The 'Young Bucks' wannabe Thread

berry

Active Member
Young (and Older Buck) Wannabe Thread

After countless forages into other threads and posts I thought I'd open this thread as a guide/ advice/ rant / or whatever specifically for the younger wannabees. So I can keep my rants and advice in one place.

Let's first get things clear:
1. I hate precocious wannabees who think they know everything at the age of 11.
2. I'm desperate to see young talent emerge that will genuinely succeed.
3. I'm a natural grumpy old bear ready to eat.
4. 90% of young designers will not get a employment in this business
5. The design field is over saturated with every man and his dog who thinks they are designers.
6. Self status 'Freelance' generally means neccessity not choice.

So. why is everyone in a hurry to get somewhere? Patience and learning will create designers that will survive rather than designers with a signature.
Learn, study your craft and understand it. Make mistake, and learn from them, but don't be in a hurry to make money. You are not good enough to do that consistantly just yet. Older bears (like me) will help you develop freely if you respect the system and the order of things and are prepared not to seek a quick fix.
The term client only comes with a vat invoice. Anything less is not serious intention on either side of the fence.Nobody is born a designer, that is a skill we learn, we may have natural abilty but Adobe Photoshop is not a natural gene.

Software does not make designers. Understanding does.
Learn patience and question and try and understand why things have been done. Study people and work out how to persuade people to do things. That is the art of design in communication. That is what you do. Your product may be web design, but your business is communication. And above all stay hungry and challenge.
 
do i have to reply?

yes, i do- because i dont think it's just "young bucks" but a **** load of desperate older ones too.
 
yes, i do- because i dont think it's just "young bucks" but a **** load of desperate older ones too.

One of us "young bucks" was always going to come up with some sort of cheeky reply!

Software does not make designers. Understanding does - BBOB?
Your product may be web design, but your business is communication - BBOB?


Interesting points Berry which for me seem very relevant
For me as a young one ive always known that i cant just expect to head out and achieve, but the challenge has been set and having a good go at it is what I can do for now...
 
Berry said:
So. why is everyone in a hurry to get somewhere?

I think the obvious answer to that is money...

It's easy to say I design because it's my passion but in honesty if it paid terrible money I wouldn't be doing it.
 
i do accept the relevancy, berry, btw, i wasnt totally disregarding what you were saying
 
I wanted to do design from basically as soon as I could draw ( i used to do these wicked little spaceships shooting lasers and having motion swooshes etc :)). I had a passion for cars and I felt that this was the direction I should go in so obviously took the appropriate courses through high school and then a-levels. During high school I got into photography due to a teacher and I then chose to expand on the teachings (relatively basic to say the least) with another course (BTEC foundation in art and design) at my local college while I earned a bit of cash for uni etc.

Now as my entire approach up until uni was aiming at designing cars I applied for the correct courses (transport design etc) but when I went for the interviews the tutors (ie the people who had industry experience/still work etc) felt I was better suited to product design. After thinking it through I felt this was a better option for me and went that way instead. Now I'm doing purely CAD work but it's foundation was laid down via my photography and my education and even now (and I'm sure Berry etc will agree) I'm still learning new things when I work such as a quicker/better way to do something, improving my work flow, better settings in the computer/program etc.

So what did I learn, simple things don't necessarily go as you plan, I thought I was going to go into car design a field that I loved (and thought I was pretty good at it) when I was younger. I also learnt to realise when something is outside your skillset/abilities, I'll happily tell a client if what they're after is outside my remit of services/skills as at the end of the day I have a reputation to maintain, I'd rather put them onto someone who can do their work than put out shoddy quality.
I'd also say its better to be really good in one area of design than try and be ok in all of them.

Another thing that I always think of when I see people trying to do design and not being very good is this. My Dad is a builder by trade, he's been building since about 15 (now over 60), I watched him do his work, went on the building sites when I was younger etc. I've recently done some building work (extension) with him as his labouror and in his word make a fantastic mix (cement), I can lay bricks/blocks and I can even plasterboard, render and plaster the walls. Does this make me a builder, hell no, I have no knowledge of things like damp course, the correct heights of doors/windows, I can't do the fancy arches or patterns in the bricks, I don't know the regulations, I don't know when to stop building a wall due to the weight on the cement. Could I become a builder, yes but I would need to get a thorough understanding of the principles and rules that need to be followed to make a house stay up :)
 
ahhh I see :p I thought you were just about to go postal and give some poor bugger a very bad day :lol:
 
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