If You Do Not Take up a Particular Skill, Someone Else Will - Mayur B Chettiar

1. When and how did you choose to be a graphic designer?

I always wanted to be a manga/comic artist but it was an unreasonable dream to have in a country like India, hence I decided on exploring things further and that’s when I discovered Graphic Designing and my love for it. With each passing day, I improved upon my skill and my love for Designing prospered, with an addition of a new interest in Advertising.

It was on 21st September 2019 that I decided to create my very first Graphical Designing Post on @Sir.Creative (Instagram), riding on the waves of Topicals and Social Media Formats I decided to keep creating every day thereafter.

2. What is the role and scope of work for a graphic designer?

My role has always been to create what I think would amaze me, and I think a Graphic Designer's role is to always critique your own work and aim for something smarter, even though you think you have the best work at hand. It’s also necessary to observe the work of other people around you and get inspired a good way because inspiration is what turns into competition in the long run.

Scope of Graphic Designers has always varied according to the platforms at hand if others around us are not creating things for us to Brand, Market or Promote we will have to pack our bags and go home naked.

3. Which are some of the tools & software’s that a graphic designer must be aware of?

Graphic Designers have a lot of tools to work from, some are pricey while some are cheap, or some even free. But it's up to the Designer to find what suits his/her need and what level of work are they going to produce. Personally, I use Software’s from Adobe to create content that suits my Customer’s best.

I have used a lot of free software in the past when I used to create short digital comics for Instagram, and I must say they give a good competition to the premium software in the market. If someone has a passion to create content, he/she shouldn’t depend on software’s but rather keep creating with whatever there is on the platter.

4. How in your opinion has this profession changed over the years?

Graphic Designing has a lot of aspects to it, and a lot of people have their own style that makes them unique. It used to be a Hands-On precision related job in the past but has turned into a fast-paced Digital Career in just a Decade. I recently came across an article which said that AI is soon going to replace all the Graphic Designers in the world, which seemed like it came straight out of a Sci-Fi movie but in reality, it could be the future we all do not want to see.

Even though an AI could take over the job, I think, this world would still need creative geniuses to direct the actions of the AI and make the work better in every sense.

5. Do you often have to keep upskilling yourself?

Absolutely, this in itself is a skill that we all need to learn, that is to keep scaling our skills to meet the requirements of the ever-changing world of Media. Yes, it is a difficult task to keep learning newer things when you are already comfortable with the skill. You possess, but in the ever-changing world that we live in it’s absolutely necessary to do this to survive.

If you do not take up a particular skill, someone else will. There’s always someone new coming up in this world and every new guy that comes into your field is a competition to you, no matter how high your company or Ego is.

6. How can one develop a keen sense for design and aesthetics?

To develop a keen sense of design you need to keep observing and learn from others around you. If your design sense lacks precision or creativity, you will be satisfied with whatever mediocre idea you get in your mind and you’ll waste your time working on it. Always look at the Customers need and also your own gut feeling when creating content, also you cannot just abandon one of these two feedbacks as its important to keep a balance between both.

My design sense developed exponentially when I watched high-quality movies, scrolled through a lot of artwork and applied those myself, and to be honest, I learned more on social media than I learned in my own college.

7. Your favourite book and why?

My favourite author of all time is Stephen King and there was a time when I wanted to be like him and write Horror/Thriller Novels, but alas I realized I was more of a storyteller than a story writer. My Favourite Book is a Novella by him that I absolutely adore, and that’s none other than the Masterpiece “The Shawshank Redemption” and I also do love the book “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson, which is a Masterpiece as well.

Interview By - Benil Joseph