Farewell Column: Thank you, DTH, for turning my hobby into a career

Being creative is a fundamental part of who I am, something encouraged by my loved ones ever since I can remember.

In elementary school, I spent my weekends drawing in my latest sketchbook, which I never completely filled, and begging my mom to iron my Perler Bead creations. My best friend and I looked forward to skipping recess in middle school and hanging out in the art classroom with our hands covered in acrylic paint. By high school, I rushed from my AP classes to the crowded hallway lined with drying ceramic sculptures and oil paintings crammed onto shelves, ready to give my busy mind a necessary break and lose myself in my current art project. 

I thought art was just a hobby — a hobby I loved dearly, but a hobby nonetheless — nothing I could truly hope to pursue in the future. 

I came in undecided on my major at Chapel Hill, taking a variety of introductory level classes and hoping to feel that spark that meant I had found what I wanted to study and — as I thought I needed to decide right then and there — do for the rest of my life. But it never caught, and I started to lose hope for finding anything I was truly passionate about. 

I’m not sure what caused me to apply to The Daily Tar Heel that night in the Undergraduate Library, sitting in my favorite chair and dreading the future. I thought, at the very least, joining Design Desk would give me an excuse to start being creative again. 

Well, I fell head over heels for graphic design. 

Under the instruction of Olivia Goodson, I felt that creative spark again. I eagerly took graphic assignments each and every week, challenging myself to further both the concepts and my techniques. I both dreaded and loved page building, but it was a process that got easier each time I did it. 

Being a traditional artist at heart, I had never touched a digital art program before I joined the design desk. Now, Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop are part of who I am.

When I got the opportunity to apply for editor, I jumped at the chance. I’ve had the joy of watching my designers grow, becoming more and more confident in their abilities and finding new and creative ways to approach their graphics. 

While running these design programs for hours at a time might be slowly killing my poor computer, they’ve brought life back into me. 

So I don’t like thinking about my last paper.

I might be the only person in the office who likes print proof on Tuesday nights. It’s a tedious process to be sure, rewriting headlines, fixing captions and aligning text blocks. We are all tired after a day of classes and an evening spent receiving endless messages in the #print channel. 

But I’ll eagerly refresh the “Latest Print Issue” button on our website to see our work in all of its PDF glory, knowing that they will be in the Blue Boxes when I wake up on Wednesday. It’s tangible proof of our hard work. It’s something that I can be proud of.

After my first week as design editor, I called my best friend for our long, overdue catchup and told her, “This is what I’m meant to be doing. This is what I can see myself doing for the rest of my life.” 

I hope that it will be.

@dthopinion | opinion@dailytarheel.com

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