Design Feast Series: Designer’s Quest(ionnaire)

Michelle Joy Gadrinab

Independent Designer

Primary design concentration:

Previously Information Design

Most preferred tool for designing:

Colored paper and my X-acto blade, and self-healing cutting mat

1. How and why did you choose to become a designer?

I like to visually organize information. I like when things make sense when I look or read them. Design allowed me to make a living while doing something I enjoyed.

2. Challenges you encounter as a designer and how do you deal with them?

Just starting. I deal with it by just giving myself a chance to explore and arrive at a solution, not forcing it.

3. Your definition of an “elegant solution,” that is, good design?

Form and function. Beautiful and timeless.

4. From skills to values, what makes a designer successful?

His/her ability to see what the client needs even when the client doesn’t see it. Questioning why something is the way it is is important.

5. How do you stay motivated and grow personally and professionally as a designer?

I keep a binder of images/things that I am inspired by, or things I want to try and make.

6. For those aspiring to become a designer, whatever the discipline,what is your advice?

Be observant of the world around you. Don't take yourself too seriously.

7. What is your quest in design?

Quest in design? Professionally I’m not sure where I want to go. I have an opportunity to follow a different path. I started somewhere, but I am not ending up where I thought I might. What's important is to use what I know from design and apply it to whatever I make.

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