Opinion Piece.

Working for you?

Honestly, it took me a long time to understand that chasing a paycheck without anchoring to my creative values was quietly steering me away from the kind of career I actually wanted. Early on, I didn’t think to ask whether the work was helping me grow, or if it aligned with the kind of designer I was becoming. I just kept moving forward, assuming fulfillment would catch up. It didn’t. What finally shifted things was stepping into environments that valued curiosity, autonomy, and experimentation—places where I could make decisions, not just follow them. That’s where I began to reconnect with the reasons I chose this path in the first place. And while there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for creative fulfillment, I’ve learned that the right path is the one that lets you grow into yourself—not away from it.