I like rubbing elbows with people who aren’t designers. I attended a TED Active conference a few years back and that’s what I enjoyed most. Writers, activists, advocates, technologists, entertainers, organizers, etc. All people who did creative, progressive things that had nothing to do with type, colors, brands, Adobe or Dribbble. I learned so much while at the same time sharing a lot about what a designer like myself does. But after a long week, last Friday I met a fellow designer for a drink to discuss a potential project. He’s also independent. Aside from the specific work possibility, we talked process, cost, collaboration, animation, 3-year plans, Adobe and Dribbble. A great conversation highly beneficial on both sides because we both “design speak.” Totally refreshing. A charge that shook out some of the cobwebs. Whatever it is you speak, make sure you have someone to speak it with.
Go. Vote. Please.
Decisions, decisions. It’s the midterm elections in 3 weeks. The sort of elections no one seems to give a shit about. Some people are too preoccupied with the Walking Dead (myself included) or college football season. There’s Halloween coming up, then Thanksgiving. Ebola, ISIS or new John Oliver episodes. America is a funny place. I love it and I don’t in the same sentence. Climate change? Climate change denial? At least can we agree that voting is really important and we should be falling all over ourselves to make sure as many people in this country can vote as possible? We say we want people to vote, right? Then why don’t we act like it? America, so full of contradictions. Let’s pretend we’re going to try and appeal to our better selves on this. Let’s get excited about democracy not Congress. Our country as a whole not the other side we don’t like. And the sacred right to vote, not the belittling of people who disagree with us. I’ll try really hard to do this as well. And let’s get out the vote!
There is no such thing as a perfect process.
I recently wrapped up a project where the process was really smooth. The work got done, the back and forth was painless, and both designer and client are happy. As a result, we’ll be working together more in the future. But as smooth as the process was, it wasn’t perfect. There were a few hang-ups and miscommunications along the way. And that’s okay. As much as I want the process to be perfect, it’s never going to be. Even on great projects things get overlooked, deadlines are creeped on, and tension exists. Creative projects have moving parts and involve people. At the end of it, if you can be proud of the work and you learned things along the way, that should be plenty to call it a job well done.
Spaciousness
I’m just going to come right out and say it. When it comes to the work, I love spaciousness. To be able to breathe deep, adjust, tinker and go slow. And sometimes fast, as needed. Pile up all the work and if every nook and every cranny is maxed out, that’s not a good place to be. When there’s no room to maneuver, the limit is being pushed to the utter edge and hoops of urgency must be jumped through in rapid succession, the joy of designing is often missing. Yes, of course, sometimes being maxed out is just how it is. But it must be recognized, out loud, that’s not the preferred setting of operations. During the day, it’s definitely about hard work. A crucial part of the hard work is spaciousness. Room to day dream, walk the dog, pencil in a blog post or start in on a side project just because. With enough space, what gets made during the day has a better chance of being quite good.
Post inspired by Daphne Eck.
Yes, yes, no, no, yes, no, yes, no, no, no, yes, and so on
Saying “NO” to a potential project is tough for me. Always has been. There’s the initial wonder at the beginning of any project. The driving excitement of possibility. It would be awesome if we did this, or maybe that. Or what if the outcome was this! So much potential. How can anyone have an easy time refusing such things? Alas, it’s a skill you must learn how to do. To estimate, make projections, weigh commitment levels needed. Everyone has those moments of taking on way more than they can handle. Late nights then follow. To keep quality high, workload reasonable and free time free, I’ve started to look at passing on potentials another way. Having to say no more means the “yes” is that much better. Which, for everyone involved, is a good way to go.
Urgency
In general, in work settings, I don’t like urgency. It’s misleading, the source of unneeded stress and can lead to subpar results. There are two types of urgency and I’m talking about the first kind. The false kind. There is the honest-to-goodness kind that can lead to some amazing work when your back is against the wall and everything is humming along at a good clip. For any number of reasons, some urgency is real. But the kind that isn’t, that’s something I’d like to eradicate from my process. The kind that comes with deadlines on a Friday afternoon, frantic micro check-ins at every turn or the due date that ends up not being such a big deal after all. I’ve always loved the idea of a steady state economy. So I’m going to try to be a little more intentional about crafting a consistent, steady state design process. Should be an interesting challenge.
“What are you really excited about?”
Had a birthday recently. Lots of celebrating with amazing people. At dinner one night, my wife asked me what I was really excited about looking forward. One of my answers was having a career I loved and seeing what happens next. Honestly, design has never really felt like work. And it being something I’m fairly good at, I feel extremely fortunate to be able to do it every day. When I was younger, I thought a lot about having an adult job I enjoyed. Probably because I had many jobs I didn’t like so much for many, many reasons. And now that I’m at a point where I can say I love what I do, I’m just really excited to continue to move things forward. New projects, new clients, new challenges. When the baseline is one of enjoyment, that’s an exciting place to be.
