Pro Practice: Career Goals

When considering graphic design, I can identify with many things, however, I'm particularly skilled with the formatting and structuring of information, and how the user absorbs and understands it. I thoroughly enjoy exploring todays digital media, and the different options available for reading content differently on different platforms. So when considering a possible career down the road, I'd love to find my place in that area of design. Coming to work and design something that will exist on not only the ipad, but the iphone, or a website, in physical print, in the environment, and maybe even for platforms that aren't in existance yet. It creates a work environment with very few boundaries, and with so many different platforms, each day of work would be a different experience for me the designer. Loving your job is so much easier with a bit of variety.

Location is a bit more focused however. I've been up in the midwest in Kansas City for nearly 4 years now with the Kansas City Art Institute. Don't get me wrong, it's a great city. But like many students I can get a bit homesick, and it's hard to have that distance between family and friends. So I'll be moving back down to northwest Arkansas, which isn't your average suburban town, but a thriving and quickly growing area of design possibilities. Particularly with the inclusion of the new Crystal Bridges museum of Art, my hometown and the surrounding area has seen a huge increase in tourism and new business.

On that note of family, I guess you could consider that a set of guidelines for myself. I love design, and consider it a major part of my life, but I do see my career in design as a supplement. It's there to get me and my family through hard times, and at least until I'm ready to move out into the world, possibly overseas for some new experiences later in life, I have no problem working in a small new firm that's still trying to get on it's feet. There's something about that too. Something about being part of something new and becoming well established as opposed to joining a pre-established group. In regards to firms that I've already looked into, I'm looking at the following:

Saatchi & Saatchi

doc4

archetype