5 things being a design major didn't teach me

How to be a pro at Illustrator.

You can learn the pen tool all day long, you can learn clipping masks and how to live trace and how to apply different Pantone colors. You can have a ton of head knowledge, but to be honest, you'll never know it all. The programs will always change, you'll never be able to keep up with it all. The best way to learn design is to just keep designing. Learn as you go, ask questions, read the manuals, read design blogs, try some new tutorials. Be the person that stretches yourself. Don't expect someone else (even the best professors) to do that for you. I quite honestly, learned very little about how to work specific tools on design programs from my education. I learned it from experience, from jobs, from my own choice in my free time to learn instead of just skim Facebook. I made a lot of mistakes, and created a lot of designs I look back on with horror, but I've come a long ways with being my own motivation.

What style you should stick with.
When I first started pursuing graphic design, I was all about this clean, simplistic, contemporary-inspired look. I thought employers were looking for modern designers, so I fit my design style with what I thought I should be like. Lets just say that didn't last very long (clearly). It does take a while to find your voice, and for sure our voices are always changing and growing as designers, but we should never be told (or even try and tell ourselves) what box and style we need to fit ourselves into. Good design can go a lot of different directions, your voice can and should be unique. You'll be more successful because of it. Seek that uniqueness, listen to your inklings, no one should ever tell you what style you need stick with. People want designers that love what they do and stand by their work. You can't stand by a style and aesthetic that even you, yourself, aren't in love with. Find those projects and clients that have a style that you mesh with, and build your portfolio around those, not around a bunch of projects you don't even like.

How to organize your design process.
I never took a class on establishing your own design process. I had to learn it myself (and I still am learning a lot about it). Figuring out how to organize my sketches and drafts, my invoices, my design proposals. How to organize notes during client consultations, and what way works best to organize my endless lists. Also, when it comes to organizing the final product... I used to know nothing about it. I had all my designs on my computer, but the print versions were just thrown around, or lost, or ended up ripped and tattered. I wish I took a Design Process 101 class, but since such a thing doesn't exist I'm teaching myself that day by day. For designers, it's all about organization, it saves time and money and frustration, trust me. Find a system that works for you, you'll thank yourself later for it.

It takes time.
You won't be a successful, full-time self-employed designer right out of college. (And if you are, teach me your ways). It takes time. You'll work some jobs you don't love and some jobs that you absolutely adore. They seemed to forget to tell me that a college degree doesn't make things happen overnight. And you have to do what feels right for you, turn down the jobs that make no sense. Say yes to the things that make sense in your gut. But most of all, give yourself grace. Designers are their own toughest critics. Breathe a little.

Resilience.
Sometimes, just stop listening. Designers have a million voices all around them, some people love what you do. Some people hate designs you've done. There will be people praising you all the time, and people providing totally non-constructive criticism all the time as well. Sometimes, you have to shut your sensitivity off. Sometimes you just have to silence the people that's opinions aren't getting you anywhere. Even professors have their fair share of opinions, sometimes you take what they say and listen to every word, and sometimes you take what they say with a grain of salt. Listening to your gut usually goes further than listening to everyone else around you.