Choosing what career path you wish to take is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make in your life. And people take a lot of things into consideration when choosing their job, but did you ever stop and think about what the community around your job choice might be like, and how that could effect your choice.
Without doubt the Design community is one of the most unique industries to be a part of, what other profession would you see professionals going out of their way to make a tutorial of how to do something and make it public for all of their “competitors” to read and learn from. It’s a strange logic, but one that makes sense and ultimately creates a community and industry that is always moving forward and evolving together.
I’ve put together a list of my top 10 reasons why the design community is such an amazing and diverse place, and why I love being a part of it. *The links & examples I give are only there to support my points, and are not the main focus of the article.
01. Freebies
A word which a lot of people love to hear, it is something which you find a lot of in the design community. Giving something away for free to other designers to help them improve their own work and profession is rare in many other jobs. But in the design community designers love creating things for other designers and giving top quality products away for free.
Here are some of my top Freebie Picks:
Function Icon Set (128 Free Icons)
Agregado: A Free Wordpress Theme
30 Sites to Download Free Stock and Royalty Free Images
Tutorial9: Dirty Spray Brushes
02. Sharing Information & Knowledge
The design community is very geared towards making the industry and community better, this explains why it’s very easy to find yourself getting involved in the design community, and start learning some tricks of the trade in all aspects of the industry. There’s tutorials on all sorts, everything from finding clients & managing your work to creating big elaborate graphic design pieces and tutorials going into great detail on all aspects of web design & development. Being part of a community that is so willing to share tips tricks and information is quite a privilege, and while the information is out there it would be silly not to take advantage of it, there is always something you can pick up from any tutorial (even if the end result isn’t always mind-blowing)
Great examples to show what I mean:
All of these not only have a great focus on tutorial and education, but there is also a great community around them, providing feedback and allowing other people to share further tips and techniques. So for me, tutorial sites are quite an important part of the design community.
03. Willingness to embrace newcomers
I think this could come down to the fact that most Designers are quite selfless and open minded. As a newcomer myself I’ve had first hand experience of how welcoming the design community is towards other designers. I think designers have a great understanding of the importance of exposure and if they see something they like they will go out of their way to share it with other people, be that on twitter, their blog, digg or stumble upon etc. This means that a blog or article can go from having no subscribers, to having a lot of loyal readers all from the exposure of one article or post.
Here’s a post I made about new design blogs which was well embraced by many other designers, and is a great example of how people within the design community are more than happy to give something completely new to them a chance: 33 New Design Blogs with Great Content & Resources.
04. Community Spirit
One of the best examples that shows the design community has a great community spirit would be the popularity of “Community News” features in many sites and blogs these days. What other industry would you find people basically giving what could be their competitors a chance to expose themselves on your website for absolutely nothing? It sounds crazy, but it’s an idea which ultimately helps the community grow and certainly helps to expose new and interesting designers and such to other like-minded people.
Being part of a community means you have a huge network of people around you, and this means theres a lot of people who are willing to share advice, answer questions, or lend you a hand. I’ve found that most of the people within the community are very nice people, and would happily go out of their way to help someone who is in a bit of trouble, or needs a helping hand.
Another great example of community spirit, and something I’ve already touched upon is the fact that designers do like to share resources and content that they find interesting or useful, rather than keep it as their little secret, if they come across something of quality more often than not they will pass it on to someone else, which obviously leads to a larger community, but also a more informed community.
6 Great websites to gain exposure with Community News:
My Ink Blog (just to the right)
05. Respect
Getting respect as a designer is quite something thats quite difficult, especially when it comes to clients. A lot of the time a client who is outside of the design community doesn’t always show enough respect, or value your opinions as a designer.
From my own experience I would say there is a hell of a lot of respect shown between designers, whether it be respect for their work, blog, opinion, time, advice etc. Most designers that I’ve met seem to have a great deal of respect for everyone, whether they are in the design community or not, and the only explanation I can think of for why this might be (certainly true in my case) is that we have a good understanding of how it feels to not be respected or listened to, so we try to avoid putting others in that kind of situation.
06. Sense of Humor
We’re all doing the job web love, however tough it may be at times, most people are happy to be doing a profession which also doubles as their hobby and passion. So this means there is a lot of positivity and fun to be had within the design community. Designers are more than happy to poke fun at their job, or tough situations, such as nightmare clients in a variety of ways, this could be through a comic, or t-shirt, or something like a blog post of video.
