Do professional Fashion Designers use Adobe Illustrator?

In order to be considered a professional in some occupations, you must demonstrate mastery of certain tools. A good example would be a doctor's stethoscope which demonstrates experience and knowledge in their profession. In the fashion business you will see many job postings requiring experience with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop among other requirements. Does knowing these two software programs really demonstrate the knowledge and experience of a fashion designer (or any type of designer really), and thus their professionalism?

Design School

Design school usually includes training for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. This is because many designers of all types use these two software programs. It is expected that a fashion designer will need to know how to use graphic design tools in our current tech savvy world. Designing is a visual medium and being able to communicate through media is an important skill. This is especially true when working with overseas factories. Being able to demonstrate an idea with a drawing or photograph is sometimes the best and only way to communicate. A design student should definitely take advantage of this training. Designers who did not go to design school can find opportunities for learning from several platforms including Skillshare or Udemy.

Software Cost

Not long ago Adobe switched from outright license purchase to a subscription based model. There are different price tiers depending on which software and features needed. The monthly subscription fees are not entirely unreasonable, but it creates an ongoing financial commitment to using the software. This can present a financial barrier to a needed tool for some. There are advantages and disadvantages to this system, but keep in mind there are options out there. Illustrator and Photoshop also need computers with a certain level of memory and processing power to work well. That may be an additional cost.

Is it necessary?

Yes and no. Your job and responsibilities may not actually require use of Illustrator or Photoshop. Fashion designers are idea creators and often entrepreneurs. They may have some experience in a lot of areas but at the end of the day, some tasks are assigned to employees or outsourced to people with more focused skills. I have worked with a variety of designers over the years. You may be surprised to know that few fashion designers can draw or use Illustrator and Photoshop. I have seen some pretty poorly drawn ideas that later were translated into some very nice final products. Technical designers, artists, graphic designers or illustrators can create any artwork that might be needed. So while it may be nice to have access to Illustrator and Photoshop, it isn't absolutely necessary for fashion designers who are starting their own lines.

Options

While Illustrator and Photoshop are the two software applications mentioned most often, there are other options. The truth is there are other drawing and photo editing applications that can accomplish the same task at varying costs. The tool that you need is the tool that will do the job.

Procreate - an Adobe drawing program available for tablets
CorelDraw
Inkscape
Gimp

Among so many others.

Inkscape and Gimp

I have been in the fashion industry for a long time now and I only used Illustrator for a short time. I didn't like it at the time because the software was bloated with a lot of features I never used. It took a long time for the software to load and the extra tools and palettes got in the way. The current versions are much more streamlined and efficient. I also used CorelDraw, which worked well enough. In any event, as soon as I found Inkscape, I switched and haven't looked back. The same with Gimp over Photoshop. I have used Inkscape as a professional designer for at least 10 years and no one has been the wiser.

Illustrator will open and use Inkscape file formats (SVG) and vice versa for Illustrator (AI) files. Photoshop will open common image file formats like PNG and JPG. Gimp will open PSD files. Compatibility between different programs is so much better than it used to be. There are ways to provide Illustrator or Photoshop file formats if using Inkscape or Gimp. There are some workarounds including online file conversion sites that do a pretty good job.

Professionalism?

At the end of the day you can choose your tool of choice. If you prefer Illustrator, then that is your choice. Definitely take advantage of any training you can and test out all the different options. If your goal is to be an employee, then training on Illustrator and Photoshop may advantageous. If you are a freelancer or starting your own business, you can choose what works for you.

Professionalism is another matter. In my mind knowing specific software packages shows experience or knowledge, but it doesn't imply professionalism. Professionalism is to complete a task well, on time, and on budget. It includes good communication. The tool of choice is less relevant. What do you think? Please leave comments below.

Bullet Journaling in the New Year for Fashion Designers

Like many, I have had my ups and downs with keeping a journal or planner. The New Year starts off with a lot of motivation which runs out in a few months. I have purchased or been given planners with pretty pre-printed calendars and spreads and I have gone months without using it. Sometimes those journals are hard to use because the pre-printed spreads do not fit my productivity style or they are to rigid in their approach. Other times the planners are too big and bulky to carry with me despite how beautiful they are designed. The Bullet Journal has been the method or style I have stuck with the longest. I have been bullet journaling for four years, which is a record. There are several things I like about this method.

Customization

You can do whatever you want with your bullet journal. If you browse Youtube, there are a lot of artists and people in the planner community who like to make pretty planners. They spend a lot of time illustrating and drawing out their planners. They love certain pens, pens with special ink and, of course, stickers. You can do this if you want but it does take a lot of time.

