Growing as a GRAPHIC DESIGNER | Traits that are helpful

Summary

The speaker shares their journey of overcoming challenges and pushing themselves forward in their design career. They discuss personal traits that helped them grow, including the pursuit of new challenges and learning from mentors like Chris Do. Emphasizing the importance of saying 'yes' to opportunities, even when it's uncomfortable, they reflect on the value of constant self-improvement. Through experiences like working with top brands, networking, and public speaking, the speaker encourages others to embrace challenges, learn continuously, and follow their passions to achieve success.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Always push yourself to improve, even when it's unclear how to move forward.
• 💡 Working with big brands like Biser, OnePlus, and Adobe helped the speaker enhance their skills and grow as a designer.
• 🙃 Being an introvert doesn't stop you from networking and building connections, which are crucial in the design community.
• ⛰️ A key trait for success is always seeking new challenges and being willing to climb new 'mountains.'
• 🖥️ Learning design independently through online resources and mentors (like Chris Do from The Futur) helped bridge the gap in formal education.
• 🎯 Setting goals and milestones fuels progress; having specific objectives keeps the motivation to improve alive.
• 📚 Passion for a subject (like design) can turn failure in traditional academics into success in specialized fields.
• 🤔 Generalists can excel by transferring skills across different creative fields, aiding in roles like art direction.
• 🕰️ There’s never a perfect time to start—learn, create, and experience now rather than waiting for the 'right moment.'
• 👍 Saying yes to opportunities, even if uncomfortable or scary, often leads to personal growth and new experiences.

Q & A

What motivated the speaker to push themselves in their career?

The speaker was motivated by a desire to continuously improve, learn new things, and become a better designer. They always felt the need to challenge themselves and look for tools to climb new mountains in their career.

How did the speaker overcome their introverted nature to build a network in the design community?

The speaker pushed themselves to go outside of their comfort zone by socializing, attending events, and meeting people despite being naturally introverted. They recognized the importance of networking in their field and worked hard to build connections.

What was one of the biggest challenges the speaker faced early in their design career?

One of the biggest challenges the speaker faced was the lack of design resources and mentorship in their college. This motivated them to seek out online resources, such as YouTube channels like 'The Future,' to improve their design skills.

How did the speaker’s trait of being an 'overachiever' influence their approach to design?

The speaker's overachieving nature pushed them to go beyond limits and fully commit to achieving their goals. This trait helped them quickly advance in their career and led them to learn multiple fields like photography, illustration, and branding.

Why does the speaker believe being a generalist helped in their career?

The speaker believes being a generalist allowed them to develop a broad skill set, which became valuable when directing teams across various design disciplines. This versatility helped them succeed as an art director and creative director.

What lesson did the speaker learn about waiting for the 'right time' to pursue something?

The speaker learned that waiting for the 'right time' often leads to missed opportunities. They realized it's important to take action immediately rather than waiting, as there will never be a perfect time to pursue their goals.

What advice does the speaker give about saying 'yes' to opportunities?

The speaker advises saying 'yes' to opportunities even if they are uncomfortable or scary. By pushing past fear and discomfort, they found that many of the things they initially hesitated to do turned out to be valuable and enjoyable experiences.

How did saying 'yes' to public speaking change the speaker’s career?

Saying 'yes' to public speaking opportunities, such as working with 'The Future,' helped the speaker build confidence and led to a domino effect where they started doing more live sessions, events, and panel discussions. This expanded their reach and network.

What is the significance of 'finding traits' in one’s personal growth according to the speaker?

The speaker believes that identifying personal traits, such as being an overachiever or a natural learner, can help individuals understand what drives them. Recognizing these traits helps people set better goals and achieve personal and career growth.

What does the speaker mean by 'always looking for another mountain to climb'?

By 'always looking for another mountain to climb,' the speaker means constantly seeking new challenges and opportunities for growth. They believe in setting both small and large goals to continuously improve and develop new skills.

Outlines

00:00

💡 Overcoming Challenges and Pushing Yourself

In this paragraph, the speaker reflects on their career journey and the difficulty of pushing oneself forward without a clear direction. They emphasize the desire for self-improvement, both personally and professionally, through learning and working with major brands like Biser, OnePlus, and Adobe. Despite being introverted, the speaker acknowledges how engaging with the design community has been key to growth, although it took significant effort to step out of their comfort zone.

