It was supposed to be for New Years (January 1) in general, but I had some complication in not finishing it. With the inspiration (from her) to do something in Photoshop, I decided to make this for her.

Happy Valentines to you, Vina.

Thanks again to everyone following me on twitter, and subscribing to my feeds. In terms of what you can expect is a nice documentation on making a Wordpress theme which will also be converted into a PDF for people to download, and also continuing my HTML/CSS tutorials for the beginners.

It’s time to become a hybrid.

What’s a Hybrid?

Now, I’m not talking about those new cars these days. A hybrid by definition (courtesy of Google) is a mixture of different parts into one whole thing. We’re not talking about just physical parts here, we’re talking about skills. So if you’re strong or knowledgeable in many different aspects, then you’re a hybrid. But you have to be careful thinking whether you’re a strong hybrid or a weak one.

You may be asking yourself…”What’s the difference?”

Let’s say, you’re strong in graphic design, and then randomly you’re strong in writing documents. Now, honestly, there isn’t much wrong with having those skills, but it’s definitely weak in the sense, you can’t apply the full potential of your graphic design skills to writing (although that can be debated). While on the other hand, if you were strong in graphic design, and then strong in web design, the two skills integrate with each other as you can use your principles in design to apply it to templates, and graphics that you would see on websites.

I believe that there is a correlation of skills that must be learned and taught efficiently to become a good hybrid. Designers would need to learn how to design websites, and code them. Modelers would have to learn how to model and texture everything instead of just being generalized in one field. Web developers should learn how to design and use photoshop to make templates for their own projects.

We want to make a person not just great in their one field of interest, but also good in the other fields related.

Why be a Hybrid?

Now, the most popular argument against hybrids and jack-of-all trades is this:

You’re just a jack of all trades. You know a lot, but you’re not an expert in any one of your skills.

True. I’m not going to argue. It’s obvious that a hybrid isn’t good in one skill when put into comparison of an expert in that field. However, that’s not what I’m telling you to be. I’m a strong believer that you must have ONE field that you are strongly happy to be in and know a lot about. However, what I am talking about is expanding that knowledge to related fields. For instance, if you’re a really good Programmer in C++, or some obscure language. Why be the best in that language, if you can also pick up other languages easily? Most programming languages contain or follow the same logic, keywords, and syntax. It’s almost stupid to just specialize yourself in one language. Here’s my argument to the above statement:

It is true that jack of all trades aren’t skilled in one whole field. However, that’s not the point. I want specialists to become hybrids. This doesn’t weaken their main skill. It strengthens it.

Why be a specialist? You’re only limiting yourself. A human brain has a capacity of probably 1-10 TB. Yeah, Google does wonders when trying to find information about the brain. However, that’s not helping my case, more just something intriguing to think about. If your brain is a computer like that, and we all know that brains are more complex in terms of the algorithms it uses to make your body function, there is no reason why you can not use that extra space to learn something new, or at least something related in your field so that it’s really not all that new (more like just adding an extra plugin to Photoshop).

The Advantages

So what’s this big advantage you get with being a hybrid? Your job search is more broad, and much easier. How? Let’s say, you’re a graphic designer. Obviously you want to get some jobs dealing with graphic design. Newsflash….You just limited yourself half the job market. From the trends I see, most people aren’t looking for just graphic designers. They want web designers, people that can maintenance websites, people that can manipulate photos, people that can code simple website, or create storyboards.

For me, my intention was a graphic design job. And where did I end up? I’m doing web design. Web design doesn’t just encompass graphic design and coding. You’d be surprised by the amount of stuff that entails in my job that I had to learn from my work, and by myself. Let’s list some examples. Remember, I’m just a graphic designer (technically not, I graduated from college with a BA in Game Design, so this is a prime example of how hybrids are)

Main Skill that I worked on
Photoshop (I don’t really call myself a graphic designer, but really the main skill I know is Photoshop)

Other skills I had to learn and be good in
Web Design
Print Design
XHTML/CSS
Illustrator
Flash Animation
Flash Website Programming
Javascript/Jquery
Wordpress
MovableType
Joomla
MySQL (How to make databases and import/export queries)
PHP (Basic coding)
Hosting Information/FTP (How to deal with it and get into people’s FTP)
and more on the way

You can definitely see a lot of skills that integrate and relate with one another, and overall they all build up a good library of information and turns you into a powerful tool that companies can use.

Honestly, from an employer’s point of view, if I can hire a person for $15 an hour, who would I chose? A person that knows how to do just Photoshop, or someone that knows how to do Photoshop, word processing, simple web programming, and a little of flash? As an employer, I’m going to get that hybrid, not only because he/she fulfills the spot that I need which is a Photoshop user, but I can abuse his/her other skills as well, and still only have to pay $15 an hour.

It’s a dirty trick by employers, but in today’s economy, they have to play smart with their money to grow their business. Plus, it’s not like you should feel abused. You should feel happy that you got the job, and you’re doing things you like to do. Not to mention, in the long run you’ll get raises and bonuses because of your hard work and skill set.

As the saying goes, your hard work pays off in the long run.

The Disadvantages

To all advantages, there are disadvantages. So what are disadvantages from being a hybrid? The obvious choice would be the whole good in all, great in none. For many college students and perhaps other people, that’s something you don’t want to get yourself into. You don’t want to go through college and through your life and say “Well, I’m pretty okay in a lot of things, but I’m not sure what I really want to do”. One day during your schooling or perhaps very late after your graduation, you need to sit down yourself and say, “Okay, I’m going for this, and going to strengthen that skill more than any”.

Trust me, I’ve been there.

