The introduction of digital media was, for many graphic designers, a major disruption of geological proportions. While some reaffirmed their allegiance to printed matter, considering that the new technologies were nothing more than advanced production tools, others, driven by curiosity, chose the path of experimentation. But there were no signposts along the way. Words had to be crafted to describe choices and options. Transmedia projects. Creative ambidexterity. Data visualization. Integrated thinking. Experience Design. The new jargon did nothing to explain what was happening. The first graphic designers who ventured outside the boundaries of the known analog realm were speaking in tongues!
However, their work was quite sensational. If they had trouble naming what they did, the results spoke for themselves. Even though their practice was “transitional” (another word that doesn't say much), these designers won big awards, were invited to participate in juries, spoke at international conferences, made headlines, and had museum retrospectives.
Today, there is a new generation of graphic designers who haven't experienced this transitional phase firsthand but who have retained the multidisciplinary approach pioneered by their peers. One can count on them to usher in new ideas and unexpected practices. Most of them are self-taught and entrepreneurial in spirit. To join their ranks, graphic designers don't have to be fluent in programming codes or even technologically proficient, but they must be fast learners. Critical is an ability to hit the ground running and get up to speed in no time at all.
If you happen to be this type A individual, the number of opportunities for employment can be mind-boggling. You can join teams of Web designers who are exploring novel ways to navigate information and interact with it. You can find work in the field of motion graphics, where you will be prompted to develop your storytelling skills. You can he hired by advertising agencies to work, in their “lab” department, where researchers explore new media options and concoct alternative tactics for social networking marketing.
How do you break in? By having a passion and doing something about it, whether it is claymation or bookbinding, prototyping or broadcasting, information graphics or wayfinding. Develop projects that demonstrate how you approach the topic of your choice. Bring a product or a service of your own making to the market. Raise money for a venture with a crowd-funding campaign. Design an app. Initiate a cycle of conferences. Open a small gallery. Make mini-documentary films.
The measure of success in this space we call “transitional design” is not how things look but how things “work.”
Needless to say, no one aspires to job security in this career path! As the saying goes, “The ink doesn't dry in the digital age.” But, as confirmed by the next series of interviews, there is no shortage of successful people in this category. What these innovators have in common is a certain amount of charisma, not because of their personality, but because of their attitude—a fearless disdain for preconceived ideas.