I’ve collected some examples that should help to show the good sense of humor that is around in the design community.
The Website is Down - Not strictly design related
07. Inspiration
Being in a job that requires a lot of creativity and open thinking, you need to find ways of keeping yourself inspired. But it’s actually quite easy within the design community, you visit any blog, website forum, or read any magazine or book you are always going to come across something which helps to inspire you and motivate you. Whether it be a article or interview, or a piece of work that gets your creative juices flowing.
Here are a couple of sites sites which inspired me to get into freelancing full time, and continue to keep me inspired. Either for their content or the art work:
I have also put together a post on 125+ Unconventional Sources of Web Design Inspiration, which you could look at for additional reading.
08. Feedback & Support
Feedback is important to a designer. And designers like nothing more than to get feedback from other designers. This is one of the things I like best, people seem to be very willing to give their advice and opinions on a design or article, or give you their thoughts if requested.
There are many ways to get feedback as a designer, whether it be through the comment function of flickr, or a blog post, or via a forum or an Instant Messenger conversation, designers always seem to be asking for feedback, and respecting the opinions of those who are giving it to them. It makes getting feedback, on either a single element, or a full piece of work very easy and quick, and it means that I as a designer always have someone I can turn to if I ever needed a second opinion, and that is a great feeling to know you have a network of people around you who aren’t afraid to help out and give their opinion.
To Illustrate this point I asked the following question to designers on twitter, and got some great replies.
“Give one reason you Love the Design Community / Industry”:
Jamespaden I love the constant focus on pushing design forward, both on a personal level and corporate world-wide level
brunsvold dissemination of knowledge. If you care enough, you can find any answer you’re looking for.
awful_username so far, nobody I’ve come across is a dick. that’s why I love the community
mike_thomas I love how everyone actually helps each other out, at least the people I’ve dealt with
aravindajith coz i love designing.. if I love to do something without even sleeping and eating.., that is designing.. 
jamesdeer I 2nd @jamespaden also it’s a lot more laid back, there is a lot of support and willingness from other designs to help you suceed
staceyjenkins One word: IDEAS.
tommsinclair For questions like that! Getting everyone involved no matter what level of expertise! Love it
jessabean I love the never-ending fountain of ideas and the genuine sense of community and sharing
elysiumburns Because everyday’s different; there’s no such thing as the “same client” - even within the same industry. It’s about self-growth
adellecharles because they are so honest and willing to help out if you need it. The community for the most part really sticks together.
As you can see from these answers, people are very much in love with the design community, and all for similar reasons. Thanks to all those who answered via Twitter – I think it was a really great touch to the end, and helped support my point better than I could have imagined.
My Summary
Well, after all of this I think it’s pretty evident to me that I, and many others out there are really happy to be a part of the design community, it’s a welcoming and inviting place where you can learn, grow and expand together. There are a lot of oppurtinities that can come your way through the community, and it’s a place that no matter what stage you are at in your profession there is always someone willing to go out of their way to give you a push in the right direction, so … the question is -
Are we in the best Industry in the world? Do we have the best community surrounding our profession?
Suggest a Tutorial or Article
to My Ink Blog
by Email
Twitter
Flickr
Digg
Stumble Upon
September 15th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Great article with a lot of good links.
Loved the answers you got frmo that question, all have something different but positive to say, the community really is in a league of its own to anything I’ve encountered before, and it can only get better.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Great article Liam, nicely said. You hit everything I believe is true about the industry & what makes it even better are people like you!
(thanks for the FYC mention too!)
Adelle’s last post was… Interview with Mike Smith / Blog Theme Machine
September 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
i really agree. i just love design community coz they are supportive in a way by giving feedbacks on someones work, some inspirations, encouragement etc. Nice post btw.keep it up as always
Ronald
NaldzGraphics’s last post was… Create a Staring Monster Eye in Photoshop
September 15th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I love the design community as well. Its the only place where I can have hours long discussions on semantics and CSS techniques without people telling me to shut up
Daniel’s last post was… Webkit: Engine of the Future?
September 15th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Here Here I say. Excellent round up and very true about the design community being so unique, possibly I say because as we are web savvy it is easier for us to communicate. Thanks for the link too. How is your RSS Subscriber numbers going? I haven’t seen it up yet but I would say your getting up there with your quality articles.
