What do you do if your design career is off to a rocky start?

When I first started designing and making jewelry, it felt like I was constantly hitting bumps in the road. It was a bit overwhelming, but I knew I had to dig deep and keep going. I spent some time reflecting on what I really wanted to create and who I wanted to reach. It was about getting back to the drawing board, again and again, tweaking and improving, which I love to do because I love my work. Now, those early bumps feel like valuable lessons that have steered me in the right direction. It’s all about keeping at it, one design at a time!

A rocky start is not an indication of long-term failure. Embrace the challenges as chances to grow, both personally and professionally. Analyze: Reflect on your journey so far. Identify patterns in feedback and pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. Be honest with yourself. Improve: Based on your analysis, create an action plan. Set achievable goals, seek resources to fill skill gaps, and refine your processes. Small, consistent improvements add up. Market yourself: Put yourself out there. Update your online presence, engage with the design community, and do pro-bono work to build your portfolio. Visibility leads to opportunity.

If my design career is off to a rocky start, I'd first take a step back to reflect on what went wrong and why. Then, I would identify areas for improvement and set specific goals to work towards. It's important to stay positive and keep pushing forward, even if things don't go as planned. I would seek feedback from mentors or more experienced designers, and I would be open to learning from my mistakes. Building a strong portfolio and networking within the design community can also help me get back on track. And most importantly, I would remind myself that setbacks are a natural part of any career journey, and they can ultimately lead to growth and success.

Não desistir e não comprometer a sua carreira por um momento, uma falha, algo que não deu certo naquele segundo, contexto e data. Se puder, recomece de onde parou ou mesmo enfrente o desafio do novo, prepare-se, estude, habilite-se, vista-se de criatividade e repertório todos os dias.

In my experience, design is one of the careers that is rapidly changing, and if you don't adapt your experience with new skills, you are behind the competition in the field, and your chances of getting a better career path will be less. In my opinion, every 6 months you should look into your skills and see what you can add to them, in this method you will be adapt to what is happening in this career, also achieving new skills makes designers feels better ;)

Totally, networking has been a game changer for me! I took this business course designed specifically for jewelry designers, and honestly, the best part was meeting other designers from all over the globe. We all ended up clicking right away and agreed that the connections we made were the real gem of the course. It’s awesome to have a group of friends who get the ups and downs of this industry, to share ideas with, and to cheer each other on. We keep in touch and continue to support each other's work on a daily basis. They are great partners for accountability and like having a little global community of creative pals!

I know that networking is one of the hard skills to do with designers because our Art side makes us more introverted, but also we know that if you want to make more money you need more connection & networking. Well, in the end, it's a challenging skill and you can't proceed without it. Chris Do was one of the people who influenced me and helped me to develop this skill, I recommend every designer to learn from him

With your experience growing and the design challenges growing more, building a strong portfolio helps you to be on track with the market competition. In my opinion, every graphic designer should evaluate his portfolio once a year at least. Also, seek feedback from experts in your field on how he can improve it. I notice also most the recruiters want to see something new all the time and to be a good fit for their requirements you need to refine your portfolio as possible as you can

Building a strong portfolio sharing it on various platforms and commenting on other's work help one designer reach a maximum viewers. It will help the designer to get noticed, may be tomorrow he can start a freelance or get hired if he has a great portfolio. A decent portfolio and a great portfolio require maximum hard work, keeping with design trends, and by using relevant software also helps.

Feedback is very helpful and sometimes painful, but it is the only way you will see your work from a different perspective and understand what is working and how the others/the world around you views it. At the same time, don't take any of it personally and you'll be fine. Get a few experienced people to review your work that way you can see various opinions. Make sure that the critique is presented clearly and in a helpful way and that you feel you are learning and growing from the experience.

Inspiration is helpful as motivation to keep going. It will guide you through those tough times. It can remind you why you like your craft and why you do what you do.

Sticking with it is key - be persistent! I dream up every design and work closely with awesome artisans who bring some of my ideas to life. Sure, some days are tough, especially when inspiration is hard to find or things don’t go as planned. But every time a piece turns out just right, I fall in love with it and someone else falls in love with it too. It’s a reminder of why I keep going. Each design is a little victory, showing me the power of not giving up and enjoying the ride.

Keep at it. No one knows what they are doing when they first start but even later on as well. Everyone is putting on a show online, so don't believe everything you see and start comparing yourself to everyone else on social media. Some people are silently suffering and others are loudly complaining to the world. If you keep at your craft you will make it somewhere one way or another.