Next in our Home Sweet Home Orlando series, we meet Pat Daley, of True Transient!
You are not a Graphic Designer.
We have words that describe what we do. We call them labels. Their is nothing inherently positive or negative about labeling yourself, unless you allow it to influence the decisions you make.
“Well, I studied Graphic Design and have been employed as a Designer..so I must be a Designer. Right?”
No. You use Graphic Design to convey a message. It is a skill you have focused on learning. A tool in your tool belt. Don’t let it define you. Graphic Design is a trick in your bag, not the bag itself.
The most successful brands and “designers” have learned this as well and AIGA Orlando was integral in realizing this within myself.
The value I found in AIGA Orlando was that it pushed me outside of my comfort zone. It opened me up to new experiences, new skills, and meeting new people who did a whole bunch of things other than just Graphic Design. Yes, a lot of them called themselves Designers but I saw them as multi-faceted individuals capable of conveying a message in an impactful way. Now that’s powerful.
Peeling Away the Labels
In the Summer of 2015 I quit my full-time Graphic Design job, minimized my possessions down to what could fit in my backpack, and hitchhiked across the United States. Before I left, I branded myself as True Transient, using Graphic Design to create a logo and website where I could share this experience with the world.
On my trip across the USA, I used videography to film and edit each day. I then posted the videos online and in 7 months have grown my Youtube viewership to over 1000 subscribers. Since then, the Huffington Post, Reuters, MSN, and other news organizations have featured my video work. I didn’t call myself a videographer before doing this, and still don’t think of myself as one. In fact, I wasn’t necessarily confident that I would be capable of documenting my journey using video. But I experimented through taking action and allowed the work I completed to inform my next project.
The more you experiment and build skills, the closer you get to being able to more accurately convey who you are as a person, as a brand, but most importantly as a creative human being. In joining AIGA Orlando, you surround yourself with a community of experimenters. People who are interested in making, creating, and growing as individuals. People who refuse to REACT TO THE WORLD, and instead provoke the world TO REACT TO THEM.
I am writing this while listening to the faint sound of drums along the Mekong River, in the heart of Laos in Southeast Asia. Wherever I go, I know that Orlando is my home. It is where I learned that I am not a Graphic Designer, I am not a Videographer, I am not a Writer, but a creative individual striving to be better today than I was yesterday and hopefully have had created something in the process. If you are interested in becoming better than you were yesterday, I highly suggest joining AIGA Orlando.
