Re-Thinking My Career

I realized recently that I've lost all my passion for graphic/web design. That moment of realization occurred a couple months back, during a reunion of some former co-workers. Back when we all worked together, I was the Macromedia Flash guy. I knew the program in and out, spent a good chunk of my free time tinkering and experimenting and learning it's every quirk and foible.

The topic of Flash came up in conversation, and I confessed that I rarely, if ever, used Flash anymore. So, the question was asked: “So what are you into now?” I realized at that point, nothing. I went from Flash to HTML/CSS-based design, and threw myself into that for a while. Then got into PHP development. There were times where I was thrown headlong into Illustrator, InDesign, and whatever else struck my fancy. Things I would spend my free time away from work tinkering with and learning, there was always something. Until now.

Now, there's none of that passion, obsession even at times. I'm just not feeling that creative fire for graphic design any more. I don't spend hours combing through a myriad of design portals and sites drooling over the latest stuff. I don't spend my nights screwing around in Photoshop trying out new ideas. None of it.

So I'm thinking about moving to a new medium, I want to give video a try. What aspect of it I'm not entirely sure. Maybe editing, maybe visual effects, maybe 3D. I don't know yet, so I think I'm just going to throw myself in and start learning the tools. I'm starting with Final Cut Pro and Maya, I'll see where it goes from there. Once I've done a bit of it, I'll hopefully get a clearer picture of what aspect interests me the most. Maybe all of it, who knows?

If nothing else, hopefully I can regain a little of that creative passion for a while.