My Journal
January 14, 2009I consider my self to be a designer, I am currently mid way through my degree course and I feel that I have started my career as I have already done paid commissions for customers. I enjoy and thrive on knowing that I have changed my life around. From the age of 16 I left school, I had got my apprenticeship in carpentry and that was my life planned out I worked as a carpenter on building sites 5 years realising that this wasn’t the life for me, I decided enough was enough and it was time for me to go back in to education. That brings me to now I feel like I have a good outlook on life and a career in graphic design.
As a graphic designer I have many influences and interests. I think that my main influence is wood. I have worked with wood for many years and I know what I am doing when it comes to using it. I feel inspired when I see drawings and imagery that I like. I find my own drawings have my own style to them although this is influenced by what is around me and what I am finding when I am researching. I love Japanese illustration. It inspires me to make my own. In particular Yuko Shimizu I find her work interesting and I feel it fits along side of mine very well.
My goals at this early stage in my career are to complete my degree with hopefully a 2:1 Then to get into a design/printing business where I can work and create a portfolio of my own keeping myself up today with all the new software and meeting others in the business. Some where along the line I would also love to start up my own business and work for myself. I had a feel for this when I was a carpenter, I really enjoyed working for myself and felt that I thrived on knowing that it was all my doing at the end of the day.
My concerns as a graphic designer is that it is a hard business to get into and in the early stages there is not a lot of money in it. If you are a lucky one who makes it higher up then there is plenty of money to be made. On the plus side this is something that I really enjoy doing and hopefully will continue to enjoy it for many years to come.
I feel I have an important view, as a graphic designer I need to be able to get my design across weather it be words or image. I feel that I can do this as I am constantly developing ways and means of doing so, for many different people, I am fully aware that people view, learn and remember things in different ways.
To sum up, everything I look at inspires me, I feel that I am a naturally creative person and because of this I think that I can help people to see and hear what I am doing.
