Guest post by Bryan Zimmerman
First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bryan Zimmerman, and I reside in the USA about an hour and a half West of New York City. I just graduated from college with an AS in Visual Communications, and am in dire need of some advice. I came across this site a few days ago, and was overwhelmed by the close knit community. It seems that here in the United States we “think” we know it all, but the only thing we are really good at is putting others down when they ask what they call a “stupid” question. This community is the exact opposite, which is why I will come here from now on to read “intelligent” posts and replies.
With that said, here is my dilemma. When I began college a year ago, I had my eye on becoming a web designer. As the months passed and I learned new and exciting techniques and software, I began to sway toward other mediums. I have written poetry since I can remember, and when I took my composition classes they opened up a whole new world to me. The same happened with photography, video, illustration, etc.
I guess what I am getting to is where to start? Suddenly, I have basic knowledge to manifest my thoughts and ideas into real world solutions. My problem is that now I want it all, and having just turned 41 I feel like my time is limited. One day I may be on a Flash kick, and the next day it’s Photoshop. I am currently dabbling in Apple Final Cut and Logic (I have been a guitarist for the past 25 years, so some of it comes natural).
What does one do when one is so excited by all of the possibilities, yet has no logical path to follow? Do I just pick one thing and become the best I can? It seems the job market wants you to be everything. Also if I pick just one, I know the others will call out to me until I pay attention to them as well. I thought about putting a website together showcasing everything, but then I am not dedicating myself to anything.
I’m not sure if I am making any sense, but if anyone can relate and offer suggestions I will be eternally grateful.
Thanks you for reading this post, and thank you for this community. You guys are awesome!
Best Regards,
Bryan Zimmerman
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12 Comments
Hi Bryan,
Firstly, congratulations on doing your college course. I teach a course here in Ireland which covers Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver and Flash. Many of my students face the same dilemma that you have and lots of them are interested in music and video too.
What I say to them is, if they are looking for work in design then they have to get focused. It’s true that employers want all of the above (and some would like you to cut your veins open and give them your blood too!) but you don’t want to be “Jack of all trades, master of none”.
Practice your design skills by picking a website you really like and try to recreate it exactly in photoshop. The idea is to learn to look carefully at good design – not just copy. OR If it’s illustration that you like, make a poster for a local band, or a menu for a small restaurant – something that you won’t feel overwhelmed with pressure. The main thing is to start doing some solid work in a chosen area, and to get good at it so you feel comfortable. If you try to do everything at once you’ll get frustrated.
In my own case, I started in web design, (which I still do), dabbled for a while with video (which I decided I didn’t have the patience for), I LOVE photography (but keep it as a hobby) and now am doing a little bit of illustration. So my point (and there is one here somewhere!) is get good at one or two things – that might be photoshop and web design or photoshop and illustrator – get some experience (friends and family are a good starting point) and see how you get on from there.
Best of luck with it!
Hi Bryan
Jennifer has some good advice there.
I think even when you have been working in the industry for a while you face the same problem. I am trying to learn web design, but then I would really like to learn animation and programming too. I think once you have one skill firmly mastered then is the time to dabble and experiment.
I am terrible with personal projects too, I have so many ideas, and things I want to do – my charater designs, blog, web ideas its hard to just concentrate on one.
I just recently graduated with a BS in Multimedia Design Technology. I studied all the same things it sounds like you are, Bryan. Motion graphics never really appealed to me, so it wasn’t hard for me to choose to go with Print and Web design.
I would agree with Jennifer and Tara, pick a focus and then once you get a handle on that, branch out. I’m currently learning more about Web design (it’s an ever evolving field!) and now I’m starting to get into photography and copywriting. It’s good to have several skills in your hand, but not so many that you’re not good at any one, like Jennifer said.
Maybe some of these interests will be more like hobbies until you are able to devote more time to them? And a blog is always a great way to test the waters!!
Trying to to sound repetitive, I will agree with all the comments above. Ideally you should pick a field, preferable one you are better good at or love more (and there will always be one). Personally, I have been in almost every sector of IT, from database design, programming, networking, web design and video editing. After moving around all sectors, I found out I became competent in all of them but I didn’t really excel in any.
