nandithavijayan

Nanditha

How to Approach Companies with Graphic Design Job Openings as a Freelance Print Designer

This list can be overwhelming. So, how can you actually select a field of design to focus on and build a career when you are just starting out? This could be one big question that you are having in your mind-right? I would suggest you to start by listing your topics of interest in design. Bullet point them and narrow them down to the top 3 to 5 fields you’re most passionate about. I know this is hard, but you can do hard things! From this refined list, you can begin your design journey. Here’s what my list looked like when I started out: Now comes the hard part: focusing on your strongest skills. What are you particularly good at? Could it be Hand Lettering, Surface Pattern Design, or Logo Design? For me, I initially had five interests, but I knew focusing on all of them would be tough. So, I narrowed it down to three high-priority fields: In the same way, think of 2 or 3 high-priority areas to focus on and start creating projects based on these interests. If your fields are entirely different, like story design and logo design, figure out which one feels more natural and gives you ease and flow. Once you’ve made your decision, start working on projects in these fields and observe which one interests you more. For me, Surface Pattern Design stood out, as I could create pattern designs for various products including packaging, which was also one of my top three priorities. I was able to incorporate my artworks into home textiles, fashion, greeting cards, packaged boxes, and much more. You can definitely check out more of my design work here. You might also want to notice that, all the 3 design fields were actually going hand in hand with each other for me. As you start working on projects, you’ll naturally feel drawn to a particular area. For me, this was textiles for fashion and home, rather than packaging and greeting cards. I gradually figured out what worked best for me and what no longer interested me. By starting and completing projects, you’ll discover what truly works for you and what you might want to remove from your list. So my friend, let me know if this was helpful for you and if it was, make sure to write back to me.

“Choosing the Perfect Palette: Selecting Colors for Cashmere and Silk Products”

Designing Cashmere scarves and silk tunics for the brand, Simone Bruns, has been an enjoyable experience. Simone’s unique and vibrant style is evident in her choice of colors and painterly prints.  As a Surface Print Designer,  my job is to get the right prints for her and figure out the best color combinations that go well for her collections. Once the print is created, finding the right colors for production seems to be the next challenging task.  When we design a print and assign a particular color, it is most likely not the same when the production is done for the sample. Inorder to get the right colors for Cashmere scarves, you can always ask a color guide from the producer. This color guide provides small colored swatches that would be printed on the Cashmere scarves. This will help you to find the right background colors. For Cashmere scarves and Knitwear, we use CONSINEE where they provide an immersive book filled with different shades of colored swatches.   Consignee Group, a well-known supplier in the world of cashmere industry, provides high quality cashmere yarns to the top brand market. CONSINEE provides the best premium natural fibers in their yarns, with cashmere the core of their collection. They have a very advanced procedure and equipment for dying and spinning. They also create their quality yarns in different sizes and texture.  Working with the Color books from CONSINEE gives a designer better understanding of how to work with these different colors and combinations of yarns helping us to provide a wide variety of color options for the clients every season. Consignee group also provides  seasonal ‘overview collections’ where designers can create new styles for sweaters with different surface directions.

Nurturing your Inner Artist

As said earlier, being a stay-at-home mom, our focus is mostly on our children and our family. We tend to not focus on ourselves. We give the least preference for things we want to do in our lives. Before I started my artistic journey, this was exactly where I used to be. As time went by, I lost focus, I lost my confidence and stopped even believing in my abilities. The only work I used to do is cleaning, cooking, taking care of the baby, and mostly doing the home chores for my family. All of these tasks were important to me, but at the same time, I gave the least importance to myself. There even came a time, when I started getting frustrated with myself. I stopped talking to people because I felt I was not worthy enough. I started hating myself and eventually, I fell into a depression. Depression is very common in women and I strongly feel that one of the reason for this is because we hate ourselves for not being able to be the person we wish to be in our life, for not doing the things we love and for not doing something for our inner self to make her feel nourished with happiness and a healthy creative mind. The reason it is happening with us, is because we are letting ourselves be that way. So it is of no use complaining or feeling that you were not able to do something in life because of somebody else or people around you. Just forget about the past of what you were not able to achieve, but start right now and focus on the present. ‘What can I do today & how can I start today?’ are the questions you need to ask yourself. What can you do to help yourself start with a creative work & nurture your inner Artist?  To nurture your inner artist, you could do anything, for example- spend some time at the lake, or take some time to write down your thoughts,& creative ideas, or find some florals to draw from the garden, take a walk to find some twigs & branches to paint and draw. It could be anything to give yourself a small incentive and help yourself feel good & happy about. Here is a little behind the scenes of how I find my inspirations from the garden. This process will nurture and help your inner artist get started with ideas and creative sparks. It will also make you feel good about yourself for taking small steps towards your artistic journey. Doing these small steps could also help you heal any wounds or scars that have been lying deep within you. Just observe things around you, plants, trees, leaves, flowers, stones, insects, animals, and all those small things that you could draw and paint.   Exercise: For example, my list would look like this, Now what would your list look like? Write them down