Dear Graphic Designer

Dear Graphic Designer,

Let’s now find out how a method from the sports domain can be applied to a creative one.

Before we begin, I’d like to invite you to consider this:

An athlete’s approach: I believe that there’s an athlete in us all. After all, everyone has the strength, fitness, and flexibility to perform in whichever field they’re in. Can we rethink athleticism as a mindset or a way of doing things that isn’t limited to just sports?

Graphic Designer = Athlete: In the same way that athletes have their sports of focus, we’re no different––like those who focus on [running], we focus on [graphic design]. Just like athletes, we also go through intensive training and face plateaus. That’s why it’s helpful to switch things up and train other muscle groups so that we don’t burn ourselves out in the process. By doing so, we’ll also develop wider ranges of motion so that we’re prepared to deal with future plateaus and to adapt to foreign environments.

Read on to find out how a plateau led a fellow graphic designer (also a participant of the program) to discover that cross-training was the solution that she needed to expand from her sport of focus:

Training equipment: Like how an athlete uses specific equipment to train with, so do we. For some of us, we were trained to use a mouse, a keyboard, and Adobe from day one, and are expected to still do so as they’re the industry standard equipment in both educational and working environments. For this graphic designer, she became conditioned to feel at home with the presence of such equipment, so whenever came the time to transition into new environments, she felt “safe” as long as they’re in sight.

Muscle memory: This is developed from continuous engagement with a specific activity. In the case of this graphic designer who found herself deeper into the commercial field, her specialization looked like so:

(graphic design (digital marketing design (performance marketing design)))

This meant that her training also became more controlled through the use of specific muscles required for quick turnarounds for deliverables. As a result, keyboard shortcuts became the tool she relied on to facilitate this optimal workflow: finger gestures were paired with specific functions, and combinations were memorized through repetition and association with specific software.