The highs and lows of a designer: A comedy of pixels
Ah, the life of a designer, where creativity meets chaos, and every project is an emotional rollercoaster. Some days, you feel like a design god, turning briefs into branding gold. Other days, you’re questioning your life choices after a client asks you to ‘make it pop’ for the fifteenth time.
So, let’s take a light-hearted journey through the highs and lows of being a designer.
The highs: Moments of pure designer bliss
The perfect brief (unicorn sighting)
Every once in a blue moon, you get a client who knows what they want, communicates clearly, and trusts your expertise. They use words like ‘strategy’ and ‘user experience’ instead of ‘can you just Photoshop it?’ You shed a single tear of joy as you realise that, yes, this is why you got into design in the first place.
When inspiration strikes
That magical moment when you’re deep in the creative zone, and ideas flow effortlessly. The colours harmonise, the typography sings, and you sit back, admiring your work, feeling like the Michelangelo of Adobe Illustrator.
The client who actually pays on time
A rare and beautiful moment, like spotting a unicorn sipping a soy latte. A client who values your time and actually pays the invoice before you have to send six reminders and threaten to unleash your ‘stern email voice.’
The lows: Where dreams go to die
The ‘can you just’ requests
Ah yes, the dreaded phrase: ‘Can you just…’
‘Can you just make the logo bigger?’
‘Can you just change everything but keep it the same?’
‘Can you just copy what Apple did but make it different?’
Each request chips away at your soul until all that’s left is a husk that communicates in vector files.
The revision loop of doom
First draft: ‘We love it!’ Second draft: ‘Maybe tweak a few things.’ Third draft: ‘We’ve had some feedback from our neighbour’s dog walker’s cousin, and they have some thoughts.’ Draft 48: ‘We’ve decided to go in a different direction.’
Exposure and ‘fun’ projects
‘We don’t have a budget, but this project will give you amazing exposure!’ Translation: We want free work, and the only exposure you’ll get is to stress-induced insomnia.
When the client decides they’re a designer
‘So, I played around with it a bit, and I made some changes.’
You open the file. It’s a monstrosity. Comic Sans. Clashing colours. Drop shadows straight from 1998. A single tear escapes as you contemplate a career change.
The bottom line
Being a designer is a love-hate relationship. One minute, you’re a creative genius; the next, you’re trying to explain for the hundredth time why rainbow gradients should not be in a corporate logo.
But at the end of the day, despite the madness, there’s nothing quite like seeing your work out in the world, making an impact, preferably without the client’s ‘small tweaks.’
Now, back to adjusting that logo size…again.
Author: Lance Corrigan
Creative designer with a passion for visual communication and brand development, and a vision to make a positive impact on the world through design.
