Regardless of their career aspirations, I am always amazed at what people say (or don't say) during a job interview. One particular phrase that I've heard many times irks me to no end: "I wasn't good in math, so I chose design."

As a professional designer, can you think of anything more insulting? (OK, maybe we've all heard worse, but still, it's pretty bad.) I hate that people think that design is a field you settle on because you're deficient in some higher value skill. Personally I was—and still am—excellent in math... a fact that didn't have anything to do with whether I chose to become a professional designer.

A professional anybody needs to know math. This is why we get drilled on multiplication tables, prime numbers, rounding, sums, means, averages, algebra, graphing, fractions, mixed numbers, perimeters, and more in grade school. I do question why we needed to master Roman Numerals in 4th grade. Maybe so we knew what Super Bowl we happen to be watching...

Computer software, percentage wheels (what?), and calculators are there to help us with basic skills, but arguably have done more to atrophy many brains, including my own. Believe me, I've messed up the math even when using Excel. You have to be able to triple check your work, and that takes basic math.

Design students beware, don't pass off math as a non-essential skill for design. Even Christopher Robbin had to leave Hundred Acre Wood to learn something about Twice Times.