We all know how to recognise our people – you take a walk and you can sniff out a designer from a mile away.
But within that world there are a multitude of design tribes. Do you know which one you belong to? Are you hanging out with the wrong designer crowd? Do you think you are a 'Critical' designer but in reality you are just a 'Brand Expert'?
I discuss this in issue 231 of Computer Arts – which you'll find in the shops on Thursday – but why not take this cheeky test to determine which tribe you belong to? Simply jot down the letter that corresponds to each answer and click-to-reveal at the bottom...
01. How do you prefer to travel to work?
- You ride your fixie (K)
- You are driven (D)
- You roll over to your desk (C)
- Walk 10 minutes, metro 35 minutes and then either bus or walk for another 10 minutes depending on the weather (H)
02. How many hours do you work?
- It's not work (G)
- 9-5 (J)
- Until midnight is standard (E)
- You follow your body rhythm (H)
03. How are you inspired?
- By your children (I)
- You read the news (G)
- You look out for the newest trends on Tumblr (A)
- It comes from within (H)
- Pinterest (K)
- The beauty of nature (C)
04. Who is your design hero?
- Paul Rand (A)
- Daniel van der Velde (H)
- Wim Crouwel (F)
- Seriously? (J)
05. What is your ideal project?
- Wedding card (J)
- Redesign the Bible (E)
- Streamline the Nike Swoosh (F)
- You are happy with anything that pays (I)
06. Your favorite colour?
- Blue (D)
- Black (E)
- Red (H)
- Green (G)
- Gold (K)
07. How do you choose the typeface for the project you are working on?
- That's not your job (B)
- Google fonts are great (J)
- You only pick fonts from independent type foundries that have really cool specimen books (E)
- You are a Massimo Vignelli disciple so your choices are limited to five typefaces (A)
- You just design them yourself (K)
08. How do you do presentations?
- You hate talking, your images should speak for themselves (A)
- You stand, clasp your hands and make a sweeping rhetoric statement, pause, and then show one image (D)
- A couple of Epson printouts will do (J)
- On an iPhone (I)
- You read out all 25 slides, eventually you get to the work (H)
- Sweating, stuttering, blushing, and shaking (F)
- With as much cleavage as possible (B)
- You just send the link (C)
09. You just won a pitch...
- This is never possible – you don’t believe in pitching, it's bad for design (G)
- You tweet about it several times a day (K)
- You run around the studio hugging all your colleagues as if you won the World Cup (B)
- You call your mom (D)
10. You just lost a pitch...
- This is never possible – you don’t believe in pitching, it's bad for design (H)
- You are convinced that you lost unfairly, and that the whole job was crap in the first place (A)
- You pretend it never happened (F)
- You call your mom (C)
11. The client is not happy with your results in the latest presentation...
- You take him out for dinner (D)
- You make the changes while he sits next to you (I)
- You make sure he knows how disappointing he is as a client (K)
- You break down in tears (F)
- You are proud because what hurts you will make you stronger (G)
12. Does money make the world go round?
- Money is the root of all evil (G)
- It's all about value (I)
- Who designed the euro bills? (A)
- It's not money, it's Bitcoin (C)
13. You are invited to be a keynote speaker at a conference...
- You forward your request to your secretary (B)
- You say yes within seconds (H)
- You ask a colleague to join you on stage (E)
- You start worrying about what you will wear then what you will say (J)
14. How do you register your work?
- You photograph each individual piece on a grey background and retouch the life out of it (A)
- An iPhone snapshot will do (I)
- It never went to print so cinema 3d is perfect (F)
- You never show work, you just mention the client (B)
15. What is your favorite drink?
- Old Fashioned (A)
- Rooibos Tea (G)
- Skinny Latte Macchiato (B)
- Water – sparkling not still (F)
- Cristal (K)
- Wine in a box (I)
- Russian River Blind Pig IPA (C)
- Double Espresso (D)
