Graphic Design: How It Chose Me

It’s easy to write off design or any other subjects related to the arts as simple and undemanding, but it’s just as challenging and gruelling as any other studies. Design is technical, deep, and has just as likely to make you pull your hair out. This is my personal experience with how I discovered design and the journey to making it my passion.

In high school, I always had it in the back of my mind that I had a calling to study film production. I made a number of short films with my peers (granted they weren’t very good and save your soul by not googling them), and I enjoyed the process very much. I instead chose to take A Levels when the time came, because I was afraid to chase my dreams, and the decision was a terrible one. I transitioned from a straight A’s student to straight D’s, needless to say the time there was a disappointing one.

Fast forward to 2013, and I was deciding what my next steps for uni were going to be. At this point I was feeling so lost, getting bad results really hurt my ego and morale. In the spur of the moment, I applied to the Psychology degree programme in Inti University but was rejected because of my A Level results. Taking it as a sign that it was time to try something different (or at least closer to my dreams), I enrolled for a Communications degree course in Sunway University and finally got accepted.

Among all the subjects in my first year, one stood out above the rest: Graphic Communication. I forced myself to learn Illustrator and refresh my Photoshop skills, way more that what felt was being thought in class. The process of design, the trill of creating something from nothing, being able to communicate messages to people just by them looking at my work was addictive on it’s own. I felt like I found a new superpower, a new tool that I could use to change my world.

While in my first year, I also had the chance to revisit video production, my old flame. I still enjoyed it very much, working in a crew of friends and presenting that final product. But something felt different, because I found something that excited me more. I chose Advertising Design as my major for the rest of my degree course, and I never looked back.

The subjects that came after were much more difficult, and the design process for assignments were becoming more complex. I did a lot of extra reading, educating myself on design principles and styles. Most classes lacked the content and direction needed for me to become a good designer by my own standards, and I had to get ahead of the crowd. I had my fair share of frustrations and failures, but in my heart I knew it would all be worth the obstacles I faced. After graduating with much better grades than A Levels, I knew that this was the passion I was looking for.

I’m gonna tell you right now, this article isn’t really about graphic design. It’s about how I found something I love doing, how it’s been my anchor, and how it’s become more than just a career. The passion that finds you could be music, art, dance, business, cooking, but the steps are the same. You might be in the position right now where you’re feeling lost and off-track like I was after A Levels, pining after what I though would make me happier. In the confusion, what I was looking for all along found me instead.

Take risks, move forward, keep looking, and don’t be afraid of the new. Your passion will find you.

 

If you enjoyed reading this article or any of my other works, please do follow this blog on WordPress, follow me on the social medias, and sharing this post with your friends. I’m an independent writer, so I appreciate the help getting the word out there!

Buying New Gear — Should You?

One of the questions that constantly comes up in every creative’s mind is this: “Is it time to upgrade?” Being in this profession, it’s no secret that the equipment and gear we use to produce our work costs a pretty penny.

As a designer, I’m always drooling over the latest Macbook Pros from Apple because I’m invested with my workflow on MacOS (and because they look damn good). For my cousin who’s a photographer and videographer, he’s constantly on the lookout for things like new lenses and camera bags for his work. If you’re a digital artist, the new top spec XP-Pen tablet with a stylus that provides 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity is sure to catch your eye. But how do we determine if these beautiful machines are worth your hard-earned money?

I have a Macbook Air that I’ve held on to since my days in university. Back then, I bought it for it’s light weight and long battery life, which meant I could work on assignments late into the night while out at some cafe without needing to plug in for hours. But now I find the demands of my client work is starting to take a toll on its processing power, screen resolution and colour accuracy, in addition to the small 128GB storage capacity. It freezes when handling heavy files and slows down when I am tending to multiple applications.

As a result, I have been looking up reviews for the new Macbook Pros with a strong intent to buy one to replace it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that my Macbook Air’s shortcomings were not so dire after all. Even though those struggles with it are real, I decided to hold off on buying a new computer  because I couldn’t say with certainty that it was indeed drastically impacting my work quality and efficiency. Always ask yourself how much of an inconvenience your current hardware is to you and how much of an improvement the new gadget you want is over it. Remember, keeping costs low is a priority over that new shiny Macbook you want so much.

