Have you ever considered teaching? Designers are natural educators, as we often inform clients about smart choices. Mentoring others can enhance your approach to design and give you broader skills. For me, teaching is the closest career choice to being a “perpetual student,” (my actual dream). I find that teaching and designing mutually inspire each other.

1. Teaching confirms your own knowledge.
Remind yourself why you fell in love with design in the first place by sharing your passion with someone else.

2. Teaching makes you a better listener.
The bulk of critiquing and refining the work of others is in the act of listening. Truly paying attention to client or students comments can help you better plan the project, better deliver feedback, and make connections for others.

3. Teaching transforms your communication skills.
Teaching comes in many forms: board rooms, community colleges, children, after school programs, art schools, research universities, Even within one group of students, a broad range of learning styles will be represented. A breadth of experience can provide confidence and an ample range of communication styles.

4. Teachers learn more than they teach.
Nuff said.

5. Become part of something bigger.
Sharing ideas, projects, and student work can help you feel connected to
something larger than the isolation of individual practice. Colleagues provide support, constructive criticism, optimization. Experimenting without client demands builds great concepts.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Design Careers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.