No one will tell you this, but these simple (but not so simple) tips would help you sail past many supposed hurdles and find balance quickly in the Nigerian Design Ecosystem.
A friend of mine made a post complaining about how movies (especially Hollywood) make programming look so exciting and easy and how he jumped right into it since he had also long admired it. Now he has no time at all to do any other thing but be in front of a laptop. I found it pretty hilarious! Yes, it reminded me a lot about my early days as a designer and developer.
But then, it also reminded me of this very article I had stashed away sometime back that focused on the same subject matter and I immediately thought to share it. This article is centered on giving aspiring creatives in Nigeria a hint of what they’d be getting into should they choose to accept the fate of entering into the Design (product, graphic), Software, or IT sectors in Nigeria and of course what they’d really need outside of the practical skills to keep them in the game.
Chances are that you…yes, you! are the person that needs this. Seeing that you somehow landed on this article means that you are considering pursuing a career in the Nigerian Creative Industry. First of all, I congratulate you; you are taking a bold step to what will become some of the most frustrating days and nights of your life yet! 😅
Okay, don’t get scared, you can easily ride these waves when you have someone that would help you navigate the waters and breathe after every angry email, client reply, software crash, midnight call, hunger strike, and 10.5 minutes that you pop a nerve.
Once you are born a Nigerian, you auto-inherit up to 70% of the nation’s frustrations (according to the National Database of IfYouKnowYouKnow). Meanwhile, as a creative, especially if you are going to be interfacing with your own clients, congratulations, you just “used your hand” to add 15% to that number! And of course just made the job of the design community a tad bit harder, because you’ll now serve a section of the market that will begin to experience creative services from the offering of an amateur, and the success of design education for businesses plunges… again.
But would that stop us from educating further… Heck No!
What I am trying to emphasize here is, apart from the necessary skills required, (to be a Graphic Designer, UI/UX Designer, Product Designer, Programmer/Software Developer, which are in themselves pertinent) including Creativity, the Business, and the Mastery of it which can be taught…
What you really need is Patience, Endurance, Discipline, Empathy, and Perseverance.
These you have to figure out and master on your journey or you’ll fall out sooner than you thought.
There it is. That’s it! The one simple tip. Because just like it did for my friend, those days will come for you too. Those days when you feel like quitting and everything you are burning so much energy on seems to be yielding nothing. The earlier you figure these out, the lesser the visits to the pharmacist for those analgesics are.
So, if you wish to pursue a career in the Nigerian Creative Industry, cheers to bold steps! 🦾