05:01

🏔️ Always Seeking New Challenges

The speaker shares a personal trait of always seeking out challenges, describing it as a 'mountain to climb.' They recount their college years, particularly their thirst for design knowledge in an environment that lacked resources. This drive pushed them to seek out online mentors like Chris Do from 'The Future' and engage in self-directed learning. Overcoming the fear of being judged for their lack of skills, they reached out to experienced designers, which accelerated their growth.

10:04

🎨 The Journey of Becoming a Versatile Designer

Here, the speaker highlights their ambition to become proficient in a variety of design disciplines, despite being advised to specialize. They discuss how learning different aspects of design, from photography to branding, helped them transition into roles like Art Director and Creative Director. This broad skillset enabled them to lead creative teams and produce comprehensive projects by understanding the basics of multiple fields. The speaker encourages others to explore their interests and embrace challenges to become better professionals.

⏳ The Importance of Taking Action Now

The speaker reflects on the mindset of waiting for the 'right time' to pursue interests and explains how they overcame it by embracing a 'do it now' mentality. They share their personal experience of neglecting hobbies like painting due to professional demands but later realizing the importance of balancing creativity and career. By acting on their passions immediately, they avoided creative blocks and regained their joy for creating. The speaker encourages others to act on their goals now, rather than waiting for a perfect moment.

👍 Embracing Fear and Saying Yes

The speaker discusses the power of saying 'yes' to new and intimidating opportunities, recalling their initial fear of speaking in public. They share how overcoming this fear, starting with a collaboration with 'The Future' team, boosted their confidence and opened doors to further public speaking engagements. The speaker explains how continually saying yes to uncomfortable opportunities led to a year filled with travel, workshops, and panel discussions, allowing them to grow professionally and personally.

🎤 Pushing Beyond Comfort Zones and Public Speaking

In this paragraph, the speaker recounts their journey into public speaking, which began with a major opportunity with 'The Future.' Despite initial reluctance, they found that saying yes led to a series of rewarding experiences. The speaker reflects on the domino effect this decision had, as they went on to host live sessions, podcasts, and attend numerous creative events. This year-long experience helped them push past their comfort zones and expand their professional network.

💪 Recognizing Traits that Drive Success

The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to identify personal traits that help them achieve success. By understanding their natural tendencies and finding new challenges, they believe individuals can strike a balance between their hobbies and careers. The speaker also stresses the importance of following role models who inspire growth, suggesting that adopting the traits of successful people can provide motivation. They leave the audience with the advice to always seek new challenges, big or small, and keep collecting skills like 'infinity stones' to succeed in life.

Keywords

💡Pushing oneself

The idea of pushing oneself refers to striving for personal or professional growth, even when it's uncomfortable or difficult. The speaker discusses feeling unsure of how to move forward but emphasizes that constantly seeking new challenges is key to self-improvement. An example from the script is when the speaker talks about climbing metaphorical mountains to improve as a designer.

💡Introversion

Introversion is a personality trait characterized by a preference for solitude or quieter environments. The speaker identifies as an introvert, explaining how social interactions drain their energy, yet they had to overcome this trait to network and grow in their design career. Despite discomfort, they pushed themselves to engage in social settings like meetups and events to advance professionally.

💡Design community

The design community refers to the collective group of designers and creative professionals who share knowledge, collaborate, and network. The speaker highlights the importance of being involved in this community to learn and grow, even though it was initially challenging for them as an introvert. Networking within this community helped them gain new skills and career opportunities.

💡Mentorship

Mentorship is the guidance provided by an experienced individual to someone looking to grow in a particular field. The speaker shares how finding a mentor, like reaching out to Chris Do on YouTube, was a pivotal moment in their career. Mentorship provided constructive feedback that helped the speaker improve their design skills and gain confidence in their work.