That being said, an important part of the creative process is feeling good about the journey as well as the end result. Dredging on with tools that you’re unhappy with just for the sake of keeping costs down is going to cost you in terms of your satisfaction with your work. I recently purchased a Canon M50 mirrorless camera to replace my Nikon D5300 DSLR that I use for my work, and I bought it because I felt like I would really enjoy using it and be satisfied with the pictures/footage it takes. I didn’t reach for a more expensive camera loaded full of advanced features because money was an issue for me, but the M50 wasn’t cheap either. It was how it made me feel about using it. When you feel good during the process, you’ll feel proud in the output, and finally you’ll feel confident presenting your work to the client. Never disregard your need to feel fulfilled in what you do.

So I’ll leave you with this: The trick when deciding to upgrade your tools is to find a balance between practicality and delight. Don’t go for something out of your budget  just because you crave it, and at the same time don’t hold on to something that makes you miserable with it.

 

If you enjoyed reading this article or any of my other works, please do follow this blog on WordPress, follow me on the social medias, and sharing this post with your friends. I’m an independent writer, so I appreciate the help getting the word out there!

4 Tips For Your First Job In Design

When I started my first job on 1 December 2016, I didn’t know what to expect. I had just finished my final semester a couple of months back. Even with the experience of designing for the some club events in Sunway University for over 2 years, and freelancing with my internship company throughout the whole of 2016, I was still freaked out at the prospect of working in an official capacity at an advertising agency. So from my personal experience, here are 4 things to keep in mind when you land your first job as a creative person.

1. Learn Fast

Picking up new skills and habits is a conscious thing. Going into a new environment, there are bound to be a large number of things you have to learn, and some you may find tedious. I had to learn how my colleagues managed files, I learned how their workflow in the studio was practiced, and of course, I learned what they considered to be “good design”. Ask as many questions as you can about the job and remember those answers. Pay attention to what your art director and your fellow designers are doing on the job. Familiarize yourself with any technologies being used for the work. Do these, and you’ll be running like a well oiled machine in no time.

2. Find Out Your Dislikes

With every job comes frustration. I remember when I was at my first full-time job, I didn’t like the way the briefs were handled. In fact, for a majority of the time the brief was just me receiving a sketch and being required to follow as closely as possible. Maybe it was the culture, maybe it was my boss didn’t trust me enough. But knowing what you find as bad may lead you to choosing or implementing a better system in the future. So now with my own work, I try to give my design partners the most thorough brief I can while also giving them the freedom to interpret the brief on their  own with little guidance.

3. Interact As Much As Possible

One thing I regret after leaving my day job is that I never really took the time to interact with my colleagues and boss more. I mean I did hang out with people in the studio and I spoke casually with my boss from time to time, but steering the conversation from casual to constructive conversation was hard. Always find ways to ask questions like “Is there a better way to streamline my creative process?” or “For you, how would you go about visualizing this artwork?”, because there’s always something to be learned from others. And in time, it might be people you manage in the future asking you the questions, so it’s best you ask them now.

4. Calm Your Anger

I can recall the times where a client or my boss would ask me to change something over and over and over again, and I could feel something in me flare up. I would just feel that anger throughout the work that I would be doing, and that often times affected my designs. Whatever it is, don’t let your anger get the better of you. In the time that I’ve been personally working with clients directly, I’ve come to understand that the job is the job for everybody, and there are things that are out of our control. Clients and bosses have fires they have to put out too, and so they’re not always trying to purposefully give you a hard time. And with that in mind, you save yourself having to go through despising them and being miserable when you’re supposedly doing something you’re passionate about.

 

These tips have almost nothing to do with design, but what matters most is how you approach your work. No matter how skilled you are, good design is still subjective and human beings have different opinions. The difference is you recognize your potential and are willing to do what it takes to make a great start to your journey in design.

 

If you enjoyed reading this article or any of my other works, please do follow this blog on WordPress, follow me on the social medias, and sharing this post with your friends. I’m an independent writer, so I appreciate the help getting the word out there!

Video: Interview On Freelancing and Graphic Design w/ Samuel Goh

Last Friday, I shot a small interview with my cousin Samuel while he asked me questions regarding young career as a graphic designer and the motivations behind why I decided to go freelance.

It was a really candid interview, and I spoke straight off the top of my head and from my heart. Didn’t know everything I said was this lengthy (man, I can really talk sometimes!) but I hope you enjoy it.

If you like this sort of stuff and content, you should follow him on his page Samguw to get your updates for more!

