James Jean-Marie: Graphic Design Guru @ Age 17
So a few posts ago I mentioned something about not knowing what I wanted to be when I “grew up” and frankly that’s still true. I still really like discovering different aspects of my job that I like or don’t like, which help me steer my career in the direction that I want it to go in.
Ever since the Tableau competition, my LinkedIn kind of blew up and I started getting thousands of hits on my posts. But more importantly than that, I had a lot of people ask me for like career advice which is hilarious because I still think of myself as like a baby in the real world. I still have so much to learn but I guess those 4 years of experience have quickly passed and taught me so many lessons already. What I can say to anyone who doesn’t know what the hell they want to do is this: It’s okay! The coolest part about getting to your dream job or role is literally the journey and learning through trial and error. However, if you have something you love, please do yourself a favor and pursue it with everything that you have. You will never be better at anything than you are at doing what you like to do. You ever hear that saying that’s like if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life? Well yeah, kinda. I mean let’s be serious, even people that have it made have some rough days, that’s just part of it. But yeah, in general, if you do something you love, the rough days won’t seem so rough and the enjoyment will outweigh the negatives.
Okay, okay so I’m not gonna sit here and talk about myself all day. Today we are going to talk about James Jean-Marie. He is my sweet friend’s little brother and I virtually met him on Instagram during COVID times because I was looking for someone to make a logo for HangryMarn. My friend Lucas sent me to his brother, James, right away. At the time, I didn’t realize James was only 17 years old and currently attending a local rival high school in Louisville, where I spent a large chunk of my life. He is going to be a senior at duPont Manual High School (I went to Male HS, go dawgs!) which is a pretty prestigious school. People that go to this high school choose a sort of like track or a pseudo-major, I would say, to focus on while they take their regular required classes. They have performing arts, math and science and I can’t even remember what else. I applied and did NOT get in so that should tell you how smart I am lol. No but really, the people that go here are known for being very smart and disciplined AF. James is no different — I cant tell just by the way he even answered my questions for this blog. Most people just write short sentences and he wrote me a full on essay. Ok so let’s dive into his story.
James designed the logo for my site and working with him was such a seamless experience. He is a graphic designer and he is already so good at it and he’s only 17! Like I can’t get over that. I don’t even know what the hell I was doing when I was 17. Probably napping after school lmao. I feel like artistic people are just born with it. I don’t even know how to describe what it is but you know what I mean. Like yeah you can take classes but if you don’t have it, you just don’t. James definitely has got it.
Growing up, I always dreamed of becoming an artist. I can remember all the way back to when I was in elementary school, I was constantly sketching out superheroes on sheets of papers in this one red folder I had set aside just for my artwork. I loved going to art class whenever I had them throughout the week.
When middle school came, I got to take art in 6th and 8th grade and loved them. Throughout those three years, I had a few sketchbooks and even got into painting and oil painting. I also ended up taking art classes outside of school to learn more as applying to a particular high school came closer and closer.
When it came to deciding what high school I wanted to move on to next, I had duPont Manual High School as my number one choice and Male High School as a backup. Both of my brothers graduated from there and told me if I didn’t get in, they were not my brothers anymore. “Oh no, I better get in,'' I thought jokingly. Besides that, I saw that they had a visual arts program, as Manual is ranked the greatest high school in Kentucky with different core programs. I was thinking of applying for that one in particular. You would think I would’ve applied but I ended up not doing so. Even after choosing an art elective 8th grade year, I was so devoted on getting into that program. I don’t know why I had such an interest in making powerpoints look really good back in middle school, but they played a small part as to why I instead applied to the Journalism & Communications program at Manual. This felt so long ago, but I remember my friend got me in contact with this small organization that needed a new logo called Loads of Love. I don’t know if it’s still up to this date but it was officially my first logo.
I also attended a writing workshop camp the program hosted one summer when I was going into 8th grade. One of the workshops I got to partake in was graphic design and I came to really like it a lot. We were playing around with spacing, colors, typeface, etc. My second oldest brother was in that program and told me how great it was and thought I should apply there.
Next thing you know I applied, got in, and now a rising senior. Over the course of 3 years, I took Digital Design 1, Adv Digital Design, and a Motion Graphics class. Not really a class, but I also got to be on staff for a magazine publication for the youth of Louisville called, “On The Record”. On there, I was a graphic designer/photographer. This school year, I will be on the Editorial Board as Photo Editor. Those three years I got to learn so much about graphic design and a big thanks to my teacher Ms.Palmer who taught all those classes.
I told you all he wrote me a fully detailed essay explaining everything!! We have these little cues in life that draw us towards the things that we enjoy the most and it’s up to us to chase them. James was drawn to art as early as elementary school. Listen, I don’t even think I was speaking English in elementary school, this guy discovered his freaking calling so early on in life.
