I am about to begin my last year towards a BFA in Design, and I still don’t know what it is I’m looking for, or which area of design suits me well. I was hoping I could briefly introduce myself, point out my strengths and weaknesses, and see what anyone is willing to contribute.
First, I have a huge passion for design, both big and small. I am fascinated with both architecture and table lamps, with city layouts and coffee mugs. I have tried to explore many facets of ID through countless design magazines, concept websites, and successful artist’s portfolios, hoping to find the avenue of design that resonates with me the most.
My strengths: I am very hard-working, but I am also a firm believer in efficiency. With everything I do, I try and find the straightest line between two points, without sacrificing quality or performance. I am a fast and focused learner. Most importantly, I believe my biggest strength is an extraordinary eye for detail. I can immediately see what is missing, what needs to be fixed, what could be improved.
Weaknesses: I am perfectionistic. Sometimes this is a strength, but often it is not. I can get caught up worrying about the little things. Blank canvasses scare the crap out of me. I would much rather tweak and edit than create anew, and this makes starting new projects difficult.
I am aware that it is not realistic to be able to “preview” all fields, trying to find the one that suits me most, without spending time in any of them. I don’t want to take any “shortcuts” or fast tracks, like a website newbie trying to tackle Adobe Flash without knowing HTML. I just want to know what it is that I should be doing in order to discover what it is I am good at. Does this make sense at all? I don’t want to master [X program] only to find that its usefulness will not apply to my interests, for example.
What has everyone done to seek out their focal point of design? I would really appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Thanks.