By Justin Bernardy
Before starting the graphic design program at Seattle Central, I had no real idea of what I would like to do after all was said and done. I had no real idea of what the workflow would be like, what my day-to-day would consist of, or the skills I might need. I only knew that I wasn’t half bad as an artist, and that I would like to do something with my creativity. Frankly, I am still not entirely certain of what I want to do, but it gets a little less foggy each day.(except for the actual weather, which in stark contrast, gets FOGGIER by the day). I am actually quite surprised by the truth of it all, as I am finding things such as coding to be most enjoyable and rewarding, which leads into my next point.
Last Friday, we had the opportunity to speak with and listen to Joe Hallock, who is the principal design director at Microsoft. He explained different career paths related to design, and placed them on a spectrum of audience in relation to information density. I find that virtually all of my interests fall between broad audience/high information density and specific audience/high information density. Career fields such as game designer, web developer, UI/UX designer and medical illustrator all appeal to me and fall into those categories. I think there are several positives, a few negatives, and quite a lot of subjective grey areas specific to this end of the spectrum. Firstly, the workload is generally high, and the work itself is challenging. Some, might find the challenge appealing, myself included. There is a huge element of creative problem solving inherent with most design fields, which is also enjoyable and rewarding. On that same coin, however, these things are only enjoyable when everything is flowing properly. Typically, deadlines are involved, and when you have to fight tooth and nail to make a deadline, it can certainly be disheartening, and exhausting. All of this aside, I can say that the designers I have met seem fulfilled in their work, despite the challenges presented by it, and that motivates me to keep pushing forward.