The Power of Time Off
My sophomore year in college, we each were assigned a well-known designer whose style we had to replicate in a poster dedicated to them. I don't remember now who I was assigned to, but I do remember trading with someone else who didn't like their pick. Originally, I had a designer who had very clean, precise, swiss inspired work. Lucky for me, I got just the opposite in the trade: Stefan Sagmeister.
Since that discovery of Sagmeister, I've been interested in anything that has his name attached (for instance, Things I've Learned in My Life).
Most recently, I watched one of his talks on TED and he introduces an important work method of his: Every 7 years of work, he takes a 1 year sabbatical.
He broke it down as such: On average, we spend 25 years learning, 40 years working then 15 years in retirement. He decided to take 5 of those retirement years and spread them throughout his work years. Why would someone do this?
He said it allows for him to explore new ideas freely, which he ultimately puts back into his work.
As a young person at the beginning of my career, this is powerful to consider. What kind of life do I want? As a commercial artist, I have the option to go freelance and explore new routes. I could spend a few months a year freelancing and saving money then the last few months traveling. Or I could become a professor, where sabbaticals are encouraged. Or maybe I will open my own company and get to a point where significant time off is okay. As an artist, the possibilities are endless.
I know many people may be thinking how is it financially possible to do this? He plans for it before and makes a schedule for himself so his time is well spent, getting the creative juices flowing. Then in the end, it is actually financially productive because of what comes out of this time. It's also good to consider how some of the greatest inventions have come out of time off. Imagine what you could create!
Over time, we all become bored of the routine so what would you do to switch things up? What lessons will come of it? And how can the pursuit of personal projects help us discover what we want out of our futures?
Fiona Clark (aka Wee Fi) is an artist working and living in New York City. Fiona graduated in 2007 from Hartford Art School with a major in Visual Communcation Design and minors in Photography and Art History. After graduation she found herself freelancing with the staffing agency, Creative Group, before landing a job as junior designer at the rich media company, Basik Group. If you'd like Fiona to answer your questions about life after art school, please email her at fi@wee-fi.com.
http://observermedia.designobserver.com/audiofile.html?entry=11857
Posted by: Fiona | 11/23/2009 at 05:30 PM