Today Natalie Zanecchia came to our class to talk about their experiences as a designer from working in a design firm then moving on to freelancing. She was very honest about her experiences and what I found the most surprising was her own perspective on her work. In most cases through other professionals I’ve met, there is this confidence and this self assuredness that speaks volumes about their own ability to me in the short conversations we shared. I think that having this designer who seems to be a professional and a talented environmental graphic designer say that she does not feel that she is the best designer was shocking to me. She also spoke about how she felt that it would be fine if she stepped away from actually designing and going over to the more business oriented side of things. This sentiment resonated with me as I too feel that there are others out there who can design better than me even in my early stages. I would also be interested in stepping over to a more administrative position to be in the same design field but maybe not as involved as a designer in lieu of a more mundane work schedule that doesn’t require me to be creative every day. Prior to this presentation she gave us, I was unaware that graphic design firms and studios were the ones hiring out free lancers. I was always under the impression that somehow designers just managed to find random clients that were not themselves in the design world, but having larger collectives give out freelance work makes a lot more sense in the greater designer ecosystem that everyone inhabits. This talk that she gave me a lot to think about in terms of my own decision-making process. Currently I have been more concerned with. Just getting a design job and just trying to get my foot into the door. I think that this gave me the opportunity to focus my thoughts on what happens after I have gotten a design job and how I fit in on the corporate ladder and my own upwards mobility. I can now foolishly admit that I kind of just thought I’d stay at a design job as long as I can and not take into account if they will promote me and other situations like lay offs and the design collective just being dissolved due to other events in the outside world. She spoke about when was a good time to leave in response to dissatisfaction with position in a company and time spent there as a worker. How we should leave and try to pursue other opportunities if they do not seem inclined to offer you a higher position even after time spent with the company is more than reasonable to offer a higher position and pay grade. While environmental graphic design does seem interesting and is a field that I may look into in the future, it currently does not appeal to me in the slightest.
