Advice: Agony Aunt Shillo

DEAR DESIGNER

You asked and we answered! In this advice column, Aunty Shillo smooths and soothes a selection of design woes and worries, submitted by our Shillington community.

WORDS BY EDEN LIM, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT ILLUSTRATIONS BY TIM KING, LEAD TEACHER, SYDNEY

Creative Comparison & Competition

“Hi Aunty Shillo,

As a junior designer I find that I compare myself to every other designer around me in the studio, and it’s making me stressed and I’m finding it hard to present my designs. Is there a way to have healthy competition but still take care of my mental health?”.

Aunty Shillo

Ahh mental health and career competition can be such real and pressing stresses in this modern world. But it’s okay, you’re not alone. There’s a few ways to look at your situation, so let’s step through them one by one!

Design is a collective process

If you’re stressing about your personal ability in comparison to other creatives, it’s good to take a step back and remember that design is a collective practice.

It’s good to detach yourself from the creative process and have a more collective outlook on each project or brief. Often when working in a studio, especially as a junior, you collaborate as a team with a lead designer or senior designer running the project and everything is overseen by the creative director. So, since the final output will most likely be a team effort—don’t stress about whether your individual ideas are good or bad. It doesn’t matter if the other junior’s ideas got chosen for the final pitch. You’re all working together to create and provide the best outcome for the client.

Confidence comes with time and practice

I remember back in the day when I was in design school, a teacher once told us to never be precious with our ideas. And that advice holds true, ideas are meant to be stretched, combined, toyed with and even thrown away. They’re just little pieces that are yet to be formed into something with substance.

But If presenting your ideas and confidence is still something you struggle to get your head around, why not try some of these ideas?

1. Create an online presence and post regularly

WIP, design ideas or finished work—put it all to the world! It doesn’t hurt to build your creative confidence with some external validation—enter design competitions and submit your work to blogs or design showcases.

2. Stick it to Imposter Syndrome

Often times you are good enough, but just doubt your abilities. A good majority of the success of an idea is the manner in which you present it—present confidently and people will have confidence in your concept. Present doubtfully—and they’ll be worrying along with you. So why not give yourself a running start by backing your creative self, after all if you’re not going to cheer for you, who will? For more advice on Imposter Syndrome, check out Cathy Sison’s article on page 22.

Combating Creative Block

“Hi Aunty Shillo,

Lately I’ve been finding it difficult to find inspiration. It feels like as soon as I have an idea, someone else has come up with it already. The creative field seems trend-driven and saturated with the same old ideas. How can I switch up my creative process and find out-of-the-box inspiration?”.

Aunty Shillo

I feel you, being a designer is a job that sometimes feels like it expects you to be creatively switched on 24/7. Even though we all know that creativity ebbs and flows and comes in waves. Something that we teach at Shillington are the foundations of design thinking and a structure for creative ideation. You may still be using this, or you may have diverged and developed your own process—depending on where you’re at in your career. Either way this process of ideation is integral and key to creating creative and innovative design outcomes—but it’s never a bad idea to re-evaluate how you’re going about it. So here’s a few ways you can be mixing up that creative process!

Get off social media

The algorithms can serve you up the same old— so it’s a great idea to look outside your bubble and seek inspiration in other places. Avoid Pinterest, ditch Instagram and look for inspiration everywhere. Do some field work and rummage through a local vintage store, take a walk through nature or listen to an inspiring podcast. Some of the greatest inspiration hits when we’re not boxing ourselves into a strictly ‘design’ frame of mind. Read, watch and engage with your interests outside of the design world. They hold diverse and rich insights and you may never think would apply to design but may end up sparking an incredible thought or idea—think of it as a serendipitous collaboration.

Collaborate

If you’re working freelance, it can be difficult as often you only have yourself to bounce ideas off of. Try reaching out to your network—or join a group of like-minded creative professionals and organise weekly zooms or meet-ups. This can be a great way to give those ideas some fresh air and external feedback. If you’re working in a studio or office, never be afraid to lean on your colleagues as a creative sounding board. Fellow designers and even strategists will have a plethora of ideas and new perspectives to offer you.

Embrace play

Remember when you were a kid, and you mindlessly trailed waxy crayons across a page of paper and BAM! Before you knew it, you had a masterpiece. Why not get rid of preconceived ideas and adopt a more formless ideation process? Disregard the inner critic and create a nice, safe, judgment free zone for your ideas to fly free and flourish. When your brain is relaxed, it can truly create the most beautiful things.

Changing Creative Career Lanes

“Hi Aunty Shillo,

I’ve been working freelance (and in-house freelance) for a number of years now, but am craving bigger projects and a different experience. Do you have any advice on successfully making the transition from in-house/freelance to agency/studio life?”.