16. Do you read?
- You read much more now that you are on Twitter and Facebook (A)
- Derrida is your favorite (H)
- The great thing about e-readers is that you can read junk and no one knows (D)
- It's the way you relax (J)
- You don’t read you only look at pictures (K)
- Just audiobooks (E)
17. What art do you have at home?
- The Wim Crouwel catalogues from the Stedelijk Museum dating between 1963-1985 framed individually, above your Eames lounge chair (F)
- A complete printout of the Star Wars Universe (C)
- Robert Capa's last photograph (G)
- A Van Gogh in the kitchen (J)
- SNES on your night stand (C)
18. Where did you take your first serious date?
- The Heineken Experience House (B)
- Your parents' (J)
- Hooters – they have the greatest chicken wings (I)
- The Einstürzende Neubauten concert (C)
- In the elevator (D)
19. What kind of tattoos do you have?
- None – your body is a sacred temple (A)
- Your favorite quote in Helvetica (E)
- Most people mistake you for a sailor (G)
- You recently joined the Japanese Yakuza (K)
20. How often do you have sex?
- It depends on the intern (K)
- You make love to your graphic design (A)
- Every Sunday at 14:00 (F)
- Whenever possible (B)
21. What's your favorite cuisine?
- Japanese (A)
- Pizza (C)
- Super food (G)
- Meat (B)
- The 5:2 diet (J)
Click to reveal what type of designer you are!
Mostly As
The Designer's Designer
"As long as it looks great on my website who cares if the project is not real."
I guess you have to fake it till you make it...
Mostly Bs
The Brand Expert
"I am here to build bigger and better brands, design is just a small part of it."
Let's be honest, you are just a designer who changed his title so that you could get better paid.
Mostly Cs
The Online Geek Designer
"I am not alone I am part of a bigger network."
We are secretly hoping you will invent the next big thing on the social network, so that we are no longer embarrassed to tell everyone we know you.
Mostly Ds
The Strategic Designer
"Just one word can say more then a thousand images."
It was your childhood dream to become a designer, but your parents convinced you there was no way you could make a living with that, so you ended up being a strategist instead.
Mostly Es
The Type Freak Designer
"For my birthday I went all out and bought the entire collection from my favorite Swiss foundry."
If you are still single, we suggest you only hang out at a type conference to meet your match.
Mostly Fs
The Grid Designer
"I have reached perfection and it physically hurts just looking at the world around me."
To be honest nobody sees it but if it helps you line up your facial creams on your dressing table at home, that's fine with us – just don’t do it at our place.
Mostly Gs
The Socially Engaged Designer
"We have the power to make a change, its no longer in the hands of these political puppets."
You give design a good name. But it doesn't mean you should not have any hygiene standards.
Mostly Hs
The Critical Designer
"Stereotyping is a form of pseudo-narcissistic self doubt in the greater spectrum of design."
We know you are speaking in English, but we seriously don't understand a single word. Did you care?
Mostly Is
The 'I am just doing this for the money' Designer
"In the end someone has to pay the bills."
You are looked down upon by the rest us. The truth is, we too have those jobs, but we just never mention them.
Mostly Js
The 'You are not really a designer' Designer
‘I was good with ppt, and you know one thing led to the other’
We always need people like you around, you make the rest of us look really talented.
Mostly Ks
The Trend Generator Designer
"I am the Trend Setter and you are all my followers."
You are part of the elite – one day you are designing a limited edition flag, next day a pop-up shop, the day after an animation for your favourite fashion designer. Everyone wants to be you.
A mixture of everything
Congratulations! You're your own brand of designer, and flatly refuse to be pigeonholed. We salute you. Or, you're just indecisive...
Issue 231 of Computer Arts reveals how you can play to your strengths with self-promo that perfectly suits your personality. On sale 21 August, don't miss out!
Words: Liza Enebeis; Illustration: Zeneta Antosik
Liza Enebeis is creative director at Rotterdam-based design agency Studio Dumbar and a host of Typeradio, the radio channel exclusively dedicated to type and design. She also pens tongue-in-cheek advice to designers under the moniker LoveLiza.
