I design to bring my characters to life-On the topic of why I am a designer.

What I assumed my career would be at the age of 15

Backstory: From Writer to Artist

During my high school years, I was working day and night on improving my writing skills to become the best writer I can be. However, my writing skills declined when I decided to take up the pencil and begin sketching. Even though at the time my art skills were amateur at best, and I could not make a single career out of it without plunging down the black hole, I still had fun with it. And then South Tech came along, and it offered me a pamphlet. For the fun of it, my sixteen-year-old self flips through it for fun, and a phrase pops up to me: Graphic Design.

At the time, I naively assumed that graphic design was going to be a professional art class that will teach me anatomy and all the fun stuff of art. I was slightly wrong.

When I reached the class in my first few weeks of junior year, I learn the entire world of graphic design — the application of artistic imagination filtered into smart systems that communicate ideas and concepts to others. Though I was disappointed the class was not as fine arts, I soon began to find joy in the creation process. Yes, the thumbnail process is pain, and yes, staring at a desk and a piece of paper for hours can be draining for me, but I still weirdly enjoy it.

Still, graphic design is a passion that I like, not love. I can not express stories through a logo design, nor can I bring a character to life through a poster dedicated to a random company. However, that is fine with me, and I enjoy the transition from words to images as a visually enhanced person.

The visual appeal for design draws me into it like a moth to a lamp.

Why Do I Design?

As a kid from a family of scientists and poets, I fumble upon this question everyday because how can I explain to my scientific family that I find shapes and colors to be my world like some five year old adult.

I enjoy colors and shapes. I enjoy aesthetics and beauty. And most of all, I enjoy bring my own visions of these aesthetics, colors, and shapes to create my own beauty.

While I am not as much a fan as bringing other people’s visions to life, I will absolutely love it when I get the chance to bring out what I want to the world. A client asks me for an ad? I will spam every chance I get to add in as many objectheads as possible shamelessly simply because I think it is cool. Oh you need someone to design you a mascot? Here is Mr. Skeleton and Mr. Rosehead as jazz players duking it out, have fun figuring this one out!

Design is a beautiful process of turning pure chaotic gremlin imagination energy and filtered into an organized, visually nice gremlin imagination energy. And I can not see my life anywhere in the moment where I am not hunching over my tablet at 2:30 AM trying to redraw the same circle five times.

Currently I am working as a server for a retirement home as of September 2020, and let me say this: My current job makes me want to become a designer more than ever. I can not imagine a single moment of me behind white lab coats in white labs surrounded by silver lab equipment without thinking of the insanity I will crack into if I ever become one. Nor can I imagine a life of me running around at 5 PM during the heaviest traffic handing out attention to 16 people at once when I could be in my room drawing my rosehead knight fighting a literal conglomerate evil kingdom.

In short, I design because it is beautiful. I design because I enjoy the aesthetics of its beauty through the petals of the roses, and I even tolerate the pains of its thorns from design blocking in thumbnail process. I enjoy the process, and I can not see myself enjoy it anyless.

Thank you.