Hi my name is Kateri! I hope you guys are excited to start your first class a designer! As someone who took this class a year ago, I have some words of wisdom to give you:
- Everyone says to start your work early, which is very very important, but I know that as students we can get caught up doing other things until the night before an assignment is due. Something that really helped me throughout the year is doing little sketches or brainstorming as soon as you get the project sheet because even if you get caught up doing other things, you can still have a small reminder of your thought process which is so much better than rushing to execute a last minute idea.
- Try new things. At the beginning of this year I had very low confidence in myself as a designer, but I found that pushing my limits and doing things I wasn’t necessarily comfortable with allowed me to discover what I am good at. Sometimes you fail and you get critiqued, but it doesn’t mean you’re a bad designer it just means you found something you need to practice. So do something you have never done before and if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out but if it does, you may make something beautiful.
- My final piece of advice is to be curious. Research your topic, look at cool designs on Pinterest, look through books and magazines, sketch, try a new program, go to a museum, anything. The more you are aware of what good design looks like and are able to see the kind of design you’re drawn to, the more you can focus on the things you love and the more you can design the things you are passionate about.
This semester will challenge you, frustrate you, and stress you out, but at the end of it you’ll have pieces that you’re proud of and skills that never knew you had. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether it’s from your professors, your fellow classmates, or the people who already took this class. I wish you all the best this semester and I look forward to seeing what it brings you!