I am a bullet journal purist. I create lists and check things off. There is absolutely no need to decorate or illustrate your pages unless you want to do it. You can use any type of journal -- lined, dot, or grid. Discount stores, including Walmart, carry these types of journals and you can get started at a very low cost.

A catch-all place

I really like the idea of my bullet journal being a catch-all. I really dislike posting sticky notes on my desk and around my computer monitor. It's messy and cluttered. I also get sticky note blindness. I just don't see them because I focus on the task that is top of mind. So notes, reminders, phone numbers to add to my contacts list, all get added to the journal to deal with later.

I use my bullet journal for project planning. I create an outline of the idea with individual tasks for each step. As a task is completed, I flip back to the project page and check off each task. Sometimes the project idea tasks migrate across my daily to-do's, but I always have that original reference. This type of project planning is perfect for designers as they start a new season.

I use my bullet journal for note taking during meetings and conferences. No need to bring a separate notebook, it all goes in one place. Later, as I review my notes I can create new tasks based on areas of inspiration or goal setting. I attended a conference back in October and several work-related tasks evolved from my notes. It also helped reinforce ideas that I thought were important.

Bullet journaling as a Fashion Designer

You can use one bullet journal for both personal and work related tasks. It is easier to keep track of one journal versus two, but it would be easy to overwhelm your personal tasks with design work tasks. Designing a collection comes with making hundreds of decisions with dozens of things to keep track of at the same time.

If you are a freelancer or employee, I do recommend keeping a work journal. It's important to keep track of client work and what is accomplished so you can determine your billable hours. It also adds a layer of protection so you can prove what you did. You can keep this journal in the style of a bullet journal or however you choose.

If you own a fashion business, a bullet journal can absolutely help keep you on track to meet deadlines. A work journal that is separate from a personal journal will help keep the two things separate so that neither space is overwhelmed. I keep my work journal at work so I am unable to look at it home. This sets a healthy boundary so that I truly get a break. I do carry my personal bullet journal with me most places so that anything truly important can be recorded. For truly in the middle of the night work or design ideas, I send a simple email to myself that I will read in the morning.

Either way, you can figure out a method that works best for you. One or two journals, personal and/or work related. The system is flexible enough to experiment until you find the method that is the most useful.

Productivity hacks

A bullet journal is definitely an analog approach to planning and organizing. This method helps me to mentally retain my tasks and ideas for far longer by physically writing them down. It gives me mental space and breathing room by brain dumping tasks and ideas onto paper so that the stress of having to remember it is removed

A bullet journal can be combined with digital calendaring, reminders, and contact lists. The method is flexible enough that you do not have to feel like you are doing double work. If you like to setup a calendar with reminders, then you can certainly do it. Planning out on paper first can help with laying things out digitally. You can use productivity tools like Asana or Monday.com and still use a bullet journal. As project tasks were assigned to me in Asana, they were transferred to my bullet journal. A journal seemed easier to refer back to whereas the digital tools were helpful for future reminders. Either way, you can incorporate both ideas or methods.

The productivity hack that I have recently implemented is to create your to-do lists at the end of the day in preparation for the next day. I always had this vision that I would wake up early and have time to myself to plan my day and do a bit of reading. With my chronic fatigue and busy days, it never happened. I could never remember from one day to the next what tasks needed to be done. So now I spend maybe 15 minutes in the evening reviewing my tasks and creating tomorrow's to-do list. The next morning a simple review of my to-do list gets me started in the right direction.


If you are interested in learning more about bullet journaling, you can read about the Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll. There are also lots of journals available on Amazon including fineliner pens.

Transitioning your focus as a fashion designer

The fashion industry is full of possible design opportunities and career tracks. If you are dealing with burnout as a fashion designer, there are alternatives. December is a great time to reflect back on the past year and evaluate successes and failures. It is also a time to evaluate if you are happy in your current position. Does your work energize you and make it easy to get up in the morning or do you have to drag yourself to work? If you dread going to work, then it may be time to plan a transition. As a new year approaches, looking forward to something new can help bring new energy and hope for a bright future.

As a fashion designer there is a way to transition your focus on the things you really want to accomplish. But changing your focus as a fashion designer can be challenging. Designers are attached to their brands and it can become a part of their identity. Letting things go so you can try something new is a bit scary. Though once the decision is made, you can take one step at a time to reach a happier place.

