What got you interested in Design?

D

Dave1975

Active Member
What started you on your career in design? Was it a particular example of great design that made you think it would be great to be in this line of work? Or was it just your favourite subject at school?

I always enjoyed both art and design at school, and was never really sure which way I would go, as I was 50/50 between the two. I remember having to design our own personal logos in year 7 of school, and for the 12 logos I designed I got an A*, my first ever A at school. To this very day I still use the same logo, of the G and F combined! As the years went by I began to see myself having options for a job in design coming out of school, and in the future, something that I never saw myself doing with art.
 
Honestly....

I always had an interest in art and illutrations since I was young, which then became an interest in street art and graffiti. Started my first business Rebelo at the age of 17 and couldn't afford to pay a graphic design to create the promo material or the artworking charges at the screen printers so I got my hands on a copy of Adobe Illustrator and taught my self.

After a few requests to do bits and pieces for other people the design took over Rebelo so I went into business doing that.

I never set out to be a designer (and never even thought about website design) but these were both things I kind of had an interest in that I thought I would be able to do to make money. My main thing was also work for myself.
 
I could always draw ( yes, with objects called pencils) since I was about 3. I was doing portrait oil paintings at 12.
Wanted to be a Fine Art portait painter. Wanted to to a BA in fine art, did the 1 year Foundation course as required and found i hated 'fine art" as it was all experimental rubbish, not classical stuff. I enjoyed the 6 weeks in the graphic course and after failing to get into all the Uni's as I had an 'attitude' problem! I ended up getting a lucky job as a junior artist. I've seen the change from hand lettering, letraset, casting type off, magic markers to the first mac and the intoduction of the web. The thing that dissapoints me is the lack of natural design flair in designers now. Tools and software do not make you a designer. Ideas do.
 
I've always had an interest in art but was particularly fascinated with streetart and graffiti ever since I was a little kid.I just loved the raw energy of it and the fact that people risked their lives to create something with no rewards but recognition and self satisfaction. So I started drawing sketches and painting graffiti when I was about 14. I was then nicked a few times so I got bored of that :).

Then I discovered Photoshop and Illustrator when I was about 19 and fell in love instantly. I began doing graffiti inspired digital artwork and then I moved on to Web Design, Graphic Design and Photography. I still love graffiti and paint the odd legal wall, but I release most of my creative energy elsewhere nowadays :)
 
Well, it was a couple of years ago, because I'm still only 17! :D when i discovered Photoshop CS2. I didnt really know that much about it and created some pretty crap designs, but I loved it! I could always draw, and my mums an artist and Art teacher, So art wasnt a new thing for me. But i started into this thing called 'GFX' basically graphics and effects (I Think!) and went on forums and posted my stuff.. got mixed reviews from everyone, but then I found NSL (National Signature League) which is a forum with like 30,000 members great site. There I hanged out and because they can class you From Novice to Professional based on your skills and techniques (although it was ignoring the meaning of art it was great fun!) And for a couple of months I was moderate, and then started to improve, got Intermediate. I was stuck there forever!! But then I started to Digitally Paint using my mouse, Then I really liked it and got a Tablet. I then loved painting eagles and birds so I did a lot of these - Some below!

eaglev2.png


This quickly got me into the semi pro area and I was thrilled. However after a while I grew bored and disagreed what the website stood for. So I stopped for a while, but then went back to it and then started web design as well as graphic design. And built a couple of sites etc etc, Now here I am! A beginner freelancing artist =D
 
I always used to be pretty good at drawing and certainly noticed cool design when I saw it but never really thinked about how you'd create it, used to see cool flyers/album covers etc....

I never really gave it a second thought as I was too interested in music, played guitar in bands at school then when to college to do music tech, programming recording etc, went on to do a HND in music production at ACM Guildford, loved every minute but I was just doing it to keep doing things I enjoyed rather than with a view to working within music...

