bcraft

Ok. Today's post is a nagging reality for all (youngish) designers.

I'm a graphic designer. I get paid to design. I have been trained to do this. While I am certainly not the best designer in the world, please trust me when I tell you that I am a professional.

As a designer, I am constantly overwhelmed by how little respect I am given for my skills. In the same breath, someone will praise a publication I've designed, then ask if there's a community ed class that will teach them how to do the same thing. Ok. Here it is folks. I went to school for 4 years and have been working as a designer for 5 years. In my sweetest, trying-not-to-show-my-offense-to-the-question voice, the answer is: No. There isn't a two-hour class that will teach you all that I know. I don't know everything there is to know, but I am 100 percent confident that I know more than will fit in a $60, two-hour how-to class. Please, stop asking.

I am thrilled that there is interest in design and that joe-shmoe likes the work I have done, but why are they so anxious to replace me? I don't say to the nurse, "Hey, that's cool that you can give shots, is there a class I can take to learn how to do that so I don't have to pay you to do it?" I don't ask our banker, "huh, that seems really easy, can I take a class and write my own mortgage?" No. They are professionals and I respect that they are more capable than I at their craft. Let's move on.