I think that artistic careers were often looked down upon when I was growing up and has only recently started to see change in this space. I think people thought that to be a “successful” artist you had to be a famous pop start or something. What I’ve learned over the years is that literally everything is art and our interpretation of it is a form of art in itself. There are all kinds of careers in this space and it’s really cool to see this industry grow in a positive way. I think because it was not really accepted as a viable career path in the past, I notice a lot of people doing artistic things as like their side hustle but a lot of times they are better at their side hustle than their main hustle. This is because, like I’ve said before, you will truly be the best at the things you love to do.
Working in a creative space, I think it’s challenging but also a lot of freedom with what you want to create in the aspect of making something for myself or for a client. With the challenging part, at the start of anything I make, I just dislike it right away. But if it were not that way, my work wouldn’t be the best I know it could be. Kind of like with writing, you have a 1st draft, 2nd draft, 3rd, and so on until you get that final piece of work. The same goes for graphic design. I have a love/hate relationship being in a creative space.
Anyway, I hired him to make my logo and I could not be happier with the experience. I gave him pretty much NO direction and he came up with so many samples at ungodly speeds. I was really impressed and he was very understanding of all of my requests for changes. But my question here was how does one get into freelancing and how the hell do you do that while going to school, especially when you are so young!?
How did I get into freelancing? It started out with reaching out to local artists in the city [Louisville] and asking if they needed album cover artwork, some time passed and that same teacher recommended me to one of her former students that was helping in organizing March on Frankfort 2020, and needed some graphic design work. Since then, I’ve been messaging artists, and small businesses, through Instagram if they needed some graphic design work. Some asked if I had a portfolio, which led me to make my own website and Instagram portfolio. Since then people have reached out to me asking if I could help them with some design work and I thank God for every new client.
With every new client I get, my process for how everything goes builds upon the previous one. Now I am at a point where I am making a list of questions that are important to have. For a logo, I will ask, “What is the whole company/business/service you do all about, what colors must be included, any ideas/inspirations for me,” and other questions. After coming up with a draft, I’ll send a photo of the work and ask if this is in the right direction and what I could do to make it better. Within a few hours of designing and talking back and forth, the final design is finished!
I think I ask every entrepreneur how they knew they were good enough to make it or to start charging people for their services because I mean, it’s one thing to have the skill but then managing your business regardless of its size is a whole different thing.
It was really a few months into this year. I guess when I was comfortable with using all the softwares I use to design anything I make and when people liked what I posted on my Instagram. I remember back around last winter, I was asking my parents if I could do freelance graphic design since I wouldn’t need a car to drive anywhere and everything was digital. I could do graphic design from the comfort of my own room. My parents wanted me to focus on school and ACT at the time, so a few months passed and here I am today. I never thought I would be making my passion into something that I could also make money with together at this age. Thought it would be sometime in or after college.
Every artist and just people in general have people that inspire them. For James, he likes to follow @magdiellop for photoshop and @graphicroozane for other artists that are featured on instagram.
When I am working on a project for myself or a client my go-to place for inspiration would be Pinterest. Type in a few keywords and you are just flooded with inspiration. As I am scrolling, I will find some qualities I like from this or that design, and try to change it up a bit into something more original.
As for my style of artwork, I don’t think I have one yet or will ever have one. I’m all over the place right now as I can do different things people might want. From album covers, logos, social media graphics, etc. I haven’t figured out how to blend all that together to look cohesive in a way. Still learning and growing in this field!
Ok so the last part of the interview thingy I sent James is the same for everyone that I feature on the blog. I simply just ask them to share anything else that’s on their mind as they are writing their answers. James’ response is so on brand with the type of message I want my blog to put out.
Finally, if you want to get better at something, you got to put the work in if you want to excel at it. I thought I was a good designer all the way back to when I was a freshman taking Digital Design 1. Looking back, not my best work but I’ve grown over the years and learned so much. If you’ve made it this far, follow my design account @jamesdesignworks! And if you or anyone you know need graphic design work, would love to work together!
We all start as beginners at some point and it’s important to remember that. Nothing worth having comes easy and you truly get what you put in. No, this doesn’t mean everyone should start their own business or freelancing or anything like that. If there is something you’re interested in, pursue it. If you’re waiting for a sign to do something, this is it. You can always change your mind later or try something else instead, but you will never know what you’re missing out on if you don’t take chances. Once you find something that you think you’re good at, always remember that there is most definitely someone that is better at it than you. No, that’s not me being a pessimist, that’s me being a realist. You should want to be as good as that person someday so that one day people will be looking up to you for guidance and advice. That’s how you push yourself to be better. The most successful people failed too and they failed a lot. The only difference between those that succeed and those that fail is that the successful ones kept getting up after they got knocked down. In the words of Dory the fish, “Just keep swimming.”
