Life as a Design Student

So it's not all fun and games. I know. There's a few things, I learnt and hope to share with those aspiring to be designers. I'd like to share these 'few things'.

1) All nighters/ late night sleeping (4/5am in the morning) will become the norm. The sleeping pattern of a design student (or a designer for that matter) is entirely relative to the amount of work she/he has. So there is really no set design pattern. Sometimes you go on without sleep for days at a time...sometimes you find yourself napping on trains and taking afternoon naps (yea, I thought they were only for old people too). Sleep will become something you'll have to sacrifice, if you want to pursue your careers in design.

2) Be financially prepared. I have spent approximately more than FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS to date buying paper (with different GSM), cardboard, foamcore and process journals alone. Not to mention the rulers and other equipment we had to buy. I'm guessing my total spending will be around the thousands by the next couple of weeks (I still haven't purchased a drawing board and I still have to buy more copic markers). So...GET A JOB IF YOU WANT TO STUDY DESIGN!
3) Papercuts will be abundant. I get an average of 6 papercuts DAILY. Maybe that's just me...but...be warned.
 4) Your shoulders ought to be prepared for heavy-carrying. It's advised that you bring all your design equipment to every tutorial. That's a lot of heavy stuff...lots of paper, lots of equipment. My shoulders are dying slowly. They scream in pain under the pressure of those straps.

5) You will have no social life beyond those in your course and maybe...if you're lucky...your faculty. A Design student (not sure about Architecture) will have such a heavy workload...they will NOT have time to go to the bar with friends. They will have so much work that they won't have time to laugh it out with friends in the weekend. The only time they have off will be during the holidays at the end of the year...in which you're advised/encouraged to get a part time job related to your course.

6) Eyebags/dark circles will become a trait. BUT FOR ME ITS ALREADY DONE. It doesn't matter if I sleep early or late, dark circles will forever remain a part of my face =( even with concealer.

7) MEASURING SKILLS IS CRUCIAL. If you can't measure something DOWN TO THE EXACT MILLIMETER then you're screwed. Because everything in design is about SCALE...1mm on your design plan can mean 1m on the actual room/building.

8) You can however, enjoy the luxury of watching television/dramas while doing your 'homework'. Unlike writing essays or doing reports, when you're doing 'design homework', you're basically drawing...and you can most certainly watch tv while doing that. I have honed this skill to the best of my ability during those hard HSC Body of Work days :D

9) Doing "work" will not only be about sitting at your desk, writing and writing. Going to concerts/exhibitions will be your 'work', going overseas will be 'work'. It's a great excuse to get out and have some fun while searching for "inspiration". Being culturally aware is VERY important.

10) It will be rewarding. Seriously...at the end of the day...after all that hard work...it's all worth it. To have someone linger over your work and say, "wow...that's crazy." or "how did you do that?" or "that's sooo good!"...it warms you up from top to bottom and all your tiredness vanishes like THAT.

=) In the end, I love this course. I've met some lovely people and made some lovely friend. The work will be hard but I know I'll be able to get through them!!

PS: If there's grammar errors or typos, please excuse them. I'm rather sleepy right now hehe :)

TO FINISH THIS POST OFF WITH SOMETHING FUN, HERES A DIY MARIO PLANT DECORATION THING THAT I GOT OFF YOUTUBE!!




6 comments:

Matt | March 25, 2011 at 9:47 PM

CUTE PANDA MAN
DUCE WA TOO GOOD

yy | March 26, 2011 at 1:15 AM

You forgot about feeling inadequate when you look at your peers' works.

Amy | March 26, 2011 at 8:04 AM

Oh yeah...and that too :(

Holly | March 28, 2011 at 8:42 PM

This is all so true! I'm a design student in England and it's all very much the same deal. Also very true about it being rewarding! Love your blog :)

Amy | March 29, 2011 at 3:18 AM

I'm glad you feel that way :)
And yes, the 'rewarding' part is the best thing about something like Design.

JesuS | March 30, 2011 at 9:34 PM

see why i don't do this stuff anymore? XD

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