I enjoy everything about design. The research, the process, the final work, the look on your client’s face when you they first see what you came up with. Design is cool. But what defines cool?
One person may see something cool as the way it looks, the way it feels emotionally and even the colors that were used. The toughest part of working with a client is finding that common ground. Not every one attended art school, nor should they. You have to work with each and every client a different way. They have a clear picture in their mind of what they want, as does the designer. Working together to find out what will work and be cool is one of the things I enjoy most about being a designer.
Once I get a could idea of what the project description is, research begins. For myself, I can be inspired by just about anything. When you think about it, everything is design. The chair you sit on. The computer you look at. The software you use. Design is everywhere.
With that, every design you do is original. It may come from ideas, or previous pieces of works you have seen. But it is now new and original. Whether you are using the colors, forms, elements, and so on, it is now yours and no one else has anything like it. I think everyone gets inspiration from other pieces of art, and designs found in day-to-day life. That’s the way it should be.
Nothing makes me happier when I have finished a design for a friend, a client, a professor and it not only fulfills their expectations, but it surpasses them. When they leave with that design and show it all over the world, that to me is the best thing about being a graphic designer. Astonishing others and putting a smile on their face. That is cool.
