A Designer’s Wish List

Holiday shopping time is upon us and in case you are at a complete loss as to what to get your favorite designer (hint, hint) we’ve put together a little holiday shopping list for you. (Our FTC disclaimer: We are providing these links through Amazon’s Associate program, so if you click on them and buy something for yourself, or for us, or for Santa, we will get a whole shiny nickel. Or a quarter. Or something.)

Up first, Design School Confidential. Sorry design school students, we really hate to break this to you, but REAL WORLD DESIGN IS NOTHING LIKE SCHOOL. Like, major bummer, I know. In the real world, there are clients (!), with opinions (!), and bosses (!), and budgets (!!!). But every real world designer (yours truly included) loves to look back on the time when clients and bosses and budgets and opinions did not exist. We fondly remember our days in design school, spending hour after hour in the design lab making everything just perfect. We also remember not getting a paycheck. Personally, I’d rather get paid to work with my fabulous clients (you really are, I’m not just sucking up for presents), with fabulous opinions and fabulous bosses and sometimes not-so-fabulous budgets than be back in design school. But hey, a girl can dream.

Let’s face it, you already picture us working away at our desk with a coffee in one hand, pjs, and bunny slippers. (Really, we usually work barefoot.) But, nothing could make a designer happier than a fabulous new pair of Bunny Slippers. The best part of these slippers? They come in men, women AND kids sizes! Just picture it — a whole household of freelancers running around in bunny slippers! That’s a picture that will make any client smile! A size 7 should fit just fine.

X-Acto knives are SHARP. And sometimes daytime television is really funny and we get a little distracted while we are cutting. So maybe, on occasion, once or twice, we might have cut ourselves with said X-Acto knife. But fear not! Crazy and Zany Bacon Band Aids to the rescue! These rock for two reasons 1) EVERYBODY loves bacon and 2) sometimes we wind up working through lunch, and these might just serve a dual purpose.

We’ll admit, it does get a bit lonely listening to the sound of mouse clicks and key strokes all day. What better way to keep your designer happy than some new tunes!Yay! We even promise not to order any death metal (makes for angry designs) or classical music (makes for sleeping designers).

And of course, we’ll need something to play those new tunes on…what better than a brand new shiny Apple MacBook Pro MC226LL/A 17-Inch Laptop! You didn’t! You shouldn’t have! You get free designs for like two whole weeks! I know, the Macs are crazy expensive — but look at how pretty they are! (Plus, being a designer and all, we kind of have to use them.)

Alright, one final designer secret…Sometimes we need a little extra creative inspiration. And there are some great books anyone in a creative role should add to their library. Living Out Loud, by Keri Smith, is one of those books. The book is described as: “Living Out Loud is the perfect prescription for a creative jump start to your life. Included are games, projects, activities, crafts, postcards, and playful ideas that will send you off on an exciting adventure, where you’ll discover inspiration around and within you.” We’ll take inspiration and adventure any day!