Six reasons why punk rock made me a better designer.

DIY in the board room

I never would have guessed it, but I can honestly say that punk rock has positively impacted my professional career. I’m as surprised as you are.

I find myself referring back to things I learned from the punk subculture quite frequently for some reason. Saying things like “that’s a totally punk idea,” or “punk rock teaches you to go fast.” I’m thankful to work with old punks and would like to share some of my insights from my time in the pit:

1. I don’t care about titles or clothes:
   One fantastic thing that punk rock teaches is that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Just because someone has a c-level title or dresses conservatively doesn’t necessarily mean anything. What matters is who they are as a person, how they treat others, and how they give back.
2. I learned to go fast:
   Pick 3 power chords. Pick 3 more. BLAMO! You have a song. Play loud. Play fast. Same thing with design. Think of something. Think of something else. Compare them. Put things out that aren’t perfect. Put things out fast and embrace the simplicity, rawness, and unfinished nature of things. Take this article for example.
3. I learned to stand up for myself and for others:
   Punk lyrics teach you about things like nihilism, the proper use of the word anarchy, equality, genocide, feminism, communism, Pol Pot, and other wonderful or sometimes not so wonderful ideas. You also learn to question everything and speak your mind loud and clear. As designers we must be educated about the world and be willing to speak up for others.
4. I can hustle with very little:
   Punk rock is not known for its glamorous lifestyle. You’re using crude, cheap tools in ways they probably shouldn’t be used. You get creative with problem solving and invent fixes to weird problems. Same with design. Use crude, simple tools to drill down to the essentials. Everything else is just fluff.
5. I learned to tell 30 second stories:
   Punks understand the essence of their message and communicate it in ridiculously short songs. We understand that it doesn’t matter if you can make out the words to a song sometimes- it’s the energy that they need to communicate effectively. Designers can take a page and remember our audience more than likely the attention span of a tsetse fly. It also doesn’t matter what you say- it matters how you make them feel.
6. It doesn’t take much to make me happy
   People don’t get into punk to make money. They get into punk because they find connection with others. I have learned to embrace the absurd, laugh at everything, and express my appreciation for others.

So thank you. Thank you for being part of the creative community. I hope we can all take a page from punks and continue to challenge the status quo, value individuality, and express ourselves with open minds.

We, we got ourselves, gonna sing it, gonna love it, gonna work it out to any length. Don’t worry, no worry, about what people say. We got ourselves, we gonna make it anyway.- Bad Brains