Five of the Scariest Things ABout Graphic Designers

By J. R.

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” - Charles Addams.

As a graphic designer our “normal” may be scary to other people. Heck, it’s even scary to us designers sometimes. Here is a list of the 5 scariest things about graphic designers.

1. Our Appearance

If you actually get us pried away from our computer screen, the result may be frightening. You may encounter bags under our bloodshot eyes, disheveled hair, pale skin, yesterday’s clothes, and a wonderful stench of coffee coming from all orifices because, “8 cups of coffee a day!”

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2. Our Vocabulary

So, you saw our kind; now you have to talk to us! Be prepared. You won’t understand our design talk. You may hear words such as kerning, tracking, CMYK, RGB, serif, sans serif, stock photo, brand identity, white space… I could go on, but you get it. Pro tip: just nod in agreement with us.

3. Scary Noises

If you are lucky enough to get to sit beside a designer for a while, you may hear… noises. You could think all is going well but out of the dense silence comes a HUGE exhale, “haaahh”, or a pound on the desk. Neither are nice noises. It may be hard to believe that the sound of air escaping a person can be scary. Just take my word for it. I regress into childhood every time. Am I the only one whose mom would give a loud sigh as the first warning?!

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4. Our Lack of movement

We can sit and work on a project for hours without moving. It is probably unhealthy and somewhat frightening. Are we breathing? Please check on us.

5. Our Desks

We are weird. Most creative people are (I like to tell myself), and our desks are just as bad. Maybe scary = weird for this one. As I look up right now I see a dead-end sign and a magnet that reads, “Does this cubicle make me look dead inside?” I turn my head and see rocks nicely displayed in little chests. (Yes, rocks…don’t ask.) There is also a Millennium Falcon model (made by yours truly), a photo of my dog playing poker with 6 versions of herself, dual monitors to release all my creativity, and a duster. This is my desk. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Normal or chaos? You be the judge.