Trying to find something exceptional in a sea of average.
In a recent attempt to “find myself,” I’ve been delving into different online communities. I’ve joined some Facebook groups for marketing, women marketers, women graphic designers, graphic design, web design, and photography.
Since I went to school for graphic design, my standards for “good” graphic design might be too high for the average person. It makes me think back to college critiques, where students had to critique other students’ projects. Most of the time the “constructive criticism” maybe wasn’t as blunt as it should have been. I feel like we spend/waste a lot of time trying not to hurt others’ feelings. It’s easy to say that behind a screen and with not having a lot to show for my own design. My husband and I have this debate more often than most couples. “Design doesn’t matter”. I still fight him on this, because I think good design DOES matter. I think quality DOES matter. People/consumers may not know what makes them more attracted to one design than another, but I have to believe that they naturally gravitate toward good design.
I have a graphic design degree. Yes, I also use Canva. And I have made some decent designs in Canva. So no hate to Canva. Not having to download fonts on Dafont.com and stock photos from various sites really expedites the graphic design process. Canva’s low entry price makes it extremely affordable compared to Adobe’s high cost. The problem with Canva is it gives so many options for users to combine 18 different fonts and graphic styles. Some new designers might be missing some basic design principles when they begin their Canva designer journey. I also see this in graphic design groups where users share their logo designs. Someone will post their logo design and ask for feedback, and people chime in, saying they like this feature or that feature. My first response in my head is, “Oof, that’s bad.” I know using descriptors like “good” and “bad” isn’t very useful for critiquing. I assume that whatever it is they are designing doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, so I just keep on scrolling, keeping my opinion to myself.
So where are the good designers? Or even, where are the above-average designers? I’m not an award-winning designer, so where is my tribe of slightly better-than-average folks?
I just canceled my FlickrPro membership that I’ve had since 2015. The price has tripled since I first joined, and I’m not really using it that much anymore. It used to be an ego booster to have that “Pro” badge next to my profile photo. The community isn’t what it used to be. Most of the people I connected with on there are no longer active. The quality of the photography has diminished, too. I don’t want to come across as stuck up. I am just looking for an interesting photo group to be a part of that isn’t on par with blurry cell phone photos and also doesn’t feel full of photography masters whose work easily outshines everyone else.
If there are any other better-than-average Joes out there, who want to form a photo or design group, let me know! I would love some inspiration and community.