Being connected is important to keep ideas fresh.
My first job as a graphic artist was in the small office of “Town-N-Country” and “Carrollwood News,” satellite weeklies of the local major daily, The Tampa Tribune. I was only one year into my graphic design program, with one year left to go, and I already had a job “in the field.” I was proud. The fourteen months that I spent in that position were the time of amazing professional growth. I designed ads, answered phones, and did some light office management duties. The five salespeople who worked with me were happy, the advertisers were happy, the boss was happy, and I was happy, too. Only I felt like I was the only one of my species. A month after I had earned my diploma, The Tampa Tribune announced that it will absorb all the little weeklies–we all were moving downtown! Before the move, all graphic artists had a meeting in a trashed, abandoned old newsroom on the second floor, and our new leader had explained her vision for the creative department: we will fix up this room, we will have desks here, pagination there, recreation area here. Her plan was wonderful! There were going to be 60 artists working together, side by side. There were going to be meetings and creative contests, critiques, and best of all, the experience of senior artists, all at our fingertips. The year after the move was even better than my first year with the company–I grew as a designer, I connected; I even met my husband, a designer like me.
I find it difficult to just “go out” and connect, to network. I enjoy meeting new people and getting to know them. I love hearing their ideas and learning about how they work toward their goals, but I will almost never seek out these connections on my own. I do not know why–perhaps, I am too much of an introvert. I have to be in the environment where these connections occur naturally, from frequent interactions or special circumstances.