A little sneak peek into what life as a Graphic Designer is really like. We see ideas of what a Graphic Designer is online, they are usually coffee drinkers, minimalists, very serene and seem to be wearing some sort of trendy eye wear. Not only their appearance is a stereotype but their demeanour too. So, to debunk these perceptions, here are a few illustrations that show the expectation against the reality – the behind the scenes version if you will.
Here’s the first of a few. The desk space layout. You see these all over Instagram, the minimalist, the naturalist, the futurist, all the ‘ists’ you can think of. The one thing they all have in common is the neat placement of everything on their desk, nothing is ever out of place. When in reality the image on the right is what designers’ desks really look like 99% of the time. Food and caffeine to fuel us, all the marker pens and notebooks you could ever want, so on and so forth. Let’s face it, we only clear up our work spaces for a cheeky IG post or client visit. To demonstrate what I mean, below are a few of my favourite spaces taken from the best desk set up Instagram account: @minimalsetups
So yes, we take great pride in our work spaces… only when we’re showing them to someone else. There is a reason for a messy work space though, and that’s because we’re so focused on the final outcome of what we’re doing that what’s going on around us doesn’t bother us too much, in fact, it’s more than likely this clutter actually creatively helps us. Of course, we would love for our desks to always be pristine and immaculate but because of the way we work it’s just impossible to achieve. We are creatives after all!
All designers love a good brainstorm. It’s great when we bounce ideas off one another and you start forming a building block of gold. However, most of the time this isn’t where the initial idea is sparked. Sometimes it’s when a designer is by themselves with nothing but their own thoughts. This would typically be moments like, a quiet stroll in the park, having a shower or even sitting on the loo, you name it! No place is safe from our creative thinking. This little spark is then taken into a brainstorm session, gets ping-ponged around and blossoms into something fit for our clients and their audience.
Now as designers, we have an abundance of typefaces at our disposal. Oh, and just to clear things up, typeface: style of lettering, font: different weights of the same style of lettering (so different weights of the typeface). Great, now that’s let’s carry on. So, having an abundance of typefaces means we have so many possibilities for any designs that come to hand. But wait, there’s something you need to know…
We have a favourite stash! Every designer will, hands down, have at least 2 or 3 favourite typefaces. My all-time favourite is Univers, there are so many variations and it’s so versatile. We will try to shoehorn one of our favourites in our projects, but of course, if it doesn’t lend itself to the design, it won’t be used. It’s like having a favourite hoodie, you wouldn’t wear it every day and you wouldn’t wear it to a wedding. There’s a time and a place, the same applies to typefaces.
The hipster – the style known globally as a Graphic Designer. I’m not sure how this came about but I can tell you, I don’t conform to this stereotypical look. Not many designers do. The illustration on the right is a great example that shows each and every one of us is unique. We all have different interests, different tastes in music and funnily enough, different tastes in fashion too. Just FYI there’s nothing wrong with the hipster look, if you can rock it and you like it, do your thing. Just bear in mind the basketball kid and the old guy that’s dressed like a goth, they can both be Graphic Designers. At The Wonderland no two designers are the same, we have completely different styles but we are all still our own awesome designer selves! Here we are in some of our favourite pieces, rocking our own individual vibes…
This one’s a funny one, we’re known to be socially awkward. The one that’s standing awkwardly in the corner of a room waiting for the party to end. I can’t deny that I haven’t done this though, and I’ve known many others who have done it too. But even if we do look socially awkward, just come over and say hi! We can really come out of our shells when we feel like it. We don’t bite either, we can hold really good conversations and sometimes even be the life and soul of the party!
Of course, all of these things that make up a little Graphic Designer can be quite tiresome, so we need a little something during the day to keep us going.
Designers are known to be caffeine fiends, and yes, many of them out there LOVE their coffee, swear by it even. But here at The Wonderland our designers rarely drink the black stuff. Instead we like to keep zen and drink our all flavoursome green tea! Matcha green tea, mango and lychee green tea, pineapple and grapefruit green tea, all the fruit flavoured green tea you can think of, you’ll find our cupboards bursting with the stuff. It’s healthy, smells delicious and keeps us going, helping us to produce the great creative work for all of our amazing clients!
That’s just a little peek into the life of a Graphic Designer, Graphic Design IS our life, and you will see it in everything we do. Take a Graphic Designer out for a meal, you can bet the menu will be spell checked and analysed to within an inch of its life in terms of typeface choice, layout, colours you name it! I hope this sneak peek made you at least LOL in your mind a little and cleared up the expectations the world has of a Graphic Designer. We’re pretty much like everyone else, but we live in a world of design.
Written by Sadz,
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