I am 19 years old and recently became pregnant. It was unplanned and a surprise but has kicked my future goals into high gear. Lately graphic design has been something I’m interested in, and seems like it could be a reliable career, but I don’t have a clue where to start. I will be in my second year of community college and I plan on learning all the Creative Suite programs and the latest in design and typography before transferring to another school to get a bachelor’s degree. So my questions are 1. Where should I begin as a newbie in pursuing a career as a graphic designer? and 2. Is graphic design something that is manageable with a baby?

Never stop learning. Stay focused.

First off, I commend you for staying focused on your education and future! From my perspective, it sounds like you’re doing everything right, including taking an affordable route to kicking off your education (I’m a proud community college graduate myself). It sounds corny but a thirst for knowledge will get you far. The very best designers started out just like you — everyone begins with limited knowledge and through schooling, internships and experience, we all get better. Four years since graduating, I still feel like I’m learning something new every day and truthfully, the learning never really stops. Since you’re already in school, my two suggestions for supplementing it would be to subscribe to Lynda.com and watch as many videos as you can and secondly, to read as many design and creative industry blogs as possible. The more you learn and the faster you’re able to pick up the basics, the better. Also, joining AIGA can help you make design industry connections.

To answer your second question, you’re not alone in thinking about how to make a design career mesh with being a mom. It’s on a lot of other women’s minds as well so take comfort in that. Designer Promise Tangeman recently wrote a great article on the subject (the comments are super insightful as well) as did new mom and designer / blogger Joy, who explains in detail how she makes it all work for her. Finally, the book Mom, Inc. will hopefully inspire and empower you to find a way to crete a routine that works for you.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this; working as a designer is really demanding even without kids. But I also do personally know plenty of moms who make it happen every single day (and somehow make it look easy!) I’ve heard many moms (and moms-to-be) talk about how there’s never going to be that “perfect time” to have children and balance that role with their careers. And of course, everyone has an opinion on the subject but when it comes down to it, the only opinion that matters is yours.

Once you are finished with school, you can take two paths:

1. Work for someone else. From my experience, working in-house tends to be a lot less demanding than working in an agency environment. This is because when you’re in-house, you have one client: your company. And, the lines of communication are much more direct. In comparison, when you’re at an agency, there are many clients who are setting the deadlines and demands for you to answer to. Realistically, if a presentation is due and you have to work until midnight or god forbid, pull an all-nighter, will you have a reliable option for childcare? I wish I could say that crazy hours are something you won’t have to worry about in this industry but depending on who you work for, they are often the norm.

2. Work for yourself. If you decide to run your own studio, you’ll have more control over your hours. The biggest trade-off is that you’ll be in charge of your own health benefits and the paychecks won’t be steady, at least in the beginning. But having that freedom to be with your child may be the best reward.

Note: I felt that this was an important question to address but at the same time, I don’t have kids of my own and they’re not in my future plans so I can’t put myself in someone else’s shoes who does. Readers with kids who also work in a creative industry, please weigh in and share your advice. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

When you’re in school, the work / life balance can seem almost impossible to achieve. I know all too well how this feels (see below). But do remember that you have the rest of your life and career ahead of you — plenty of time to make your dreams a reality. I had the same issue as you — my mind was constantly racing with ideas for personal projects during classes but time was scarce. What I have since realized is that just because you can’t act on your ideas right this second doesn’t mean that they’re going to suddenly evaporate or become less-thank-awesome. My solution was to carry a notebook everywhere with me to jot down those ideas. And, I did come back to many of them later on.

Though it’s hard to see now, while the projects you’re working on for class might not seem directly valuable to you at the time, the takeaway is usually more abstract. It could be that you’re learning a particular skill or gaining experience that you’ll be able to draw upon years down the road.

When I was 26, I began my second and final year of design classes. My schedule looked like this for a full year:

Monday: School // 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Tuesday: Agency Internship // 9:30 – 6 p.m.
Wednesday: School // 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Thursday: Agency Internship // 9:30 – 6 p.m.
Friday: School // 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Saturday: Retail Job // 10.a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday: Retail Job // 11.a.m. – 5 p.m.

Notice that there were no days off. Looking back, the constant rotation of tasks with a new place to be each day often left me reeling. Balancing so many commitments on top of blogging five days a week (I’d started this blog the year before) was bordering insanity but I pulled through because I had a set of goals at the end of the tunnel: 1. I needed to finish my design degree to get into the agencies & studios I admired. 2. I had to work because there was rent and bills to pay. 3. The internship was at an agency I considered my top choice for post-college employment.

