Humans of Dezynspace is a series of interviews on our graphic designers. It is a closer look on our graphic designers — their heartfelt stories, what drives them, and their inspiring experiences.
The first entry is Jeff Pimentel, our talented on-call graphic designer, and he shares his experience of leaving a toxic work environment for a better one, and his work ethic and passions.
“Sometimes I can be really funny. It will just come out randomly. I tend to also listen more than to speak. I get to find out who the person is through observations.”
I also like to draw a lot — like body figures, superheroes, sometimes kalokohan (jokes). That’s my hobby and my outlet to relax. I really like to draw. I’ve been doing it since I was five years old. Although I wasn’t able to make a business out of it — which is probably a good thing since I enjoy doing it only in my free time.
Another thing that I like is [graphic] design. Ever since I held my first magazine, I thought, ‘Ah, I like this.’ I like having to read it easily, with nice pictures. There is a certain balance in the layout that I really like.
Actually, in a way, it wasn’t until I went to Singapore when I learned In-Design that I appreciated this line of work more. I was like ‘Oh!’ It reminded me of when I was a kid, reading my earlier magazines. And I like it. I enjoy it. This is what I want to do.
‘There were a lot of discouraging moments…’
“I resigned from my job in January. I want to take a break because it was a stressful time for me. I took a break. I was looking for something else to do. And everything went crazy with COVID.
Sometimes I wished I didn’t resign. But at the same time, I remember why I left. So it’s okay. After that, I was looking for work. [With Dezynspace] I think it was that one time I saw [the job posting] on Instagram. I couldn’t really remember, I just applied. Thankfully, I got a quick reply. So here I am.
I was given the outline of how you guys work here in Dezynspace. For me, it sounds nice, it sounds good. It’s something I like.
But before this, I did a lot [of job applications]. In a way, I got discouraged. Like this one application — they told me my line of work (graphic design) was attractive before, but they said, ‘We can’t let you come in because your computer did not pass our requirements.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ Another one was saying, ‘You passed the test, the HR likes you, but we’re not looking for someone like you right now.’ I don’t get it. But oh well, I did not push through with it.
There were a lot of discouraging moments. I was discouraged for a while.
Like money issues and others are bringing me down. But I’m trying not to think about it if I’m not affected, in a way. It’s more for other people. But you feel for them — the ones who lost their jobs. I feel for them. But I think, you just need to be steady and just push on through. For me, I just carry on.”
Cut the ‘shortcut’
“I try not to sleep all day. It’s nice, but you have to get up and do something. That is also true in life. There’s this quote I learned in my teenage years that stuck with me. Something along the lines of, “Keep your castles in the sky, but keep the foundations on the ground.” For me, it was like you can dream of anything, keep your mind in the air, keep on dreaming. But you have to set your foot on the ground and have to keep working on your dreams. At least that’s how I perceived it.
I learned the value of working hard towards your goal. I learned not to be lazy in doing stuff. Try not to cut corners. I mean, I can go for shortcuts — but if it cannot be avoided, I would rather go the hard way. It’s better to take a long time doing something properly and put everything in place, rather than going for the shortcut but suffer from a lot of mistakes along the way.”
ABOUT DEZYNSPACE
Dezynspace is the leading online platform where you can easily book a graphic designer, exclusively attending to your design needs the whole 8 hours of the day, on a per demand basis.
All graphic designers are pre-vetted, professionally trained, and are able to respond directly to customer requests and queries in as fast as 30 minutes.
The Dezynspace model eliminates the tedious hiring process and the administrative and management concerns for its clients while providing them with good quality and professional graphic design talents dedicated to help them with their creative needs.