their own businesses or products. Ideas for designs do not have to always come from being serious which is why I feel working in the UK is so much more interesting than working back home in Asia. As an extrovert, working with new people excites me and I enjoy variety in my days. The nature of graphic design work - that I will get opportunity to express myself creatively on different projects, publish my work and be appreciated by others brings me great joy.

What’s Next? Though experience is rewarding in itself, I do feel it is important for me to begin interning in the UK as all of my time working in the design field has been in Hong Kong and Macau. I have already taken the initial steps needed to address the graphic design sector through my Linked-In connections, but need to further work on developing my online presence. This includes regularly posting on social networks such as Instagram to build a following for graphic design work, building my branding identity, showing my work on a website/blog and taking on projects to build my portfolio. I must seek to “put myself out there”, to connect with other graphic designers and people with shared interests. This is to maximise potential employment especially through recommendation from a mutual connection. Any experience now is better than none, according to Peter’s advice “take ANY design job”. The sooner I start the more likely I will find which environment best suits my disposition and the work cultures I prefer. Along the way I will gain lessons about teamwork, the challenges of this career path and learning how to

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operate in a design agency. The repetition of working on similar projects would help me design more consistently and at least initially my income would be more stable than me trying to forge it on my own. I may not have a choice about the projects I would work on, and have little creative freedom but potentially, prominent clients would be more willing to invest their money for a design solution from a reputable business than seek the experience of a newly graduated graphic designer. Eventually, I would hope that I will find balance in my work, social and family life while staying updated with trends in software, working in the design field either in a good company to to support my future family and if I’m really ambitious run my own design firm.!

References! Two guides provided by our lecturer. “Insight and inspiration - An introduction to enterprise education for creative subject students” had numerous contributors and editors, published with support of Coventry University and the other “How young people are challenging the conventions of entrepreneurship” by Dellot, Benedict and Thompson, Julian published March 2013 by Disrupt Inc.!

Dougher, S. 2003. 100 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers pp. 73 ! With numerous pages of useful tips and lessons to remember the page in this book illustrated the importance of using the power of being funny.!

Roberts, L & others 2015. Graphic Designers Surveyed pp. 56-57, 292–402 !

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A gem of a book to me for giving insightful information about what working as a graphic designer in the UK and US is really like.!

Gomez-Palacio, B., 2008. Women of design : influence and inspiration from the original trailblazers to the new groundbreakers / 1st ed., Cincinnati, Ohio : HOW Books.! A reference book I sought out for inspiration female leaders within this career.!...