My Design Career – Jesiah Davis

I really enjoy designing, more accurately I love a good puzzle and design, to me, seems to be the most fascinating collection of puzzles short of studying science

Being a mature age student in my early thirties and embarking upon change of career change and self-discovery.  I am willing to consider all options and constantly re-assess the direction in which I am heading. As such the aspirations I hold for my career are diverse. Upon leaving my old career behind I realized a few home truths about myself, I knew that: I enjoy learning new things and like to try to think critically about them and that I wanted to learn how to draw!

I am quite inquisitive by nature and it is this part of me that has propelled me towards the Design industry. So far through my education in design which started from doing a 1 yr Design course at Enmore design centre and then two years in a 2yr Diploma of Architectural drafting and now a year of university in Industrial design. I have found that Industrial Design satisfies me most in terms of it allowing me the greatest latitude for opportunities to develop artistically and technically across a broad range of disciplines. Industrial design and other related fields within the built environment me to utilize my skills and technical knowledge acquired from a decade of working as an electronics technician throughout my twenties.

I feel there is a tectonic shift occurring in the way we conduct ourselves in the world and I wish to be part of the new wave of thinkers that will strategize and plan for a more equitable and sustainable future. Or more simply pursue a career that leaves behind marks of quality and work to be proud of. In a more direct sense I think I am gravitating towards mostly wanting to be involved in 3 main fields of interest and they are; Designing Bicycles, Buildings and Digital Media. My reasoning for this is as follows, I have always loved bicycles from the very first ride as a small child and have been fascinated by them ever since. I would love to spend part of my career involved some how with the design and production of bicycles. Secondly I see Digital Media as holding a place within my career, as I am, for all intents and purposes, a digital native and digital media plays an important role in my lifestyle. The scope of possibilities for communication that is held by digital media formats is wide open and only in its infancy. I feel fortunate that I am old enough to have witnessed and to have been shaped as a person by the phenomenally rapid rise of technology over the past 30 yrs. Finally, Buildings. Buildings ignite a fire within my deepest depths. Nothing quite comes close to the amazement I get from well designed buildings. The buildings we inhabit are integral to the shaping of our lives. I see this as a probably being later on in my career through design and also see it as probably being the pinnacle of my career. Architecture and the considerations that lie within the designs of building are perhaps savored better a more mature mind.