 

 Evaluate your goals

If you have made the decision to transition, it is time to evaluate your goals. Goals can be super specific or more general. Do you want to own and produce your own brand? Do you have financial goals? Do you want to change product categories? It helps to write your goals and vision down. If you start more generally, you can drill down to specific steps. Smaller specific steps leading to your goal are more actionable.

Goals can change over time so it is perfectly fine to cross off or toss goals that are no longer a part of your vision. Goals do not have to be a rigid framework that do not allow for deviation. Life is not like that and changes in life require changes in your goals. As a designer, I have had to make changes in my professional goals as life has happened. This is normal, so allow flexibility in your decision making and goal setting.

 

Choosing a new focus area

Fashion designers can design many product categories from shoes and accessories to all types of clothing. Usually a designer specializes in one product category and becomes known for one type of work. This can make a designer feel trapped because they feel like they can only design one thing. Large design houses will design and produce an entire look from head to toe. Smaller design entrepreneurs are not financially able to do the same thing and so they produce they same type of product from one season to the next.

If you own your own business, look at adding a new, but related, product category. For example, a children's clothing designer that creates sleepwear could explore playwear or bedding. Adding that new product category can reinvigorate your motivation and provide a challenge that holds your attention.

As an employee, you could begin working on your own design ideas on the side. Begin to turn your ideas and dreams into an actual product. Draft the patterns and sew up a sample. Work on it until you are satisfied.

Evaluate and sharpen your skills

Regardless of your current position, you can begin to explore related career tracks in the fashion industry. Begin by listing all of your skills. Today's fashion designer has skills in many areas. Here are just a few ideas:

• Graphic design
• Artist drawing or painting
• Social media marketing
• Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
• Sewing
• Patternmaking
• Spreadsheets
• Training/Coaching
• Sourcing/Outsourcing
• Product development

Each of the above skills can be used in other employment or freelance. Perhaps you no longer want to create and sell a product or run a business. You could start a consulting business for other designers helping them develop their product. Perhaps you love sourcing materials. You could help other designers find the right fabrics and trims. Or perhaps you love to draw. You could provide freelance drawing services to other designers who can not draw (you would be surprised at how many can't draw). I have a friend that creates drawings of client's wedding dresses as a keepsake.

Perhaps there is an area that you want to improve. Now is the time to sharpen those skills. Take an online class in search engine optimization or social media marketing. Improve your drawing skills by starting a daily drawing practice. Create a portfolio of your work. Create an outline for a training class.

 

Hire Help

Many fashion designers also run their own companies, bootstrapping as they go. Eventually you reach a point where you need help. The stresses of running a business while also being the creative leader can be overwhelming. At the same time, hiring an employee costs money. If you can't hire an employee to work with you at your office or design studio, look at hiring a virtual assistant. Either way you can outsource or delegate the tasks that you dread doing. If you need or want time to focus on the more creative aspects of your business, then get someone else to handle the more mundane tasks. There are plenty of people that can make phone calls and research sourcing options. A virtual assistant can lessen the financial impact of a regular assistant and still accomplish the small tasks you may not want to deal with on a daily basis.

If you are an employee looking to transition, and have the means to do so, you can still hire an assistant. A virtual assistant can take care of the tasks you can't accomplish during the day when you are at work and help you move things along.

Transitioning your focus to something new

Sometimes it is necessary to make drastic changes. This may mean shutting down a business, switching career tracks, finding new employment, or maybe even starting a new business. If you are in this situation, there are things you can do to help ease the transition.

Before making the leap to something else, have an emergency fund. Prepare financially by building your cash reserves so you can still eat and pay rent. Having to worry about daily living essentials can cause you to abandon your dream and force you to take the next available opportunity even if it does not match your goals. If you are transitioning to freelance work, a fund will greatly improve your chances of success.


Try to have a plan in place with actionable steps. If you quit what you are doing now with no plan, it will take you even longer to transition. Let's say you want to become a coach to other designers. Here is what your plan may look like:

1. Start an educational blog
2. Collect email addresses of possible clients
3. Email potential clients introducing yourself
4. Create a proposal and determine rates

I've spent the last year or so on my own transition. I've worked as a patternmaker, technical designer and designer for over 20 years specializing in children's special occasion clothing. There are many things I enjoyed about my work. I loved working with expensive fabrics and trims to create something beautiful for a special event that would be kept as an heirloom or memory. Still, I made basically the same product over and over again with minor variation. Creatively, I became bored. At the same time I was battling chronic fatigue and I was being forced to evaluate my current work load. Since then I have evaluated my skills and found a new related focus that has me energized and is bringing me back to the business one step at a time.