So I’ve been working on my portfolio with soulmate, updating resumes, scanning through job after job and I’ve come to some conclusions.
1) I have an authority problem
2) I don’t like, nor am I happy, working in a corporate environment
3) Why make other people money when I can make myself money?
4) Everyone out there is full of shit just trying to get everyone else to buy into it
The last one was just a sort of a raged “i’m fed-up” comment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the same jargon over and over, website after website. It really makes me think that clients don’t want good design or different design, they want the safe and redundant design. They want to hear the same programmed words over and over again. And I am just as culpable as the next designer trying to earn a buck. For example – “can transform your business with highly effective solutions”, “Our abilities stem from our unique blend of creativity, technology, and psychology expertise and it’s this fusion of disciplines that is the signature of our work”, “custom application business solutions that boost sales and cultivates brand loyalty”, and “Creating marketing collateral to help your business grow”.
Now who wouldn’t want to hire someone promising them all that? Growing my business? Business solutions? Creativity? Hahahahahahahahaha.
Ok kitty… BEHAVE!
So, I am really considering “growing” my side business. That way I can whore myself out to the corporations and maintain some pride in my work, instead of whoring myself out FOR the corporation and have no pride in my work. I love design. I really do. I would love to just do the kind of design that is intuitive, 100% me-design, something that helps others… these projects though are minimal… but they are out there! Shall I put all my eggs in that basket? How many small design firms are out there? TONS. There is another option…
Which brings me to a very good read: “The Education of the Design Entrepreneur” by Steven Heller . I read it about a year ago and was very pleased that it had nothing to do with running your own firm. I bought it thinking that it did… Instead, it was about designing a product to sell. Managing your product and marketing it. The book provided stories of people who had done just that and the process of 1) The idea 2) The creation and implementation of that idea 3) The hardcopy production 4) Marketing 5)The business side. I have a few of my own ideas in the making for products… but should I venture into that? I could always do both!
So now that I have been blah blah blahing on for the last 4,000 words, I guess I will get back to doing whatever us designers do when they are unhappy at their job. 
