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.
Everything is not in neat little bows
The design process leads to an end result that is clear and concise. Many times it appears simple and easy to understand. If this happens, it’s a sign of a job well done. However, this can also feed into the myth that the end result was as easy to create as it is to understand. This is not the case. There are no neat little bows. Even a clearly defined process is accompanied by the messy, the untidy and the round-and-round. There are the times of blank screens, creative block and feeling uninspired as well as the never-ending email chains, missed deadlines, scope creep, misaligned expectations, drawn out projects and so on. Rarely are things smooth because creating something out of nothing with other people is tough business. Learn to love the untidy and appreciate the back-and-forth. Not only for sanity’s sake, but held onto long enough, the swirling round-and-round is where the magic happens.
For the where, here’s my why
Next up for Flywheel. The anatomy of a supportive design community.
But what makes a design community great? There’s lots to be said about working as a creative professional in a big city with so many exciting things happening all the time it’s hard to keep up. And there’s lots to be said about smaller places and their interesting, unique opportunities. Regardless of location specifics, I have an important set of criteria that I think makes a great – and supportive – design community.
Chasm
The chasm between saying we should do THIS and THIS actually being a reality is filled with the Work. And it’s a pretty damn big chasm. Saying we are going to do something does not get it done. Wishful intentions do not get it done. Writing out a list of things to do does not get it done. To get it done, you have to do it. As unglamorous as it sounds, “we are going to change the world with this idea" is always followed by the Work. Even though its size is never known going in, if it is understood and appreciated, this chasm can be a place of originality, innovation and truly remarkable creativity.
The Best Time to Travel
Back from vacation and picking things up where they left off. On a lot of levels, this last bit of time away was ill-timed. You know, too much going on. A ferocious mad dash to complete all kinds of things before heading out and now frantically playing catchup. But really, that’s the best time to stop, go somewhere unique and do a solid reset. I was initially worried I’d have a hard time putting the work aside during vacation. But I didn’t. I just stopped. It was glorious. And now everything seems more manageable. I’m refreshed and ready to get things done for a great set of continuing and upcoming projects. Thank you travel, I owe you one.
Out of Office Reply
Vacation time cometh. It has been on the radar for quite some time and now it is almost at hand. Time to reset, take in some culture, some history and spend adventure time with my wife. In the four years being independent, I’ve taken a standard amount of vacations, but it’s never easy. So much to take care, responsibilities to be responsible for and no one to pass off work to. At my first job in agency land, I could wipe my hands clean and head out the door to a completely work-free mindspace. Now, the break is less distinct in the midst of a longview of deadlines, revisions, next steps, kickoffs and wrap ups. Definitely good problems to have, but for me, it does reiterate that this isn’t an easy profession. It’s a challenge in its time management, relationship building and, of course, the need to consistently come up with something creative that’s good. But you can’t let those things get to you, right? When it’s time to vacation you better vacation like it’s going outta style.
Make things with weirdos
My third contribution to Flywheel. How to improve your design skills.
Because of self-initiated, collaborative projects, I got better at kerning. I got better at seeing the big picture. I got better at recognizing when an idea I had wasn’t very good. I learned how to keep a project moving, how to have ownership in the work, and why opening the project up to collaboration gets me to a place I never would have reached on my own.
