All through school I really struggled in school but was always doing something creative with my hands or digitally. It took me a while, but I finally found my path and became a graphic designer after taking a 6-week crash course in Graphic Design.

I struggled a lot in school before becoming a Graphic Designer

My path to becoming a Graphic Designer wasn’t the easiest, but it was worth it and it totally changed my life. I’ll start by saying that growing up, going to college, and figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up wasn’t something I spent a lot of time thinking about. I honestly really struggled all through school… I was a C, D, and sometimes an F student. I found it really hard to maintain my focus while in class. I’ll never forget this one time when I was taking summer classes, I doodled all in the margins of my paper wedding dress designs… which is funny because I never grew up thinking about my wedding.

My teacher in that class called my mom and told her I needed to stop doodling on my homework and I will never forget this, but my mom responded by asking her to let me be creative and that it’s okay that I am doodling in the margins and that it’s important that I explore my creativity. Love her for doing that!

All in all, I really had a hard time finding my footing with school and the path I wanted to go in life. I am very lucky that I lived in a household that supported me and never made me feel less than when it came to my grades. I always felt supported and that I was going to do great things in my life regardless of how I did in school. If you’re struggling in school, I promise you that it doesn’t mean there isn’t something that you’re great at! You just need to keep going and exploring what interests you!

I went to college for something I ended up not liking

I ended up going to college for Interior Design and Architecture, thinking that it was the perfect direction for me to go in. I loved interiors, being creative, collaborating with others and I also loved architecture as a whole. I was always interested in both, so it felt like a no brainer to go to school for that.

However, what ended up happening was I found little interest, joy, and honestly little success in my classes. I felt defeated and lost once again.

I was telling my dad about how my classes were going and how I didn’t want to pursue that path anymore and he suggested, as he had done in the past, that I take a 6-week crash course in Graphic Design. In the past, I rebelled against my dad’s advice, I felt like I knew what was best, when the whole time, my dad really knew what was best for me.

My aunt spent her career being the Creative Director at Arizona Highways magazine, so my dad was privy to that career path and had always thought it would be a good fit for me. Growing up, before computers, I was always drawing, painting, and being creative with my hands. Once we had a computer in the house (don’t forget, I am 34 years old, we didn’t have a computer or internet in the house until my early teen years!) I was instantly drawn to being creative digitally. I made countless Geocities websites, (If you made one back in the day, you can search this database and see what you made and regain editing access – so cool), designed logos, made mixed CDs for DAYS, designed the CD labels, and more. Looking back, having a career as a Graphic Designer and being in a career that focused on technology as solutions makes so much sense now. It just took me a while to get there.

I took a 6-week crash course in Graphic Design and it changed my life

I took my dad’s advice and ended up taking a 6-week crash course in Graphic Design. They took us through every program in the Adobe Creative Suite (at the time, there was no Adobe Creative Cloud… it was all on CDs you had to pay for and install on your computer!! Wild. I know.) and I was HOOKED! It was as if every lightbulb went off in my head and I knew that THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO DO! I wanted to become a graphic designer!

Within a matter of weeks, I found a college that offered the classes and programs I wanted to take (Scottsdale Community College) and I transferred there and started right away.

Remember earlier how I told you I was barely a C student? Well, I am not kidding you when I say that my life changed, because I, for the first time in my life, was getting straight A’s, was on the honor roll, was winning awards and was even showing work in a gallery in Morocco. If that isn’t crazy and life-changing, then I don’t know what is!

I went on to be a freelance Graphic Designer for 8 years

After I had a few years of being a Graphic Designer under my belt, I ended up taking on clients and wound up freelancing for 8 years! I posted a few videos/posts talking about why I quit freelancing full-time and if I regret quitting freelance. It truly changed my life and I could not be more grateful.

If you have the opportunity to explore things your interested in to find what works for you, I highly encourage it. Luckily today there are so many online resources that allow you to test out career paths without ever stepping foot inside a classroom as I did. Sites like Skillshare, Linkedin Learning, Udemy, and YouTube are wonderful resources to get your feet wet in a few different paths to see what lights you up.

Once you find something you may be interested in, I recommend finding at least 5 individuals in that profession and doing some informational interviews with them. It’s a great way to get insight into the day to day life of that career.

In a nutshell, that is how I became a graphic designer. I would love to hear where you are on your path to becoming a Graphic Designer or any other profession!

If you have any questions or any requests for future posts, please leave them down in the comments below.

Remember, be kind to others – it’s important!

Jehn Keskin