wienerdog
10-09-2006, 01:56 PM
One of the raging debates in my head is whether a designer is better off declaring one thing they know they are great at and focusing their skills, work and self-promotion to match that. One of the greatest challenges is knowing whether you're creating a niche that will make you a living or limiting your potential and giving potential clients the idea that you're only good at one thing.
When starting out in this field, is it better to try a little of everything and find out what best works for you?
Should you ask others what THEY think are you're best at?
The Jack-of-All-Trades generalist (the direction my current job is leading me) probably knows a little about almost everything but doesn't have the skill/experience to work out all the details. They spend their day doing a little of illustration or design, they get the desktop publishing done, and they tweak the company's website, but they can't code the JavaScript.
The Specialist knows a niche like the back of their hand. They read up on current trends and prefer to do what they're best at. The risk in this case is they aren't flexible enough to keep up with changes in the market that could out-date them (a typographer, would be a good example today, I guess, or someone who could design a web page in table layouts).
To make the topic personal, I'm primarily a print designer, and prefer a more graphic element to my design work. My "Get the Bills Paid" time is spent on straight-forward, corporate marketing pieces and proposals. I prefer to work with lots of color and design something that has a playful feel to it, and would like to get freelance work that reflects that. I think children's apparel graphics would be my best bet, considering I have some previous experience in that area. I think my failure in the past has been not recognizing a NEED to specialize to be seen almost more legitimate. My last redesign of my web portfolio had samples from all sorts of work I've done: illustration, corporate marketing, apparel work, etc. My site had a very bright, colorful style which conflicts with some of the work I've done. I heard a lot of "it's bright, colorful and cartoony, but you may be limiting who you'll get work from." I'm questioning now if that's even a bad thing. Why not limit who you get work from if you succeed at getting offers?
My dilemma is deciding to focus all my freelance work on one area, specializing myself to some extent, or keeping my portfolio samples broad to attract as many new clients as I can.
I feel like I'm overly ambitious and it leads to not completing anything I'm trying to accomplish.
I'd like to illustrate creative graphics and come up with a personal style (or as unique as you can get these days). I'd also like to keep up with current web design trends, as I see that as a potiential area that will allow career growth/income increases. I've always believed that in order to get really good at something, don't you need to spend just about all day doing it?
When starting out in this field, is it better to try a little of everything and find out what best works for you?
Should you ask others what THEY think are you're best at?
The Jack-of-All-Trades generalist (the direction my current job is leading me) probably knows a little about almost everything but doesn't have the skill/experience to work out all the details. They spend their day doing a little of illustration or design, they get the desktop publishing done, and they tweak the company's website, but they can't code the JavaScript.
The Specialist knows a niche like the back of their hand. They read up on current trends and prefer to do what they're best at. The risk in this case is they aren't flexible enough to keep up with changes in the market that could out-date them (a typographer, would be a good example today, I guess, or someone who could design a web page in table layouts).
To make the topic personal, I'm primarily a print designer, and prefer a more graphic element to my design work. My "Get the Bills Paid" time is spent on straight-forward, corporate marketing pieces and proposals. I prefer to work with lots of color and design something that has a playful feel to it, and would like to get freelance work that reflects that. I think children's apparel graphics would be my best bet, considering I have some previous experience in that area. I think my failure in the past has been not recognizing a NEED to specialize to be seen almost more legitimate. My last redesign of my web portfolio had samples from all sorts of work I've done: illustration, corporate marketing, apparel work, etc. My site had a very bright, colorful style which conflicts with some of the work I've done. I heard a lot of "it's bright, colorful and cartoony, but you may be limiting who you'll get work from." I'm questioning now if that's even a bad thing. Why not limit who you get work from if you succeed at getting offers?
My dilemma is deciding to focus all my freelance work on one area, specializing myself to some extent, or keeping my portfolio samples broad to attract as many new clients as I can.
I feel like I'm overly ambitious and it leads to not completing anything I'm trying to accomplish.
I'd like to illustrate creative graphics and come up with a personal style (or as unique as you can get these days). I'd also like to keep up with current web design trends, as I see that as a potiential area that will allow career growth/income increases. I've always believed that in order to get really good at something, don't you need to spend just about all day doing it?