Aunty Shillo

That’s so great you’re looking to make the jump into agency, many designers who are self-taught or are craving a new creative experience make this move. If you’re missing the buzz of a team to share ideas with or are just tired of running your own ship, it’s a great way to work collaboratively again.

Creative Directors see a lot of portfolios everyday and interview a diverse range of people—but there’s a few things in your approach that could really help you stand out and get that agency role. So, how do you do it?

Be bold and do your research

It’s not a bad idea to gather a list of your favourite studios/agencies—give them a cheeky stalk and do some organic networking. Go to talks and stay back to chat to the speaker, reach out on DMs and be a fan—follow up with an email afterwards letting them know what you loved about their content.

In the digital heavy world, it sometimes pays off to make an analogue move. So send something in the post—we’ve heard many anecdotes of handdelivered letters or artwork landing someone the job, so why not give it a go.

You are your greatest asset

Remember, whatever agency you end up in—you’ll be working with their designers on the regular. So landing the job is just as much about your stellar portfolio as your amazing personality and whether you’re a cultural fit. So let’s nail both. Presentation matters, so let your personality shine when you’re showing off your portfolio and talking about yourself. Drop those weird hobbies and side-passions, prospective employers love to hear about the quirks that make their team unique.

What about a follow up? It totally pays to be persistent, but don’t pester. Persistence is rewarded but if someone isn’t responding by the 3rd or 4th check-in, that’s okay. There’s plenty other places to reach out to and creative directors are busy people, sometimes the timing is just off.

And finally, it can be nerve-wracking, and after working for yourself for so long—it’s hard to dive back into the world of interviews. But remember, you’ve got years of practice, pitching yourself to a client is no different to pitching yourself to a creative director. If you’re nervous it’s okay there’s no harm in saying so. Being genuine and true to yourself is the gateway to a stressfree and successful interview!

Flying Free(lance)

“Hi Aunty Shillo,

I’ve been working in creative studios and agencies for some years now and I’m craving more creative freedom and autonomy in the projects that I take on. I’d love to go freelance but I know it’s a tough gig and I’m concerned about finding work and figuring things out like setting rates. Do you have any advice on this?”.

Aunty Shillo Get your name out there

When it comes to getting your name out there, it’s always worth it to have an online presence. Whether that be in the form of an Instagram account or website that will be the first point of contact for prospective clients. And make sure it looks good, like any agency or studio—socials run your reputation, so make sure the feed is nicely curated and that website is functioning well.

Furthermore, now that you’ve gone freelance, the onus is on you to find business opportunities. Freelancing is a bit of a one-person-wonder—it’s now entirely your responsibility to find work, market and promote yourself and maintain relationships.

And if you’re wanting to retain the creative freedom, but need some bread and butter projects—don’t hesitate to try the old school approach and email design studios and agencies that might be able to offer you opportunities.

Freelance can be a tough gig indeed, but we’ve seen many of our graduates transition (or even kickstart) their creative careers into successful freelance businesses! It’ll take initiative, passion and true drive for design to get yourself going, but it’s certainly not impossible. Here’s some food for thought to get you started.

Round up your network

If you’re coming from a studio/agency, chances are you’ve already got an amazing network to chat to and rally support from. Unexpected opportunities can come organically from your non-design network as well, conversations with friends and acquaintances often lead to interesting jobs. Word of mouth is one of the fastest, easiest and most organic ways to grow your personal brand and make new connections.

Set your standards right

Now people know who you are, and the work is trickling in. It’s a good time to consolidate your business model. It can be tempting to settle for anything when you’re just starting off, but your first steps set the tone for your reputation and standards as a freelance designer. You probably went freelance to also enjoy a decent work-life balance. So work smarter not harder, and take time to price yourself competitively and fairly. Make sure you’re across all the administration (invoicing etc.) and set up clear boundaries for each project. Remember, the market is ever-evolving and each brief is different. Don’t be afraid to change rates between projects or develop custom pricing strategies on a case-by-case basis.

Losing Myself

“Hi Aunty Shillo,

I find designing such a personal practice, it feels personal when my concept and my work is rejected by clients. How do I take myself out of my work without losing me in the process?”

Aunty Shillo

Design and creativity can be such personal and heartfelt practices, but it’s important to set some clear boundaries between yourself and your professional identity. Here’s a few key things to remember:

You and your ideas are not one and the same

Losing yourself is only possible if you’re allowing your identity to become attached to your creative ideas. As difficult as it may be to separate the two, it’s important to understand the difference and through that, ensure that you’re growing as a designer.

Embrace fluidity

The design industry is one that is ever-adapting and shifting—so it doesn’t work in your favour to become stagnant or attached to a single school of thought or certain type of idea. Agility in creativity is something that is highly rewarded and the ability to shift and innovate on the fly is a mark of an amazing designer. Take pride in your ability to make mistakes and learn from them, a sign that you haven’t given up growing as a creative.

