As a young creative in the hectic and constantly shifting world of design and illustration, Melbourne’s Nathan Nankervis knows a thing or two about making those inevitable mistakes. As part of our campaign with AustralianSuper helping you to kick start your creative career, Nathan tells us of some of the stuff-ups you can make as a fledgling designer and how you can learn from them instead of letting them bring you down.
I believe there is no such thing as a mistake, only a lesson to be learnt. I don’t like to use the word simply because it has so many negative implications, when really, mistakes are positive things. They’re lessons to learn and grow from. They’re personal building blocks that makes future you, you. Experience is the name we should give mistakes.
The biggest ‘mistakes’ you can make as a fresh designer/creative starting out, would be to not do an internship. Internships are one of the most important life-changing and career-changing experiences you can have.
There is only so much you can learn from a lecture, a book or a Youtube tutorial. The fastest way to learn and grow as a designer is to apply your skills in the context of the working world. Real jobs. Real clients. Real deadlines. Real money being spent. The pressure, the professionalism, and fast paced nature of industry experience cannot be replicated. I think it’s something you need to experience in order to have a career in this industry.
One of Nathan’s design works for Red Bull.
Internships allow you to meet people. Which may not seem like much, but I cannot stress how valuable this is in starting your career. Your mentors are the people who will pass on work to you and recommend you for jobs down the track. These are the people who have been doing what you want to do for a long time. They’ve already made the ‘mistakes’ so you don’t have to.
Speak with them, pick their brains, ask them questions. These guys have a wealth of knowledge in the industry you want to be in. They’ve got knowledge falling out of their pockets.
I managed to tick off three internships whilst I was studying, a design studio called Peel, Jacky Winter’s Lamington Drive and another studio called Pennant. At times it was stressful juggling both university and internships, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
At the start of 2014 I went to The Design Kids x Spenceroni pattern workshop. It was about $60. At the time I was a poor uni student so it was quite a bit of money. Not only that but it was on a Saturday. I remember having to convince myself to buy a ticket.
I had never been to a workshop before so I didn’t know how valuable it would actually be. I attended the workshop, got my pattern on and met Spencer Harrison who would become an important mentor and colleague. I posted a photo of the work on my Instagram after the workshop and Spencer must have seen it along with the rest of my work I had on there.
One of Nathan’s gifs that he featured on his online portfolio.
I cannot stress how helpful it is to have your work online and accessible and it’s a huge mistake not to give it as much attention as possible. Soon after, Spencer reached out to me and offered me an internship with him at Pennant. Working with him couldn’t have been better, we got on really well, he’s an awesome designer and an even better mate. Spencer was going through a transition from design to illustration at the time and I had been thinking about the same for a while.
We would always chat about how being an illustrator would be a dream job. I was always hesitant to pursue it though, as I figured it was too big of a risk being such a subjective field. Either people like your drawings or they don’t. Though the constant little chats we had and the advice I got from Spencer really helped me build up the confidence to make the leap and commit to illustration.
I can’t thank him enough for that. I think if it weren’t for the conversations I had with Spencer I wouldn’t be where I am today. We still stay in touch now, I’ll hit him up for advice or questions I don’t know the answers to. It’s the little things like that, which make internships so valuable. He even referred me for a job with my first big international client, Xero, even after the internship was over.
It’s the big things like that, which make internships so valuable.
Nathan Nankervis is a Melbourne based designer and illustrator and you can find out more about him on his website here.
If you’re just starting out in your career, a few right moves early on can help set you up for life. For more stories in our AustralianSuper KickStart series head here, or go to AustralianSuper.
This article has been sponsored by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd ABN 94 006 457 987, AFSL 233788. The views and opinions expressed in any article accessed through Crave are those of the author or Crave and not the responsibility of AustralianSuper. For more information, please visit australiansuper.com
