With the skills I’ve learned in my junior year of college and my two internships, my biggest takeaway is: Graphic Designers don’t exist just to make things pretty. Our job is to find a problem and solve it creatively. It’s a blend of implementing the principles and elements of design, listening to a client’s wants, doing market research, and making logical choices that make the design speak for itself, even if that may cause conflict.

But today I’m not going to showcase any of the designs I made in my class or my internship. I’m going to share my work, and my story, about finding a problem in this world and using design to solve it.

These past months have been hectic, not only because I have been balancing work and moving into a new place at the beginning of the summer, but also because I have been incredibly frustrated with the political climate. Most of the time, I’ve been at a loss for what to do. Scrolling through social media only makes me feel worse. Protests in this area are few and far between. I even tried to join an internship program dedicated to making political change, but I was eliminated in the final round, which was quite heartbreaking.

In the midst of my depression, I found postcarding to be a fun and easy way to gain the attention of political officials. When I opened my inbox at work the other day, I saw a Supreme Court decision pertaining to South Carolina that made me upset. I didn’t let it ruin my shift; instead, I thought these two things:

1. Take a deep breath, this hurts, but it is far away from you.
2. Good job! You identified a problem. What can you do now to solve it?

I remembered my aunt lives in South Carolina. She is retired and has more time on her hands than me. If I help get her started, she can organize with her friends. I designed up a small card to mail to her so she can show it to her friends and start postcarding. Now I have the training to notice these problems and make graphics to get these conversations started. As designers, we have a voice, whether we realize it or not. I made my choice to use it for good. Also, we can start making changes now, no matter how small they are. Don’t be afraid to speak up, because you never know where it can take you.