If I hadn’t had goals, I probably would have dropped to the floor at some point, given into the exhaustion and cancelled some of my commitments. Even though I pulled through this stressful time, I won’t lie, it was definitely one of the hardest years of my life. But I got through it day by day, week by week and it taught me some key points:

1. Good time management

Even though you’re short on time now to work on your personal projects, this is something most of us will have to cope with for the rest of our lives. As we move from school to careers, to managing households, the time crunch doesn’t usually get much better post-college. School might seem like a drain now but if you have a very strict schedule and a very limited amount of time to complete particular tasks, you’ll find a way to make it happen. That drive to follow through with the seemingly impossible in a short window of time will come in handy later in your job.

2. Rating the level of importance of tasks

With a list of school assignments a mile long, you’ll quickly learn how to delegate and fly through completely different tasks in record time. When you’re at your post-college job and the boss rambles off a list of random items, you’ll be able to smile, respond with “no problem” and then rate, delegate and conquer.

3. Negotiation

There are going to be times where you’re expected to do two things at once. Or, worse yet, to be two places at once. During my final year of school, the agency I was interning at wanted me to come in on Fridays. One little issue: I had school on Fridays. It was in my best interest to work on Fridays because 1. the internship was paid and 2. it was where I hoped to work post-college. I negotiated with my teacher and she agreed that as long as I got my schoolwork done, I could work on Fridays instead. Think outside of the box when it comes to your schoolwork; most teachers are human and are willing to compromise with you if you show a willingness to meet them in the middle.

In Closing

While school can be a bumpy ride at times, remember that nothing lasts forever. You have an awesome opportunity to gain an education — try to embrace the experience now instead of rushing through assignments. Your ideas will still be with you once you’ve graduated and the life skills you learn in college will follow you through the rest of your career.

Yes. Every day presents the opportunity to learn something new; this in part can help to fuel your creativity. Life experience has helped me gain fresh new perspectives when designing. I am a very visual person and to fuel the creative process, I always carry a camera with me wherever I go and constantly collect inspiring images online. Each project that you do has the potential to teach you something new no matter how long you’ve been a designer.

With time comes maturity and more defined ideas. I know quite a few people who waited to go to school for design – including myself. If I’d done it when I was 18, I don’t know if I would have appreciated the process as much. By waiting until I was 25 and having already completed one degree, I was positive that I wanted to be a designer. The life experiences up to that point including jobs and traveling made me much more aware and open to new ideas.

Overall, I feel that anything web 2.0 is okay in really small doses and if any elements are incorporated, they should fit into the overall look and feel of the project. Personally, I mostly try to steer away from web 2.0 elements but sometimes they can add some needed dimension. For some great examples, check out 25 Examples of Web 2.0 and Traditional Design Rules Coming Together.

Of course. As a designer, it’s normal to question what you’re doing and to contemplate whether your work is good enough. If you start thinking that all of your output is great every time, it’s time to ask yourself if you’re still growing as a designer.

On some of my biggest projects, I got multiple opinions before sending the work out because I wasn’t sure if it was good enough. Usually, outside sources view things in a different way than you as the creator do; a few tiny tweaks can take a project from good to great. The best designers that I know still manage to remain humble and work really hard at what they do. And, they never quite think that they’re good enough – that’s what keeps them pushing forward every day.

One thing to accept the second you decide to become a designer is that there’s always going to be someone that’s better than you and that has more experience. Once you realize this, it’s easier to just focus on becoming your personal best.

Whether a client is big or small, show up on time, dress the part, do your research, remain humble and deliver what’s been promised. Remember that even when working with big corporations, you’re often still only interacting with a handful of people.

I’ve never done a pitch to gain any of my personal clients – they’ve all found my work online and contacted me directly.

Ultimate dream?? Wow, that’s a lot of pressure! At the moment I am pretty content (you’ve gotta learn appreciate what you have in the moment) but in a few years, I would love to work at Elle as an editorial designer, be an art director at a boutique agency and partner up with my brother on some big design projects. Beyond that, my goal is to publish a book about how to market yourself as a designer and travel around the country speaking to college students about building portfolios and how to make it as a freelancer. To sum up your question, I don’t think I have a singular ultimate dream. It’s a combination of smaller parts.

As for personal projects, I like to collage in my Fashion Notebook and design new business cards. That’s about all I have time for at the moment.

It’s part of the Moleskine Colour a Month Notebooks which I absolutely adore! I’ve been using Moleskine planners for years to keep my life in order and these are especially nice since they’re so lightweight and compact.

It depends on the quality of the project. Overall, a mix of your highest quality work, largest clients and something that really expresses your personality should create a nice, rounded mix. Ask a design mentor or someone you trust what they think of the project – is it strong enough to be included? If not, that’s okay – you could still mention your winning submission on your resumé.

Do you have a question? Ask Nubby.