💡Challenges

Challenges refer to obstacles or tasks that require effort to overcome. The speaker repeatedly refers to seeking out new challenges—whether learning new skills, stepping out of their comfort zone, or engaging in professional opportunities—as a means of personal and professional growth. For instance, they describe their drive to 'climb mountains' as a way to push themselves further.

💡Generalist vs. Specialist

This refers to the debate between mastering a wide range of skills (generalist) versus specializing in one specific area (specialist). The speaker explains their struggle with this concept, as they enjoyed learning about many fields like photography, graphic design, and branding. Ultimately, they decided that being a generalist helped them grow faster and prepared them for leadership roles like art director.

💡Timing

Timing refers to the right moment for taking action. The speaker emphasizes that waiting for the 'perfect time' is often an excuse to avoid action, and that one should take opportunities as they come. They recount how hesitation about starting certain projects delayed their progress, and advocate for doing things 'now' rather than waiting for an ideal moment.

💡Saying yes

Saying yes is about being open to new opportunities, even if they feel intimidating or uncomfortable. The speaker describes how adopting this mindset helped them gain valuable experiences, like speaking at events or working with big brands. They advise others to embrace this mentality as it often leads to personal growth and success, despite initial fear.

💡Creative traits

Creative traits are the individual characteristics that help a person excel in creative fields. The speaker discusses the importance of recognizing and developing one's own traits—such as their hunger for learning or their ability to transfer skills between disciplines—as these traits contribute to their success. They encourage viewers to identify and cultivate traits that can help them achieve their goals.

💡Overachiever

An overachiever is someone who consistently pushes beyond the standard expectations, often sacrificing personal time and energy to reach their goals. The speaker self-identifies as an overachiever, explaining how they would go to great lengths to succeed in areas they are passionate about, such as design. This trait has helped them excel in various aspects of their career.

Highlights

Feeling of wanting to push oneself but not knowing how is common and relatable.

Collaborating with brands like Biser, OnePlus, and Adobe has taught valuable lessons.

Being an introvert can make socializing and networking challenging.

Always seeking challenges and looking for a 'mountain to climb' is a key trait.

Determination to find mentors and resources outside of formal education.

Reaching out to industry professionals for feedback, even with fear of judgment.

Finding online content and communities, such as the future channel, for learning design.

Importance of being a generalist and learning various skills across fields.

Transferring skills from one creative field to another enhances overall ability.

Understanding personal traits, like being an overachiever in areas of passion, helps in setting goals.

Realization that there is never a perfect time to start something; importance of acting now.

Balancing hobbies and career is crucial for maintaining creativity.

Saying yes to new and uncomfortable opportunities can lead to significant personal growth.

Engaging with live audiences and speaking engagements boosts confidence and skills.

Following and learning from people you admire can inspire and motivate you.

