Design is Hard

[An honest documention]

7.25

The online design world is such an illusion, especially for new designers. Scrolling through Instagram all you see are perfect sketches, and realistic rIt can make you believe designers are churning out flawless work and are filled with endless creativity. It can all feel very overwhelming and the need to meet this standard can feel defeating. From what I’ve found that is not the reality of design. I don’t think it's said enough, design is hard.

My search for honesty in this crazy field began back in 2021. I had just gotten into the design program, Offsite, which is the best thing to happen to me, but at the. same time I was plagued by imposter syndrome. I was a third year design student in a class of graduates (or soon to be) and professionals. I felt so under qualified and alone in my fear. In this loneliness, I realized that I was falling into the same trap as everyone else. After portfolio review I only showed the checkbox that said “passed”, not the one that said “below average” or all the other marks of improvement. I only posted the best sketches or renders and when I deemed one not up to my new standard it would quietly get deleted from my page. In this realization, I decided to try to write a little more honestly in my instagram captions and was pleasantly surprised by the reception. For the first time, I was told my imposter syndrome was relatable and that my “girly” moodboard should be embraced. But especially as a student there is such a fine line in showing the messy honesty and wanting a curated page to impress professionals who could one day hire you. At school I was being told I wasn’t good enough or dedicated enough to get a job in ID, I had a professor who I felt was bias, and was desperately searching for an internship during a pandemic. For the first time I was seeing the flaws in design education and Offsite was proving that there were solutions. I was so aware of problems within this field and wanted to share my frustrations, so much so I began writing a manifesto. Unfortunately, as a student it can be risky to share stuff like that publicly, so I didn’t. 

Since I couldn’t do it myself, I began searching for honesty through others. In a world full of curation that was harder than it sounds. Around this time, Offsite began hosting what are called Offsite sessions. They invite professionals to come in and share about different topics. One of these sessions was called “Being Human First” hosted by Rebecca Goesling. I loved her talk so much and have listened to it many times since. I realized the reason I loved it so much was because it was honest. It was the first time I heard someone talk about their struggles in this field. In being taken seriously for her passion for color, in finding her place in the industry and even how ID worked her into a stress induced illness. It was more relatable than anything else I had seen and I still feel that way watching it back now. When I had my own stress induced illness last year, that left me questioning my future in this field, I remembered her story and it made me feel less alone. I was so grateful for what that video did for me and it reignited my desire to shed a light on the hard parts of design and the challenges we have to overcome as designers.

To me with honesty comes empathy, connection, and creativity. It’s what makes us human (take that AI) . So to everyone reading: share the messy, share your truth, and acknowledge that design is hard. 

Thank you to everyone who read this. I was really nervous about posting something so vulnerable, but I hope people can relate to it and maybe they too will feel less alone in this crazy industry. More thoughts to come… ❤️ Julie