Finding the Gaps – The Importance of Side Projects: Part 2
As working as a graphic designer may not always be fun, games and fancy projects, it may not always be as fulfilling, hence a side project can also help in filling this void. The designers in the interview all said that they are happy with what they are doing, and all agreed to some degree that they always saw themselves in this line of work.
Starting off again with Simon Manchipp from SomeOne, he says that he always saw himself working within the creative field and he is very happy with the way his design agency turned out and the challenge it offers. He claims that twenty years on and he still looks forward to going to work. One of the reasons being the fact that there is always a next project coming up that is different from its previous one, so the mindset changes accordingly. The idea of making things from scratch is also very intriguing; it is what differentiates man from machine – originality in contrast to automation.
Similarly, Tom Finn and Kristoffer Soelling from Regular Practice, as well as Sam Winston also claim that they are happy with what they are doing and how their career is progressing. They achieved that because they implement what they would like to do and implement their original ideas in their day-to-day projects. As for Sarah Boris, she works mostly on book projects and branding. Through side projects she discovered that she likes to experiment a lot with other media besides paper and the screen. She would like to make things for the home, such as tableware and rugs. She would also like to get more collaborative projects in relation to her aspiring projects.
When it comes to side projects, they are beneficial for they break the cycle of the day-to-day routine, allowing the mind to change mindsets. Also, a personal project reflects well in the design portfolio for is shows initiative, experimentation, self-teaching and a learning curve. With that said, it is also important to prioritise. As already mentioned in the previous post, it is equally important to step back sometimes to see the bigger picture and to see better which ideas are worth pursuing and which ones need more work.