I decided to go into web design/illustration, I also loved video editing/post video production and animation and it was difficult to decide to stick with web design.
Though I still have a way to go before I become as good Tara, Paul and some of the others
|, I’m becoming much better and knowledgeable about web design/Illustration than when I was a “Jack of all trades” 
. I still work on my video and editing and animation in my spare time though (as my hobby) 
Hope I made a bit of sense
Hey gang!
I sense a theme of sorts running through the posts . . (hehe)
Seriously, thank you for your words of wisdom and encouragement. I need to sit and decide what I want to master first. Perhaps I will make a list of what I want to do now, and once I feel like I have got a good grip on whatever “it” may be, I can begin dabbling in the next item on the list.
I took Tara’s advice, and created a blog. It is not populated yet, as I am a bit new to actually running my own blog, but WordPress has a ton of resources, so it shouldn’t take too long. Perhaps I can dabble in the video or photography on the blog like Lauren suggested.
Thank you again, and keep the posts coming. My blog address is http://www.zcservices.com/blog
Best Regards,
Bryan
Hi Bryan and everyone,
What a great question to be putting out there! I finished my Design / Multimedia course last year, and for at least a year now I have had the exact same dilemma. One of my teachers suggested that I become an all-rounder, but every other piece of advice I’ve received or read indicates that it’s better to specialise and become really good in your specialty. I especially like doing web design, illustration and animation / motion graphics, and I am lucky to be working in animation at the moment. The previous comments about dividing interests into work/hobby pursuits are really useful, too. Good luck!
Hi Tolumi,
You made me blush, thanks for the compliment.
Hi Brian
Interesting post. I’ve just finished studying two years of multimedia – which is basically a bit of everything: graphic design, web, 3D, video, etc. So I empathise.
Now I’ve finished I’m kind of at a crossroads. I DO think that there is a job market for a good ‘all rounder’, and this is what I’m pursuing at the moment. If however I wanted to carry on studying I think it would be time to focus on ONE specific skillset.
You can be a jack of all trades and that’s fine. But I don’t think it’s realistic to aim to be a master of all.
Hi Bryan,
You should be glad that there are so many things that interest you. Your dilemma is to pick which passion to pay more attention to, while others struggle to find one thing that attracts some kind of interest in them.
How about combining all your skills and passions: say, creating motion graphics with your music and poems in the background. You could display your poetry with some interesting typography effects, and post them on your blog.
Another thing you could try is sticking to just one direction for a certain period of time, and after that try a different direction for the same period of time, and so on. And then honestly decide which period of time was the most productive one and made you feel better.
Hi gang!
Wow! What an overwhelming amount of responses!
First allow me to thank each and every one of you for your posts. I have read them all, and took bits and pieces from each one. I also talked to some fellow designers, most of which echoed much of what you already posted.
I have decided to give each talent/interest its own space. Basically, I created folders for each item I want to pursue. I have separate folders for my portfolio, photography, music, A/V, and writing. I put them in order of importance, and began working on one folder at a time. When I feel I am satisfied with folder 1, I will upload the site and move on to the next folder.
I cannot remember where I heard or read it, but if you have more than one passion, you need to separate them. For instance, each one of my folders will eventually become its own website. This keep the confusion down for both myself and the end user.
My first folder is my portfolio, which I am almost done with. Most of my projects are from school and already completed, so this was an easy one. However, I still need to hone my Adobe skills, so before I move on to folder #2, I plan on taking a couple courses at Lynda.com.
I finally feel organized, and have laid out a game plan. I couldn’t have done this without all of your wonderful suggestions, so again I thank you for all of the tips and ideas.
Bryan
Hi Bryan,
You sound very organised
I have been over to your blog and was going to leave a comment but you have it set so you have to be a logged in user to comment. I look forward to reading your posts when you get to the “blog post folder”
Brian really knows his stuff. I’ve known him for many years and am pretty proud of the committment hes made to this creative venture. His knowledge of flash and creative designs are really unigue and cool!!!!
Light and Blessings all,
DAIMON