Transcripts

hey

everyone welcome back to another video

there was a point in my career where I

wanted to push myself but I didn't know

how to push myself I think we've all

been through this feeling and sometimes

I still go through it thinking on how I

can push myself ahead I always know I

want to do something better I always

know I want to learn something more now

that I get to work with so many amazing

brands from Biser to OnePlus to Adobe I

now have understood there are a few

things that help me push myself ahead

and get the skills in that helps me be a

better version or a better designer for

this brand and these three things have

really really helped me push myself in

my career ahead so I really wanted to

sit down and talk about these I have

been an introvert for such a long time

but people think I'm an extrovert

because whenever I go to events and

meetups and um even in my school or I

think even in my college or something I

used to talk to everybody I used to you

know be very adventurous and everything

but I really don't like socializing as

much it drains my battery so much as

someone who's been an introvert building

some skills as going outside and being

an ambt and extrovert and talking to

people and being and socializing in the

design community and having a big

network was difficult I had to really

push myself there have always been these

three things that started my thinking

process of growing myself uh or pushing

myself to be a better designer we all

have these traits and those traits kind

of push us to be a better version of

ourselves so specifically in my work or

in my career there is this one trade

that I'm really thankful for I am known

to be lazy in my family so this would

have taken over me and I don't think I

would have gotten anything done uh so

that one trait is always looking for a

mountain to climb I am always looking

for a challenge I'm always looking for a

mountain that I can climb and when I

have a certain goal that I have to

create I'm always looking for tools to

go and climb that mountain I was in

college this was around 2014 or 15 um I

was so hungry for information about

design because my college had such a

limited understanding of design and I

understood that I had to go out there

and search for something better to feed

that hunger of mine that I had I was so

determined to find a mentor I was so

determined to go online get videos or

courses that I can do and I think at

that point like internet or like

education side of the design field

online was so limited that I was

searching for people on YouTube who can

teach me design or who can teach me

Concepts or principles of basics of

design you know the one channel that I

found in 2014 or 15 was the future uh I

found out chriso because of it and at

that point I I don't think it was called

the future I think it was called the new

school or something um and I was so

happy I was was so so so happy I

remember reaching out to Chris at that

point and just sending him the worst

work that I've done I now think about

how bad he would have judged me oh my

God but he was so sweet about it and he

used to send me like notes on how I can

be better and I used to be like be

brutal you know be brutal just tell me

that this is bad because if I don't know

that it's that this is bad I don't think

I'm ever going to be better right and

heed to tell me like oh this is not good

this is not good do this do that and I

think you can do this better and all of

that and that really helped me out and

so reaching out to somebody in a very

raw State uh who was that big of a deal

was like a challenge for me um I used to

always think like oh my God what if that

person judged me or oh my God what if

that person didn't reply or something

and what is the worst thing that could

happen that person will say no I think

that's fine at least I shot my shot

right yeah so that was that and having

the milestones in my life really helped

me so at that point in my life I was not

a good designer I don't think I am also

a great designer now but um at that

point when I was in college I didn't

know anything about design I always felt

like I don't know anything and I'm

already in my second year or third year

and I need to know more so one of the

things was Finding as much content

online as I can one was the future I

found so many amazing YouTube channels

as well uh and amazing blogs at that

time it kind of pushed me to start

thinking about design in a way that I

didn't know existed so another Mountain

that I wanted to climb when I was in

second or third year in college was to

be better at everything I can sometimes

be an overachiever in the things that I

love I used to always always fail in

school uh or or be close to fail I used

to have like low low marks in school

because I didn't like studying as much I

went to art college started to learn

design and everything I became really

good and I got really good grades which

I was so happy about so I understood

that it's not about studying I think

it's about studying about the things

that I love and don't love I understood

at that point that I am slightly of a

overachiever uh in a weird way so if I

care about a certain thing I will go

beyond my limit uh I will give up every

single thing in my life to get to that

goal and at that point I understood on

how important Art and Design was for me

so finding these traits about yourself

would really help you out to reach a

certain level or reach to certain people

who can help you out and that is your

trigger so start finding traits that

really help you to be a better version

of yourself the other Mountain that I

wanted to climb was to be better at

everything I wanted to be a generalist

but at that point everyone was telling

me to be a specialist I I did one video

about how to find your Niche and you can

go and check it out finding your Niche

was really important to me but I always

wanted to be better at everything

because I knew as a Creator I would

transfer my skills from one field to

another so I really transferred my color

palettes or layout skills from my

illustration field to my graphic design

field and I think it definitely helps

you understand design better so I wanted

to know at least the basic like basics

of every single thing all my friends

knew what they wanted to do they most of

them went into product design UI or ux

and uh some of them went into branding

and stuff and here I was doing

photography

illustration um graphic design I don't

know branding and packaging design and I

don't know what and I felt lost but I

