It’s been years since I left my job as a web/graphic designer, but honestly, I still love applying what I learned about design (starting from college) in my current job and my daily life.
My Current Job
In my current job as an administrative assistant for our family business, I’m pretty meticulous about our design materials. Not long after I settled in, I started improving the materials, notably our proposals and worksheets. Also, our company has a set of brand guidelines that is simple enough for everyone to use (e.g., one clean sans-serif font for everything, a set of accent colors to be used sparingly so the materials will not look too corporate).
I’ve done these things to make our materials look better and more modern, and this is also my way of giving back to my parents (who are also my bosses), who have worked really hard so I could go to an excellent college where I can learn more about graphic design.
Sidebar: As much as I love to share at least one design material here, I’m not going to. Not yet. I will share a simple case study of my design contributions for my family business soon.
Daily Life
Oh, man… since I know plenty about design, it even affected my day-to-day decisions.
Fashion Sense
When I was young, I always wanted to be stylish. During high school, I tried to be like, but I ended up failing. Terribly. (Good God, I don’t want to explain further.)
But since learning design-related things like color theory and harmony (while also experimenting with those colors), it has changed how I wear my clothes. For example, while I love wearing a white top, dark pants, and shoes, sometimes I feel courageous enough to wear a salmon pink denim jacket, but I want to do it right. So, I decided to pair that with a yellowish- orange buttoned shirt, blue jeans, and brown Chelsea boots. Yeah, that sounds bold, but I think it looks aesthetic, too.
Sidebar: I need to add a photo of that look (with the salmon pink denim jacket) here soon.
Visual Design Commentary
Learning about graphic design also changed how I look at other visual designs.
For example, one of my favorite Foo Fighters album covers is from Sonic Highways (illustrated by the incredible Stephan Martiniere) because of its aged, massively detailed city theme with cool, retro colors, with the number 8/infinity loop as the recurring symbol around the cities. It looks properly mashed up, and it definitely stands out from their other album covers, even years after the release of the iconic band’s eighth studio album.
My Blogging Approach
I’d like to think I write like a designer, and I design like a writer.
In graphic design, simple works that pack a punch are truly memorable, and I’d like to think that’s how I approach my own works. As for how I blog and write, I like making simple, digestible entries, with the occasional, balanced detailing and figures of speech. Thankfully, my friends and some readers have told me they like that kind of writing.
Also, have you noticed that most of my posts on this blog have vibrant featured images? As much as I love writing entries like I do, I also want to make them visually inviting, so adding large featured images (and images inside the entry occasionally) seems like a good idea.
Summary
Years after I left my job as a graphic designer, what I learned during that time and in college left a lasting impression on me. With my knowledge, I improved an important aspect of my family’s company. It also changed my approach to daily things like my sense of style, how I explain why I like other visual designs, and even the way I blog and write.
This may sound like a meme, but after all these years, I can honestly say that, somehow, beneath my current clerical job, graphic design is (still) my passion.
Header image courtesy of Alexander Andrews.
Ian Pasicolan 