design for life?
Or, life of design?
You'd have to travel far and wide around this Earth to find a graphic designer (or maybe even any designer for that matter) that has never uttered the words, or words to a similar effect of, "I get paid to do something I love", but what I want to know is do they really mean it?
In my short but colourful career this thought has crossed my mind, (a potential employer even once asked me!) and it has been with me for quite a while now. Can design be just something that pays the bills like working in a factory, or driving a truck? We all, well most of us, strive for the big idea and that creative strike but could this just be on par with taking pride and doing the best job you can in whatever you undertake?
Design is a strange thing and, like many other things, is seen differently by different people.
Ben Terrett, of The Design Conspiracy, wrote a great piece on how he sees design and how it is part of his life: it's an extension, a seamless join between life and work. However you annually see articles on how much more money you could make by doing this, moving there and how people hate clients and how life would be amazing without their constant interference.
So which is it?
Design for life: Life of Design?
Is Designer a Job and Design a Lifestyle?
Is the Artist a Virgin and the Designer a Whore
or does Artist a Masturbate and the Designer Make Love?
I don't even pretend to have an answer or intend this 'musing' to weigh up either side. I'm not saying that design should be something that pays the bills or saying that it should be a career—I'm simply saying:
think about it.
Oh, and someone (Lionel) did.
Have your say at mytwopenneth@craigoldham.co.uk
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This musing originally appeared in the thunk© blog, and it is still there, however, due to certain comments that I've received regarding it, I felt compelled to graduate it to the school of the website.
So, if you've read the whole thing and feel overwhelmed with a strange sense of déja vu well it's probably because you've read the thing before and didn't realise. That or someone, somewhere has written something similar: but I doubt that, only I can come up with this tripe.
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