Over the summer my goal was to make as much money as possible. I took on an extended freelance contract as well as some small side jobs to build my cash reserves for the school year so I could avoid working and focus on my education. This effort along with the blessing of a scholarship from the Art Director’s Club has afforded me to live the past four months of my life without being driven by any sort of economic goal.
For the past four months I haven’t been saving for anything, I haven’t been planning for anything and I haven’t been worried about what I have or don’t have, what I can or can’t afford, and it’s been an incredibly surreal experience. I’m in no way in a position where I can keep this up for an extended period of time, and part of the reason I’ve been able to do this is because I live rather modestly, but it’s been interesting to look at how this has affected me emotionally and to see what drives me.
For the past week or so I’ve been “down in the dumps” as it were and after thinking about why I realized it was directly tied to what I feel in my output this semester. I realized that what truly makes me happy, what drives me, is making work that I’m stimulated by and proud of. This seemed semi obvious to me at one point in my life, when I was being, I thought, overpaid for the services I was providing, but this different way of living these past few months has really outlined that for me. My priority is output, and to be honest that frightens me, because I’m unsure how that driving force will help or hinder me when working in the American business culture. Is there a place for this way of life in the American design industry?
I’ll find out I suppose.
Micah, this past year has been an interesting one in my development as a designer, in that I’ve submerged myself deeper into the theories and possibilities of design than I knew I was capable of discovering. Even so I’ve barely scratched the surface of it all, but it’s lead me to questions of the validity/worth of designing for the consumer market, and subsequently to questions of what the most important design work of the 21st century will actually be.
I have to tell you I check your blog regularly, and get excited to follow what you’re learning at RISD. While I think I’ll always see you as surpassing me in design ability, I also see you as a peer and to be truthful the only person from my youth in Washington that I still relate to on any kind of exciting level.
I’m excited to see where you go from here, and where I go from here, and how our explorations of design intersect.
P.S. I’m not dieing or anything. I’m finishing an art history paper tonight, thus the lengthy prose and sentimentality.
Bill, thank you for this reply. I’ve been meaning to write a more lengthy response and I can only assure you that it’s on its way. But in the mean time thank you for reading and sharing your insights.