My brother has decided he wants to enter the design field as well now. Not as an architect, but in the creative side of advertising- which, of course, will require a lot of graduate school on top of his German lit degree. It’s been interesting watching him create the materials he is going to need to get into a design program as I am simultaneuously working on materials that will get me a design job. The emotions of the process that run through him are much more acute because of their newness- sometimes I miss that excitement.

They tell you that as a designer, you are much like a bottle of wine- you only get better with age and experience. They tell you to not expect to do any good work before the age of 50. But as you age, the emotional excitement dies as well, and the process becomes more like a well-worn sweater. It’s still warm and beautiful, but not your Sunday best. You can switch up your process, much like changing your sweater, but the fact remains that it is still a design process, something you have learned to work through over and over again. Just like a sweater is still a sweater.

Is design better with age? You certainly learn to channel and control your inspiration to a much greater extent, gleaming more out of each morsel and perfecting the outcome from experience. But there are less morsels, and they are in constant danger of becoming stale. The trick seems to be changing your process often enough so that your design does contain enough of the acute emotion that comes with novelty while also improving upon your old bag of tricks. Perhaps you do grow better at this balancing act with age. I do know that I would never prefer to go back to the emotional rollercoaster of being a new designer now that I have a grasp on the strength and control that comes with a strong process. Here’s hoping age works.

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