Meet Vanessa Dinh | Graphic Designer & Multidisciplinary Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vanessa Dinh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vanessa, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
As someone who wears many hats and juggles a lot between my work and my creative practices/hobbies, balance is always something I’m dancing with. When I was in college, I was fortunate enough to not have to worry too much about working, so I was able to focus on my studies and relax on the weekends. It was easier to balance when I was told what was important to focus on. After graduating, I started to have to adjust to my new life as a professional creative and find ways to carve out my own schedules and routines. My degree is in graphic design and I started freelancing almost immediately. But, I wasn’t busy enough with just those clients, so in between projects I took to my craft hobbies which involve mostly ceramics and fiber arts. Over time, I started selling my ceramics and crochet works to friends and began gaining business from commissions. My ambition often exceeds my motivation at times, and it has been a struggle with 3 main art forms I’m upkeeping currently, but I always find fun in the creative process. Having 3 different mediums to bounce around from has kept me creatively challenged and engaged, but at times it can be a bit draining. As someone with ADHD, I really enjoy the different areas I can explore creatively but I also need to keep myself in check and separate the passion projects from the important client deadlines. Balance is finding the spot where you can be productive in your career while also finding time to spend for yourself and your own interests. I feel that being an introvert like myself almost makes things a bit easier because I can enjoy my own company at almost any time I need to. When I feel unmotivated or drained, I spend time alone playing a videogame or absorbed in a passion project for a short time. Then it’s back to work when I feel ready to. I could never really schedule or plan working days, I just decided to go with how I felt on that given day. It might seem a little strange to have a loose structure like this, but I often think of it as just going with the flow. It can be easy to be hard on ourselves for not being productive on a certain day, but sometimes you need to listen to your body and mind and cater to what they need. Some days, I’m less productive than others, but in the end, I never missed a deadline and I never delivered a project I wasn’t proud of. There’s a saying (whom I forget I heard say it first) which goes “Never on schedule, always on time.” This has resonated with me since I first heard it and I believe it truly encapsulates the process for a lot of creatives out there. Often times I would feel guilty when I spent time relaxing over working. But as a creative, all the things we do are important to our process. The things we consume in our downtime also influence our art, so even when we “aren’t being productive,” we are still doing things that feed into our creativity and inspiration.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always considered myself as a Jane of All Trades and never could just pick one medium to stick to. That’s part of the reason I gravitated towards graphic design when I was considering majors in college. Graphic design opens a lot of doors to different niches within the field, and for me, I like having a lot of options to choose from. It also doesn’t limit me to one choice either, I could work on websites for a while, switch to print material, and pivot to motion design as well. It allowed me to satisfy my ambitious attitude in making art and it always stays interesting. I learn new things almost every day and I love the process of learning new practices and unlocking skills. If you were to ask me what I mainly do, I couldn’t really give you a straight answer that didn’t involve a long list of different projects I’ve worked on with the different skills required. Animation, web design, print design, illustration, etc. Unfortunately, a lot of my work in design involves long hours in front of a screen, so that’s why I make it important to keep up with my crafts hobbies to get my hands dirty and engage a different part of my creativity. It can be a little hectic trying to maintain all my hobbies at the same time, but I’ve learned that I’m happier when my hands are in multiple different projects instead of only focusing on just one thing at a time. Discipline is a key here, which was hard at first, but if you enjoy all the things you are working on, it makes working through them less of a chore. I have struggled a bit with my feelings about monetizing these hobbies, as I fear it will take away from the creative process once I start turning them into small businesses. People often ask me if I have an Etsy or some kind of store set up and I’m still on the fence about it. But when people are interested in your art and want to buy it, I can’t deny them. The few times I’ve sold my art gave me the great experience of talking about my work and seeing someone appreciate it so much they wanted to buy it. Maintaining a store is something else though. It’s something I’m still working through. I’m just thankful there are people interested enough to support me and my works.

In all my art, I am a bit of a goofball. I like making things fun and humorous when possible. I believe that making someone laugh or smile is one of the most valuable things in life. I like using vibrant colors, different textures, bold typefaces, and some comedy when appropriate. My senior thesis was all about swearing and the cultural impact it has on the US, and it was definitely one of the most colorful projects presented in my class. But it also received awards and accolades, one of which was the American Graphic Design Award by Graphic Design USA. I had a few moments where I was uncertain about myself and the reception of my work from others, and I wondered if I needed to change in order to be “more successful” in the professional world. But I quickly learned that I needed to do the opposite and stick to my guns. I’m a huge nerd and love videogames which influences a lot of my work. Most importantly, it’s helped me connect with communities through a mutual interest and in turn, people have started supporting me and my personal passion projects too. I make things that are cool to me, share them, and find out that a lot of people like my work and they ask if I can create similar things for them. I definitely recognize how lucky I am to have a good network of people that continues to grow. It has opened a lot of opportunity to collaborate with people on different types of projects.

