Dear Self-taught Designer — Finding your foot.
One of the facts very few people remember about me is that I’m self-taught. Everything I know about design was self-learned from a shit ton of books, videos, podcasts; you know what I mean. Are you a self-taught designer, too? Here are some things I’ve learned about us over the years.
- The client doesn’t care whether or not you have a design certification.
I used to be very worried about this in the early days. I’d be like gosh, how will I land roles or get gigs and all that. And this is because conventionally, we’re taught that we need certificates and traditional education to get jobs. So I worried about that. But out here, I realized that the design industry is a result-driven industry. It doesn’t matter whether you’re self-taught or you went to the Royal College of Arts. What really matters here is the skills you have and, as such, the deal breaker is your portfolio. So become very skilled, and build a badass portfolio; even if you don’t have certifications, you can still find yourself a spot.
2. You need to learn how to talk about your work.
One downside to being a self-taught designer is that we rarely learn how to talk about our work. We’re so engrossed in learning how to make badass, incredible-looking stuff that we forget that we also need to communicate our work. We need to explain our thinking, analytics, and process to clients or employers. We lose out on the design speak and extensively; the business speak too. We can’t clearly communicate with clients; we can’t even effectively communicate with other designers globally using the right terms. That’s one thing every self-taught designer should be wary of. Learn the speak, my friend. Take some time out and learn how to talk like a designer. Douglas Davis’ book “Creative Strategy and The Business of Design” is a good start.
3. Build a strong work ethic.
I don’t have a lot to say about this one. It’s quite concise and short. You need to build the same soft skills and values that make anybody in any industry a professional. Discipline, focus, hard work, consistency, quality work, all of that. Build them. Make them second nature.
If you get all these right, I believe it evens out the playing field between you and every other designer. It doesn’t matter whether you went to design school or not. What matters is what you can and the creativity in your heart.
I’m rooting for you from the bottom of my heart.
Until soon, The Crazy Badass out.
