The writings of Vincent Cooler are my modest contribution to the design community. I’ve been working with graphic design since I was 17 years old. It all started back in 1977, when I saw an ad for a local advertising agency.

Power of a teacher

Today there are hundreds of roads leading to the design profession. One of them is to apply for a spot at some designer school. I did not take that road. That option was not available where I grew up. As for education, I had only two choices, start repairing cars, or become a carpenter, maybe an engineer, or a doctor. Neither was of any interest to me. Already in grammar school, my teacher told me what I should become when I got older. «I like your drawings», he said. «You will be a designer when you get older». That was it. My teacher was the only person I knew, who considered drawing as something useful. My teacher was a God.

Power of youth

I remember the day when I was supposed to show up at the agency, and present my work samples, my drawings, and maybe get a real job. Getting paid for making drawings. Imagine that! Unfortunately, weather in the arctics can be quite unstable. A raging blizzard set in, turning everything into ice. My father could not drive me there. But, you can’t stop a possessed seventeen-year old kid. I decided to walk. The agency was in another community, 23 kilometers away. I put my drawings in a backpack, skies on my feet, and started walking. I crossed two mountains ranges trough deep snow, and biting cold. When I got there, all my drawings were wet. But I got the job. Not because my drawings were so great, but because I was so persistent on getting there.
Did I learn something of this? I guess so. Talent and knowledge are not enough if you seriously want to be a designer. You got to do a hell of a lot of skiing too. Didn’t anyone tell you that? Well, now you know.

Explore life

The rule one for becoming a good designer is to explore. Don’t be a journalist, just observing whats going on around you. Be a part of it. By participating you get good twice as fast. Beside working with design, I have explored life to its full, doing things which at first hand doesn’t seam to have anything to do with design. Sometimes I am amazed by the lack of experience that some designers reveal about the world around them. Trough all these years I have been inhaling other peoples reality. I have tried tenfolds of profession, visited strange places, and met all kinds of people on my way. From this, I have learned a lot which I can use in my work with design. The better you know a person, a company, a society, or a nation, the better you can communicate with them. And that’s what design is all about, communicating. Not with a selection of words, colors and shapes, but with Gestalt, this whole that is bigger than the summary of those single elements. A designer who knows how Gestalt works, is dangerous. He can persuade, manipulate, lie, or tell the truth. It’s a kind of power that outruns even war machines. It’s a power that can be used to gather people into a political group, a religion, or split them. Think about that for a moment. The more you know a person, the better you know which button to push, to make this person agree with you, or any other direction you want that person to go. Actually, I find it kind of scary. Don’t you?

The road ahead of you

Whether you are an experienced designer with a long time in the trade, or is a youngster about to get your degree, you still have a lot of time ahead of you. How will you use it? Designers can be bought. Actually, we are bought all the time. We need bread on the table, and as most people, we would not deny a Lamborghini in the garage nighter. That’s OK. When a customer wants to pay for your skills, do what he wants, and do it well. Nevertheless, at some point in your career you will get in conflict with yourself. At a certain age, you will expose all the lies around you. That is the nature of a good designer. Have you ever noticed how few designers you’ll find that is 40 of age or more? I’ll let you in on a little secret. They don’t wanna do it anymore. First, they can’t stand all the truth-modifications that commercials are so filled with. Second, they are tired of inventing something new every day. It wears you out, constantly keeping your talent on high speed. They want to relax, spend time with their family, or just do something completely different, like driving a taxi. Don’t ignore this potential future. Be prepared for it. My recommendation is to be more selective in which customers you want to work with. That way you will get around that forthcoming breakdown. As a youngster you don’t need to pay so much attention to this. Instead, spend your time getting more experience. Experience is whats going to save your career in the future, so you can continue with the worlds most exciting profession, graphic design.