My Experience

Based on my past, I wanted to do something dealing with programming even though I started graphics by making forum signatures back in my sophomore year in high school. I went to Collins College to pursue a degree in Game Design, most specifically programming games. However, I lost interest in it and felt like I wasn’t strong with it. I took visits with Career Services, and they analyzed my skill set and what I was really strong with. And overall, it lead to something dealing with design, and somehow it got to the point where I was aiming for doing interfaces for games. As I went through school more (this was about a term or so before graduation), I finally got some freelance jobs doing graphic design, and suddenly I fell in love doing it. And, I decided to go more broader than just interface design and just get into graphic design or really anything dealing with Photoshop (that’s pretty broad, right?).

And eventually, Career Services landed me a job with IntotheDarkroom based on my design skills. I really had no clue it was a web development firm. Of course I did my research of the company before I got there. During the interview, it went smooth, they asked about my skills, what I know, and such. A week later, I got a call for the job. And during my stay with this job, I learned a great amount from all my co-workers and have a fun time doing it. In addition, having a job that I love to do, gave me the incentive to even go home after work and learn even more in the field.

Conclusion

Whether you want to take the chance to become a hybrid or stick to what you’re doing, you do have to realize that it’s a fighting market out there. A lot of times in terms of designers and that industry, a designer is expected to know more than just Photoshop and Illustrator. Therefore to give yourself a better advantage in the job selection, you should expand your skills. I don’t want you to forget your main skill so you can concentrate on other things. Remember, keep it related and that’ll make your main skill so much stronger.

Got any comments, rebuttal, disagreements, or experience you would like to add? Feel free to comment below.

Subscribe and follow me on twitter @creativele for more updates and case studies.

Are you a designer or know one that likes to do work, yet at the same time you don’t want to show it? How about those people that just say their works sucks, or not good enough?

*raises hand* Yeah, I’m guilty of it as well. After recent conversations with my employer at job at Into the Darkroom, and long time talks with Vina, it has to come to me a few reasons why I don’t like to show my work.

1. “Hmm…I don’t think my work is good”

Most designers, just don’t have the confidence to show their works.  As for me, I would have the fear of showing it.  Why?  Simply put, you’re afraid.  Whether it’s what they will say, or whether what critiques you will get.  Sometimes you’ll get critiqued most on a part of the piece that you think looks perfect.  This is probably one of the main reasons that deters artists and designers alike to hide their stuff.

2. ”People like my last piece, but this new one doesn’t live up to that”

Another reason for designers that don’t show off their works is being pressured from the audience, or being pressured from their own works that they have done in the past. Yes, that’s right. The work that a designer may have done could have an effect on the work the designer will do in the future. If you’re like me, there will be a time in your design life where you will create a graphic design and everyone around you will applaud, give great comments, and basically they will take that as your “image”.

What I mean by that is, when people see something, they usually expect that the next product or design, will be of equal or beyond what they saw. Therefore, if there expectations aren’t met, then they will be disappointed. This puts pressure on us designers, because, truth be told, we can’t always make a really good piece every single time whether it be from lack of inspiration, client restrictions, or a restricted theme.

3. “Geez…look at these other people, I want to do something like that”

Let’s get it out of the way. No matter who you are (pertaining to the design and art industry) there will always be a better designer and artist than you. Whether they are better as a whole or better in a certain theme. There will always be that one person you will admire. For me, I’ve always admired the works of Pete Harrison, Nik Ainley, and even the lovely Vina Nguyen with her arts and designs. These are people that I will always admire, and in some cases wished I can imitate their work.

However, you can’t let that admiration get to you. Everyone has an individual style that’s unique to themselves. You put your own personality into your work, and your own time and dedication, which is something that no one can mimic. Works can look the same, but the process to making them may be different. Don’t be afraid to go outside the box with your designs. Don’t get stuck in the hole that you’re no good. Be inspired from them, and work on your own things.

4. “I’ve worked 20 hours so far, and it looks stupid. I’m going to delete it.”?

Many times, designers and artists will create a new piece, and within a couple minutes, hours, or even days working on it, they decide it looks really dull or one of the reasons said above gets across their mind. Let’s see how I can put it nicely. Just finish it. Whether it’s ugly to you, or whether you think it’s bad to other people…you shouldn’t care about it. Some people will like it, some people won’t. Just finish it, because the more you prolong it, the more likely you’ll never get it done.

Conclusion

So what have we learned today? As what my employer said, just get it done and show it. Peel off the band-aid, and see what the world thinks of it. The more you show, the more confident you’ll be, and the better you’ll be when you get some tips and advice. You’re not killing anyone if you’re showing it (I hope not, but don’t quote me on that) and you’re not doing much harm (unless you’re wasting a lot of paper doing your work, try to be green).

So if you’re a designer or artist that doesn’t like your own work or show it off, don’t worry, a lot of people are the same. Learn to deal with it, and just show your stuff off. You won’t get any better or you won’t get exposed if you just hide it.

Any opinions, questions, or rants? Please leave your comment below.

-Dan

P.S. In terms of introduction, I’m Dan, and everything described above was pretty much how I felt about my own work. And that’s why I created this blog. I wanted to show my experiences, feelings, and journey of my designer life and help other designers and even developers who are having similar problems. Please follow me and subscribe to this blog. Free resources, tutorials, tips, and case studies will be made for all my viewers and audience. I hope you will learn a lot, and feel free to comment on my articles for your opinions and your tips.

I’d like to give a great thanks to Vina at vtension for helping me a lot in terms of my graphics, and how to see different aspects of my life. Take a visit to Vina’s blog and check out her stories and resources as well.