The OFFF conference was interesting in many ways to me both personally and professionally. I allowed myself to feel for which fields or topics I truly found interesting, and which I admire but do not want to work in myself. This search for what my designer-purpose is has been ongoing for a while, but it was nice to both confirm and learn more about my assumptions.
In addition to this I found that some of the speakers managed to get across that this search will not be finished at the moment my education is finished. For example, Jamhot spoke about their business doing well, but feeling unfulfilled. By choosing to do 50% “socially good” projects, and the rest with a clearer goal on “just making money,” they found a balance they were pleased with. This of course attracted more and bigger meaningful projects, and thereby changing the course of their business completely by first making a small step.
Rubén Alvarez also spoke about the struggle of finding his path. He described his life as doing good work, but feeling like it wasn’t giving him much. Only when he realized that connecting with people was what he enjoyed the most did he switch from doing random illustration work to creating his own coffee shops, winery and working with his illustration there to create conversations.
Overall, I think my biggest take away from the OFFF conference is to keep my own eyes open to opportunities and constantly reflect over my own gratification and interests.
