If you’re a citizen, and you vote, there’s power in that. If you’re a worker, and you work, there’s power in that too. If you use social media, you’re connected, but so what, where’s the power? The cold blooded answer is that there isn’t any. At least not on the scale needed. If you were enticed to be involved with social media more for the amplifying of your voice, for expressing your ideas, for making your view of the world visible to more and more people, which I was, then you need to rethink your approach to social media. Because the power you get is so neglible that the time spent on it is probably not worth it.
Designer Plus
Talking about the need for quality designers, the subject of skills often comes up. Sure, quality designers need to design and design very well. Aspiring to be experts when it comes to color and composition, typography and form. That’s a given. Logos, posters, websites, reports, campaigns, etc. But after that, there must be more. The profession of graphic designer should also come with extra flare for making projects happen. This can include any number of these items:
User Experience
Motion Design
Illustration
Photography
Web Development
Writing
Social Media
Something else?
The projects that offer the most opportunity for something special need designers who can think and bring more to the table than simply a narrow view of pixels and ink.
Was that the best thing that you’re going to do?
Say you make this thing. It lands, big time. It establishes you. Because of it, you’re able to make your mark. And with it as a marker, you can work it to lead to more things. You’re somewhat known for it. Respected, sought after, appreciated. But after, then what? Is that all you’ve got? Maybe so. And that just might be the way of it. Or you can try to elevate to that best thing you’ve done and make that your standard. If doing the original thing is hard, that consistency is even harder. And it’s what separates the people who just put in time from the people who want more out of all of this. The former can be fine, the latter exhausting, and the decision between the two the most important you’ll ever make.
My Presidential Short List
Top 5 Candidates
Here are my favorites to be the next president:
Kamala Harris
Elizabeth Warren
Cory Booker
Pete Buttigieg
Beto O’Rourke
Poster: I Dissent!
While true, Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a woman of small size, her impact on the country and her stature in the minds of the people who love her is massive. 3 letters is all you need; direct, big, bold, in your face. A small sign-off of “I Dissent!” as a response to this political insanity we are living through. The small crown icon as a shoutout to the cultural references to Biggie where she’s shown with one atop her head. Designed pro bono for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
30 Hours
Can you change the world by working just 30 hours a week? I think yes. If you work hard enough, and are very intentional.
How’s your confidence level?
Is it high? Low? Somewhere in between? In the middle? I like that one. I prefer things in the middle; cities, careers, processes, books.
If you have low confidence, it’s really hard to be in the design profession. You have to make big decisions based on what you think will happen in the future and you have to convince others to go to that place you think you’re heading, together. You need some level of confidence for that.
However, high confidence, I have a problem with. In working relationships, if you’re confidence is always high I really don’t want to work with you. Period. Why? Because as everyone knows, when you’re creating something new not everything goes right. And I think that should be made known along the way in the process. Just glossing over things with over-confidence? I think that does a disservice to the work, to the client, and to the creatives involved. When confidence is high, that’s too close to a dishonest approach to problem-solving for me.
For my work and the teams I’m on, I want people who work hard and are reliable. But I also want honesty, not a constantly rosy sales pitch where everything is the best always and forever. That’s too close to conman for my liking.
