(I was thinking about a script for an upcoming video project when I thought of this. I though it was interesting to read later. I’m about to have my last quarter at design school and it kind of feels like the end of a duration in a coccoon and I want to capture that feeling of anticipation.)

Hello. I’m Kat Countiss. I’m a graphic designer. At least, that’s what I want you to take away from this. See, I am beginning to form this opinion of what the word “design” means. Design with a capitol “D.” It’s the same as Art, with a capitol “A.” I want to validate all attempts at making the world more beautiful and purposeful and call a lot of things design and art, but it remains that these disciplines are ones that need societal evaluation before deemed successful. That is something I haven’t had a lot of. In design school, most of the time you make up a product and parameters. Your clients are your teachers and often less invested in your product than a real client. Sad to say, but true. These people have to wrangle twenty proto-designers and need to keep a distance from all of the projects to be able to attend to them equally.

Mostly, this means I don’t know truly what it means to be a designer. To design something that suits my client’s needs, makes them happy, makes them feel like I’m worth the money they pay me. There’ s a thing about investment that teachers aren’t doing. They aren’t taking that risk of paying someone to do something that hasn’t been done before, or done well before. There’s a gamble in that and a joy when that gamble pays off and there’s a sense of victory and accomplishment from being the client in a well-done project. And that satisfaction is transmitted to the designer as well, creating a confidence unlike anything enjoyed in school.