Monday, February 28, 2011

Today I am a designer

Today I am officially a graphic designer, my new work email signature says so! Its so exciting. I am working one day a week, designing beautiful letter press wedding invites and stationary with one of the loveliest ladies I know. I cant wait to see one of my designs printed on wonderful cotton paper with all its beautiful impressions.

Driving to the studio this morning, there was no worry or concern, no feeling of being weighted down. When I thought about where I was going I actually had a smile on my face. It is such an amazing feeling to actually enjoy what I do. Here is a sample of the gorgeous creations made by my new boss.















Now I have to prepare for a possible one day a week internship at another private studio. There is the possibility of it becoming a paid part time job as well. Who would have thought I would be on the road to my career plan so quickly!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Thank you!

Lucky and I recently had our engagement party in a small country town in Victoria where my parents live. My parents had arranged a lamb and pork spit roast and mum and I spent a day making lovely desserts for everyone to enjoy. We had beautiful tissue paper pom poms, hand made by my mum, Lucky and I. I used them as inspiration when creating our thank you postcards.


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Decisions, decisions

There is a possibility I have somewhat jumped the gate in my planning. I made a daily plan without first thinking about what my long term goals are. What is it that I actually want to do. Its a pretty intimidating question. I mean how often do people actually stop and ask themselves "What do I want to do with my life?" The last time I remember something slightly like this was in high school, picking which subjects to study in year 11 and 12. Sitting with the year level coordinator and my mother discussing what I was capable of... All I knew at that time was I loved to paint and draw. So I studied Commerce and Management/Marketing. It can be hard not to get caught up in others' expectations of you, especially when your not sure what exactly it is that you want to do.

hmmm just had a craving for twisties...

So back to life planning. Life Planning is something my dear friend and bridesmaid to my wedding in July, let's call her Dante, is very good at. When we lived together we would have life planning sessions to figure out some goals for the near future. It always made me feel like I had direction. Which is what I need now. Currently I am stewing over two possible options. Do I want to work as a designer in an agency in the corporate world or do I want to freelance and potentially work from home? Decisions, Decisions...


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I like lists

I like lists. I like planning and ticking things off those lists. It helps me not to freak out and really who doesn't like that feeling of achievement when you can see exactly what you have done in a day. Ok so I may be a bit of a nerd but it helps be stay organised and focused. Thats not so bad is it?

Today I have folded and put away the washing, set up a space to use as my 'office' (basically I cleaned the dining table off and set up my laptop and sketch books), started researching potential agencies that I would like to work for, set up this blog (including creating a name style for it and uploading samples of my design work), registered as a volunteer for Shark Water, prepared dinner ready to cook when Lucky gets home from the gym and created a daily plan of what I will do each day to maintain a routine and keep me motivated. Here it is...











Yes I designed it in InDesign, mostly so I remember all the things I learnt last year. And yes I realise by now you are probably saying "wow this chick is definitely a nerd", well, yes, I guess I am, and really I don't mind being a nerd, especially a design nerd!

Tomorrow will be a bit of a test day to see if this plan is workable. I am using this week to make a plan of attack for, well, my life! Not just finding a new job but working out how I can achieve some of my life goals. Maybe I will create a page for them...

Day One

I quit my job.

I quit my job and today is the first day since leaving my secure government role that I actually feel like I don't have a job. My last day as Marketing Assistant was just over a week ago. Last week was spent visiting family in Victoria and hosting an engagement party at my parents house. Today my Fiance woke up and went to work while I guiltily slept in. When I got out of bed, about 8:30am, I looked around our empty 2 bedroom apartment and it finally sunk in... I quit my job.

It wasn't a decision I came to lightly. After all it was a secure job, in a field that I had studied in, clearing $1500 a fortnight with great flexible working hours and leave options. So why would I quit? Its a question I asked myself often, especially when listening to stories of other friends who earn less while doing more or not having a job since the floods. It made me feel selfish for wanting to quit, for wanting to voluntarily give up such a stable job. Maybe it is selfish.

I quit for a number of reasons, the largest being that I wanted to take a risk and follow my new found love for Graphic Design. Last year I graduated from Shillington College with a Certificate IV in Design. It was an amazing experience. It had been five years since studying Marketing and Commerce at uni and just to be in a learning environment again felt simply wonderful. I had been feeling numb at work, repeating the same steps each day, each week, each month, feeling like I wasn't ever actually achieving anything worthwhile. It was really scary to feel like I was loosing myself and feeling powerless to make a change. So after reading 'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch I finally took action and enrolled at Shillington College hoping that it would ignite my inner spark and make me feel like I was capable of something great again.

And that is exactly what it did. I remembered how much I love being creative and that there is the potential to make a living from this passion and talent. Growing up I was told by family and teachers that being creative wouldn't allow me to support myself financially. I should be a doctor, study physics and chemistry or be a business woman because I 'had the smarts' to do so. I hadn't really heard much about careers in graphic design at that stage, after all I did go to high school in a small country town (I mean small, the welcome signs says there are 2,300 residents). So I studied marketing and commerce at uni instead of art. I now plan on proving the 'use your smarts' people all wrong.

Let me say that I wouldn't be able to do what I am doing without the support of my fiance 'Lucky'. He has been my sounding board when I was deciding about quitting, helped me to work out if it was financially possible and supported me through the process. Most of all though, he believes in me. He believes in my ability and passion and makes me feel like I'm not crazy for wanting to follow this path.