How I Manage Feelings of Professional Insignificance as a Designer
Hi friends, it has been a minute. I hope that you are all doing well and feeling grounded and centered this summer season. To be honest – I am not! 2020 has been a wild ride – I was just talking to my extended family the other day about how in February we thought the big storyline of the year would be my niece and nephew’s lice scare. Wrong.
The last four months of quarantine, plus George Floyd’s murder on May 25th and our community (I live in the Twin Cities) and country’s long-overdue awakening to systemic racism has been heavy, to say the least. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to be alive in this moment. Truly. What I do with that gratitude – how I serve others and advocate for a better and more just world – that will be the great challenge, honor, and privilege of my lifetime.
After George Floyd’s murder I immediately went into action overdrive – I was donating, posting, calling, writing, following, subscribing, registering – as fast as I could and as often as I could for about two weeks straight. I barely came up for air. I couldn’t sleep. I felt like I needed to share my perspective on everything — my “take” — but in hindsight I’m not sure that was the right thing to do. Moving forward, I am focused on amplifying Black voices and supporting organizations who are doing anti-racism work. They do not need a savior. They need support.
When I finally paused for a minute after those first two weeks, I realized that in that entire time I had not had one difficult conversation with my family or close friends. The past four weeks have been different. I am leaning into the people in my life whose opinions differ from my own. Having open, honest conversations. It’s not easy. In fact, it can be extremely difficult. But it’s some of the most important work that we can do.
At some point in the past few weeks I got an email from a young designer that included the line “I sometimes wonder if a career in design has any real meaning in the world.”
This is not the first time I have heard a designer say this – in fact I most frequently heard it from myself from ages 21–23 and occasionally find myself dwelling on it even now – 10 years into my design career. It takes guts to admit that you sometimes wonder if your job means anything. In this entrepreneurial climate with “hustle” culture continuing to be glorified on Instagram, I think that we generally get the message that our industry peers, in addition to having “such a long to do list” (insert eye roll here), love what they do, and have absolutely no doubts or nagging thoughts about their life and/or business.
This is a sensitive topic, one that I have wrestled with a lot in the past 10 years (ask my husband how many times I almost went back to grad school to become a teacher between 2010–2014), and I am happy to share a few thoughts on my personal journey with feelings of professional insignificance.
Be honest with yourself
So, here’s my take. First of all, design matters. Let’s get that out in the open. But I will fight with a fiery passion in defense of the fact that certain professions have an additional level of measurable impact that is indisputable. Surgeon. Teacher. Oncologist. EMT. Social Worker. I could go on and on. We all matter. That is not up for debate. Our worth is not determined by our jobs – period. But I also think that pretending that every single job has the same social impact is counterproductive.
I love design. It is my true calling and greatest passion. But there is no point in comparing my work as a designer to the work of a hospitalist – it is apples to oranges, and there is no denying that my career will never measure up in the “lives saved” category, so it’s an unfair standard to hold myself to every day.
The most important step for me was acknowledging that I made a conscious choice to pursue a specific career that I love and am passionate about. But because it will never measure up… there’s no point in measuring. After I was at peace with that, I could pivot to focusing on how to have the greatest impact possible.
Decide how you will use your superpowers
My first job out of college was working for a commercial stationery company. The culture was not really my vibe, and it didn’t take long before I realized that I wanted to find a job that was a little less “soul-crushing,” so I went to work as a designer for a nonprofit where I stayed for four years. While I generally don’t recommend running away from a job at the first sign of an issue, I do recommend considering a job change if you are truly unhappy or unfulfilled in your career or current place of employment. Even if a job change isn’t a possibility at this time, it makes sense that you want to use your design powers for good. Here are three ways to make the most of your specific situation and find peace at your job (or pursue a new job).
1) Look at your job as an opportunity to make a reliable income so that you can volunteer and engage with meaningful work in your time outside of work. One of the most interesting mindset shifts (to use a major buzzword) I have had in the past few years is realizing that more revenue = more opportunity for generosity both financially and in time spent volunteering. If you have a job that affords you a reliable salary and benefits, you have an opportunity to use your time outside of work to better the world in any way that you see fit. That is an enormous luxury and something that should be celebrated. Figure out what matters to you and find a way to incorporate it into your life outside of work. If your work life leaves you a bit empty, make sure your life outside of work is filling you up.
2) Work for a nonprofit or socially-conscious company. When my first job wasn’t filling my emotional cup (which, I will admit, is a very millennial thing to say), my inner Debbie Downer barked that DESIGN was the problem and that I would probably feel some degree of emptiness for the rest of my life. Then I set out to find a job that would prove that to be false. I recommend working for nonprofits to designers all the time. There is a common misconception that they don’t have any money – which is true for some organizations, just as it is for for-profit companies as well – but many do. Additionally, you may be willing to take a minor pay cut for work that deeply aligns with your personal values.
There are so many brands out there doing good work and with the rise of socially-conscious companies, many are as passionate about their activism and philanthropic arm as they are their primary revenue stream (which is typically product-based). Do some research, figure out what YOU are passionate about (for me it was kids, education, and having hope in the future of the world), and then start a spreadsheet of organizations/companies you would be interested in working for.
3) Donate design services to an organization that you align with. Design has immense power. You get to choose what you do with it. What organizations need your help? Is there a person or place who needs what you can provide right now? It’s amazing what a few hours of your time can do. Think about who you would like to help and how you can help them. Pro-bono work can have the same boundaries as client work – rounds of revisions, specific parameters (ex: I am working on logo concepts for a nonprofit golf organization in MN and offered to create logo concepts, but said that I would not be able to do any follow-up calls or meetings, and their designer could take what I created and either use it as a starting point or package it up as-is) – protect your time if you need to, but if you are feeling like your career doesn’t matter, I highly recommend asking yourself how you can MAKE it matter. Meaningful work takes work. Go out and make it happen.
do not downplay the work you do
I already touched on the fact that hey, none of us are surgeons here. So there’s no point getting down on yourself for not removing a ruptured appendix today. Instead, let’s focus on what we ARE doing and the impact that is has. Chances are at some point you have either a) personally downplayed the work that you do (“I just kinda make things pretty every day!”) or b) had someone else downplay what you do. It might have been a colleague or a client (“This is very simple, I could have done it myself but wanted you to. It won’t take you long.”) or a family member – but it boy, does it sting. And it sticks, too. These are tiny seeds that get planted that seem harmless at first – but after years of either saying these things to yourself, or hearing them from other people, it’s easy to start wondering if your career means anything at all. It does. Reframe the way you speak to yourself, and when you need to, stand up for yourself as well. Speak kindly and believe in what you do.
Here are some of the ways that I describe my work to myself:
I help my clients build revenue-driving businesses so they can find emotional fulfillment and financial success
I make my clients’ lives as easy as possible every single day by taking visual problems off of their plates
I help businesses move past the DIY phase and into the second chapter of their business’ journey
I help start-ups create instant credibility for consumers
I help non-profits raise money to grow their reach and impact across the country and globe
I create visual hierarchy so information can be easily understood
I design with all end-users in mind
I am an open book, willing to share what I have learned with other designers at any time
I run a client-centered business that exists to serve others
I hope that this has been even a little bit helpful – it’s an act of vulnerability to admit that you have ever wondered if your job matters, so please know that there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you have found yourself in that position before. You have inherent worth and meaning in the world (independent from your work), but it’s okay to lean into wanting your life to have as much of an impact as possible. Find organizations you love. Serve your clients with love and gratitude. Harness those design superpowers. Now – let’s go make the world a better place.