 

My Journey From Full-Timer To Freelancer

Graduating at the age of 23 with a Bachelor’s Of Arts in Communication and a major in Advertising Design led me to the sensible decision of landing a job as a graphic designer in a small advertising agency on 1 Dec 2016. There, I did the usual: designing a bunch of advertising artworks based around the needs of clients. I did get some exposure dealing directly with some of the client reps, and some “out of the job description” work like motion graphics and photography, non of which were particularly interesting to me.

There I was, going through the motions day to day like the lifeless drone I feared I would be. New job would come in, I’d return to my iMac to look at Pinterest coming up with design concepts. After coming up with a direction that would fit “enough”, my boss would give his feedback and I’d follow exactly because it’s what the client would want. After the client approves, I’d cough up a few more designs for other formats like billboards or flyers, send it to the printer, and the whole cycle would repeat itself again for the umpteenth time.

I started to despise the work I was doing, not necessarily because it was routine, but because I couldn’t really pour myself into what I was doing. I was producing all these creations for other people, like I was a slave to the work.

Seeing my colleagues go off one by one to chase their own passions, I finally made the decision to hand in that letter in April of 2018 and waited 2 months before I was finally free. The feeling? Absolutely amazing.

 

The Life Of A Freelancer

The first thing I did was to sign up for a front-end web development course at the NEXT Academy. I went through the proper process of learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript and now, I can code basic static websites with little supervision (though I’m still a long way off from being an actual developer). Met a lot of new people there from places like New Zealand and Russia, and got to show them around and have an exchange of culture when before this, I had no exposure to anyone else besides the people I saw every day at the office. I learnt to solve problems on my own, to persevere when I felt like giving up, and how to collaborate and work well with others. Some of my classmates were also entrepreneurs and owners of startups, and they didn’t look much older than me. It made me look into my own future, at where I would be in 5 or 10 years down the road, and it inspired me to strive for better.

I also resumed my freelance graphic design services which I had been doing prior to my 1st full-time job. Freelance gives me a chance to manage my clients personally and also work on the designs at the same time. Working on my own, I have more control over my output and also who I work for. I recently had to cut away a client because he was just simply being impossible, but I could do that because I work on my own dime. And it felt REALY good being able to do that. I’m able to start building a portfolio I’m proud of instead of the “same old same old” work I was doing before.

Credits: Samuel Goh

Now, I even have the time to be available for other independent projects I had no time or was too exhausted to be involved with. I got to help out my friend Yohann and his crew in the production of his upcoming short film, I’m putting together a plan to be a content creator on YouTube, and even this blog is a result of my decision to quit my full-time job.

 

Of course, freelance isn’t without it’s challenges. You never know where your next pay cheque is coming from, whether you will be able to find new clients, or whether your “passion projects” would lead to anything meaningful. But having this time to do anything I’d like is like a breath of fresh air, like finding what give you the feeling of being alive all over again. Go ahead and peg me as millennial, but in the past 2 months I’ve gotten my energy back, met a group of new and interesting people, worked on things that make me proud, handled my own business, and learnt a new language that I can use to create new things, all on my own dime.

Sometimes, it’s good to know what we can achieve on our own to reclaim some of our confidence lost working full-time. I believe that all we all are capable of pulling ourselves out of the misery we’ve grown so comfortable with and go to do what truly makes us excited about life again.

Will I ever go back to a 9-6 job? Maybe. But for now, imma enjoy these things I’m making.

 

If you enjoyed reading this article or any of my other works, please do follow this blog on WordPress, follow me on the social medias, and sharing this post with your friends. I’m an independent writer, so I appreciate the help getting the word out there!

I’m Starting Fresh

Hey there. It’s been some years since I’ve written in a blog.

I did it because it helped me to analyse and pick out the parts of my life that I wanted to understand. I was never sure if friends or family or other people read what I wrote, or whether if meant anything to them when they did. I helped me have a place to vent, and it helped me be me my own way. No publishers, no gatekeepers, no editors to go through. Just me.

I’m 25 and starting to feel the world expanding around me, as well as realising how small I am compared to it. And since that’s a thing, I have so many new things I would like to write about. Since then I’ve graduated from university, gotten a job as a full-time graphic designer then quit, and I’ve also learned just a ton of things about life.

I want to write about what gets me. I want to write about things I’m passionate about, things I create and invent in my mind, things that get me excited & also bug me. So I guess this blog is going to be a whole mess of things, but it’ll be pure me.

My hope is that you’ll get something out of my writing too, maybe even have a discussion with me at some point. I’m just glad I got off my lazy ass and made this post.

I’m starting fresh.