Earlier today I was fondly recalling being a child and all the times that I sat with my cousin Helen, who is also a graphic designer, and watched her do her "art". I loved pencils, pens, glue..all of which she had ample supply of in her home studio. She's about 10 years older than me but when you're a kid, 10 years can seem like a million. She was the first person in this neck of the family to graduate from college, which I thought was super cool...even though a lot of people dismissed her degree because it was achieved from a school with the word "Design" in it's name. (I grew up in NJ, she lived in Queens, NY so with a little detective work you can probably figure out which school I'm talking about.) Helen had so many cool things around her at any time...lots of hot/cold press boards, Xactos, cool "target" stickers (registration marks in a box, as I later came to know them) The days in particular I was reflecting on today were the times where I would watch her do ad mock ups or spec stuff, either for her portfolio or as take home work from the ad agency she had just landed a job at. I thought her job was the most glamorous in the world.
Now, twentysomeodd (mumbled under breath) years later, I look back and say...glamorous is not really what I would call this line of work after having done it. It is rewarding work, don't get me wrong...but it can be tedious, frustrating, and sometimes downright annoying and at times, thankless. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel as though my phone never stops ringing, and deadlines stop for nothing and noone. I've gotten called on holidays, evenings...I even had one guy call me at 1:00am once asking if I would design him some business cards. OK, so he's in the Pacific time zone and I'm in the Eastern, so I forgave him, but I did charge him more. =) Anyway, I digress. I sometimes feel like a surgeon...constantly on call, constantly putting off personal things to better service my clients. Sure, "emergency" projects like that pay well most of the time. I make a very comfortable living and though I'm not rich or anything remotely close, I have a better living situation than a lot of people I know, and I'm very, very fortunate indeed. Sometimes you wonder...how much is it worth, sacrificing your time? But I look at it this way. If I can do one project in a few hours and the sum I'm paid equals or supercedes my monthly mortgage payment (which is over $1,000 currently) then...it's worth it. How well I'm doing financially is always gauged against how quickly I have made the mortgage money. If it's the 8th of the month and I'm sitting on more than half, then SCORE. It's gonna be a good month. (I use the mortgage as a gauge because in my good fortune, it is the only truly major bill over $500 that I pay in a month)
Sometimes, admittedly, the lack of sleep, constant difficult deadlines and the stress of "Can I realistically crop 1,000 pictures in a day, even for a huge sum of money???" can make me a very, very cranky person sometimes. When I find myself saying "Why oh WHY did I not listen to my father and be an architect? Or a freakin' English teacher, like I dreamed about for so many years???" then I know...it's time to take a break. Time for that 2nd (or 3rd) latte, and yes Starbucks is within biking distance of my home office. Another Red Bull? Sure. Looks like an all-nighter. Gee, that new Diet Pepsi Max looks interesting...I wonder how much caffeine is in it??
So all of this somewhat whiney diatribe begs the question: why do it? Well, it's simple. I love to create. Nothing, and I mean nothing beats the feeling of seeing your work out in the public domain and people saying...WOW! I still get those pangs of excitement when I get a phone call from someone who has their proof in hand and they love it. I feel like a rock star. I've had a lot of those days. Those are the days I think about when I get that one pain in the ass that I just can't make happy. Those are definite candidates for my fart in a bag program. :)
Speaking of rock stars...back to work. I have some clients to impress. (Hopefully!)
Friday, June 8, 2007
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