What I Wish You Knew: Angie Fadness

Graphic Designer

Written by Angie Fadness, edited by Laura Schaefer

I am a Graphic Designer and Social Media Coordinator. I chose Graphic Design in college because I had always been good at 'art' and wanted to do something with art. Art Education didn't appeal to me and I knew Fine Art didn't have much money in it, so Graphic Design it was! Social Media came only recently (in the past 4 years). I chose that after taking some web design courses at our local tech school. One of my courses was web design in social media. I loved the social media information and learned I didn't need that many classes to get a certificate. 

Being creative at work

I love being creative at work and getting paid for it. It's satisfying when I can take raw content and turn it into something appealing and eye-catching. For social media, I love when I can push the information out in such a way, usually through messaging, that people engage through sharing, commenting, etc.

Like any creative job, you will always have someone who will tell you how to do your business, even though they do not have a degree in it. Creative fields are harder because what people like and respond to is usually subjective. Another annoying thing is that the graphic designer is usually near the end of the process, so sometimes has to make up the time lost earlier in the project process. Every job I have had in GD has been this way, so at this point it is not a surprise to me. No major regrets at this point, but I think adding social media helped keep me interested in my career later on. I can now make graphics specifically for social, which uses my graphic design skills. 

What I wish you knew

You really do need a degree to do the work. It drives me crazy when someone in the organization just 'whips something together' in Microsoft Word like it's not a big deal. Nine times out of ten it doesn't look professional enough for the use they intend it to be.

I hope that companies continue to realize the value of having in-house designers. When you invest in them, they also invest heavily in you by knowing and promoting the brand they work for.