also felt found in a way because I

really enjoyed doing it because of that

skill I really leveled up very quickly

because there are only few years you can

be good at one field and go to a senior

level but when you become an art

director or a creative director you need

to know about so many other fields and

that really helped me out uh in becoming

an art director or a creative director

for big brands that I've worked with it

really helped me out with motion design

or 3D design and graphic design whenever

I used to direct a lot of people from

these specific Fields I knew all of them

at least the basics of them to kind of

direct them in a way that I could get

all of them together and build one

amazing product or one amazing

advertisement or one amazing campaign

and I was so happy that I did all of

those things so I would say start

learning about your traits start

learning what you like what you don't

like kind of feed yourself in that way

after you understand what works better

for you the second part that I found out

was there is never going to be a good

time for anything I used to always think

I want to do this but now it's not a

good time and that good time never came

so I have kind of been pushing myself to

do it now learn it now uh create it now

experience it now because I don't think

there is ever going to be a good time in

our life life is going to happen and

there are going to be ups and downs all

the time so if there are certain things

that you want to do in your life it can

just be in your life or for your career

as well do it now learn it now

experience it now create it now I think

since College I didn't pay paint as much

and I absolutely loved painting and I

absolutely loved creating something by

hands I still love doing sculptures like

uh abstract sculptures that I used to do

and paint them and do all of that thing

but when I went into digital design it

was really difficult for me to find time

um I used to feel that that is my hobby

and if designing which I used to do like

branding and digital design that is

getting me money so now is not the good

time time to find time for hobbies and

when I started to do all of that thing I

found out that I was not getting art

blogs as often as I used to so do it now

whatever you want to do do it now do it

now learn it now experience it now

create it now I think I should make a

t-shirt out of this the other thing is

saying yes to things even if it is

uncomfortable we always coddle ourselves

it's fine if you don't want to do it if

you're not comfortable with it don't do

it but sometimes it's just fear I

remember my mom telling me that she had

to push me into every single thing for

me to like it so even if it is like

going out and learning how to ride a

bicycle she had to push me into it and

then I was Unstoppable because I

absolutely loved it if I don't give

myself that push or even saying yes even

though I have that fear I think I'm

never going to learn new things and

never going to push myself out of my

comfort box so one thing I would

definitely say to you guys is say yes

say yes to things even though you're

frightened of it try it once if you

don't like it it's fine you can move on

but at least you tried it I think 100%

of the things that I said yes to 95% of

the times I loved doing it I absolutely

loved doing it one of the things that I

used to push away and be like no I'll do

it later or this not the good time or um

yeah I was just scared of doing this

talking to a camera or talking to a live

audience oh my God and the oh God

and the first time I said yes for doing

this kind of stuff was directly for the

future with chriso and Matthew and Cena

it was really scary and I had so many

excuses and so many points to say no but

something came over me and I just said

yes I will do it no matter what and no

matter how dty the house looks I don't

care that was a turning point in my life

I think saying yes even though it's not

a good time time was a good mountain to

climb to all the points so saying yes to

that really upped my confidence a lot

and the future team was really really

supportive so that was an amazing

experience and after that it was a

domino effect I started to do a lot of

live sessions on Instagram at the point

I have so many live sessions on

Instagram that I've done with other

people and solo as well but this year

there was this mountain I wanted to

climb that I would say yes to 90% of the

offers that I usually get to come and

speak to to an Institute or to a

workshop or or or for a session or event

that they were having I was traveling at

least once a month for events this year

and this has been an amazing amazing

year for me to push myself out there go

on stage um do panel discussions with

other creative people I absolutely

enjoyed this year I traveled so much I

met so many people I did so many panel

discussions I went to IIT Hyderabad I

went to Amad twice uh short podcasts

there was this big design event that was

held by sanskrity it was really amazing

to meet other fellow creators that were

there with me we hosted like two ADP

list events in Bangalore it was so

amazing I really really pushed myself

out there thanks to these traits of my

life I could do all of that and find

challenges uh that are going to make me

better I would suggest for you to start

noticing what your traits are these

traits will help us push ourself out

there kind of find our balance in

creativity when it comes to the Hobbies

as well as in the career section as well

and I would also suggest start following

people who you love and who you would

love to be in the future as well and

trust me their traits might actually rub

off on you because you constantly start

seeing these people achieving so many

things in your in their life and uh it

just makes you to do that as well so

that can be another push or another

motivation another inspiration for you

to start doing that what you want to do

always look for another mountain to

climb it doesn't have to be like a big

mountain it can be a small hill but

start finding small challenges in your

life and I would suggest start

collecting these skills in your life

like Thanos with infinity stone so it'll

really help you in achieving the goals

that you really want to do and trust me

it gets better once you understand what

you organically want what you I really

crave for once you understand that I

think it gets really good and I really

hope this video was helpful it would

really help me if you subscribe like and

share this video with other people and

see you guys again soon keep creating

bye

[Music]