Jacob Cass’s last post was… Top 7 Most Overused Icons, Shapes & Symbols Used in Graphic Design
September 16th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I couldn’t agree more. These are all reasons that I love the design community, and honestly I wasn’t even aware of much of this when I started blogging. And thanks for mentioning the news section at DesignM.ag.
Steven Snell’s last post was… 20 Free Page Analysis Tools
September 16th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Some great links in that article, quite a few websites that I’m not familiar with so I’ve got a busy afternoon checking them out.
I’ll echo your sentiments, the design community is definitely one of the best communities online and so helpful and appreciative of each other.
Cheers
Matt
September 16th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Very true. I am happy to join this community, love the people I can contact with, inspiration - You listed many factors, that I didn’t even realized I must to evaluate. Very inspirational article for me.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Where can I put my signature down for all of the above mentioned points? Great summary, I feel exactly the same way, being relatively new to the community as well.
Alex’s last post was… Feature: Lost and Taken - another great texture resource!
September 16th, 2008 at 5:22 am
I couldn’t have said it any better. You’ve mentioned all the single aspects I love about the community. Being new to it myself I was amazed at how helpful and nice everyone is. It’s always a pleasure dealing with other designers. The sense of mutual respect and admiration is far more productive than cold-hard competition. Awesome article = DUGG!
Franz Jeitz’s last post was… Styletime Contest: Blog Action Day Poverty
September 16th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Nice post Liam! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the community spirit it was a bit quiet so decided to shake thing’s up a bit
And I love the part about feedback and support there’s def a good bit of that going on twitter right now!
styletime’s last post was… Who’s Collis?
September 16th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Thinking just the same.
You learn, have fun, meet new people & learn & learn…
Umut’s last post was… Free Flash Screensaver Creator: InstantStorm
September 16th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Glad to see everyone feels the same way as I do, and I’m sure there are thousands of other reasons. Even the smaller things make a big difference. Thanks guys.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I guess the design community is pretty cool in general… not a fan of those designers that are up their own a**. Most of the designers I converse with are great people.
Curvball’s last post was… Accepting new clients + you could earn 5% for each referral
September 16th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
You did a great job Liam brother! I think a lot of people will find this inspirational, particularly the research + links. It shows you took a lot of time on this!
September 16th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I’m still amazed by the amount of freebies people make available and all at such high quality. It’s great!
Craig Baldwin’s last post was… Slow progress
September 16th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
wow! a great post filled with delicious links…
by the way, thanks for featuring my tweet..
September 16th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Fantastic post Liam, I really agree with your points. I feel like the design community is incredibly friendly and welcoming (something that I’ve learned myself), and as a result this has the knock on effect that designers/bloggers are more welcoming to newbies and each other. Just compare the communities on our blogs to unfriendly music forums etc… It’s great to see so many great people contributing all the time.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I love what you’ve mentioned - these qualities do make the design community great. I’ve also encountered a lot of ego and sharp criticism, so perhaps the few sore heads can be inspired by this list! Awesome article.
Brandon Cox | eGrace Creative’s last post was… Bible Scholar WordPress Theme
September 17th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Nice post Liam!
Grant Friedman’s last post was… Power Lines Are Soooo 19th Century
September 19th, 2008 at 10:47 am
What a detailed article about the design community. While I agree with Liam on most of the points the only thing I ever wonder about is “respect” in the design community. It is, after all, a competitive field and having gone through Parsons Design School for four years (this being my last) I’ve noticed that respect among younger designers tends to be a transparent thing. It’s sad of course and I wish it wasn’t that way. But here, online, especially with community based design blogs ‘respect’ is something we all tend to give each other. So in short: Good post sir.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
What an inspiring article. I love being in the design community, not only because it’s my passion, but also because of the great people around. Unlike in other fields, people compete in a not so good manner. Their reluctant in sharing what they know, afraid that others might exceed what they’re capable of. But in the design community, everyone loves to share! That makes us unique!
Keane´s last post was… So You Wanna Be A Web Design Superstar?
October 1st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
This article has resonated with me for personal reasons - couldn’t have come at a better time
As with any industry there are things which do sometimes infuriate me. However, looking at it as a whole makes me realise just how happy I am to be studying something I love. Thank you!
Lilian´s last post was… I’m Slowly Becoming a Type Geek
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 am
Great article. I especially like the idea of sharing knowledge and I agree that it is an excellent trait of the design community. This is obvious by the number of design bloggers who share their knowledge with everyone.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I totally agree. Great Post!
Antonio Wells´s last post was… CSS Tip: CSS Image Buttons