There’s a time to plan and to think. To strategize and to get into some discovery and visioning stages. But there always comes the point when you just gotta get into it. Hopefully your initial thinking has set you up well, but to get the work done, you must simply do the work. When it’s time to make, then make. Let the act of making not be disrupted by overthinking. Instead, let the act of making sort out the remaining questions you have and get you to the place you need to be. And sometimes, this isn’t the same place you initially thought it would be in your thinking phase, and that’s okay.
Midspace?
When Round and Round was formed, its mission existed in three statements. They are as follows:
- A midspace where independent creatives come together to work, learn, and enjoy their careers.
- Fellow makers in the middle of a city, thinking and making, sharing and collaborating.
- An environment meant to be iterative and efficient, with everything on wheels.
And just what exactly is a midspace? For us, it’s the in-between. The middle between start and end. Not about a destination, more the journey. The in-progress, the still thinking, the back and forth, and the round and round. An apt metaphor for the creative process and how we think the most appropriate, most inspiring ideas are able to be fully realized.
The Most Annoying Thing Designers Do
Taking a step back to look at all the annoying things designers do, there is one that drives me the most crazy. Even more so than discussing kerning in public places. Not only is this thing annoying, it strikes me as terribly insulting. Here it is: redesigning someone else’s logo right after the original gets released. To channel Last Week Tonight, how has this become a thing? There was the Safari icon, the Windows logo, and now the Hillary H/arrow. Designers who haven’t been hired to design take it upon themselves to fully assert their superiority and do something so amazing in hopes to, well I’m not even sure. To insult the client? To show up the designer who was actually hired to do the job? Designers, why?
If it’s a question of what to do with the free time you may have lying around, why not instead, approach a non-profit you’ve always admired. One that probably doesn’t have the funds to hire a designer to do important design or communication work they probably really, really need. Why not approach them and offer up your services in support of the cause. That, to me, is time better spent. The designer gets to design by putting their services to good use without needlessly duplicating efforts on top of something that’s already been done. And the non-profit can then present themselves in a professional light. One that truly represents the important work they do. That I could get behind.
Website Workshop Recap
Thanks to everyone who came out last night for an insightful and inspiring evening of website knowledge sharing. It was a packed room at Carver Bank. A special thanks to the Union for asking us to put this workshop on. In case you missed it, if you’re an artist, here’s a quick recap. If you’re needing a portfolio site, there’s two directions you can go. Either a fully assembled, thought out, and well-maintained collection of work, or just go with weirdness. I think either are fine as long as you own the direction you go in. The reasons for going the way you go can be numerous. Time, budget, skills, etc. Just remember this. The Internet is a place that can bring much joy. Keep your attention focused there and you’ll be just fine. Wink, nod, John C. Reilly.
When Well Worn
It happens every-so-often, in between periods of firing on all cylinders. The times when projects move along at good clips, ideas come together with standard execution, the work is extra good, and the people are extra happy aren’t constant. They can’t be. It would be awesome if that was the case. But in a profession of the subjective, where uncertainty, change, and newness are normal, the good times are balanced by the less good times. It can be labeled as being well worn. Or maybe worn out. When ideas don’t come together and require extra elbow grease. When communication is way off. When the ideas aren’t really there and the people aren’t all that stoked. Sometimes that happens. And because we are professional makers, we keep going. We push through. We do the job and we deliver. Because that’s what people who design for a living do.
Write out your principles on paper
Before I set out on my own almost five years ago, I sat down and wrote out a list of 11 points. They framed how I was going to pursue my independent design. I shared them last week on a panel discussion. Today I’m adding another, as a shoutout to the strange folks I get to work with often in my day-to-day. They bring me much joy and make it all worth it, especially during tax time.
I want to do work that:
- is part of things,
- experiments,
- delights,
- is optimistic,
- gives a damn,
- is community-minded,
- moves people to action,
- points us in a direction,
- picks a side / annoys certain people,
- makes things better,
- has heart,
- is free to be weird,
The Simplicity Trap
I love keeping it simple. Beautiful, delightful, memorable simplicity is one of my favorite things when it comes to design. As the client list grows and project variety changes, how I talk about the design work continues to be very important. The simplicity frame is always part of the conversation but it can become a crutch. The thing easy to fall back on as to why a certain direction is the way to go. I’m increasingly placing simple lower and lower on the list of attributes for an execution. One reason is I see simplicity as often misunderstood. The essence of simplicity I do think is right on but the word itself has been significantly weakened when it comes to design and too often a justification for the boring and uninspired.
Please note: This critique is from a working designer who thinks simplicity needs to be brought back down to be an equal player with inspiring, beautiful, and unique. And in this case, no, simplicity doesn’t inherently mean inspiring, beautiful, or unique.
