🗓 One Year Can Change Your Whole Life (Developer Turned Designer, vol. 02)

publishedover 1 year ago
2 min read

One year can change your whole life.

Last month, I finally wrote up the story of how I went from having a full-time job as a software engineer to receiving an MFA acceptance letter from my top school, ArtCenter College of Design.

Here’s an excerpt from my blog post:

January 15, 2022 arrived. Applications are due tonight, Saturday night. The day continued on just as the past several had. Intense periods of focus while taking breaks to watch clips of The Office. That evening caffeine no longer had any effect on me. I played Sacrifice by The Weeknd on repeat on hours as some form of bizzare working meditation. Multiple cups of coffee, tea, and Coke Zero couldn’t help me focus. My hips, legs and back started cramping up. Not from stress, but from physically sitting at my desk for so many hours nonstop for the previous few weeks. I hand cranked my desk up so I could stand. “When was the last time I stretched?” The music blared on. I was on autopilot now, the homestretch. I checked for typos and misalignment obsessively. File, export. Adobe InDesign crashed…

Yes, I absolutely will leave you with a cliffhanger! 🤠

Read the full post here.

Failure is Not Something to Focus On.

A sense of failure is not something to engage with. Just observe it and let it pass.

For most of my life I thought astrology was a waste of time, and I’m still mostly on the fence about it. Since last year I’ve been casually observing patterns though the Co-Star app and learning about sun/moon/rising signs—mostly as a way to know myself better. (For the record, my signs are: sun Capricorn, moon Leo, rising Capricorn). The moon Leo thing really stood out to me because that aligns with my Clifton Strength of significance. I want to ensure others feel valued and appreciated, even more than I seek those things for myself. Is it all hot air on some level? Maybe. For now, it’s an interesting tool among many others.

That said, the following headline (?) showed up in my Co-Star app and it really resonated with me: “A sense of failure is not something to engage with. Just observe it and let it pass.”

This was a short one.

I‘m in the process of typing up several loose ends, and hopefully a project I can talk about in the next newsletter. It’s been something that profoundly shaped how I relate to myself, and I hope it will be a helpful tool for many people. Until then, thank you so much for reading!

Hit reply, I’d love to hear your feedback and any topics you’d like to hear more about.


How You Can Help

My independent design business is called ntrsct (in•ter•sect) designs, and I’m always looking to meet potential clients or collaborators.

I help businesses make the right first impression with their customers, by providing brand strategy and logo design services.

If you know any of those types of businesses, please let me know. I would love to meet them! Feel free to forward this email with a note, or share my business website or services deck with them.

Shakeel Mohamed – Developer Turned Designer

Hello, I’m Shakeel! I’m a visual designer from Seattle, specializing in branding and experimental typography. After 10 years of working as a software engineer, I began exploring my creative side. I am an MFA in Graphic Design student at ArtCenter College of Design, with the intent of learning more about typography, branding, and design leadership.

Read more from Shakeel Mohamed – Developer Turned Designer