You know you’re a graphic designer when…

1. You judge a potential store by their logo.

You have no qualms about judging a book by its cover, everywhere. If a restaurant or store has a crappy logo, on to the next place.

2. You can’t figure out what you want from a restaurant because the typography is distracting you

No matter where you go, no font is safe. If someone uses Papyrus, they have lost all of your respect.

3. You have trouble enjoying the movie because the font on the poster doesn’t match the opening title or credits.

Enough said. Why do they do that?!?

4. You roll your eyes when, after someone asks you what you do, they ask you what you really do. As if being a designer isn’t a “real” job.

It takes all of your self-control not to barrage your new acquaintance with a list of all your certificates, training, years of experience, software and skills, hardware you bought, not to mention, that little thing called a college degree. Moving on.

5. You’d be a millionaire if every time a prospect asks you to do their design work for very cheap/free, you got a nickel

No, I won’t do your logo for $50. No, I won’t do your website for free because you’re a startup. And no, I won’t do spec work to see if you “like” it first before paying. We’re running a business here, not a charity.

6. You have a growing pile of booklets, ads, brochures, and other printed pieces that you snatched because they were so well designed.

Never mind that you’ll probably never look at them again or use them as inspiration, all that matters is that you have them.

7. You know who Saul Bass is.

8. You scream and rip your hair out every time a client sends you something in Word that they’d like you to work on or emulate.

This should seriously be illegal.

9. You want to slap clients who start dictating where and how big things should go/be

Um, you’re the designer. Let’s keep it that way.

10. You seriously LOL when a client says they have Publisher files

11. You go to the Apple store, just to bask in its Apple-ness

You know you do it, just admit it. This is a safe space.

12. You know exactly what colors and fonts your client needs, but can’t figure out how to brand your own business.

13. Client work and websites get done, but your own site? …eh, not so much.

14. You read magazines not for the content, but for the ad designs

15. Your favorite book is Logo Design Love

16. You waste four hours making sure everything is exactly perfect before showing to the client.

As if they would notice that that text was 2 pixels to the left before you presented it

17. You wish there was waaay more advertising stuff going on in Mad Men

Too much chit-chatting about relationships and booze for my taste

18. You went and saw Mad Max six times while it was still in theatres

Hey, the visuals were cool

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPydRKuhuEk

19. When you find another good design friend, you are too excited to speak

Because, deep down, you know they love to talk shop as much as you do. Even if it is 99.9% of the conversation

20. You have a hard time explaining to strangers what it is you do, exactly.

Isn’t “graphic designer” description enough?

21. You have trained your significant other to despise Comic Sans as much as you do

22. You think it’s so cute when friends and family try to “design” things themselves. In PowerPoint.

23. Inside you think, “please don’t hurt my baby,” whenever you hand over source files to a client.

24. You accidentally slip into Design Speak during normal conversation

It takes a while for you to notice that everyone looks confused when you start slipping in words like: “native InDesign files,” “typographic ligatures,” and “Pantone spot colors.”

25. It amuses you that others seem to think that designers stare at empty screens while using a stylus, or just play with Pantone color books all day.

At least according to stock photo websites, when you search for images of a “graphic designer.”

Your turn:

How do you tell if someone’s a designer? What are your favorite and least favorite things about being a designer?

Sheila

Sheila Patterson is the owner and Creative Director behind Apex Creative. GCU professor by day, brand identity expert by night, she loves all things related to design. When she's not creating amazing logos and websites, you can find Sheila tormenting her husband and two feline furbabies, catching the latest Game of Thrones episode, or reading a good book. Naps are nice too.