(Pointer: if education preaches open-mindedness what then is the importance of guidance counseling?)

www.yourstory.com defined guidance and counseling as I quote “Guidance and counseling is the process which helps the students to know their skills, interests, personality that will help students in further career selection”. Now education teaches open-mindedness. www.verywellmind.com defined open-mindedness as “a characteristic that involves being receptive to a wide variety of ideas, arguments, and information. Being open–minded is generally considered a positive quality”.

In other words, education teaches that you are free to make choices and work hard towards achieving them it in terms of careers, skills, and interest, so why then do we still require career counselors.

A typical example: Akin attends Endwell Model Science College. He is a brilliant student and graduated top of his class in the Primary category but, since his advent in the secondary section, he performs woefully and this is worrisome for his parents. They strip him of all gadgets just to ensure his performance improves, but nothing changes. What then can make an exceptional student be a woeful performer just in a wink of time?

Guidance and counseling are required at this point, though education teaches open-mindedness, an opportunity to explore a wide range of ideas, it does not always guaranty that we will always make the right choice. Mostly because of these wide options we are often confused about what is best for us and our children. We tend to roll with the popular opinions and feel they will always yield desirable results. 

The major problem facing the Nigerian educational system is the mass failure in external examinations because there are no counselors to educate the pupil and student on the overwhelming mass ignorance on the choice of their careers and educational growth. It is therefore very important to leverage the diverse technologies available to us to ensure that young people are properly informed.

This could be done across social media spaces, telephones and emails, and mass advocacy. People should not only find out that they make the wrong career when they are older. The gaps can be covered when they are younger.

Seldomly, people make insane career choices and excelled in it after working so hard to attain the skills necessary, but should choosing a career to be a struggle with your weakness rather than advancing your strengths? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Ultimately, the most important thing to know as a graphic designer is to know nothing. Don't think you know the answer to a client's problem. Don't think you know more than the other designers around you. The best thing to be when you're a designer is curious.

Graphic designing is one of the jobs that require creativity and skills in the marketplaces. Either you are a freelancer or doing a job, you are bound to do your best to make yourself stand out from the crowd. These things are much more important when you deal in online marketplaces like designhill, Fiverr, etc. where you need to impress the client to get the task and after that to deliver the best.

The most important thing you can do in graphics design is to solve your client’s problem effectively. Anyone can make something look pretty, but creating a beautiful, optimal solution to a real-life business problem is the point of the entire profession. If you make it look good, but it doesn’t portray your brand, then the design is worthless.

Also, try designing one thing every day. A very famous project called “Everyday's”, where a designer designs something or the other every day, whatsoever. One of my friends has been going at it for months now, and his works have been published in a lot of articles. This is a good way to improve your skills.

Never hesitate to try. Don’t judge your own designs. What looks incomplete to you might look amazing to someone else’s eye. So don’t think you’ll be stuck after some time. You'll get the flow after you actually put some work on it. Take a lot of inspiration from your surroundings. There’s nothing more beautiful than nature. 

Also, know when to take a break, and rest your mind and mental health. A beginner will let the job consume their entire lifestyle. Throughout their experience, professionals learn to appreciate their free time. Networking is just as important as skills, knowledge, and experience. Without contacts, your talent is worthless. Always get an upfront payment. When you discuss the terms for a project, always request part of the payment before you start the work. This protects you from doing any work for free.

Show empathy, the ability to understand others, and step into their mindset is what makes your visual solutions speak to the intended audience. It helps you understand client needs, and work with team members. It is what differentiates you from a coder. Remember to empathize with your audience and you’ll stay relevant.

Learn to step away from the computer and pick up a pencil, even if you never show anyone your sketches—or if drawing makes you anxious, at least step away from the computer and conceptualize without staring at the screen. Once you have an idea, that’s when you can figure out how to make it happen in the software. Designing straight on the screen means you will default, consciously or not, to what you know how to do easily.