black foreshortened nude, by Milton GlaserSo, I am a graphic design student. Actually for the past two years I have been attending a university that doesn't actually offer a degree in graphic design but does offer an art degree and a handful or design classes. I have thus far been under the tutelage of only one graphic design instructor and while I am grateful for her, I also feel the need to get more than one point of view. Lucky for me, an opportunity has opened up and in the fall I will be moving to another state and to another school (obviously) that offers a BFA in graphic design.
As a student, I have begun to develop my own style but am still rather unsure of myself. I feel I have a talent for design, I certainly have a love for it, but I still have a fair amount of uncertainty. I suppose we all do, that's what moves us forward and makes us push ourselves to be better. I am torn between my love for frilly, complicated design, and my great appreciation for simple, clean, and elegant. Do I, as a designer, have to choose one or the other? Or is it simply a matter of applying the right design style to the right project. Do you create a definite style for yourself, one that you will be known by? Or do you adapt to each client or situation?
I suppose it's all part of the learning process. Perhaps the more styles you try your hand at, the more you gain a sense of what you like and don't like, and therefore, who you are as a designer. I hope that moving to this new school will provide me with the guidance that I need to become the great designer I know I can be. Or perhaps I will walk into digital foundations on the first day and discover that I know squat. There's nothing like discovering you know a great deal less than you thought you did. That's always a humbling experience. But, as always, an opportunity to grow. You just have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps (or flip flop...straps?) and gleen all the information that you can.
Children playing in the surf.
