indian summer.

Once upon a time I almost moved to Philadelphia. It was two years ago, I had just finished my Bachelor degree and lived in miserable Glasgow. One day I received a positive response to one of the thousand job applications I had sent out. This one would give me an opportunity to work in the states, in the fashion industry but with enphasis on what I do best; graphic design and illustration. In other words - a dream opportunity. They asked me to work on a project for them, where I could show them my skills. As for any other project, I took this super seriously. I worked on it as if my life depended on it. In a sense it did, because I couldn't stay one more day in Glasgow, I was so sick of that town. In the end they loved what I had done, said they didn't want to interview anyone else, and was going to arrange a flight as soon as possible. Then it took a week and I didn't hear anything. Turned out they didn't feel like sponsoring my visa and hired someone else. This was of course something that felt like shit, but with time I've come to be quite used to the feeling. Getting rejected because you're not a conveinient choice is very common, and it doesn't mean your work is bad, you were just born in the wrong place or something like that. It's a typical situation that any designer will have to face. It sucks, but it may teach you something as well. In my case, I haven't slowed down in the making of things one bit. When I look back at the large amount of files that I had produced for aforementioned project, I'm quite impressed. The research is there, the experiments and millions of different variations are there. A massive work folder produced in only a few days. I work the same these days, only slightly more controlled and focused. Maybe because I know what awaits after my MA degree is done. Maybe because I know what it's like to be a designer now, compared to living in airy fairy land during my BA's. What I'm trying to say is that you have to always keep working when you chose to be a designer. It doesn't matter if you get rejected. Make a project out of the rejection, like I did in this illustration made from the art from the Philadelphia job.