How I Found My Passion For Design
When I Found My Passion
I fell in love with design in a pretty unusual way. Growing up I have always had a soccer ball at my feet. I’ve played soccer since I was four and have played competitively all my life. In fact, I play soccer for Maryville University. However, my sophomore year of high school I tore my ACL in the quarter final game. I was devastated. ACL reconstruction surgery is a year long recovery with physical therapy. This meant I would be off the field for a long time.
Looking back it was probably for the better. All that time off the field made me realize I had no hobbies. I decided if I couldn’t be with my team on the field I would still find a way to be apart of the team.
I went out and bought a GoPro to help document the season. I wanted to make a video everyone could enjoy at our end of the year banquet. I had so much fun:
- Learning to edit the video
- Choosing the music
- Learning to use a camera
- Interviewing the team
At the end of the year when the team watched the video, it was awesome to see their reaction. Many people laughed and everyone loved it. That’s when I fell in love with design. I fell in love with making people happy.There is so much influence in design and I realized that creating things can be an outlet for me to make people feel different emotions.
My Future In Design
Thinking about my future was intimidating. After finding a passion for design I signed up for photography, yearbook, and graphic design classes. I knew I wanted to be a designer but I wasn’t sure what majors were out there. I always assumed going to college for art and design was only for painters or sculptures.
At the time my sister was just getting out of College and knew a few friends who were graphic designers. She told me what it was and why she thought it would be perfect for me. I was super excited but definitely had my doubts. Society has this way of making art and design sound like an awful career path. I’ve heard many people say it’s just a hobby and you won’t make a lot of money.
However, my parents really supported the idea of majoring in graphic design and assured me that there are plenty of jobs out there. And after taking my first few college classes I felt more confident.
Now i’m super excited to learn more about the design process and build my confidence. I want to create my own unique style and eventually find a job that I thoroughly enjoy.
