What is (job) love?

The job title “Designer” carries vague promises of creativity and self-expression. It’s not necessarily a job you pick because you want to get rich fast. It’s a job you are drawn to because you find meaning in it. ‘Find something you love to do, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life,’ the promise goes.

What does this actually mean for designers? Working as a designer can be immensely fulfilling - you get to create things of beauty and effectiveness, you help people, you reinvent the world. Yet, this idea of design as a life-long passion project rather than a job may also open the door to unrealistic expectations of work as well as unhealthy work-life balances.

The pandemic has led most of us to re-evaluate the workplace and our role in it. In my talk, I take this prompt to re-evaluate what it means to love design and to work as a designer, and how to navigate the boundaries.

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