Got a few crappy jobs then ended up doing some IT for an estate agents where part of my job was to produce local adverts for the paper once a week so I discovered photoshop, illustrator & indesign... started teaching myself in my freetime, got an evening job doing ads for thompson directories then eventually got an opportunity in a studio - been lucky to have had some excellent mentors!
 
I think I've just always had an interest. My grandma was extremely creative in all different kind of things and she influenced me alot when I was younger, from as far back as I remember she was always encouraging me with drawings and the likes. I remember making a christmas postcard at school one year and she framed it to put on her bedroom wall ha. Things like that to give me a slight confidence in this thing.

From there though, going into high school, I loved my art lessons but then became more aware of the graphics side of things. We had a project to re-design and print some menu's and business cards which really got me into it, starting something from scratch, going through the stages of taking the ideas I had in my head and playing around with them, to producing the work, it was satisfying seeing the finished piece (even if it was just a high school project!) I didn't have a clue what photoshop was until I started using forums when I was 15, a few people on these forums were making "sigs" which I thought were the bee's knee's, I was itching to make some myself so my step dad got me an oldish copy of photoshop, I would spend hours learning it and taught myself pretty much all I have learnt in the last 6 years.

Like someone else said, it kind of started off with me doing a few bits here and there for friends - web graphics, CD covers, flyers/posters etc.. Then I had a slight go at freelancing last year for a few DJ/Promoter friends and I really enjoyed it. Who wouldn't like to get paid for something they enjoy?

I actually dread the idea of never working in the design industry. I couldn't visualise myself spending the rest of my life stuck in a boring office job. I, like all of you I imagine, really enjoy spending time "creating" things and hope it's something I can really make a go of.

Think I kind of went off subject a tad, there! :rolleyes:
 
I was a fine art student, then my parents won't allow me to sell paintings for a living, so they and I come to an agreement (long fought battle) that I will major in graphic design in a business school.

I thought it was going to be hell, doing what I thought I did not like to do. But then as I was learning Typography, my professor showed the class this design (designed by god knows who) of a letter "F" that sort of tipped over onto a letter "a" and then a letter "l" and then sort of leaned on another "l".

It was that moment when I thought I want to do design forever.
 
Well I first became aware of Graphic Design when I was around 13/14 (I am now 20 and studying BA Graphic Design at the University of Salford.

When my Uncle was studying at Graphic Design at the University of Derby (Or he may have just graduated).
Anyway I was struck by his work and discovered that Graphic Designers are partly responsible for what we see on the shelves in supermarkets, shop and road signage, websites, logos etc..
I was completely done over by it all it was a life changing experience. So from then on I have always had a keen eye for design in all areas.
I was setting myself mini design briefs from an early age of 16, creating cigarette packaging, website templates, business cards all the usual corporate work.
I had worked with (Fuel Creative) last year whilst studying for my A Levels and was able to gain invaluable experience of the design business and its fundamental principles to prepare me for university.
During my time with Fuel Creative I was able to build a portfolio of live and non-live briefs that aided my interview with the university.
And now I am studying my first year at the University of Salford and really enjoying myself :D

Jamie
 
I always had an interest in anything visual but I can identify one singular piece of work that made up my decision to study design at university and see where it took me. Spiritualized's sleeve artwork for Ladies And Gentlemen We're Floating In Space.

To this day, Farrow's still one of my heroes, but it was just a fortunate set of circumstances that led me to do so much work for the music industry myself.
 
Despite how stupid I'm going to sound from this, it's got to be Myspace for me.

My friends always wanted custom pages, instead of a typical black background with boring text, so I set up a resource for them and designed them a few easily customisable layouts.

Now though, it's got to be the joy I get from feeling like I've accomplished something. May sound v small to the other users reading, but I created an e-commerce system for my friend's company and they received over 7000 in an hour!

I was chuffed!

Apart from the feeling of accomplishment, it's got to be my determination to make something look good. Most times I just struggle with it though. Always try to create something you guys can do and each time i seem to fail. in EPIC proportions.

Oh well. For the time being I'm improving and lovin' it!

Tim
: timmp.co.uk : freelance web and graphic designer in Birmingham
 
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