How to be a good designer

I think this could potentially be a longer post for Medium. (Like this one.) But for the time being, a short blog will do.

This might have originated from a late night conversation with Joe Sparano about how there just aren’t that many 45-year-old designers. Lots in their 20s and 30s, but 40s, hmmm. Design is a young person’s game. Seemingly. So how do we design our careers for effective longevity? I think a lot of it goes into these 4 points that have made me a decent designer currently:

1. Every single bit of feedback and critique is helpful. 
2. If you aren’t wrong now, you will be.
3. Learn, adjust, adapt, and do NOT stand still.
4. Know what you want the world to look like in 5 years.

I think these 4 points are what make you a good designer. Not talent or location. Not your personality or the clients you have. Perhaps I’ll add to this list or think more deeply about each point. But for now, if you want to be a good designer, get familiar with these.

When the turn time is just so fast...

...you have no idea even if the thing you just designed is any good at all. You just pull your wits together and get it done. You execute. Something out of nothing. For a purpose. For a cause. And you send it out into the world so quickly you are unsettled. Sometimes this is good. In these situations, you simply aren’t allowed to get in your own way. Sometimes this is bad. You just don’t allow the design to be refined and perfected so what gets released is subpar. This is common in activist design. It’s certainly a rush. Sometimes it can get tiring. But it does keep you coming back for more. Get ready, get set, go!

It’s 2016, Let’s Act Like It

Elections are wonderful things. Bringing the people together to make decisions on how we all move forward together? What’s not to love. In America though, we do find ways to shit all over our democratic spirit. The chorus around Election 2016 being so terrible because of bad candidates and campaign fear mongering is constant. I suppose I could be okay with all the complaining if, after November 8th, I had confidence the people would get back to work participating in the day-to-day governance of our cities, states, and nation. But I’m not, and that’s the problem. 

American democracy is divided into 2 big buckets — campaigning and governing. Both buckets require different skills and types of commitment. Generally hate the campaigning part? Don’t want to deal with it at all aside from voting? Fine. Then we better be involved on the governing side. Contacting members of Congress, writing letters to the editor, going to rallies and marches, donating to causes, signing petitions, and so on. We can’t not do both.

To be a citizen means we need to participate in something. To do our job as Americans, we need to know what’s happening at the local and national levels. We have to possess at least as much knowledge as we have of sports or the golden age of television. If not, well, then we don’t get to complain about either the campaigning or the governing. Period.

Obamacare premiums are on the rise. But I don’t think HSAs and buying across state lines will address the fact that everyone has to be involved in Health Care otherwise it’s more expensive than it needs to be. The Senate refuses to hold hearings on the President’s nomination to the Supreme Court. And they say they will block all of Hillary’s which I think is horribly wrong. Donald Trump is quite possibly the worst candidate to run for President ever. He’s a bigot, racist, misogynist, hateful, whiny cry baby. And a liar. 

None of these things — health care, the Supreme Court, or Election 2016 — are easy. They are big challenges that require work. Blood, sweat, and tears. But if we want to claim to be a great democracy, we have to participate. If not in the election, then in the governing.

It’s 2016. With all our smarts, our talents, our passion, and our resolve, we need to act like we care about this country we all claim to love. We need to get out there and vote. And then we need to work like hell to make sure Hillary* makes good on her promises and our government generally does its job of working for the American people.

*Updated 11/9/16: Donald. Fuck.

When you don’t get the job

Speaking to a group of students, I was recently asked about the need to have a physical portfolio. A book, case, box, etc. I stressed the importance of a portfolio website and said I couldn’t remember the last time I used a physical portfolio. Thinking about it more, the last time was probably 2008. There I was, suburbs of Chicago, for a late lunch, interviewing for a design job with Bruce Mau.

