One of our amazing Colosoul members, Leeanne, has recently changed her role at Colosoul. Read about her experience so far and what she has planned for the future!
What
were you doing at Colosoul before?
I started out at Colosoul as an event
assistant and then worked my way to being the co-ordinator of Foxfeet, which is
the fashion agency run under Colosoul to support emerging fashion designers.
What are you doing now?
How did you know you wanted to be a graphic designer? Is it something you’ve always been interested in?
I never thought about being a graphic
designer, but I always knew that I would go down a creative career pathway.
When I started uni at Curtin I did one year of the Design course, before
transferring to Interior Architecture, which I graduated from with honours. In
the Design course we were taught how to use each of the main design programs,
but I couldn’t pick up on it as fast as the others and this left me unmotivated
and discouraged. I only used the programs again at a very basic level
throughout my 4 years of Interior Architecture and relied on my traditional
hand drawing skills. It was only when I started volunteering at Colosoul that I
started to teach myself how to use the programs by watching youtube videos. I
took my hand drawing skills to the next level by digitalising it. I picked up
on things much quicker, and I became very determined to better myself and get
my skills up to industry standards. Now when I think back to my first year of
uni I wonder why things did not seem as simple as they are for me now.
What are the biggest struggles you’ve experienced so far in the graphic design industry?
The creative industry is so competitive, in
saying so there are many other jobs that are just as competitive as well. When
you are in a creative field however, your work is always open to a thousand
opinions. You are pretty much putting yourself on display for the whole world
to see. We are taught that when you are looking at an art piece there is no
right or wrong. But then that certain style or execution may not appeal to
everyone’s tastes either. What makes a good design? What makes it bad? These
are all questions that I am still asking myself…it is quite the pickle. Its
hard to appeal to everyone, and the minority that you do appeal to may not give
you the result you are after. Finding work experience and a job in Perth is
extremely difficult. There are more designers than there are available job
positions. There are always designers who have much more experience than
myself, and who are more technically skilled, as I did not study graphic
design. Exposure is another big struggle. Getting your name/brand out there is
very difficult and this can take years or with one hit of pure luck.
What advice do you have for people wanting to enter the industry?
What are your plans for the future?
I will continue to work hard until I see my
brand being posted everywhere. See strangers walk by with my design on their
clothes, bags or phone case. Have others talking about me and seeing my name
appear in magazines. Looking far into the future I want to hopefully run my own
firm under my brand, firstly in Perth and then perhaps a few over east!
0 comments :
Post a Comment