I didn’t have a hugely diverse or industrious career working for others before I quickly realised that I wanted to work for myself. However in the time I did I realised one thing. People love a job title and it’s completely bollocks.

I really don’t know why there’s so much of it, in small businesses especially. I’ve worked with people who set up a LTD on companies house for £12 and call themselves CEO of it. Whatever it is or isn’t, you should focus more on building your business and less about brandishing your new found title around.

Worst thing is, I got dragged into it a few years back when I was first considering going freelance. I am a very flexible designer, able to work with branding, print design and advertising right through to web development. I’ve even worked on iOS applications and do the odd bit of video editing, showreels and the like. As I could cover quite a breadth of design I wanted to showcase it with a flashy job title. I had a list wrote down that ranged from the cringeworthy ‘Rockstar’ to ‘Creative Bastard’ (You know nothing Jon Snow).

i’m a designer.

In the end I decided to keep it simple. Designer. It say’s all I need and conveys exactly what I do.

Designers give perspective by solving problems.

As a designer, I create solutions based on technical knowledge of design, but also based on a number of different constraints, such as content, mood, goals, and other client needs.  Design is also a service.  I need to serve clients, being proficient in Adobe’s Creative Suite and having an extensive knowledge of programming languages isn’t enough.

Now I’m not saying I’ll always feel the same way about this, I know it’s possibly quite a way off but the title Creative Director automatically gives me Don Draperesque charm and dress sense…right?

If you’re looking to hire someone who cares more about their work than the title on their business card, I’d love to speak to you.