I walked him through my work. Most notably the Power to the Poster project. It was certainly a lively interview. I’ve met Bruce a few times over the years. Always illuminating, always thought-provoking. In the end, there wasn’t a job open in their Chicago or Toronto office. It had been a long, drawn-out process getting to the interview, so I ultimately  accepted defeat and moved on.

What came next was me getting my shit together for my “what next.” A job at a design firm doing world-changing work wasn’t happening, so how about I just go make my own world-changing work? The crash of the economy was happening at the time, so things were tense and a little uncertain. I decided to stay at my current agency job longer than I probably should have and ride out the turbulence.

Then, in 2010, after a brief detour into grad school for an unsuccessful go at a master’s degree (more schooling was just not for me), I was on my own. Independent, cause-focused, ready to make it happen. In the first year I was working with Participant Media in LA, making digital graphics for MoveOn.org and 350.org, designing Eli Pariser’s TED slides, and just beginning what would be a 6-year design project against the Keystone XL Pipeline led by Bold Nebraska. My kind of work, for my kind of causes.

Whether right or wrong, I usually decide to err on the side of “well, I’ll just do it myself then.” It’s up to me to figure it out, to chart the path, to change course, and to take it head-on. With successes and failures from a 6+ year independent design practice, I’ll keep taking that approach for now. Not getting the job, the project, or the opportunity never means it’s over. It simply means your “what next” is still out there. It will just take more time to find. 

Who do you compete with?

Competition can be good. Competition can be healthy. Which begs the question, who do you compete with? Who do you see as your peers? The fellow designers who you greatly respect and whose work you see as comparable to your own. In quality, style, or what type of clients the work is done for. This is important to know as it can help set the bar higher so you keep improving and it keeps you on your toes since you know the work can always go to someone else if you don’t deliver. 

When it comes to proposals, competition can be a topic of discussion. Things you may not want to compete with at all are brought up. Maybe it’s Squarespace, or another studio who isn’t in the same space as you, either in what they do or the scope they do it in. In these cases, knowing who you compete with can help you react better to discussions around scope, budgets, processes, and expectations.

When you don’t have to explain why

Designers must have rationale. Designers must do things for a reason. Designers must know why. But is this always a good thing? What happens when something just is? I would say, the majority of the time, maybe even 90% of the time, a designer must know why. But there are times when having to know the why ruins the purity. It shackles an idea. Walls off an interpretation. Silos the execution. If it feels like your rationale is doing any of these, best to just let it go. Best to just let it be what it is. That should be enough.

What makes a good conference?

Last week I attended the Affect Conference in Portland. A 2-day event about the work, culture, and design of social change, with a dash of volunteering. It also had childcare, ASL interpreters, reserved wheelchair and accessibility seating, gender-neutral restrooms, a quiet area, code of conduct and photo policy, and a “no laptop” rule during talks. In short, very thoughtful, very inclusive.

The speaker lineup was equally as thoughtful. Gamers, activists, developers, and designers sharing stories of gender identity, gaming for good, the ethics of care, and designing government to be better. When once you choose to live a life devoted to social justice, how your life will never be the same. How we are not saviors but servants. Why we must take care of ourselves first. And my story, on the 6-year tale of the design side of the #NOKXL campaign. A full schedule of talks that went down so many roads, some to a firm destination, and others with plenty to still think about and work on.

I think that’s what I enjoyed most about the conference. It wasn’t just a design conference. It wasn’t just a tech conference or an activist conference. It was a social change conference and that can be reached by so many means. Different talents, career paths, issues, and causes. In whatever city you happen to live in, dealing with the local and national politics of the day. We can all get there. And the stories that are shared from the place of social change are as varied as the people living them. 

This makes for a diverse conference. It challenges you to never get settled in. It keeps you on your toes as ideas you don’t really know about are discussed and the ideas you think you know well, have new light shed upon them.

A good conference is also just long enough. Perhaps too brief. As you are still looking for more. Which means you have been spurred on to get back to work and continue the fight in whatever way your days take you.