Finding your focus
“What exactly does a graphic designer do?”
The industry of graphic design is vast. With so many career-defining categories, it can be very confusing to answer that question efficiently. If you are like me, your skillset includes a variety of options. I look at my work as an opportunity to challenge myself no matter the project that comes across my desk. However, even with that advantage, I know what form of design brings me the most joy, which has helped me define my focus that has ultimately paved a path for my career. Now I get we all can’t Marie Kondo our career, but we can figure out how we can best utilize our God-given talents to provide us with the creative life we never grow tired of.
STYLES SHOULDN'T MATTER
When I was in college, it always confused me when someone would compliment my work by saying, “Oh, I love your style.” I would thank them but would be confused because I never felt I had a “style”; I was just a student developing designs that I just thought looked good. Still, to this day, when I get that same compliment, I feel that each project I have worked on is so different than the last, that this idea of “style” doesn't pertain to my work. Maybe this is just me, but the concept of artistic style restricts the way our minds work when it comes to visual arts. Think of it this way, every artist or designer that we admire today, we associate them with certain artistic style or movement. However, their star-studded qualities are just the outcome of years honing in on their focus. So let me ask you…why does style matter?
In my opinion, it seems that educators in this field are more caught up with you forming a “style” than finding your focus. For students pursuing a career in design, classes immediately assign you to try out a spectrum of project types, branding, packaging, web design, etc. This structure was built to see what you are interested in and push your comfort zone, which makes perfect sense. However, as you progress, the cycle continues, and students are forced to create projects that don’t fit them and their niche skill set, ultimately producing work that is not their best.
In my Portfolio 101 lesson, I speak about how important it is only to include your best work when promoting your skills. It’s like dressing for the job you want. Now I’m not saying to fit yourself in a box -- quite the opposite -- I am saying the time a student spends on creating work that isn’t for them isn’t going to advance what they are actually proficient in. And if a college's goal is to have its students be successful and get a job post-grad, why don’t they spend more time honing their focus?
WHAT IS A FOCUS?
Whenever I hire a new intern at the studio, one of the first questions I like to ask them is, “What is your focus?” 99% of the time, they look at me like I am asking for the square root of pi. But really, I am trying to figure out how I can utilize each of their skills. I don’t want to give an intern with zero interest in logo design a logo design project, because it would annoy me just as much as it would frustrate them. So once we finally establish their focus, I can give them work to create that they can be proud of.
One of my past interns -- who actually is the very reason I am discussing this topic -- had quite the time finding her focus. She was in her last semester as a graphic design student looking at a body of work that fit the rubric of a class versus her ability to really create. Given that time was running out, she was frustrated with herself that these four years amounted to very little. Thankfully, my two other interns at this time recommended her to be my photographer for my clothing line. Now -- I love all my interns equally and am so very proud of each of them; however, this young lady blew me out of the water. I am a complete doofus when it comes to a camera, so told her the aesthetic I wanted to achieve and gave her complete creative freedom. She surpassed all my expectations. I pulled her aside after the first photo shoot and asked why she isn't displaying these skills more in her portfolio, and she said, “Because that's not what they want me to show”. (They being her professor). I understand that since she is a graphic design student, her work should include design-related projects. Regardless, how could a professor in good conscience send a student off to the real world with a portfolio that doesn't show the student's best work, no matter the medium? Now I say this not in disrespect to that professor, but to explain how easy it is for artists and designers to never take that chance on that focus and distract themselves with the long list of duties a graphic designer could do. Because when you have a focus you can say things like this…Today, that very intern is now a Senior Photographer for eCommerce at Lord & Taylor and New York & Company at the age of 24.
So the takeaway from all this is not to disrespect your professor or say fuck it and focus on one thing; it's to understand that finding a focus in this field of work is the only way we can utilize our talents effectively. And for that, I challenge you with this…
List out the skills you have
Circle the ones you actually like to do
Now with those, you circled how many projects of that focus are in your portfolio?
If it's the majority of your portfolio, look at you -- what a star 👏Now make sure you continue to hon in, and make it kick ass.
If it's less than the majority, it's time for you to re-evaluate. Because if you are doing work that doesn't excite you, you are on a one-way ticket to Burn Out City. This may mean changing jobs or doing passion projects; whatever it is, make sure you are doing work that excites you.