Questioning vs Doubting
October 6th, 2008 by noelperlasBack in college I had a professor that taught us the difference between “questioning the faith” and “doubting your faith.” I’m not going to speak religion here, but more on looking back at my design career. I will be using the same words but swapping the word “faith” with “design career.”
The past month was very busy indeed and one of the events that passed was my birthday. This in turn leads me to question my career choices. I ask myself: “Another year has passed, and what have I done to progress in my design career?”, “Is digital design a profitable career?”, “Am I lagging behind?”, “Am I too old for this?”
I sometimes look at the up and coming studios here in manila and realize that there are more talented people out there, and as time passes, more and more people will be better than me. This leads me to believe that it gets harder and harder to get clients and design rates get cheaper and cheaper. Some even don’t see the value in hiring designers and think they can do it themselves.
So I am at a point where I am questioning the design career. In a developing country such as the Philippines, does it make sense to be in design? Will design in a developing country be limited to just as and “add-on” and unessential? Is design only profitable as a tool used in advertising and marketing? Will design ever be given the respect it deserves?
On the otherhand, design has never been so big in the country. Numerous design studios are cropping up everywhere while older firms are still alive and kicking. So there is a market for design… but is it big enough to serve all that are passionate? My professor said that questioning is good since it allows one to stop and look and then take positive action in identifying the problem. But doubting just means to give up. I do not think I am in “doubting” mode, but I do question the design career a lot… more often now than ever. What do you think? Do you live and work in the industry? Do you doubt or question?
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6 Responses to “Questioning vs Doubting”
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Al Says:
October 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pmHi! I am an undergrad student from a non-graphic design related course. I am eyeing a career (probably freelance) in graphic design in the near future.
I am nineteen years old, and to give you words of comfort, I say that you shouldn’t doubt. (Haha, that’s ironnic – those words are coming from an inexperienced one!) But in my view, there are still a LOT of things to be improved in our country, graphic-design wise. My Google reader is filled with graphic design buzz around the world, and with that ruler set, I’d say that our graphic design climate is still not at par with that of the international scene. (AGAIN, coming from an inexperienced one.)
We just have to open our eyes to see those areas that we need to improve on. Probably they’re just taking on a different form. As an artist, I think you are used to being flexible anyway.
Marami naman pong opportunities. Parating na ang eleksyon. We, as graphic designers can take the chance to build successful imaging ang campaigns. Still alot of room for improvement in this area.
If you’re doubting about streams of income, I guess you can invest in publishing graphic design related books. (Royalties can be good!) Wala pa ata akong nakikitang homegrown graphic design books. It will be VERY nice if we would would have our own version of TASCHEN books. (If you are going to make some books, I am willing to help you out – I’ve got some ideas for books)
So there. My statements might be invalid, but again, it’s just coming from a young, inexperienced one.
Good luck on our careers!!
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noelperlas Says:
October 8th, 2008 at 11:56 pmI think that I had the same idealism as you were when I was your age. I was stubborn and believed that I could get into this career without thinking of consequences of getting low pay. My first job just paid me a measly allowance. As you are, I came from a non-graphic design course too. I too thought that the country does need a better aesthetic, I still do. But I still wonder if money will get poured into our industry to help our country. Our government needs to develop other areas first.
I know this is spiraling down into money talk… I guess I had come to a point in my career and in my life that my priorities start to shift. There is a need for me to earn more and get more recognition for my work. I am in an awkward position where I think I have reached the ceiling of both, at least in our country. I want that idea to be wrong but sometimes outside forces lead me to believe otherwise.
I like your attitude, don’t let my realistic notions bring that down. But it is good to always have it at the back of your mind. Multiple streams of income is always good… so start early and save early.
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Rollan Bañez Says:
January 15th, 2009 at 9:59 pmMaybe you should join some of the people who always believe in something possible even sometimes it mind sound crazy. IM me here or join the website. i would like to share you some words that i think would spark some fire.
There is no glory in self driven achievements they are just short and instant victory. they are not remembered through time thus didn’t leave scars for inspiration and greatness.
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Rollan Bañez Says:
January 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pmMaybe you should join some of the people who always believe in something possible even sometimes it might sound crazy. IM me or join the website. i would like to share you some words that i think would spark some fire.
There is no glory in self driven achievements they are just short and instant victory. they are not remembered through time thus didn’t leave scars for inspiration and greatness.
Graphikarista
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iwantanewcareer Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 12:04 amhi! i’m a nursing graduate. passed the local board and now in australia. I just realized recently that i wanted a new career. eventhough, i have not really started my profession. I think about what i really like and realized that i’m so passionate in doing invitations, brochures and powerpoint presentation projects back in highschool and college.so, now i’m trying to inquire about courses specifically desktop publishing which i think is relatd to graphic design but a friend told me to take graphc design. also, i don’t have drawing skills whch is pulling me down.But ibelieve that i’m creative. do you have any suggestions? thank you.
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noelperlas Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 11:14 pmHey. Thanks for visiting. I don’t know if I am in the right position to advice you about career changes since my career has been strictly in and around the design industry (graphic, web, interaction, advertising, marketing, mobile, etc.). And also since you are in Australia, I don’t know what the climate is there for budding designers specially where to take courses on design. I can tell you this though, I think there are more opportunities to work as a designer in Australia than there are in Philippines.
Do sit down and consider the shift. Think about it deeply. Look around and expose yourself to the industry before taking the leap. There are a lot of disciplines where you can try to focus on within the industry itself. If you are comfortable with doing programming, there is always web/interface design. If you prefer to be on the artistic side, you can try strict graphic design and start with illustrations.
I don’t consider myself good at drawing. But all you need is to practice. Keep doing and creating stuff. I heard that the book “Drawing on the right side of the brain” can be a good start.
