Sometimes I get the feeling (particularly as I try and explain what I do to people in a noisy, crowded club to drunken 20 something year olds, (or to some of my older relatives) that the graphic design industry on the surface seems shallow. I think I would be lying if I said it didn't concern me. Why do I get nervous or seem less of a professional by saying that I'm a graphic designer (don't even get me started trying to explain the term visual communication).
I really don't think any other related field has this sort of inferiority complex, such as fashion, industrial design and interior design. Each of these fields immediately conjure up instantly recognisable professions, however my vocation seems to have a vagueness about it.
I initially began my course as a non-current school leaver, whereby instead of being automatically accepted into uni through my marks, I had to go through an interview and present a portfolio. On the open day when I was sussing out the course, a great Typographer / Lecturer, Louise McWhinnie spoke about the interview process and her experience on having to sit and interview about 100 odd students. After a while of seeing unmotivated candidates, she began to ask the interviewees: What is the best piece of graphic design that they have seen? This question has stuck with me, as it pointed out that even then I couldn't answer that question. Even more frightening was that I was stuck on what the actual term "graphic design" even meant!
I guess it doesn't present an optimistic future for graphic design if even the students applying to study it don't even fully understand what it is... Or maybe we were just moody teenagers that just finished Art Express in high school...
Whenever I doubt my profession or start to feel that what I do is meaningless, I watch this gorgeous TED talk by Marian Bantjes, always an inspiration.
Marian's TED Talk
I really hope I can be as confident & eloquent as this great designer one day...
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