To become a graphicdesigner, one usually must attend a prestigious school or simply be wellequipped and prepared. However, this is the least thing designers have incommon. It is no surprise that the more you educate and prepare yourself, themore knowledge you can gain. However, we can ask ourselves, should graphicdesigners have a career focused on a single skill, or should we focus on havingmultiple?
Why do we studygraphic design?
Among all theprofessional careers that you can follow, design is one of those that isconstantly updated since it can still be considered a relatively newprofession. It began at the end of the 19th century and its evolution hasallowed artists to experiment with different techniques and design processes.This gave rise to what we know today as today's modern design.
The desire to standout, to express ourselves as artists, or simply as a way to express our deepestemotions through artistic expression, has led us to decide to head into this,the world of design.
We went from paintingstones to printing with stencils, and so in a not very short period we finallymanaged to dedicate ourselves completely to digital work. Throughout all theseyears, the concept itself has been reinvented more than a dozen times, and itis possible that artists and professionals will once again encounter the samedilemma that may even lead them to take a break in their professional career.It is about whether or not a graphic designer should acquire knowledge aboutmany topics in his career (T-Shaped Skills), or focus solely on just one.
Definitive artist or"all-rounder" in the profession.
If you are born witha gift, whatever it may be, you should throw yourself into the professionwithout hesitation. Once you have identified your gift, you should try toexploit it, for example by capturing your art through works that can bedisplayed or sold quickly. Although this may not always be the case, takinginto account that we live in a world in which we all want to stand out and,therefore, there is a lot of untapped talent and likewise a lot of exploitedtalent.
Another aspect thatmust be taken into account in this field, as in many others, is excess work andoverexploitation of talent by companies. Not all workspaces have to require youto go the extra mile, put on your shirt, or work towards collectiveproductivity. So you must know how to identify when this happens and take it asa clear Red Flag when a change in your work environment or personal growth isessential.
my experience
During my journey asa graphic designer, I had the opportunity to learn and teach an infinite numberof skills, from managing an application to solving situations in real time, aswell as operating machines that allow us to deliver a job or product. Duringall this time, advances have been accompanied by learning from both sides and,above all, the adaptability that should always be characteristic of a graphicdesigner, always growing, always advancing.
Finally, being in aworld that advances in favor of technology, we must evolve with it and learnmore every day. We must prevail at the forefront, extend our hands towards whatwe once thought was impossible and use technology to our advantage, of coursealways saying, Hello, how are you? - We don't want the machines to become toxicon Judgment Day.
Learn frominnovation, don't swim against it
It is not surprisingthat every day we are inundated with more and more applications, or platforms.At first glance, it may seem intimidating and it may seem that they willeventually replace humans with advances such as artificial intelligence,rendering and 3D printing. It is also not a secret to anyone that artists anddesigners can feel threatened and even abandoned by these new technologies,since these machines claim to be capable of not only doing our job, but doingit even better than us.
We as professionals,empirical or street artists, are trained to innovate alongside them, learn howto work and apply it to our works; which can only lead to one thing: survival.
Should we focus onlearning and improving a single skill, or should we learn more than we shouldin order to offer a wide range of services and products? From my experience,the designer should make the decision, and it is only up to him. You can learnalong with new technologies, expand your portfolio and experiment with newtechniques, increase the level of knowledge you store on your hard drive (yes,your brain) and nobody can tell you how much information you should include init. This is something we must take into account to work in a company, or indaily life itself. After all, you may never know when you will need thatacquired knowledge you have stored in the long run.
