When I was studying graphics & art I always wondered what makes a designer or artist what they are? Furthermore what makes them good? Is it the diploma or degree? Do you become one when you start getting paid for what you do? Surely not right? That would be a shallow list of criteria. So maybe the commendation of their peers? The amount of work they do? or do you simply have to put the word in your twitter bio? Since college I have struggled with the question. More & more I've found the latter to be the case.
There are people who have so much belief in themselves (be it misplaced or not) they assume they can simply speak it into existence & that’s all there is to it for them. I don’t blame them one bit because it seems people will believe whatever you feel like saying if you say it with enough conviction. Sometimes I envy these people because all I ever seem to do is worry whether I have earned the title in my bio or not. Since the day I started my first actual piece of design work I have been waiting — I don’t know what for. Maybe for the design God’s to show me a sign that I have satisfied them and are truly worthy of the title. Unlike me though — for most people today it is enough to just lay claim to a title & be it. No proof, No 10,000 hours, no contextualisation. Nothing. Sometimes not even the promise of potential talent. Just ‘I think therefore I am’. An exercise in impatience & arrogance if you ask me.
Anyone with a good understanding of the internet can find out a few things about a few things, get their hands on CS6 & voilà within a week a new ‘designer’ is born. My point? I feel like it’s all too easy to become a designer which is exactly what makes my question ‘what makes a designer a designer?’ difficult. I believe the difficulty in answering the question is in the lack of difficulty to assume the title.
The lack of difficulty robs it of it’s depth and substance, leaving it hollow.
I think in the world there are certain job titles people have automatic respect for e.g. Doctor, Lawyer, President, Manager e.t.c. Why? Because people know you cannot achieve those titles without going thorough a considerably difficult process to prove yourself worthy of the title in one way or another. This isn't the case with Designers or Artists. You cannot watch all the seasons of law & order walk into a court tomorrow and start defending people. On the other hand you can wake up one day, call yourself a designer and start making terrible logo’s for all your mum’s friends the next day.
In my mind Lawyers e.t.c. are measurable — you can measure the calibre of the lawyer by how much they know. You need to know so many laws, you get better with the more laws & loop holes you learn plus how well you know them and if you don’t know them? You’re simply a bad lawyer. On the other hand creatives are not so black and white — you may know nothing of typography and rules of colour but somehow pull together a great piece from pure gut instinct. You may have never heard of the likes of Picasso or Fischl but be able to poor yourself onto a canvas in a way that nobody can deny. My explanation…
Academics are of the mind, Creativity is of the soul.
So you see the question becomes increasingly difficult. I was once told that if I am to take design or art seriously they cannot be my occupations- they must be the basis of my lifestyle. If I am to base my life on a matter of the soul, something nobody knows much of, how am I to know when my soul has matured? or if it even contains what is required, whatever that may be, to achieve the desired goal of being a designer? If you look to the world for an answer you will die waiting.
At first glance that answer might sound foolish but let me explain.
I have been looking at the question entirely the wrong. Firstly to decide whether you are something or not you must first establish what the word means to you. I didn't realise I had defined the word designer with the idea of the kind of designer I want to become. Truly anybody can be a designer in the universal sense of the word but to me that is not enough hence my perpetual search for validation and/or proof of what I am. Secondly, I have been dealing in absolutes: either I am or I am not. I was wrong to do this. What I have come to the conclusion of now is to deal with the title as a propositional truth. A statement in progress. Stating the desired goal whilst on the road.
Believe in what is happening now.
You don’t get good at something by believing you are good. You don’t become the best you can be by believing you’re the best. The confidence we all crave in our work comes from being a work in progress, from knowing you are putting everything you have into becoming what you want to be, that is how great men become great.
It’s through the exercise of entire dedication that you breathe life & give meaning to the title you assume.
Sometimes I look back at old work & smile at the progress I have made since. It reminds me that I am still on the road making progress & how much I have dedicated to this craft therefore giving me belief in the word designer & that I am one. A good one too.
If you ever find your confidence wavering too or find yourself questioning the validity of your claim to your title remember how much you’ve invested yourself in the journey you’re on. Believe in the proposition you are trying to make entirely and undoubtedly true.
So my answer the next time somebody asks me what makes a great designer a great designer?
A great designer becomes a great designer simply by sincerely dedicating themselves to becoming a great designer… I’ll also add that a great artist rarely knows they are one because they’re too busy trying to become one.
