design tavern

The advice from over a dozen artists and designers from across the globe each with their own thoughts and advice that they have kindly shared for those wishing to become like them.

Remeber, the full articles can be seen in the interviews section.

The Question:

“What advice would you give to would be artists/designers?”

“Make the most of your time at art school and take all possibilties you can take to spend some of it abroad (if possible). I often feel I didn’t make the most of my time studying”

– Mattias Adolfsson

“Don’t ever compromise your vision.”

– Yeva Babayan

“Keep your mind creative, love and take an interest in all around you.”

– Tung Le

“Make sure you believe strongly in your own work and do just what the worlds greatest living artist told me to do… “Trust yourself”.”

– Guy Sargent

“Let it become your life, be passionate, work harder than the next guy. Oh and use the Internet, it has become a second university for me, get involved with forums, visit ted.com, write your own blog, you will learn a lot, all for free.”

– Jase Cooper

“Do something else…” (very funny guys!)

– Space Invaders Design Group

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“Don’t be afraid of anything. More impudence and freedom in creation. The more you’ll try the better the result is.”

– Alexander Ovchinnikov

“be original and believe in yourself”.

– Abhijeet Kuma

“Reach beyond your grasp.”

– Matt Huynh

“Remember to embrace your personal experiences and your own unique and fresh design vision”

– Yoann Henry Yvon

“In the words of German techno group Scooter: It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

– Cecilia Levy

“If you have an ace up your sleeve, just don’t keep it long. If you keep it for too long, it’ll go rotten. Just show everything you have to people, listen to what they say. You’ll be able to create something much better, to learn how to show your ideas to people, and to make your community.”

– Mac Funamizu

“Get out there and get your work seen by as many people as possible. You should never be afraid to show people your work. You maybe the best designer/illustrator in the world, but if no one sees your work, you won’t get commissioned”

– Rod Hunt

“It depends on what you want your career to be and what kind of person you are. If you wanna work at Disney you must bend your mind to the “Disney way of life”, I suppose. From my point of view I’d suggest: do your best to develop YOUR art and style. Nowadays it’s very difficult to be completely original but strive to put your mark in your work. Client work tend to leave you with little or no time, but try to keep some to do new experiments with your art.”

– Leonardo Sala

“..believe in the work you do, and make the best they can in everything you do. That’s the best attitude to have in relation with all areas.”

– Luis Porem

“Get inspired. Have fun. Keep it current. Get a Mac. Go probono. I can’t preach this any louder. Young designers get so mad when you tell them you gotta start doing some freebies. Do it because you love it. They all think their work is worth so much money already haha. I started emailing people if I could do a site for them for free. I just loved designing and growing my skills. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to be a good designer. Also have lots of resources. I had a teacher (who was once the creative director for MTV) tell me that you are only as good as your resources. Pretty much sums that up.”

– Dann Petty

“I started my own firm at a very young age. sometimes I wish I had worked for some of the architects that I admire prior to going out on my own.”

– Jeff Kovel