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Steelplate
Steelplate aka The Revolution is a boy, has been a member since October 30, 2008, has scored 1,366 submissions, giving an average score of 3.41, helping 42 designs get printed.
Graphic Design Scares Me
I'm scared.

No seriously, I'm terrified about Graphic Design. For starters, let me get this out of the way. I am NOT a graphic designer. I say that because I'm not sure I'll ever be. I don't know what it is, I just can't get that freaking excited about the perfect alignment of Helvetica to a 12.7mm default margin. I just don't care enough about it.

This problem of mine is especially compounded by the fact that I come from a primarily film background and for the last 7 years have worked in the Video Games Industry as a Cinematics Director. Unfortunetly, like most, recent downsizing and redundancies have happened and like most, I was caught in the net of it.

Since then the Games Industry here has nearly completly shut it's doors for a guy with my experience. They largely tend to grab Americans with DECADES of experience for super cheap since they're all coping with the GFC downturn too. Who can blame them really? It's just smart business.

In any case, I'm out here on the outside with no idea what to with myself. Facts are that I need to make money and it would more than likely take FOREVER to start making some if I went into the Film Industry (although I do have experience as an Editor/Compositor).

Bottom line, there was only one other thing that I ever wanted to do with my life, and that was make Logos. Seems pretty freaking limited I know and ultimately, it's just some passing hobby (I think I'm an Illustrator at heart). So now I sit here, unemployed, eating into savings, just joined a Graphic Design course and am staring down the barrel of a future career I'm not even certain I'll like.

Maybe I just had a bad day in class or something but honest to god, 5 hours talking about Grids in InDesign. I find myself sitting down and listening to these lectures and doing these prac exercises and thinking to myself, "This is Art right? Isn't Art subjective? Why are there so many rules?"

Now I'm not trying to rally against the machine, but I am sitting here tossing up two opinions on a lot of things I'm taught. Everything coming into my head is greeted with a "Well duh, common sense there" or a "What? Why the fuck has it gotta be done like that?" Could be the teachers fault for not explaining a lot of the why behind things and I recognize that so I spend a lot of time now trying to force myself to be interested. Jumping around on Design Blogs and the like can only do so much.

I do love Design, I just wonder if it's truly for me.

Jaakie201
   Jaakie201 on Feb 15 '10 at 4:36am
I kinda have the exact same feeling... I graduated from an all round-graphic design education last summer. In contrary with most of my class, I'm not so eager to find work in a graphic design company. Arranging magazine-like text and images all day in indesign is not what drew me into this all, and I really don't care about it much. I rather want to go back to the graphics and images that inspire me and inspired me when I was younger: good old cartoons from the eighties, comics, videogames, action figure toys and the awesome graphics that came with it, skateboard graphics and such.



I rather want to create things that amazed me when I was younger... also using that inspiration to make things that hopefully in time will bring that same feeling to others. So now I'm trying to learn and get better at illustration and actually pursue something I dream of doing (whether that works out or not.. at least I tried then). It's probably naive and not a smart thing to do in these times... but slowly things seem to start working out, getting a few assignments here and there like something for a local skateboard company and such: things that brought me to the graphic design education in the first place .
tesco
   tesco on Feb 15 '10 at 5:13am
It's not art, and its definitley not Art. Learning design should be like learning a trade - like plumbing or carpentrey. Yeah it can be boring as fuck but you're doing it to pay bills, not x-press yourself.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Feb 15 '10 at 5:15am
I've found that, by approaching graphic design from an illustrators angle, you can get away with making hand drawn type and doing design without the grid dogmas and zen-helvetica approach.



I love not being dependant of what font makers make, and think how to apply their type in a way respectful to their typeface.







tesco
   tesco on Feb 15 '10 at 5:17am
^apply that philosphy to making a customer complaints form for a clothes retailer and you're gonna come unstuck. time to bust out the grids and helvetica. and you better have learnt your shit or your form is gonna be a nightmare to use and you would have failed at your job.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Feb 15 '10 at 5:24am
I don't quite understand what you are saying here tesco. is that a reply to my comment?
tesco
   tesco on Feb 15 '10 at 5:34am
yeah. I'm saying that sometimes you have to apply a workman like attitude to what you do. Unfortunatley graphic design is not always gonna let you express yourself like an artist - unless you're crazy successful like Sagmeister or something.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Feb 15 '10 at 5:43am
Well, I know that. I did webdesign for quite some time and there is little storytelling and art in there, and lots of useability issues.



What I was trying to say, is that graphic design is not the only road to a creative profession. I would be terribly unexcited about customer complaint forms. Fine arts are too vague to me.

But I'm perfectly happy with being an illustrator and handletterer.



Maybe Steelplate is approaching his love for design from an graphic design angle, and overlooking possible the other roads.





tesco
   tesco on Feb 15 '10 at 5:45am
definitley. if you cant take any joy from being anal with type and grids (like me - I'm a freak) then I'd suggest get into something else
celandinestern
   celandinestern on Feb 15 '10 at 5:48am
maybe try doing illustration or something more freeform?



or take solace in the fact that there are loads of WAAAAAY more boring/ tedious/ anal jobs out there. Trust me, I'm a financial/ administrative officer for an EU technical assistance project. I know.
Steelplate
Steelplate on Feb 15 '10 at 6:07am
I fell asleep at "financial" :)



But yeah, is that what a lot of Graphic Designers do? Work they're annoying copy shifting job and then do some illo's or serious art on the side?



Seems to be par the course.
gumbolimbo
   gumbolimbo on Feb 15 '10 at 6:10am
Another thing is, types and grids may also only become interesting to you once you get to actually do the work.

If you're a bit of a hands on person, starting with the theory may not be the best way to get excited by the profession.



You may find that once you are actually making design regularly and start to think about what makes a design good/succesfull, that is the moment the grid stuff becomes interesting to you.



( Unfortunately, that is often not the way an education is set up. )
Steelplate
Steelplate on Feb 15 '10 at 8:03am
I think my problem is that after doing untrained but completely legitimate Graphic Design work for a number of companies (Brochures, Vouchers, Websites, etc), learning through all this stuff is just kinda boring me.



Tomorrow we learn about Type. Which is something I kinda like to mess with so that should be cool.



I really want to make one of these :)
Steelplate
Steelplate on Feb 15 '10 at 8:58pm
Good news.



We're playing with Type and Fonts today. Mega fun running about and manipulating type of all shapes and sizes :)
85 days later
Arty Miss
Arty Miss on May 12 '10 at 2:20pm
Hi There

Just reading your blog as it came up when I searched Shillington college - how did you get on with the course in the end? I'm thinking of doing it myself (although the part time/ year course). From your last comment it sounds like a positive experience! I'd really appreciate your views.

Thanks
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I'm large, loud and loving life... That's about all that needs to be said about me but I'll tell ya, this whole designing thing has bitten me like a bug and I can't help but scratch this creative itch.

Peace!