At It’s Nice That, we often talk about the pressures of keeping up with the demands of in-house creative workloads, but we speak less about the pressures of self-initiated creative growth. Here, Tabitha Swanson unpacks the obligations designers face as they hustle to improve their practices and secure work.
Through creating, we create ourselves. It’s a quote I heard recently that I can’t stop repeating. As creatives, we’ve all chosen to create on a daily basis. What I’ve always loved about design is that it feels like creative problem-solving – like a puzzle that can be assembled in multiple ways, and that each of us are uniquely placed to solve. Recently, having the time and space to sit with that creative puzzle has started to feel like a luxury, not a given.
I’ve been working as a creative for a long time and my journey has seen many eras. I started studying design in 2009, and my education in design was a moderate balance between old-school techniques (think Mad Men-era design approaches) and digital. I remember going on special excursions to smell paper with my friends and getting nerdy about paper weights, printing techniques and finishes. We learned how to bind our own books and mount artwork on cardstock backing for our IRL portfolio. This feels like so long ago now. I’ve always been curious, and as the world of design has shifted through many phases, I’ve adapted along with it. I’ve worked in UX/UI, 3D, AR, VR and now I’m also working with AI. I’ve really enjoyed continuing to grow, but lately, it’s felt like things have been moving faster and faster.