My 5 Year Anniversary
Today marked my five year anniversary at work. I work with some really nice people and they put balloons and streamers on my desk and there were snacks and kind words. While I dread being the center of attention, I have to say that I was touched by the gesture of my co-workers.
A little over five years ago I was working as an in-house designer at Nelnet. It was my first “real” job as a designer and I was ambitious and excited to finally be doing full-time what I went to school to become. The projects were entry-level, but I tackled them with enthusiasm and passion, hoping to use the experience as a stepping stone to the next level of my career. The next level came when I was hired by HuebnerPetersen. I was thrilled. Finally, this was a place where I could grow and learn and gain experience. And I have. It has been, and continues to be a great job.
Recently, I have been watching the instructional videos created by Apple for developers that want to learn how to build iPhone applications. Each video is narrated by a different Apple employee. I was surprised that each one introduces themselves as an evangelist. Technology Evangelist. Software Evangelist. Application Framework Evangelist. One after another each video was introduced not by a specialist. Not by Senior Vice President of blah, blah, blah. These people were evangelists. People so passionate about what they do that it is closer to a religion than a profession. And it showed in their presentations. I don’t know if I have ever seen a tutorial that bordered on being inspirational, but Apple was able to do it.
Perhaps my infatuation with the word “evangelist” has something to do with my Christian upbringing. My dad is a pastor, and I have been raised to consider church work as a “higher calling.” While there isn’t anything inherently sacred or spiritual about design, I bring a strong set of convictions and beliefs to my job. It is why I chose the name “Cath3dral” for my future web design “studio,” with an irony that may or may not be apparent to the average person.
As I reflect on the last five years I have to wonder what lies ahead for me. How do I get to a point where I am a design evangelist? In some ways that kind of devotion is not a welcome trait in a designer. An evangelist wouldn’t stand for design being used to promote a product that doesn’t live up to the headline. An evangelist wouldn’t stand for the erosion that happens as an idea gets watered-down from concept to completion. An evangelist has no patience for corporate jargon that gets passed off as customer service. An evangelist doesn’t strong-arm their ideas onto others and call it collaboration. And yet those very challenges, the pitfalls that we all struggle against, those are what makes being an evangelist for design all the more necessary. A voice of conviction may not always be welcome, but it will surely be heard.
So as I look ahead I can’t see what is next for me. All I know is that I want to continue to do it with the enthusiasm of a missionary. I want to create work that inspires people like the words of a preacher. I want to lead people out of the darkness like a prophet. And most of all I want to serve God by using my skills to do his will. Luckly, that leaves me with a huge challenge and an enormous room for growth in the next five to fifty years. Here’s to the future.