Overall, my journey as an artist feels like it has only just begun. I’m still fairly young and have only had about a year of professional experience so far, but the opportunities that I’ve had thus far have been great. I wouldn’t say it was particularly easy, but I had to shift my mindset to be more open before I could see all the opportunities around me. Even when job hunting was difficult and I went back into the service industry, I ended up finding a sweet spot with the restaurant I work with now as their main designer for their menus and other print material. I’m a part time hostess, full time designer, and it’s been reassuring working with them and hearing feedback from patrons and staff. I was also lucky enough to be selected to design a mural for a café that was being built on my campus that lives on to this day. One of the more recent accomplishments I had in my career was being hired to do a company’s website redesign, which is my first corporate client. It’s also the same company my dad works for, and he was one of the people who was a little more resistant to my choice to pursue the arts, but now he understands that it is something that makes me happy and I can, in fact, make a living from it. I consider myself to be very lucky to have had the support to nurture my creativity since I was very little and be able to continue to do so after college. The biggest lesson I learned was networking is very important and knowing the right people will lead you to the right opportunities you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. I also learned that it is not worth changing yourself to be palatable to people who will not accept you as you are. Boundaries are something I didn’t consider at first as a creative, but I realize that many people who aren’t creatives don’t understand truly what goes into the process. It can be hard justifying yourself to someone who simply doesn’t understand, but in the end, you can’t please everyone. Sometimes you need to let it go. Others who appreciate you will come soon enough. There are communities that will accept and support you, it’s just up to you to find them. So network, network, network! Even if it’s not business related, I have met so many interesting people from all kinds of careers and walks of life that have expanded my perspective and helped me be a better person, and in turn, a better artist.

I think all creatives can relate to being your own worst critic or comparing yourself to other “more successful” artists out there. Especially since social media can cause some creatives to equate their level of success to the amount of likes or views on a post. It’s almost a given with any creative profession, but coming to the realization that yes, there are some artists with more success than you, but there are also artists who have less experience that are still successful too. It can be almost paralyzing to think about others when you’re making art. It’s not made to be approved by someone else and it’s not made to be better than anyone else either. Your art is for you. Being an artist comes with being part of a vast community with all kinds of skillsets and processes, but we are all one of the same. I’ve learned that the only person I need to be in “competition” with is myself. I only want to get better at the things I am already doing, and take opportunities to learn new things. With those objectives, it has made my work process much easier and less focused on validation and more about personal growth.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In Philadelphia, (I’m not based in LA, sorry!) there are lots of spots that tourists tend to go to so I would try to avoid the obvious tourist traps like Pat’s and Geno’s or the Rocky steps at the art museum. Instead, I suggest we check out some of the beautiful murals that decorate the city. It’s one of our unique traits that you can find a mural in every neighborhood, each with it’s own story and history behind it. There’s lots of lovely parks within the city that each have their own charm. Spruce Street Harbor park has hammocks when the weather is nice, and Cira Green sits on top of a parking garage rooftop and plays movies in the summer. South street is always a treat when walking down the rows of endless shops, and thrift stores like Philly AIDS and Thunderbird Salvage can have some of the most eccentric hidden gems you’ve ever seen. If the timing is right, I’d take you to the Italian Market Festival where we can engage in the timeless tradition of watching people climbing a greased pole. In the Italian market is one of my favorite coffee shops called Gleaner’s that showcases local artists’ work for sale. Every week there’s something new decorating the walls. Overall, the cultural diversity and our rich history has made the entire city an adventure in itself.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to my mom who has always been a fan and supporter since Day 1. She is the one who recognized my creative talents and encouraged me to pursue them. Shoutout to all my homies from UArts that became like a second family to me. Being supported and inspired by so many other creatives is something I will always be thankful for. It allowed me to feel safe in being myself, and finding out more about who I am as an artist. We learned a lot from each other and I can’t wait to see where we all go in the future.

Website: https://nessdinh.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smol_ness/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessadinh/

Other: My Thesis Website: https://swearinghelps.us