Life as a designer – Why design is not just a job, but a life choice

Oct 2015
3 mins

The Fiasco Design team is made up of illustrators, designers and developers, but what brings us all together is a passion to create. We do this everyday, all year round. And believe it or not, none of us think of this as work.

As a ‘designer’ I live to be creative. But that doesn’t mean that my job is designing, not at all. In actual fact, it’s my whole life. Here, I chat about life as a designer…

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

Confucius

How people perceive their job.

There is a theory that most people view their job in one of three ways:

A Job: People with a “job” see work as a chore and their pay check as the reward. They work because they have to and constantly look forward to the time they can spend away from their job.
A Career: People with a career work not only out of necessity, but also to advance and succeed. They are invested in their work and want to do well.
A Calling: People with a calling view work as an end in itself. Their work is fulfilling not because of external rewards but because they feel it contributes to the greater good; draws on their personal strengths, and gives them meaning and purpose.

"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without."

Cecil B. DeMille

Happiness as an advantage

Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage writes that “positive emotions flood our brains with dopamine and serotonin”. These chemicals not only make us feel good, but can actually dial up the learning centers of our brains. So, not only can being creative and doing what you love make you happy, but your happiness can make you learn faster and remember more.

The Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Having the feeling that what you do as a job is truly part of your life and what you are meant to be doing is amazing, there’s nothing better than knowing that what you do makes you happy. It’s that happiness that makes getting up in the morning and going to work easy, it lets you see the world differently, and your mindset to your job changes.

Feeling that your job isn’t really a job at all means you can relax and be more playful and more creative, ergo, better at your work. I see this as the self fulfilling prophecy. Being happy makes you more creative, your job makes you happy. Therefore you’re more creative at your job, because of your job!

In the most simple and straightforward way I can think of, in order to be happy, you need to do what you love and do it everyday.

Why not drop us a line on twitter about how you see your life and job within the creative industry. We’d love to hear what you think.