Feeling like you just can’t take your eye off it

Because if you do, it could all crumble. If you don’t send the follow up email, no work comes in. If you don’t stay up to all hours until the concept is nailed, you’ll never get it done. If you don’t update your portfolio, people will think you’re a one trick pony. If you don’t watch those latest Creative Cloud tutorials, don’t learn Sketch, you’re going to fall behind. Don’t learn to code, become obsolete. Don’t push the envelope, you’re going to hate yourself.

If you forget to track your mileage, you won’t get that deduction. Miss the latest networking event, you’ll drop off people’s radar. Not always checking email? Well then the next big thing is going to pass you by. And if you aren’t keeping yourself up at night, you just aren’t letting the work become all-consuming enough.

If you don’t take this low paying project for this interesting thing, you’ll never work on anything interesting ever again. Don’t say yes to everything, the requests will start to dry up. Don’t get more work, gonna have to find a real job. Don’t watch anymore independent films, become boring and drab. Don’t subscribe to this podcast, become stuck in your ways. Don’t listen to that latest vinyl album that’s all the rage, well then you just aren’t hip. And if you forget to watch the new Daily Show, you won’t be on the pulse.

And on and on. Even though all of this is exaggerated, for the most part, there’s a bit of truth there. Which is why trying to disconnect can be such a challenge, especially when life can blend so easily into work. The one thing that is fact, and something you should keep in mind regardless: If you don’t start somewhere, you’ll never finish anywhere. 

WIP: My Introduction

Goodness, my personal introduction at networking events is weak! Like weak-weak. Weak ass weak. I tell you what, the timid utterance of “um, I’m a designer” bores me to tears every time I hear myself utter it. That’s typically the reason I go running off, away from large crowds, crying as I go. I bore, uninspire, and leave a person with no reason whatsoever to want to continue to learn about what it is that I do. No wonder I still have all my business cards from 2010. Who wants the contact info from the boring, weepy guy running out the door. Such a drag. Well I'm going to work on that.

My introduction from now on is going to magnificent. Extravagant. Impressive. Striking. I know, I know. I’ve said this before. But this time is going to be different. I’m really going to do it. The next time you spot me in the crowd, looking eager and fidgety, what appears to be the precursor to yet another cry baby runway show, I’m going to surprise everyone with an introduction so grand, it will shake the foundation of all commonly held etiquette at such gatherings. For the text time you see me in such a networking setting and ask who I am and what I do, I'm going to meet the challenge head on with a profound, “Hi, I’m Justin and I de

Selling It

This is something I definitely struggle with. By nature, I do not have the qualities that make a good salesman. I just don’t have what it takes to really sell. I’ve been around people who can, and it is quite something to behold, both the good and the bad. But in order to be a successful independent designer, you have to get your ideas out into the world somehow.

I’ve settled into what works for me. I’m probably not as reassuring as I could be in the beginning. And I don’t comfort as much as I could along the way. But having been on the side of being “sold to,” I try to stay away from wowing and zowing right off the bat. I prefer to underwhelm and over deliver, not the other way around. It amazes me the times the other way around works out for people. Sometimes I feel like that’s just the way of the world. That in order to get the “big fish” I need to focus more on the hot buttons, the buzz words, and the whatever else. Instead of the actual work, because who really cares about that anyway, right? 

I digress. I actually don’t really feel resolved on this. More conflicted. Because I don’t think design is like plumbing. I think it’s more like a relay race. It’s a process that should be participated in by everyone. And everyone should know the discomfort that can come with it.

I don’t want to sell a song and dance. I don’t want to present this as easy, magnificent, and the answer to all your fears. I want to tell you what I know it is and what it can do. That’s it. My hope is that’s enough. And I hope that helps lead to those special relationships that are hard to come by. Grounded in honesty, with a good BS meter, and accompanied by a celebratory nature that only comes from being comfortable enough along the way to let everyone just do what it is they do. 

The Two Common Contradictory Misconceptions About Graphic Design

1. It looks so simple. Must be easy to do.
2. You, the designer, have all the time in the world to perfectly work and revise, work and revise, and the design only goes out into the world after you've had plenty of time to make sure it is the best thing anyone has ever seen. 

When in truth, it’s really difficult to design something that is simple, clear, and beautiful. And in the flow of the day, with multiple projects, juggling many things, you don’t have the time to mess with something until you feel it is the best thing anyone has ever seen. I don’t think perfection is something you should go for. It’s just not possible. 

Day by day, you work and you release, and you repeat. If something becomes great, it’s because of a summation of factors, many of which you have no control over. Best to just do what you do and let the chips fall where they may.

All Power To The People

Graphic design is a tool for moving people to action. When design is utilized to further the cause of social justice, to promote equity and opportunity, amazing things can happen. The type of design I’m most interested in and see the most promise with promotes diversity and inclusion, brings people together to solve problems, and advocates for a progressive culture of creativity and overall well-being for individuals and communities.

Reflecting on UNL’s Design + Social Justice Symposium, I feel so honored to have been a part of an educational institution celebrating the graphic design of a justice movement and having a discussion about how design can have an impact today, whether social, political, or environmental. Meeting Emory Douglas is certainly something I’ll never forget. I asked for his signature right next to the masthead of a Black Panther paper. He also wrote, “All Power To The People.” Something to always be mindful of. In the face of inequality, injustice, and hate, All Power To The People brings us together, breaks through the madness, and allows us to find ways to address our most urgent issues. 

Graphic design can make you smile. Make you mad. Make you change your behavior. It illuminates and can silence all irrelevant noise with magnificent clarity by perfectly capturing the core of an idea. It’s an obvious tool for social change as seen in the history of successful movements for justice. And it will continue to be so. 

The Limits

What are the limits on or challenges to graphic design as a vehicle for social change?

First, design on its own can only go so far. Without the organizations and activists working tirelessly to make change happen, a piece of graphic design, however loud it shouts, is over and done with rather quickly. In the fight for social justice, how long you shout, in strategic intervals of intensity, matters most. If the people on the ground aren’t there, change doesn’t happen.

Second, I worry about design for social justice being drown out by the thousands upon thousands of messages created every day for big brands with big budgets. Brands that most often push their consumer-focused answers to invented problems in their hyper-commodified version of the world on the airwaves and Internet streams they seek to dominate.

Additionally, when brands do raise awareness for important issues dealing with community, humanity, love, and the planet, their product-focused solutions remain problematic. If people take a consumer-centric view of these problems, that these very real problems are solved by buying specific products, there’s a false sense created that our challenges can be addressed without actively participating in the creation of meaningful solutions that are more difficult, less instantaneous, and are not as easy to see.

The Relationship

What exactly is the relationship between design and social change?

Designers who take on issues of social justice I think work in three ways. 1) There’s the solo designer using design to express his or her views. This can be done by participating in online poster sites for a cause, in design exhibitions, or by simply posting up designs on the streets of a neighborhood. 2) On a project by project basis, a designer works with organizations and activists using his or her skills to create design work used by the people working on the issues day in, day out. Either paid or pro bono. 3) The designer is part of the movement. With a stake in the fight, he or she is an integral part of an organization where different tools are used to move people to action. Design work is done alongside community organizers, strategists, fundraisers, activists on the ground, and so on.