Design is (mostly) about the client

Unless you’re an artist or illustrator, and even then, you’re rarely ever designing for yourself. Design is often created for a client, greater good or a collective outcome, and you won’t always have the opportunity to put the spotlight on yourself and that’s okay. If that’s the kind of career you’re chasing, it might be a good idea to re-evaluate your career trajectory, and really ask yourself why you got into design in the first place.

HOW I DISCOVERED I HAD IMPOSTER SYNDROME

AND HOW I’M DEALING WITH IT EVERY DAY AS A CREATIVE

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SHILLINGTON POST #09: WELLBEING

WORDS AND ARTWORK BY

CATHY SISON, HEAD NEW YORK

“Imposters suffer from chronic self-doubt and sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their competence.”

I remember studying art in high school and researching artists like Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Georgia O’Keeffe and Francisco Goya. I was immersed in their works but also discovering their mental health struggles and heartbreaking stories during their creative process.

“I put my heart and my soul into my work and lost my mind in the process”—is a quote often attributed to van Gogh.

It then dawned on me that I had no desire to become a ‘struggling artist’, an extreme realisation I know, but the idea didn’t appeal to me. Yet, I still wanted to be part of the creative world. I started off studying illustration and then soon after signed up to study graphic design. Which appeared like a less daunting path, or so it seemed...

Graphic design to me was more about problem solving and getting my head around the programs. It was less about my own personal work—it took a long time to really build on my style and aesthetic. Fast forward five years, I had become a senior in-house designer and then started to transition into a junior art director. It was an exciting time and I had always felt anxious in every role I took. But, when you’re a junior or straight out of college, I thought it was quite normal to feel ‘inadequate’ or inexperienced, because I was. Yet, here I was five years in the industry and I suddenly felt this overwhelming insecurity of “I don’t belong here”.

My projects started getting bigger and opportunities that I had dreamed about were finally coming into fruition. I had slowly built my calligraphy brand Kyashi Writes which I always thought was just a hobby, but it became more than I expected. In 2016, I got my first calligraphy job writing for Westfield shopping centre for Father’s Day. I was amongst three other calligraphers and I remember seeing their work and thinking “Why on earth am I here?” They’re going to see I’m not that great at all and I’ll be sent home.

I had no idea what these thoughts or emotions were. I think I always felt insecure, not just in my work, but personally. I’ve always dealt with a sense of awkwardness, shyness and low confidence growing up, so I felt that this was just my normal inner voice. I got a big promotion at work and then I started to have these negative, doubtful thoughts come back but this time it started to get physical. My skin broke out in rashes and I felt a sense of depression and anxiety every morning that I was not used to. On top of that, I was suppressing all these feelings inside. I finally got the courage to confide in a close colleague about what I had been going through and she asked me if I had ever heard of the ‘Imposter Syndrome’?

Me...what? Google google google!

After much heavy deep research, I found myself in the depths of psychology articles about Imposter Syndrome. It can be defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. Imposters suffer from chronic self-doubt and sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their competence. (Harvard Business Review, 2018)

Signs of Imposter Syndrome:

• Self doubt. • An inability to realistically assess your competence skills. • Berating your performance. • Sabotaging your own success. • The feeling you will get ‘caught out’. • Telling yourself you are a fraud.

There was a sense of relief knowing that what I was feeling made sense to someone else—that it was real and not all in my head. But, then I started to question how did this come about? And how do I treat it? I started to research more and more and found out that even people I admired suffered from Imposter Syndrome.

It’s now 2022 and a lot has happened within my career and life. I can’t say that I don’t ever get the waves of uncertainty and insecurity, it’s definitely something that I deal with on a day-to-day basis. However, what I can control is how far I let it affect me. This means being self-aware of the red flags and doing small things to keep me at ease.

How to combat Imposter Syndrome

1. Recognise imposter feelings when they emerge

Awareness is the first step to change. Make sure you track these thoughts, what they are and when they emerge.

2. Talk it out

As someone that would hold their feelings in a lot, I found that talking through the negative thoughts or doubt I was having a release. Opening up to other creatives was also helpful —there may be others who feel like imposters too. It’s better to have an open dialogue rather than harbour negative thoughts alone.

3. The power of affirmations

At first I thought affirmations were cheesy but I realised how powerful they were. Starting the day being kinder to yourself really sets the tone of the day and any negative doubt seems to diminish.

4. Stop the comparison game

This one was a hard one to adjust to. A lot of my Imposter Syndrome was rooted by comparing myself to other creatives and slowly building the narrative that I’m not good enough. In order for me to really stop comparing I had to let it go, stop following people on social media that triggered this feeling and start focusing on my own path.

5. Accept you’ll always be a WIP

Something I have just realised whilst doing the inner work for Imposter Syndrome is letting go of being perfect or being of a certain standard. Knowing that I’ll make mistakes, both good and bad, but forever evolving and growing—not just as a creative but as a human.