Interview with: Wijdan Sharafuddin (Freelance Digital Graphic Designer)

I graduated high school and I was lost. Everybody around me had their future planned, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I rolled the dice and applied to the first university that came to mind, and majored in the first thing I saw: Graphic Design. I had no idea what it was, and I was scared and worried about disappointing my parents, but I chose it anyway. With each year I fell in love with my major, developing my own design style until I found myself in collage art. I started my dream business @fazlakahandco as a project in my fourth year with my best friend. It was hard to run a business and do college work, but I was passionate and so I put my heart into it. 

After graduating, I was excited to go into the real world. I had two options: work in a fun design agency, or in a well-known corporation with a high salary. Everybody told me that working for a company is a better career move. So I did it, and three months later I found myself uncomfortable in this track as a designer, because I was limited in creativity. I felt like I was losing everything I built in there, and it just wasn’t me. The turning point was when I realized that it’s not about the name or the salary; it’s about being happy working in what you’re good at. I always tell myself: “you can’t ask a shark to survive in the desert”.

It has been a year now since I started working at a local creative agency, and it helped me achieve my goals as a designer with the dream team I imagined. My advice is this: know that you should always follow your heart, follow what you think is good for you at the moment. It’s better to listen to your voice than to try to be some version of what society wants.