Speak your mind
While I was trying to ****familiarize myself with the ‘design vocabulary’ in the initial months, I was extremely cautious of the conversations I upheld. I refrained from participating in discussions because of the fear of sounding absurd. Eventually, I realized that design teams benefit from fresh perspectives. While the vocabulary is a catalyst to communicating ideas, articulating your thoughts well often does the job.
Always Keep Learning
I was assigned to a live project during my first week at BRND. Being used to the fast-paced nature of the work, when a few months later I transitioned to making client pitches and case studies, things felt too slow and repetitive. While discussing this with the head of operations in a candid conversation, he gave me some advice that stuck with me. He said instead of thinking of it as a boring chore, think of what's something new you can learn and bring into this task to make it interesting. I went on to deep-dive into story-telling to see how these case studies could become 'stories' clients could follow. Ever since I've tried to adopt a mindset of bringing in new learnings from not-so-obvious places into my work.
Design with Intention
Transitioning from being a student to a full-time designer was taxing. Even though I loved the work, I often found myself exhausted and sometimes frustrated. It was easy to lose sight of 'the why' of my pivot to design and do work that was passable or just enough. But eventually, I realized that if I had to make a dent, I had to be deliberate about my contributions to the team and put my best work forward, for the sake of my personal growth. I tried to sustain this motivation by finding a balance between work and play. I picked up running, started illustrating album covers for musicians, followed a few podcasts amongst other things to find a rhythm that helped me be inspired to do my best.